The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-01-19

With that determination, ne went 10
bed, to awake In the morning filled
with a desire to reach the mine, to
| claw at It's vitals with the sharp
edged drills, to swing the heavy sledge
| until his shoulders and back ached,
to send the roaring charges Of dyna-
mite digging deeper and deeper into
that thinning vein. And Harry was
beside him every step Of the way.
A days work, the booming charges,
and they returned to the stope to find
that the vein had neither lessened nor
grown greater. Another day--and n
after that. The vein remained the
same.
SauInt Rodaine had established his
| office in q small, vacant store building
on the main street, and Fairchild
| could see, as he went to and from his
work, q constant stream Of townspeo-
pie as they made that their goal
there TO give their money into the
keeping Of the ~be-scarred man and TO
trust to the future for wealth. 1t
| CALLED Fairchild, II made his hate
stronger than ever. AS for the girl
who was named as vice president
He saw her, day after day, riding
through town in the same automobile
that he had helped retire IN the Den
YER road. But now she did not look
at him now she pretended that she
did not see him. She had gone e
TO the Rodaines, she was engaged to
marry the chalky-faced, hook-nosed
| son and she was vice president Of
their notwithstanding mining cor
| poration. Fairchild did not even strive
TO find q meaning for 1t all women
are women, and men do we'll some
times If they diagnose themselves.
The summer began to grow old, and
Fairchild felt that he was aging. with
1t. The bank deposits were thinning,
and the vein was thinning with 1t.
Slowly but surely, as they fought, the
strip of pay ore in the rocks was
pinching out. Soon would come the
time when they could work 1t no
longer. And then-but Fairchild did
not like to think about that.
September came, and with 1t the
| grand jury. But here for once was
a slight ray of hope. The body Of
twelve good men and true wore them
selves out with other matters and adj
journed without even taking up the
mystery of the Blue Poppy mine. But
the Joy of Fairchild and Harry was
short-lived. In the long, legal phrase
ology of the jury's report was the
recommendation that this important
subject be the first for inquiry by the
next grand inquisitorial body to be
convened - and the threat still re-
NAMED.
But before the two men were now
realities which were worse even than
threats, and Harry turned from his
staging late one afternoon to voice
the most important.
wen start single-jacking tomor-
SIN the 'anging wall. The veins
pinched down until we amt ever get
ting day laborer's wages out Of 1t
and it's October now"
October! October-and winter on
the way. Oetober-and only a month
until the time when Harry must face
a jury on four separate charges, any
one of which might send him to Canon
City for the rest of his days. Fair
child's hopes lay inert. He was only
working now because a great, strong,
b~ig-shouldered man had come from
Cornwall to help him and was willing
to fight ii out to the end. October
and the announcement had said that
a certain girl would be married in the
late fall, a girl who ever looked In
his direction any more, who had al
lowed her name to become affiliated
with that Of the Rodaines, now near.
ing the task Of completing their two
million. October!
For a long moment, Fairchild said
nothing, then as Harry zane from the
staging, he moved 10 the older mans
side.
I'll didn't quite catch the idea,'
came at last. Harry pointed with his
sledge.
"rve been noticing the vein. II
keeps turning to the left. 1t struck
me that 1t might ave branched of
from the main body and that there
a bigger vein over there some'eres
Wen just ave to make a try for 1t
It's our only chance"
"And If we fall to find 1t there?'
"If 1t amt there-we're whipped!
1t was the first tine that Harry hat
said the word seriously. Fairchilt
pretended not to hear. Instead, h
picked up a drill, looked at It's point
then started toward the small forg'
which they had erected just at tn
foot Of the little raise leading to tn
stope. There Harry Joined him: to
gether they heated the long pieces o
steel and pounded their biting face
to the sharpness necessary to drillin
In the hard rock Of the hanging wal
tempering them In the bucket OF wa
ter near by. working silently, slowly
hampered by the weight Of defea'
They were being whipped; they fel
Il In every atom Of their beings. Blu
they had not given up their Ugh