The Ely miner., 1929-08-30

i've no reason to doubf his SINGER
ity."
sincerity be danged- He's about
as sincere as tame rittlesnake. Put
his letter in the creek"
But mol | refused 10 listen TO the
old man.
swell, go your own gait" he said !;
'but don't say that / didn't warn
you."
Following the trail, we struck up
Bonanza. a small muddy stream in 81
narrow valley. About noon we de-
scended into the creek bed anc came
to the Forks. Ii was a little town,
a Dawson in miniature, with all its
sordid aspects infinitely accenruated.
There in the din and daze an3 dirt
we tarried awhile; then, after eating
heartily. we struck up Eldorado.
AT the Forks | inquired regarding
Ribwood and HOFFMAN: "Goin' TO
work for them. are you? Well.
they've got a blamed hard name. II
you get job elsewhere. don't turn it
down."
Ribwood was tall. gaunt Cornish
man, with narrow, jutting face and
a gloomy air; HOFFMAN. burly. beet
colored Australian with a bulging
stomach.
"Yes, Wen put you to work." said
HOFFMAN, reading the letter. Get
your coat off and shovel in"
So, right away, | found myself in
the dump-pile, jamming shovel into
the pay-dirt and swinging il into a
sluice-box five feet higher than nv
head. Keeping at this hour after
hour was no fun.
For three days | made the dirt fly !;
but toward quitting time, must say,
its flight was very uncertain one.
Again | suffered all the tortures of
becoming toil-broken. The constant
hoisting into the overhead sluice-box
somehow worked muscles that had
never gone into action before. and
| ached deliberately.
/ was glad, indeed, when, on the
evening of the third, day, Ribwood
came to me and said:
Il guess you'd better work up at
the shaft tomorrow. We want man
to wheel muck" ......
They had a shaft sunk on the hill
side. They were down some forty
feet and were drifting in, wheeling
the pay-dirt down a series of planks
placed on trestles TO the dump. After
the first day | became quite an ex-
pert at the business. My spirits rose
was on the way of becoming a
miner.
Turning the windlass over the shaft
was a little, tough mud-rat, who ex-
cited in me the liveliest sense of
aversion. Pat DOogan was his name,
but | will call him the Worm"
He was the most degraded type of
man l had yet met on my travels,
degenerate, dirty, drunken, diseased
One day HOFFMAN told me he want
ed me To go down the shaft and work
in the drift. Accordingly, next morn
ing | and huge Slav. by name Doc
ley Rileyvich. were lowered down in
to the darkness.
The shaft was almost forty feet
deep. For the first ten feet a ladder
ran down it, then stopped suddenly
as if the excavators had decided TO
abandon ii. | often looked at this
useless bit of ladder and wondered
why ii had been left unfinished.
Every morning the Worm hOisted
US down into the darkness. and at
night drew US up. Once he said to me ::
Say, wouldn't ii be de tough luck
if was to take a ft when ! was
hOistin' yOuse up? Such a nice biz OF
a boy, too, an ] guess I'd lose my
job over de head of it,
| said: Cut that out, or you'll have
me so scared | won't go down."
He grinned unpIeasantly and sale
nothing more Yet somehow be was
getting on my nerves terribly.
One evening we were ready to be
hoisted up. DColey Rileyvich went
first, and | watched him blot out the
bit of blue for a while. Then. slow
ly, down came the bucket for me.
| got in. was feeling u~easy all
of a sudden, and devOutly wished l
were anywhere else but in that hide
Gus hole. ! felt myself leave the
ground and rise steadily. was now
ten feet from the top. The pucker
was rocking little. so | put out my
hand and, grasped the lowest rung Of
the ladder to steady myself.
Then. at that instant. ii seemed the
weight of the bucket pressing up
against my feet was suddenly re-
moved, and my arm was nigh jerked
out of its socket. There ] was hang
ing desperately on the s,west rung OF
the ladder. while, with crash thar
made my heart sick, the hucker
dashed to the bottom. A last. | real
lied, the Worm had had his fit
Quickly ! gripped with both hands.
With a great effort | raised myself
runs by rung on the ladder Dizzily
| hung all a-shudder. half-sobbing. A
minute seemed like year.
All was illC IdNC vi lyOOlf-H
looking down on me. He saw me
clinging there. He was anxiously
shouting TO me TO come up. Master
ing an overpOwering nausea ! raised
myself. AT last felt his strong arm
around me. and ! was on firm ground
once more. The Worm was lying stiff
and rigid. Without a word the stal.
wart Slav look him on his brawny
shoulder. The creek was down hili
but fifty yards. Ere we reached il
the Worm had begun To show signs
of reviving consciousness
Leave me alone" he says 10 Riley
vich; you Slavonian swine. Iemme
go"
Not so the Slav. Holding the
I;fsIo