Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
[Illustration: "Raise him up!" Skip shouted, and in another instant Fred
was suspended over the old shaft.]
DOWN THE SLOPE
BY
JAMES OTIS
_Author of "Telegraph Tom's Venture," "Messenger No. 48," "Toby Tyler,"
"The Boy Captain," "Silent Peter," etc., etc._
_ILLUSTRATED_
[Illustration]
M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY
407-429 Dearborn Street
CHICAGO
COPYRIGHT 1899
BY
THE WERNER COMPANY
M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY
PRINTERS AND BINDERS
407-429 DEARBORN STREET
CHICAGO
CONTENTS
PAGES
CHAPTER I--THE BREAKER BOY 7-14
CHAPTER II--THE WARNING 14-24
CHAPTER III--IN THE SHAFT 24-33
CHAPTER IV--THE BARRIER 33-41
CHAPTER V--THE MOB 41-50
CHAPTER VI--ON DUTY 51-59
CHAPTER VII--THE STRUGGLE 59-66
CHAPTER VIII--THE PURSUIT 67-75
CHAPTER IX--JOE BRACE 75-84
CHAPTER X--THE RESCUE 85-93
CHAPTER XI--BILLINGS AND SKIP 94-101
CHAPTER XII--A SINGULAR ACCIDENT 101-110
CHAPTER XIII--BURIED ALIVE 110-118
CHAPTER XIV--PRECAUTIONS 118-126
CHAPTER XV--A DISCOVERY 126-134
CHAPTER XVI--GOOD SAMARITANS 134-142
CHAPTER XVII--DOWN THE SLOPE 142-150
CHAPTER XVIII--SHUT DOWN 150-158
CHAPTER XIX--THE CONSULTATION 158-165
CHAPTER XX--THE ACCUSED 165-172
CHAPTER XXI--AMATEUR DETECTIVES 173-180
CHAPTER XXII--UNEXPECTED NEWS 180-187
CHAPTER XXIII--A MISADVENTURE 187-195
CHAPTER XXIV--BILL'S MISHAP 195-202
CHAPTER XXV--JOE'S INTERVIEW 203-210
CHAPTER XXVI--TURNING THE TABLES 210-217
CHAPTER XXVII--AN UNLOOKED-FOR DENIAL 217-224
CHAPTER XXVIII--OPINIONS 224-230
CHAPTER XXIX--A QUESTION OF TITLE 231-237
CHAPTER XXX--A SUIT AT LAW 237-244
CHAPTER XXXI--SKIP 244-253
CHAPTER XXXII--ACQUITTED 253-262
CHAPTER XXXIII--VICTORIOUS 262-269
CHAPTER XXXIV--THE NEW MINE 270-273
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"Raise him up!" Skip shouted, and in another instant Fred was
suspended over the old shaft _Frontispiece_
Fred set off at full speed, and almost immediately a shout went
up from the rioters: "The sneaks are sending for help! Stop
that boy!" 74
"You four are to act as sentinels," said the superintendent. "Study
this map and you will hit upon a scheme" 95
"Please don't drag me off," Skip said, piteously. "I'll never hurt
you or anybody else again" 128
DOWN THE SLOPE
CHAPTER I
THE BREAKER BOY
"Jest moved here, eh?"
"Came last Friday."
"And you are going into the breaker?"
"Yes."
"For thirty-five cents a day?"
"That is all the company pays, and a green hand can't expect to get
more."
"Were you ever in a mine before?"
"I never even saw one."
"A trip down the slope will be enough to make you wish such a place in
which to earn a living never existed. Why don't you try something else
before it is too late?"
"What do you mean by 'too late'?"
"When a fellow is in debt to the company's store he can't afford to be
independent, and it is about the same as selling yourself outright for
enough to eat and drink."
"I won't get into debt."
"Wait a week, and see if you can say the same thing then."
"I mustn't get trusted. I'm the only one to whom mother can look for
support. We hadn't any money with which to go to the city, and so came
here. It isn't likely I shall be obliged to stay in the breaker forever,
and after a while it will be possible to get a better job. Where are you
working?"
"I'm Bill Thomas' butty."
"What's that?"
"His helper. He's a miner, and I'll have the same kind of a lay after
being with him a while."
"Were you ever in the breaker?"
"I sorted slate from coal most three years, an' got more dust than
money; but I'm tough, you see, an' didn't wear out my lungs."
"What's your name?"
"Sam Thorpe; but if you ever want anybody to help you out of a scrape,
an' I reckon that'll happen before many days, ask for Bill's butty."
"I am Fred Byram, and mother has hired the new house near the store."
"I'm sorry for you; but as it can't be helped now, keep your eyes
peeled, for the boys are a tough lot. When you want a friend come to me.
I like your looks, and wish you'd struck most any other place than
Farley's, 'cause it's the worst to be found in the Middle Field."
With this not very encouraging remark Sam went toward the mouth of the
slope, and the new breaker boy was left to his own devices.
It was six o'clock in the morning. The underground workers were coming
singly or in groups to begin the day's work for which each would be paid
in accordance with the amount of coal taken out, and no one could afford
to remain idle many moments.
Fred knew he must report to the breaker boss before seven o'clock, and
approached the grimy old building wondering if it would be necessary for
him to work three years, as Sam Thorpe had done, before earning more
than thirty-five cents per day.
Entering the breaker, which was thickly coated both inside and out with
coal-dust, he reported to Donovan, the boss, by saying:
"I have come to work. Here is my ticket."
"Green?"
"Yes, sir."
"Here, Chunky, take this new hand alongside of you, and see that there
is no skylarking."
The boy referred to as Chunky made no reply; but looked up from beside
the long chute at which he was sitting, as if the task of breaking in a
new hand was very welcome. A fat, good-natured fellow he apparently was,
and Fred fancied he would be an agreeable task-master.
He, like the others, was curious to know if his companion had been in a
mine before, and on receiving the information, remarked sagely:
"You'll be mighty sick of the whole thing before night, but it's safer
than down in the galleries."
"What must I do?"
"At seven o'clock the coal will be dumped in at the other end of the
chute, an' while it's runnin' past you must pick out the slate."
"Is that all?"
"By the time your hands are cut into mince-meat you'll think it's
enough," was the grim reply, and before Fred could speak again the day's
labor had begun. The black fragments came through the chute with a roar
which was deafening, and the "green hand" was at a loss to distinguish
coal from slate.
"Take out the dull, grayish stuff," Chunky shouted, as he seized from
the moving mass sufficient fragments to serve as specimens, and in a
short time Fred began to have a general idea of his duties.
Before the forty minutes "nooning" had come around his hands were cut
and bleeding; but the thought of his mother, who looked to him for
support, was enough to keep him busily at work, and when the whistle
sounded he had most assuredly earned half of the thirty-five cents.
A short rest, a lunch eaten amid the sooty vapor, which caused one to
fancy he was gazing through a veil whenever he glanced across the
building, and then the fatiguing labor was recommenced, to be ended only
at the stroke of six, when miners, buttys, mule drivers and bosses
hastened to the surface of the earth once more after having been
deprived of sunlight for nearly twelve hours.
Without paying any especial attention to the fact, Fred noticed that
although he was among the last to leave the breaker, the majority of the
boys followed close behind as he started toward home.
In order to reach the company's store it was necessary to traverse a
mirey road on which were no habitations for nearly fifty yards, and when
Fred was half this distance from the breaker, a voice from behind
shouted:
"Hi! Hold on a bit, you new feller!"
Fred turned to see a dozen of those who had been at work near him,
advancing threateningly.
"What do you want?" he asked, regretting now that he had not hurried on
ahead as Chunky suggested shortly before the whistle sounded.
"We've got a word to say, an' you're wanted very pertic'lar."
"I can't stop now."
"That's too bad, for there's a little business to be settled right
away," and the largest of the party stepped so near in front of Fred
that it would have been impossible for him to have advanced, except at
the risk of an encounter.
"Won't it do just as well in the morning?"
"I'm afraid not."
"But I promised to come straight home."
"You can't go till our 'count has been fixed."
"I don't owe you anything."
"Don't eh?"
"No. I never even saw one of your crowd until I came to work this
morning."
"What of that?"
"It shows there can be no account between us."
"You're makin' a big mistake, young feller. Ain't this your first day in
the breaker?"
"Of course it is."
"Then what about payin' your footing?"
"My footing?"
"Every feller who comes here has got to make things square with us by
standin' treat."
"Well I'm one who can't do it."
"Oh, yes you can," and here the bully looked at his companions, who
echoed his words, crowding yet closer around Fred, until it was
literally impossible for him to make the slightest movement.
"I haven't got a penny, and what I earn is for mother."
"You can get an advance at the store."
"Do you suppose I'll run in debt for the purpose of treating you?"
"That's about the size of it."
"Then you're making a big mistake, for I won't do anything of the kind,"
and Fred made one desperate attempt to force his way through the crowd.
"Look out for him!" the leader shouted, as he struck Fred a blow on the
cheek which would have sent him headlong but for the others who acted as
a sort of brace.
The new breaker boy was not disposed to submit tamely, and struck out
blindly but vigorously drawing blood from more than one nose before
borne to the earth by press of numbers.
While he was thus helpless every fellow who could get near enough dealt
him one or more blows, and not until they were tired of the sport did
the young ruffians cease.
"Now let up," the leader cried, in a tone of authority. "He's had a dose
that shows what we can do, an' will git it ten times as bad to-morrer,
if he don't come down with the treat."
The disciplining party ran swiftly toward the settlement when these
words had been spoken, probably because a dozen or more miners were
approaching, and Fred was left to make his way home as best he could.
He had just staggered to his feet when the men arrived upon the scene;
but no one paid any particular attention to him, save as one miner
remarked with a laugh:
"I reckon here's a lad who didn't know the rules; but it won't take him
long to find them out."
Fred was too sore both in mind and body to make any retort, and he
limped down the road believing this first attempt to earn a living was
already a dismal failure.
He would have kept the story of the attack a secret from his mother, but
for the marks of the conflict which could not be hidden, and when
questioned represented the affair as of no especial importance.
Mrs. Byram had a fairly good idea of the case, however, when he said
despondently:
"I believe it would be better to try some other kind of work. Why can't
we go to the city?"
"Because our capital is so limited. To come here it was only necessary
to move our furniture three miles, and the promise of needle-work from
the superintendent's family assured us sufficient income to meet the
absolute cost of living. But you need not go to the breaker again; it
may be possible to find employment elsewhere."
"There's little chance of that in this town, mother," Fred replied with
a brave attempt at cheerfulness. "I should be worse than a loafer to
remain idle while you were working, and by keeping my eyes open that
crowd can't do very much mischief."
"Wouldn't it be better to pay your 'footing' as they call it? Once that
has been done there can be no excuse for troubling you."
"I won't give them the value of a penny, and I'll stick to my job.
Perhaps, by flogging the bully I can teach them to let me alone."
"But you musn't fight, Fred," Mrs. Byram said, in alarm.
"It's better to have one regular battle than to get such a drubbing as
this every night. If they make any more fuss I shall take care of
myself."
Now that the first sense of injury had passed away, Fred felt as if he
had been at fault to allow himself to be so easily overcome, and,
distasteful as was the work in the breaker, he had fully resolved to
remain and assert his rights in a manly way.