Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1915-06-24

membered her shy appeal that he
would do the best he could for "The
Master Key"
81 think we had better go into the
mine; we a talk there" he said.
"They are setting off a 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 u car will 20
over on the dump"
Gallon looked up and then glanced at
Dorr. Il guess you're right. John; I've
thought OF that myself. Things have
KIND OF gone at loose ends. Now Ill
see to it myself with your help. be-
cause have something to say to YOU"
There ZONES Ruth With Il basket of
lunch said Dorr.
oh. yes. When | am away from
the house she often ricnics With me
here III the mine. Say, I'm going up
on the trestle. Have another talk
with Tuhbs, 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 yo;l
for 4 long time. but first I'm going to
look after that cable, because | can
see You are right and VIC might have
a bad accident"
AS the old man started into the
mine, putting one foot after the other
with that carelesSncSs characteristic
of men becoming d%ccrepit, 4 man ran
out of the mouth of the mine waving
his arms, Almost instantly following
him came Il puff of %gray-bluc smoke,
which SCARED upward ana spread out
as if it were the blossom of a cloud
warmed into full bloom by the hot
sunlight pouring down into the val.
ley.
Ruth let fail 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
flial duty, and her next word, whis-
pered toward that bi!lowing, cddying
mass of vapor was "Father!."
Thus do maidcns 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 a mining camp, there was no ter
ror for her in anything but falling
rock. That efflsion of smoke :loat-
ing over the hillside seemed t. 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 whcth-
er it was John Dorr or her father or
both who were sitting for air within
that dark tunnel.
She did not sec John Dorr talking to
the engineer below her, nor did she see
the miner who had just left the mine
and was scrambIing down the ladder.
Lei lilouSlL WIS tIlIl uutlllS tliS noon
hour. when both shifts were off duty,
her father had gone in and accidentally
set off a blast. What blasting was
done in "The Master Key" usually
took place during the incoming, but ow-
ing to carelessncss it was sometimes
the case that all the blasts We're not
set off. She had seen men bclched 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 a tiny hole in the billowing 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 James of the two men
she loved. Suddenly she came into the
free air. The little beam of her lamp