Phoenix tribune., 1922-11-11
CHAPTER xI

They started forward then, making
their way through the slime and silt
of the drift flooring, slippery and wet
from years Of flooding. On-on-they
stopped
Progress had become impossible. Be
fore them, twisted and torn and piled
about In muddy confusion, the TIM
bers of the mine suddenly showed in
perfect barricade, supplanted from
behind by piles Of muck and rocky
refuse which left no opening to the
chamber of the stope beyond. Har-
rvs carbide went high in the air, and
he slid forward, to stand a moment
in thought before the obstacle. At
place after place he surveyed 1t, finally
to turn with shrug Of his shoulders.
Its going to mean more'n a month
of the 'ardest kind Of work, Boy" came
his final announcement. "'Ow 1t could
ave caved In like that Is more than
know. I'm sure we timbered it
good"
There was only one thing to do
turn back Fifteen minutes more and
they we're on the surface, making
their plans; projects which entailed
work from morning until night for
many a day to come. Harry reached
for new ak and indicated another.
"We'll cut ties first," he announced.
And thus began the weeks Of effort,
weeks In which they worked with
crude appliances; weeks In which they
dragged the heavy stulls and other
timbers into the tunnel and then low
cred them down the shaft to the drift,
two hundred feet below, only to follow
them In their counterbalanced bucket
and laboriously pile them along. the
sides of the drift, there to await use
later on. Weeks in which they worked
in mud and slime. as they shoveled
out the muck and with their CAD hooks
tore down loose portions of the hang
ing wall to form q roadbed for their
new tram.
1t was a slow, CALLING progress, but
hey kept at 1t. Gradually the tram
line began to take shape, pieced to-
gether from old portions of the track
which still lay in the drift and supple
mented by others bought cheaply at
that graveyard of miners hopes-the
junk yard in Ohadi. At last it was
finished; the work of moving the heavy
timbers became easier now as they
were shunted onto the small tram
truck from which the body had been
dismantled and trundled along the
rails to the cave-in, there to be piled
in readiness for their use. And final
ly-
A pick swung in the air, to give
forth chunky, smacking sound, as 1t
struck water-softened, spongy wood.
The attack against the cave-in had be-
gun. A foot at a time they tore away
the old, broken, splintered timbers and
the rocky refuse which lay piled be-
hind each shivered beam; only to stop,
carry away the muck and then rebuild.
Cold and damp, In the moist air of the
tunnel they labored, but there was
Joy in it all. Down here they could
forget Squint Rodaine and his chalky-
faced son; down here they could feel
that they were working toward goal
and lay aside the handicap which
humans might put in their path.
Day after day Of labor and the In
dentation upon the cavern grew from
a matter Of feet to one of yards. A
week. Two. Then, as Harry swung
his pick, he lurched forward and went
to his knees. i've gone through" he
announced in happy surprise. i've
gone through. We're at the end Of 1t I"
Up went Fairchild's carbide. Where
the pick stfl hung In the rocky mass.