Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1915-02-25

II think We had better 60 into the
mine; We can talk there" he said.
They are setting OF blast" Gallon
remarked.
Dorr looked up at the car roaring
past them overhead and said suddenly:
Before anything else you ought to ax
that trestle. Some day a car will 60
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 III
zee to It myself with your help. be-
tause I have something to shy to you"
There comes Ruth with 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 Tubbs. 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 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 carelessness characteristic
Of men becoming decrepit. man ran
out of the mouth of the mine waving
his arms Almost instantly following
him came pun Of gray-blue smoke.
which scared upward and spread out
as If It were the blossom of 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. Unwittingly 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 the
entrance OF the mine. The shale gave
way under her little feet, but she
struggled upward until she reached
the trestle. Having lived all her life
In mining camp. there was no ter
ror for her in anything but falling
rock. That effusion Of smoke font
ing over the hillside seemed to speak
Of disaster. She knew the peril Of
premature explosion. and she also
knew every working Of "The Master
Key" And again she wondered wheth-
er It 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 was scrambling down the ladder.
Her thought was that during this noon
hour, when both shifts were OF duty,
her father had gone in and accidentally
set OF 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 belched out
Of that dark hole before furious gusts
Of gas. And yet why was the ore car
inside7 That, too. spelled disaster.
She dropped the lunch basket and
pulled out the pocket electric light
which she always carried. It burned
only tiny hole in the billowing smoke.
She rushed blindly in. trusting to her
long familiarity with the tunnel to find
her father.
Thus 1t 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