The Holbrook news., 1922-12-01
CHAPTER xIV-continued.

0lm. The R0dalneS had known of this strike long before he ever went to that office in Denver. They had wait ed long enough to have their assays made and had completed their first shipment to the shelter. There was no necessity that they buy the Blue Poppy mine. Therefore, was it simply another trick to break him, to lead him up to a point of high expecta- lions. then, with a laugh at his dis appointment, throw him down again ! Ills shoulders straightened as they reached the outside air, and he moved close to Harry ss he told him his con- lectures. The Cornishman bobbed his head.
 "I never thought of 1t that wye l' he agreed. "But 1t could explain lot of things They want to beat us and they don't care low. It 'urts a person to be disappointed. That's 1t. I al- yves said you 'ad a good cad on you! That's 1t. Let's go back to the Blue Poppy"
 Back they went, once more to de scend the shaft, once more to follow the trail along the drift toward the opening of the stope. And there, where loose earth covered the place where a skeleton once had rested, Fairchild took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves.
 Harry" he said. with a new deter mination, "this vein doesn't look like much, and the mine looks worse. But If you're game. I'm game, and we'll work the thing until it breaks us."
 "YOu've said 1t. If we 1t anything, fine and well-if we caI turn out five thousand dollars worth of stuff be- fore the trial comes up. then we can sell hit under the direction of the court, turn over that money for a cash bond. and get the deeds back. If we can't. and if the mine peters out, then we ain't lost anything but a lot of 'opes and time. But ere goes. We'll dOuble-jack. I've got a big 'ammer ere You old the drill for awhile and turn 1t. while I sling tn sledge. Then you take tn 'ammer and LOT lave mercy on my 'ands If you miss."
 Fairchild obeyed. Hour after hour they worked. Then. as the afternoon grew late, Harry disappeared far down the drift to return with hand full of greasy, candlelike things, wrapped in waxed paper.
 "I knew that dynamite of yours couldn't be shipped in time, so I bought a little up 'ere," he explained, as he cut one of the sticks in two with a pocketknife and laid the pieces to one side. Then out came a coll of fuse, to be cut to its regular lengths and inserted in the cOpper-covered caps of illuminate of mercury, Harry showing his contempt for the danger ous things by crimping them about the fuse with his teeth, while Fair child, sitting on a small pile of muck nearby, begged for caution. But Harry only grinned behind his big mustache and went on.
 Out came his pocketknife again as he slit the waxed paper of the gelat- inous sticks, then inserted the cap in the dynamite. One after another the charges were showed into the holes, Harry tamping them into place with a steel rod, instead of with the usual wooden affair. his mustache brushing his shoulder as he turned to explain the virtues of dynamite when handled by an expert.
 "It's all in the wye you do it." he announced. 'If you don't strike fire with a steel rod, it's fine"
 ''But if you do?"
 "Oh, thenl" Harry laughed. "Then it's flowers and a 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 all were spluttering.
 "NOw we run" 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 untitled, booming roar came from the distance. Harry stared at his carbide lamp.
 "One," 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 where the explosions had occurred. There Harry stood in silent contempla- tion for a long time, holding his car bIde over the pile of ore that had been torn from the vein above.
 NIt ain't much." came at last "Not at that rate. And besides" he looked upward-"we ain't even going to be getting that pretty soon. It's pinching out"
 Fairchild followed his gaze, to see fin the torn rock above him only a nar- row streak now. fully an inch and a half narrower than the vein had been before the powder holes had been drilled. It could mean only one thing: that the bet had been played and lost, that the vein had been one 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.
 Tt won't last"
 "Not more than two or three more shotS," Fairchild agreed.