The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1914-12-19

mombercd her shy appeal that h,
would do the best he could for THE
Master Key"
II think we had better go into the
mine; we can talk there" he said.
''They are setting Off blast" Gallon
remarked.
Dorr looked up at the car roaring
! past them overhead and said suddenly;
before anything else you ought to fix
that trestle. Some day a car will go
over on the dump"
Gallon looked up and then glanced at
Dorr. II guess you're right, John; I've
thought of that myself Things have
kind of gone at loose ends. Now I'll
see TO 1t myself with your help. be-
cause have something to say to you"
There comes Ruth with n basket of
lunch" said Dorr.
"Oh. yes. When | am nway from
the house she often picnics with me
here in the mine. Say. I'm going up
on the trestle. Have another talk
with Tubbs. He is all right, but he
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 have
a bad accident"
As the old man started into the
mine putting one foot after the other
with that carcleSsness characteristic
OF men becoming decicpit. Il man ran
out of the mouth of the mine waving
his arms Almost instantly following
him came puff Of gray-blue smoke
which scared upward and spread ont
as II IT were the blossom of a cloud
warmed into full bloom by the hot
sunlight pouring down into the val
ley.
Ruth let fall the lunch basket and
stared upward at that dark, murky
hole in the hill. Was John there
Was her father there? She knew
that that bulky cloud blooming into
the heavens meant death beneath
the ground Unv'ittingly she cried
john Then she remembered her
fllial duty, and her next word. whis !,
pered toward that billowing. eddying |
mass OF vapor was Father
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 FASTENED her pace toward th>
entrance Of the mine. The shale gave
way under her little feet but she
struggled upward until she reached
the trestle. Having lived al her life
in mining camp. there was no Ter
ror for her in anything but falling
rock That effusion of smoke float
ing over the hillside seemed to speak
OF disaster. She knew the peril of
a premature explosion. and she also
knew every working of "The Master
Key" And again she wondered wheth-
er Il was John Dorr or her father 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
md was scrambing down the ladder.
Her thought was that during this noon
hour, when both shifts We're off duty,
her father had gone in and accidentally
SCI off blast What blasting was
lone In THE Master Key usually
took place during the incoming. but ow
Inc 10 carelessness 1t was sometimes
Ihe case that all the blasts were not
set of She had seen men belched out
II that dark hole before furious gusts
lf 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
Dny n tiny hole In the billowing smoke.
She rushed blindly in. trusting to her
ong familiarity with the tunnel to find
ler father
Thus it was that father and daughter
,assed each other in the darkness;
Gallon erimly but silently eursing the
lwkwNrdness OF his men. Ruth trying
o choke out the names Of the two men
he lowed. Suddenly she came into the
rec air The little heam of her lamp