The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-12-01
THE CROSS-CuT

olhi AUNc YOU! he Doomed
as he caught the gray-haired, laugh.
Ing woman in his arms. Even If Won
did run me off and wouldn't go bacl,
to Cornwall
R~ed-faced, she pushed him away
and slapped his cheek p%layfully: II
was like the tap Of a light breeze
against granite. Then Harry turned.
Ave you looked at the miner
The question brought back to Fair
child the happenings Of the morning
and the memory Of the man who had
trailed him. He told his story, while
Mother Howard listened, her arms
crossed, her head bobbing, and while
Harry, his big grin still on his lips.
took in the details with avidity. Then
the grin faded.
Les go up there" he said quietly.
This time the trip to Kentucky
gulch was made by skirting the town:
soon they were on the rough, narrow
roadway leading into the mountains.
A long time they walked, at last TO
stop in the shelter Of the rocks where
Fairchild had Swallowed his pursuer,
and to glance carefully ahead. No
one was in sight. Harry jabbed out
a big finger.
"'That's it," lie announced, straight
a'eadr
They went on, Fairchild with a grip
ping at his throat that would not
down. This had been the hope of his
father-and here his father had met
what? lie sweryed quickly and
stopped, facing the bigger man.
Harry" came sharply, 81 know
that l may be violating an unspoken
promise to my father. But I simply
can't stand it any longer. What hap
pened here? There was some sort of
tragedy"
Harry chuckled- in concealment,
did not want to tell him.
~ should think so! The timbers
gave way and the mine caved in"
"Not that! My father ran away
from this town. You and Mother
Howard helped him. You didn't come
back. Neither did my father. Even
tually it killed him."
"SoT" Harry looked seriously and
studiously at the young man. "'E
didn't write me of'en."
"He didn't need to write you. You
were here with him-when it hap
pened."
mo" Harry shook his head. 81
was in town. What's Mother Howard
told your"
"a lot-and nothing"
81 don't know any more than she
does"
But"
Friends didn't ask questions in
those days." came quietly. II might
ave guessed If I'd wanted to-but 1
didn't want to-"
But If you hadT
Harry looked at him with quiet, blue
eyes.
"What would you guessT'
Slowly Robert Fairchild's gaze went
to the ground. There was only one
| possible conjecture: Sissie Larsen had
been impersonated by a woman Sis
sic Larsen had never been seen again
in Ohadi.
Il would hate to put 1t into
words" came finally. Harry slapped
him on the shoulder.
"Then don't. 1t was nearly thirty
years ago. Let sleeping dogs lie. Take
q look around before we go into the
tunnel"
They reconnoitered, first on one
side then on the other. No one was in
sight. Harry bent to the ground, and
finding a pitcfS pine knot, lighted it.
They started cautiously within, blink
ing against the darkness.
The outlines Of a rusty "hoist," with
it's cable leading down into a slanting
hole in the rock, showed dimly before
them-a massive, chunky, deserted
thing in the shadows. The timbers
were rotting; one after another, they
had cracked and caved beneath the
weight Of the earth above, giving the
tunnel an eerie aspect, uninviting,
dangerous. Harry peered ahead.
"It amt as bad as it looks" came
after a moments survey. "It's only
right ERE at the beginning that it's
caved. But that doesn't do us much
good"
"Why not?" Fairchild was staring
with him, on. toward the darkness of
the farther recesses. eff it isn't caved
in farther back, we ought to be able
to repair this spot"
But Harry shook his head.
"We didn't go into the vein ERE"
he explained. 1--WE figured we 'ad to
ave a shaft anyway, sooner or later.
You can't do under'and Stopping In a
mine-go down on 0 vein, you know.
You've always got to so up-you can't
get the metal out If you don't. That's
why we dug this shaft-and now look
at it,"
He drew the Pickering torch to the
edge of the shaft and held II there,
staring downward, Fairchild beside
him. Twenty feet below there came
the glistening reflection Of the flaring
flame. Water! Fairchild glanced