White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1915-01-31

membered her shy appeal that he
would do the best he could for The
Master Key
Il think we bad better go into tile
mine: we can talk there he said.
They are setting of Il blast" Gallon
remarked.
Dorr looked u at the car roaring
past them overhead md said suddenly:
Before anything else YOU ought to fix
that trestle. Some day a car will -
owe ON the dump
Gallon looked up and then glanced al
Dorr. i guess yanr r. right. John; I've
thought Of that myself Things have
kind of gone at loose ends. Now III
see 10 II myself with your help. be
aus | have something to say to YOU"
There comes Ruth with n basket of
lunch, said Dorr.
"Oh, yes. When ! 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 Tnbbs. lie 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 a long time. but first I'm going to
look after that cable. because | can
see you are right and we might have
a bad accident"
Is the old man started into the
mine. putting one foot after the other
with that carelessness characteristic
Of men becoming decrepit, n man ran
out of the mouth of the mine waving
his arms. Almost instantly following
him came a pun Of gray-blue smoke.
which scared upward and spread out
as II 1t were the blossom Of n cloud
warmed into full bloom by the 0
sunlight pouring down into the val
ley.
Ruth let fall the lunch basket and
stared upward Mt that dark. murky
hole In the bill. Was John there?
Was her father there? She knew
that that bulky cloud blooming into
the heavens meant death beneath
the ground. Unwittingly she cried
"John," Then she remembered her
flial duty. and her next word. whis-
peJed toward that billowing. eddying
mass of vapor wns Father"
Thus do maidens confess to God the
secrets of their heart. but LET us see
how they oVnceal from men these
saline sacred mysteries.
Ruth FASTENED her pace toward the
entrance Of the mine. The shale ave
way under her little feet. but she
struggled upward until she reached
the ~trestle. Having lived all her life
In a mining camp. there was 40 ter
ror for her I'm anything hut 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
and WIS scrambIing down the ladder.
Her thought WIS that during this noon
hour. when both shifts were off duty,
her father had gone In and accidentally
set off a blast Whit blasting was
done In THE Master Key" usually
took place during tie incoming. but ow
ine TO carelessuess If was sometimes
the case that al the blasts were not
sst of. She had Q = men belched out
Of that dark hole before furious gusts
Of gas. And yet why was the ore ear
insideg That. too. spelled disaster.
She dropped the lunch basket and
pulled ont the pocket electric lieht
whiel she always carried It burned
only a tiny hole IN the hillowing smoke.
She rushed hlindiy il. trusting To her
long familiarity with the tunnel to find
her father
Thus II WIS that father and daughter
passed each other in the darkness;
Gallon grlmly but silently cursing the
awkwar1ness Of his meu. Ruth trying
70 choke out the ames Of the two men
she loved. Suddenly She came into the
fee air The little BENIN of her lamp