The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-09-30
CHAPTER xxXiI.
The Spoil Of the Pelican.

"a VI wv hiNNOi' Su"bbh SlllDtb
around to the back of IL and
pushed the little machine, with many
grunts and straining efforts, from the
dangerous spot near the set blast and
its warning sign.
Pushing and painting. he showed the
heavy little machine over the water
covered tracks hundred yards or
more down the tunnel. Then he rush.
ed back under the electric light by the
set blast and Selling the blast battery
by its leather handle and uncoilng the
loops of wire, the other ends Of which
were fastened deep down i'm the blast
holes to the detonatOr I'm the dynamite.
Quabba slipped back through the dark.
ness and called to Esther in n tense
whisper to come around behind the
shielding bulk of the motor with him.
From the blast battery box he carried
trailed the length of wire that would
carry the vital spark of the forces of
destruction.
Now Blair Stanley and Luke Lowell
had located them by the single light
upon the electric motor. They pressed
forward with exultant shouts; then
just as they reached the wide space
where the blast was set at the new
heading Quabba, a hundred yards
away and shielded, with Esther. be-
hind the motor, drove the plunger of
the battery down swift and hard.
There was deafening boom and
crash. burst of fire. the sound of
showering rocks. heavy fall of earth
and debris that seemed to heave out
and groan and rattle and settle-then
choking fog of blast smoke and 81.
lence.
Whatever had been the matter with
the motor, the shock and jar of the ex-
plosion had settled the loosened wire
back in place to a proper contact, for
when, shaking with fright and excite
ment. Quabba had dragged Esther
aboard the motor again and turned the
lever the little machine moved forward
like q living thing, slowly at first and
then. gaining speed, glided smoothly
and swiftly out of the smoke and on
and on, swifter, faster, until the bunch
back and the trembling girl felt a
breath of fresh air from outside blow
upon them and saw a CLEAN of day
light and sped on and out from the
dark mouth of the mine into Gods
good sunlight!
The men called to this side of the
mountain to the new workings We're
astounded ut the appearance OF so
strange q pair bursting out from the
tunnel and speeding down the track on
the electric motor that had been left
at the other ana far Off portal of the
tunnel. The traCkmen dropped their
tools. The mine foreman and his wife
Joined with the throng of miners that
surged around the motor and the
strange pair that drove It.
They told their wild story to sympa-
thetic ears. Turning Esther over to
the ministering attentions Of the big
hearted sharer of his joys and sorrows,
the mine boss and several assistants
reversed the motor and drove back res
olutely into the mine depths TO find the
men whom Esther and Quabba told Of
They returned at nightfall, having
cleared away the debris of the blast
but finding no trace OF Luke Lowell
and Blair Stanley. The wicked have
luck alike with the good. At the edge
of the blast Blair Stanley had been
struck down and hurt slightly, and
Luke had borne him back through the
choking smoke all the weary way
whence they had come, until they, too
reached the daylight and safety. as
Esther and Quabba had reached it, but
on the far side of the mountain mine.
That night by the fire in the Office
shack of the mine boss Esther and
Quabba told again such parts Of theil
story as they cared to tell to the rough
but sympathetic new found friends
around them. Esther told of her
search for Arthur, calling him only by
the name that he was known by rs oil
magnate and owner Of these newly ac-
quired mines. She said that he was a
friend. a relative, and that for reasons
she was unable to solve the desperate
men who had tracked her were evident.
~ DESTROYS she should not meet him.
"He is fine young man, John Pow
ell is, my dear" said the kindly wife
of the mine boss. II will take good
care of you, and In the morning my
husband will have one OF the boys
drive you to the railroad station. Mr.
Powell has gone to Santa Barbara,
They say he has bought n beautiful
new yacht, which Is there TO meet him.
He will protect you and take care OF
you, / know and you know. AS fol-
those rascals you got away from, 1t Is
fourteen rough miles across the noun
tain trail from the north portal Of the
tunnel II they escaped with their
lives they viii hardly make their way
over the mountains tonight"
"If they come this way | promise
them warm reception" remarked the
mine boss grizzly. "rhc boys are just
naturally pinlng to get hold of those
two fellows. There will be work for
the coroner If the boys catch them