STEVE SHOOTS THE CHUTES
Reaching the sub-level, as he supposed, Steve found it enshrouded in
inky blackness. He was in a side drift, but he did not know it.
"I guess I am as badly off as I was before. I haven't the least idea
where I am, so I guess there is not much danger of getting lost."
Removing the candle from his hat, the lad held it before him, lighting
the shadows sufficiently to enable him to see where he was stepping.
After a time he came out into a larger tunnel, which, he decided, must
be one of the main levels, for there was a narrow track extending along
it. Steve decided to follow this track and trust to luck. He had gone
along for perhaps fifteen minutes when he made a discovery.
"I've lost the track!" he exclaimed. "I wonder where it could have gone
to?"
The lad retraced his steps, but search as he might he was unable to find
the steel rails again. For what seemed hours to him the youthful miner
wandered here and there. The fact that he had neither seen nor heard
anyone led him to where the work was
going on.
Steve was beginning to get disheartened. He was thankful that he had his
dinner pail with him, in case he failed to find his way out before the
day's work was done.
At last, however, he reached a drift or level, he did not know which,
where he could not stand upright. The rocks overhead had been shored up
with heavy timbers. It was a dangerous spot. Steve understood that
without being told, so he crawled quickly through. At the far end of the
low drift he encountered another ladder.
Deciding that it must lead to an upper level, the lad began climbing. He
had gotten a little more than half way up when all at once his candle
slipped from his hand, falling clear to the bottom, where it went out,
leaving Steve in darkness.
"Oh, that's too bad. I must get it again before I dare go on any
further."
Steve hurried down and began searching about on the ground for the lost
candle. After a little he found it, but the candle was useless. In
tramping about he had crushed it under his heavy boots, flattening the
candle out hopelessly.
"Only a grease spot," muttered Steve. "Well, I can't be much worse off
than I have been, so I am going back up the ladder. I surely must find
someone if I keep on hunting about. There are more than five hundred men
in this mine right now, and unless they are all hiding from me I am
bound to run across some of them. I am afraid I am not much of a success
as a miner. At least my first day below ground has been a sad failure so
far."
Steve was on his way up the ladder once more. It was a long climb, much
longer, it seemed to him, than the other ladder had been. He began to
climb faster, when all at once he received a shock that wrenched his
hands loose from the rungs of the ladder. Before the lad could regain
his balance he toppled over backwards and plunged downward.
Steve's head had come in contact with the rocks above, that left but a
small space for a man to crawl through to reach the upper level. He had
bumped his head with such force as to cause him to let go.
Grasping frantically for something to stay his flight, the lad went
tumbling down. He landed on the ground at the bottom, flat on his back,
bruised and breathless.
For a moment Steve lay where he had fallen. But shortly he got up,
rubbing his bruises gingerly and trying to collect his thoughts.
"Tumble number one," muttered Rush. "I'll try it again."
This time he met with better success, for he managed to get through the
manhole above without striking his head against the rocks. But once on
the upper level the question arose as to what to do next. There was the
same dense blackness over all, the same deep silence that the lad had
found below.
After considering a moment, he decided to feel his way along as best he
could. An investigation had told him that his dinner was still safe,
though the tin pail had been battered all out of shape.
"I'll bet there is some scrambled egg in the bottom of the pail," said
Steve, with a short laugh.
Once more he took up his journey through the dark tunnels, feeling
cautiously with feet and hands before he took a step forward. He had
gone along in this way for some time when he halted abruptly, leaning
forward in a listening attitude.
"What's that?" he muttered. "I know! I know what it is; it's a drill. I
would recognize that 'bang, bang, bang' anywhere. That means I am close
to some operations. The next thing is to find where the sound comes
from. It must be ahead of me somewhere, for I can just hear it, whereas
a few moments ago I could not."
Again he began cautiously working forward. After a while the sounds came
to him more clearly. Steve had swerved to the right and entered a new
drift, though he was not aware of the fact and whereas he had been
proceeding directly east, he was now headed south.
The bang, bang of the compressed air drill was getting louder and louder
as the moments passed. After a time the boy halted again. The sounds
seemed to come from directly beneath him.
"I believe that is on the level below this," he decided. "How am I to
find the way down to it? If I go back I shall be lost. I'll call and see
if I can attract attention from any of them."
The lad shouted at the top of his voice, but only his own echoes came
back to him in hollow tones.
Suddenly a twinkling light appeared far down the level. The lad
recognized it at once as being a candle on a miner's hat.
"Hello, there!" he called.
"What do you want?" came the answer.
"I am lost."
"Go find yourself, then. Don't bother me."
Steve did not propose to let it go at that. He ran forward to where the
miner was about to descend a ladder to the lower level.
"Won't you please help me, sir. I am in a fix."
"Well, what do you want?" demanded the miner in a surly tone, pausing a
few rungs down the ladder.
"I am looking for the Spooner contract. Will you please direct me to
it?"
"Follow this level around to the left until you come to three drifts.
Take the middle one to the end, and then go down the ladder you will
find there."
"Thank you. Can you spare me a candle?"
"No; I can't."
The man grasped the side pieces of the ladder, letting himself down in a
rapid slide. Steve Rush found himself once more left in darkness. At
least he had his directions now, and he thought he could find his way to
the contract for which he was looking.
So the lad pressed on with more confidence than before. After proceeding
some distance he found by groping about that he had reached the place
indicated. He took the middle drift, as directed, and hurried along
this. He had no idea what time it was, but Steve imagined that it must
be near noon. It seemed as though a long time must have passed since he
entered the mine with the day shift, whereas, in truth, not quite two
hours had elapsed.
The lad was thinking over his misfortunes, smiling grimly to
himself--for Steve Rush was not a boy to whine, no matter how great his
adversity--when all at once the ground seemed to drop from under his
feet.
On all levels there are "rises," small chutes which extend from one
level to another. These are in addition to the regular ore chutes and
considerably smaller. They are used for filling cars below, when
necessary, as ore is always dumped downward into a lower level, from
which it is hoisted to the surface, thus saving the labor of loading. It
was one of these rises into which Steve had stepped. To do so he had
swerved from the tunnel through which he was passing, stepping into an
open pocket in the rocks, believing that he was following the wall, on
which he had kept one hand constantly.
The lad uttered no cry, but he threw out both arms with quick instinct,
hoping thereby to catch and hold himself. The force was too great,
however, and Steve Rush shot down through the narrow opening, bound for
the lower level. He did not know this; he did not know where he was
going to land, but he fully expected that this last disaster would be
the end of him and he shut his teeth tightly together, bracing himself
to meet the shock that he knew must come within the next few seconds.