The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-12-08
CHAPTER ViIi--continucd.

Fairchild turned Mt the entrance Of
the mine and waited for the first of
the miners and the accompanying
CLEAN Of his carbide. Then they went
within and to the shaft, the light
shining downward upon the oily, black
water below. Two objects foated
there, a broken piece of timber, torn
from the side OF the shaft, where
someone evidently had grasped hastily
at Ii In an effort to stop a fall, and
"A new, four-dented hat, gradually be-
coming w~ater-soaked and sinking
SLOWLY beneath the surface. And then.
for the first time, fear clutched at
Fairchild's heart-fear which hope
could not ignore.
There's his hat" 1t was a miner
staring downward.
Fairchild had geen It, but he strove
10 put aside the thought.
"True," he answered, "but anyone
could lose a hat, simply by looking
over the edge Of the shaft. Harry's a
strong man. Certainly he would know
how to swim. And In any event he
should have been able to have kept
dfloat for at least a few minutes. Ro-
ranne says that he heard a shout and
copI right In here; but all that he
ing see was ruffied water and a float
aanlv {. T." Then he paused sud-
,daine NIT had come to him that Ro-
re Harry int have helped In the demise
Shouts
,tba roarirpounded from outside, and
MADE ,ts d OF a motor truck as 1t
ho,,ider-sfslow tortuous way up the
and inn,trewn road with its gullies
ruuhlinF merable ruts. Voices came,
inc thek and varied. Lights. Gain
x,onId mouth Of the tunnel, Fairchild
~ ~ fee a mass Of shadows outlined
1900 carbldes, all following the lead
H1Aip OF q small, excited man, Sam
Z~erbenfelder, still seeking his dia-
<tnond.
The big pump from the Argonaut
tunnel was aboard the truck, which
was followed by two other auto We
hicles, each loaded with gasoline EN-
gines and smaller pumps. A hundred
men were In the crowd, all equipped
with ropes and buckets. Sam Herben-
felder's pleas had been heard. The
search a about TO begin for the
body of Harry and the diamond that
circled n finger. And Fairchild has
tened to do his part.
Until far into the night they worked
and strained to put the big pump into
position |; while crews OF men, four and
ave In a group, bailed water as fast
as possible, that the aggregate might
be lessened to the greatest possible
extent before the pumps. with their
hoses. were attached. Then the gaso-
line engines began to snort, great
lengths OF tubing were let down into
the shaft. and squirting water started
Gown the mountain side as the tasl,
Of unwatering the shaft began.
But It was q slow job. Morning
found the distance to the water length
sned by twenty to thirty feet, and the
bucket brigades nearly at the end Of
their ropes. Men trudged down the
hills to breakfast, sending others In
their places. Fairchild stayed on to
meet Mother Howard and assuage her
nervousness as best he could, dividing
mis- time between her and the task be-
fore him. Noon found more water
than ever rambling down the hills
the smaller pumps were working 10Y
IN unison with the larger one, After
no0n-and most OF Ohadi was there.
:Fairchild could distinguish the form
a. Anita Richmond In the hundreds OF
women and men clustered about the
<rcrs-g - ths tunnel and TOR once