Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1914-11-27

memDore0 her any appeal that he
would 10 the best be could Cor The
Master Key
y think We had better 20 into the
mine; we Gun talk there" he eald
They are setting on q blast" Gallon
remarked.
Dorr looked up at the car roaring
past them overhead and said suddenly:
Before anything else you ought 70 Ok
that trestle. Some day car Will 90
over on the dump"
Gallon looked up and then glanced at
Dorf u guess you're right. John; I've
thought Of that myself. Things have
kind OF gone at loose ends. Now I'll
see TO II myself with your help. be-
cause have something to say to you"
There comes Ruth with a basket OF
lunch. said Dorr.
"Oh. yes. when l am away from
the house she often picnics with me
here IN the mine. Say, I'm going up
on the trestle Have another talk
with Tuhbs. He is all right. but be
has got careless. Tell him to keep up
the slack OF his cable. tell you
John. have wanted TO talk to you
for long time, but first I'm going TO
look after that cable because l can
see you are right and we might lave
bad accident"
As the old man started into the
mine. putting one foot after the other
With that caralessness characteristic
Of men becoming decrepit, man ran
out Of the mouth OF the mine waving
his armA Almost instantly following
him came pun Of gray-blue smoke.
which scared upward and spread out
as " Il were the blossom OF cloud
warmed into fun hloom by the hot
sunlight pouring down into the val.
ley.
Ruth let fall the lunch haskst and
stared upward at that dark. murky
hole in the hill. Was John theref
Was her fnther there1 She knew
that that bulky cloud blooming into
the heavens meant death beneath
the ground Unwittingly she cried
"Johnl' Then she remembered her
dial duty. and her next word, whls-
pered toward that billowing. eddying
mass Of vapor was "Fatherr
Thus do maidens confess to God the
secrets Of their heart. but let us see
how they conceal from men these
same sacred mysteries.
Ruth hnstened her pace toward the
entrance OF the mine. The shale gave
way under her little feet. but she
struggled upward uDtr she reached
the trestle. Having lived al her life
In a mining camp, there WIS no ter
ror for her In anything bui falling
rock That effusion OF smoke Goat
ing over the hillside seemed 70 speak
OF aisaster She knew the peril Of
a premature explosion. aud She also
knew evelv working Of "The Master
Key" And ngain she wondered wheth-
er it WINS John Dorr or her tatller or
both who were sitting for air within
that dark tunnel
She did not see John Dorr talking to
| the engineer below her. nor did she see
the miner who had just left the mine
and was scrambling down the ladder.
Her thought was that during this noon
hour. when both shifts were or duty,
her father had gone in and accidentally
set of a blast. What blasting was
done IN "The Master Key" usually
took place during the incoming. but ow-
ing TO carelessness It was sometimes
the case that all the blasts were not
set of. She had seen men beIched out
Of that dark hole before furious gusts
Of gas. And yet why was the ore car
inside? That. too. spelled disaster.
She dropped the lunch basket and
pulled out the pocket electric light
which she always carried. 1t burned
only tiny hole IN the bIlIowing smoke.
She rushed blindly in, trusting to her
long familiarity with the tunnel to find
her father.
Thus It was that father and daughter
passed each other In the darkness:
Gallon grimly but silently cursing the
awkwardness OF his men, Ruth trying
to choke out the names of the two men
she loved. Suddenly she came into the
free air The little beam of her lamp
-