Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-04
CHAPTER Xxxv111.-Continued.

Joe was at work In a dark cavern OF
the Florence colliery at the hour OF her
departure. With his butty and their two
laborers he had gone to a far corner OF
the mine. There is no night of the outer
world like that of the pit beneath, and
no atmosphere like that Of the moist air
of a coal mine. The very silences have
their own profundity. as though height
ened by the weight of darkness. Sounds
Of blasting, the rumbling of mine cars
the coal measures-these and kindred
sounds have an eene and phantas small
quality in the great dark. Voices are
choked and muff1ed when men speak. and
speech in the coal world is limited to es-
sential directions and conferences; laugh
ter is rarely heard. Indeed. a particular
gravity marks the coal miner. and he
does not always lose it when he emerges
into sunlight. The hazard of his trade
and the gloom in which he labors under
the crust of the spinning globe numb
any joy he might take in his own skill.
J. This life In the earth was not to Joe's
liking, and he had never expected to re-
turn to it. Love OF Wayne Craighill
alone had brought him back to the pit;
otherwise the pitchers box or a chauf-
feur's seat would have claimed him. And
today, with Jean vanishing into an I'M
known world and Wayne in Pittsburg.
whence-there was no telling-he might
not return, Joe's outlook on life partook
Of the surrounding gloom, and he was
disposed to deal severely with his labor
err. a clumsy Austrian. who was forever
getting In the way and mislaying tools.
Joe was q skilled hand, which is to say
that he knew the hundred and one things
that expert miners know, and the trick
of clean. expeditions and safe mining.
His shots" We're lucky this morning,
and by noon he had shaken down his re-
quired tonnage.
AS he waited for his butty to finish Joe
lounged down the gangway. He was a
social being, and he found solace in
watching the tWinkling lamps of other
wOrkmen along the black corridor.
Craig. the engineer, and the fire boss
passed on round of inspection and
asked him if he had seen any fresh
traces Of squeezing or of gas. Both had
been observed lately in the colliery. and
1t had even been said that general
subsistence was in progress throughout
the wide. honeycombed acreage of the
Florence property. In every great col
lfery there are frequent disquieting ru-
mors, and collapse rarely comes with
out fntimations familiar to the sophisti-
Gated eye and ear, and Joe was not
alarmed.
He confirmed the fears of the engineer
today by his own testimony. The work
Ing VI the pillars IN MS own HelSHDOI-
hood had increased within twenty-four
hours. as marked by chipping. The vein
above, which was mined simultaneously,
was crowding the supports OF the lower
vein; In remoter places there had been
complete subsistence. A carload of tim
bers reared by, sent forward to prop the
roof at points where the danger had be-
come acute. The explosion of hts butty' S
last shot doomed duly behind. and Joe
continued on q little farther. There was
q feeling of panic in the air. Men hur-
ried by in the gloom. talking excitedly.
but he felt no fear: his experience of a
larger world had made him impatient of
the ignorance of many of the men who
spent their time delving underground.
Most OF their accidents were due, he
knew, to their own carelessness. He
would himself take a look at the farther
workings. where the squeeze had become
critical. A trip Of cars bearing a timber
gang rumbled by. He Rugged the wall
to allow 1t to pass. and yelled at the re-
treating workmen derisively. His curiOs-
ity was now piqued. and he went on, in
the conceit of his own superior wisdom.
toward the center of the disturbed area.
A foreman with a crowd of men at his
heels went by at run, but he chaffed
them on their alarm. They had been
ordered out. he had learned, by the en-
gineer.
There's some men working in the new
gangway back there. one Of the panic
stricken miners shouted.
'I'n get 'em Quit" cried Joe. ''Give me
that lamp.
He exchanged caps with a man who
had q safety lamp and ran up the gang