The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-11-02
ILLUSTRATIONS
Van Nice

Out came his pocketknife again as
he slit the waxed paper of the gelat-
nous sticks, then inserted the cap III
the dynamite. One after another the
charges were showed into the holes,
Harry tamping them into place with Il
steel rod, instead OF with the usual
wooden affair, his mustache brushing
his shoulder al he turned to explain;
the virtues of dynamite when handled
by an expert. 5
ITS all In the wye you do tt" he
announced. IF You don't strike fire
with q steel rod, it's fne.n
"But Ii you dor
oh. then |" Harry laughed. Then
it's flowers and q funeral--after
they've finished picking you up
One after another he pressed the
dynamite charges tight into the drill,
holes and tamped them with muck
wrapped In a newspaper that he
dragged from his hip pocket. Then
he LIT the fuses from his lamp and
stood a second IN assurance that they
oil were spluttering.
Now we run I, he announced, and
they hurried, side by side, down the
drift tunnel until they reached the
shaft. "Far enough = said Harry.
A long moment Of waiting. Then
the earth quivered and a muffled,
booming roar came from the distance.
Harry stared at his carbide lamp.
aOne,a' he announced. Then, Two
Three, four and five followed. all
counted seriously, carefully by Harry.
Finally they turned back along the
drift toward the stope, the acrid odor
of dynamite smoke cutting at their
nostrils as they approached the spot
where the explosions had occurred.
There Harry stood In silent contempla-
ton for a long time, holding his car
lbide over the Pile of ore that had been
torn from the vein above. f4t T.
1T amt much" came at last. Mot
:more'n 'arf a ton, We won't get rich
at that rate. And besides he looked
upward-awe amt even going to be
getting that pretty Q It's ~pinching
out. s @
Fairchild followed his gaze, to see
In the torn rock above him only a mar
row streak now, fully an inch and a
half narrower than the vein had been,
before the powder holes had been
drilled. 1t could mea only one thing:
that the bet had been played and lost,
that the vein had been n of those
freak affairs that start out with much
promise, seem to give hope Of eternal
riches, and then gradually dWindle to
nothing. Harry shook his head.
ut won't last"
mot more than two or three more
Shots" Fairchild agreed.
"You can't tell about that. 1t may
run that way all through the mountain
but what's q four-inch vein7 You can
go up ERE In the Argonaut tunnel and
find 'arf a dozen of them things that
they don't even take the trouble to
mine. That is, unless they III Ugh In
silver he picked up a chunk of the
ore from the muck pile where 1t had
been deposited and studied it intently
-abut / don't see any pure silver
sticking out in this stuff
"But it must be here somewhere. /
dop't know anything about mining
hui don't veins sometimes pinch of
and then show up later onY
..Sure they do-sometimes. But It's
a gamble"
That's all we've had from the be.
ginning, Harry.
aAnd It's about all we're going TO
ave any time unless something hobs
up sudden like
Then, by common consent, they laid
away their working clothes and left
the mine, to- wander down the gulch
and to the boarding house. After din
ner they chatted q moment with Moth
81 Howard, then wentnpstairs. each
to his room. An hour later Harry
knocked at Fairchildss door, and en-
tered, the evening paper in his hand.
" 'Ere's something more that's nice"
he announced, pointing to an Item on
the front page. 1t was the. announce
ment TINT d general grand jury was
To be convened late in the summe and
sthas ohejpfaits tasks you'd hetoseek
to hnravel the anystery OF the murder
fof Sissie Lafseni
Fairchild read It with morbidity..
Trouble seemed To have become more
than occasional, and further than that,
Happeared 10 descend upon him at
just the times when ne could least re
sist II. He made no comment there
was nttletlat he could say Again
he read the item and again, finally to
tnr The pngs and breathe Sharply.
him was a six-colnmn adver.
tisemenf, announcing the strike intlie
Silver Queen mine and also spreading
the word that OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
company would be formed a mill
lion I'LL stock To represent die mine IL
sell, the other to be subscribed To ex-
plot this neWfnd as II should be ex-
plotted. Glowing words told "a the
possibilities Of the Silver Queen of
fees had been opened everything had
been planned I'll advance ana the ad-
yertisement written before the town
was aware Of the Biz discovery NJ
Kentucky guleh. All ~ Fairchild
read With u feeling lie could not down
- feeling that Fate. somehow, was
dealing the cards from The bottom,
and that trickery and treaehefy ana
ssnomous nature we're the necessary
ingredients, inter ~, tosuccess. He
dnished tho last line. looked at Tue HIT
Dc officers, ana gasped.
Tor there. follvNing one another.
were three names, two a Mhieh Enir-