The diamond drill., 1922-01-20

voice or my Ola siGe partner came
again out OF the darkness.
"P'raps It's cloudin' up some," he
suggested In half-whisper. Il can't
see no stars through them windows"
Al this looked toward the window
openings, but the Interior bIackness
had blotted them out completely. Al
most instinctively | turned back 70 the
door and put an eye 10 loophoIe.
One glance was enough. The trouble.
whatever II might be. was with us and
not with the sky. The stars were
shining as brightly as ever.
"Don't move. Daddy" cautioned.
and then sroped my way along the
wall and climbed 10 the top OF our
earth-sack breastwork at point which
guessed 10 be under the nearest OF
the two windows.
When ! drew myself up and tried to
thrust a hand through the opening
the mysterious darkness was ex-
slalned. The window embrasures were
stopped up. both of them. on the out
side by something that felt like a
heavy canvas curtain. though how the
curtain was held In place could not
determine. But II was firmly braced
In some way. With all the purchase
could get--whlch wasn't much--I
couldn't dislodge II or push II aside.
Making my way back to the door
told Daddy what had found.
"Huh I" he said; 'that old tarpaulIn
that was out yonder In the ore shed.
How dye reckon they got It there.
Stannie7"
"Its hoisted on a framework Of
some kind, and they did II while we
were rubbering and trying 70 find out
what all that noise was about"
We were not kept very long In doubt
an to what the NEXT enemy move was
TO be. With the cessation Of the tom
tom ciatter the collie had grown curl
ously restless. We couldn't see him,
but we could hear him running from
post to pillar. smiling at the cracks
and occasionally giving a whining
growi. Presently he began to, cough
and sneeze; then he came racing back
to us, fattening himself to hold his
nose to the crack under the door and
taking long breaths as IL he were half
stined. / stopped to pat him and Inn
mediately imagined l was smelling
burning sulphur matches.
Get down here, Daddy. and smell
this dogl" / whispered. rs 1t old
fashioned matches, or what?"
One sniff was all that the old man
needed.
e-whiz-brimstonei he
choked; "them devils are smokin' us
out That's why they stopped up them
window holes; so we couldn't get tsany
airp
There appeared TO be little enough
time for any defensive move. The as
phyxiating gas was coming stronger
every moment, and any search for its
source seemed utterly hopeless. Yet
we went at 1t, coughing and choking,
and stumbling over everything in the
darkness, as a matter Of course.
After all II was Barney who (I honor
him with the human pronoun because
he certainly deserved it) II was Bar
ney who showed us the DEVILS door
way. The red glow was now sending
enough light through cracks and crew
ices and the bullet rippings overhead
TO make our inner darkness a degree
or so less than Stygian. Missing the
dog for moment at our common
breathing hole. we saw him circling a
particular spot In the floor and snarl-
ing at II as II It were something alive.
At that we both remembered that
the shafthouse floor was raised foot
or so from the rocky ledge on the
down-mountain side, and that the
space underneath was partly open.
Daddy pointed 10 the circling dog.
"Barney's got It'll" he painted.
They've run their chimney up under
the hoorl" Then: where In Sam
HUI did you leave that ax?"
The az was near at hand and ran
for II. Holding my breath began TO
chop madly at the floor planking. BY
this time the air was 30 bad that Il