A FATAL EXPLOSION OF FIRE-DAMP
At this startling apparition of the last two persons in the world whom
they would have expected to see in that place, the assembled miners
remained for some moments motionless with astonishment. Having stationed
a trusty sentinel at the end of the gangway nearest the new workings,
who was to give them instant warning of the approach of any outsider,
they imagined themselves perfectly safe from interruption. They had not
considered the possibility of an approach from the rear through the
abandoned workings, for they were generally believed to be impassable
owing to deadly gases and the quantity of material that had fallen in
them. Thus the unannounced appearance of the very persons whose fate
they had just been discussing seemed almost supernatural, and a feeling
of dread pervaded the assembly.
On the other hand, Mr. Jones and his companion were equally, if not more
greatly, dismayed. Having approached the door during a momentary silence
among the miners, they had not been warned by any sound of what they
should find beyond it. Thinking that they were upon an upper level, and
separated from their enemies by many feet of solid rock, they suddenly
found themselves in their very midst.
At the first view of what was disclosed by the opening door, Derrick
uttered a little frightened cry, and involuntarily drew back as though
about to run away. It was only a momentary impulse. In an instant his
courage returned, the hot blood surged into his face, and stepping
boldly forward he stood beside the mine boss, determined to share
whatever fate was in store for him.
Among the Mollies the first to recover from his stupefaction was Job
Taskar, who crying "Here they are, lads! Now we've got 'em!" made a
spring at the mine boss, with clinched fist still uplifted, as it had
been to strike Monk Tooley.
The black muzzle of a revolver promptly presented to his face by the
steady hand of the young man caused him to stagger back with a snarl of
baffled rage. Taking a couple of steps forward, which motion Derrick
followed, and standing in full view of all the Mollies, with the
revolver still held in his hand where it could be plainly seen, the mine
boss said:
"My men, I want you to excuse this interruption to your meeting, and
listen to me for a few minutes. I think I know why you are thus
assembled in secret. It is to decide upon some means of getting rid of
me and of my young friend Derrick Sterling. You have been taught by this
man that we are your enemies, and are working against your interests.
Let me give you a few facts that will serve to show who are your real
enemies, and who are your true friends.
"Job Taskar is, I believe, your Body-master and leader. He had told you
that this lad is a spy, sent into the mine to discover your secrets and
work against you. He hates Derrick Sterling. Why?
"A few years ago Job Taskar was blacksmith to a distant colliery in
another district. This lad's father was engineer in the same mine.
Taskar was paid by the men for sharpening their tools, so much for each
one. They were compelled to go to him by the rules of the colliery. He
so destroyed the temper of the drills and other tools brought to him as
to make them require sharpening much oftener than they would if he had
done his work honestly. He was thus stealing much of the miners'
hard-earned wages. Mr. Sterling found this out, procured Taskar's
discharge from the works, and had an honest man put in his place. When
the same gentleman found the same dishonest blacksmith working in this
mine he warned him that if he caught him at any of his old tricks he
would have him discharged from here. Now Taskar hates that engineer's
son, and wants to have him put out of the way. Do you wonder at it?
"He wants me removed for a much more simple reason. It is that he would
like to be mine boss in my place. This would so increase his influence
in your society that he might in time be made a county delegate, and
live without further labor upon money extorted from hard-working
miners."
At this point the members glanced uneasily at each other. They were
amazed at the knowledge showed by the mine boss of their affairs.
"Now, my men, a few more words and I am through," continued the speaker.
"In regard to those of your number whom I discharged, and refused to
take back, although petitioned to do so, you know who they are, and I
needn't mention names. I will only say that they were detected in an
attempt to injure the pumps and destroy the fans. Had they succeeded the
colliery would have been closed, and all hands thrown out of work for an
indefinite length of time. You would have been in danger from fire-damp
and water. Probably some lives would have been lost. They were
unscrupulous men, and had they succeeded in their villainy you would
have been the greatest sufferers.
"As for you, sir," he said, sternly, turning to Job Taskar, "I have long
had my eye on you, and have come to the conclusion that this mine and
all employed in it would be better off if you should leave it. I
therefore take this opportunity to discharge you from this company's
service. If after to-night you ever enter this mine again it will be at
your peril."
The man was too thoroughly cowed by the boldness of this proceeding to
utter a word, and when the young mine boss, saying "Come, Derrick," and
"Good-evening, men," suddenly stepped outside the door and closed it, he
stood for an instant motionless. Then with a howl of "Stop 'em! Don't
let 'em escape!" he tore open the door and sprang into the gangway
beyond. It was silent and dark, not even a glimmer of light betraying
the presence or existence of those who had but that moment left the
chamber.
For a brief space the man stood bewildered, and then began to run
towards the door that opened into the new workings. Several of the
miners followed him until they came to where their sentinel stood. He,
watchful and on the alert, as he had been ever since they left him
there, was greatly surprised at their haste and the impatient demands
made of him as to why he had allowed two persons to pass. Of course he
stoutly denied having done so, and declared he had seen no living being
since taking his station at that place.
"Then they're back in the old workings, lads, and we'll have 'em yet,"
cried Job Taskar. "They can't get out, for the gangway's choked beyond.
They must have been hid yonder near the place of meeting since
lunch-time, waiting for us, and they're hid now, waiting till we leave,
so's they can sneak out. But they can't fool us any more, an' we'll get
'em this time."
With this the man, fuming with rage and disappointed hate, turned and
retraced his steps up the gangway, followed by four of his companions.
The rest of the Mollies, feeling that no more business would be
transacted that evening, and having no inclination to join in the human
hunt, dispersed to different parts of the new workings, or went up the
slopes to the surface. Monk Tooley stayed behind, not for the purpose of
joining in the pursuit of the mine boss and his companion, but with a
vague idea of protecting Derrick from harm in case they should be
caught.
Led by Job Taskar, the four Mollies eagerly and carefully explored every
foot of the gangway, and even climbed up into several worked-out breasts
at its side, thinking the fugitives might be hidden in them.
After surmounting several minor obstacles, they finally came to one that
was much more serious. It was a mass of fallen debris that filled the
gangway to within a couple of feet of its roof, and extended for a long
distance. Thinking that perhaps it completely choked the passage a few
yards farther on, and that he might now find those whom he sought in
hiding, like foxes run to earth, Taskar eagerly scrambled up over the
loose rocks and chunks of coal, reaching the top while his followers
were still at some distance behind.
[Illustration: SUDDENLY THERE CAME A BLINDING FLASH, A ROAR AS OF A CANNON]
Suddenly there came a blinding flash, a roar as of a cannon discharged
in that confined space, a furious rush of air that extinguished every
light and shrouded the gangway in a profound darkness, and the rattling
crash of falling rocks and broken timbers. The Mollies who followed Job
were hurled, stunned and bleeding, to the floor of the gangway. Even
Monk Tooley, who was at a considerable distance behind them, was thrown
violently against one of the side walls. As for Job Taskar, he lay dead
on the heap of debris over which he had been climbing when the uncovered
flame of his lamp ignited the terrible fire-damp that hung close under
the roof. He was burned almost beyond recognition, and the clothes were
torn from his body. Among the fragments of these afterwards picked up
was found a portion of a letter which read:
"_It will be impossible to obtain the position until_
_position must be supported by a number of votes wh_
_when you become mine boss._
"_You know as well as anybody that a county delega_
When the battered and bruised miners had recovered their senses,
relighted their lamps, and ascertained the fate of their leader, they
were content to drag themselves out from the gangway without pursuing
any further the search in which they had been engaged. Fortunately for
them the quantity of gas exploded had been small, else they might have
been instantly killed, or the gangway so shattered as to completely bar
their way of escape, and hold them buried alive between its black walls.
As it was, it brought down a great mass of debris on top of that already
fallen, and so choked the passage beyond where Job Taskar's body lay
that it was effectually closed.
Although Derrick and the mine boss were far in advance of their
pursuers, and had already passed most of the obstacles to their rapid
progress, they were very sensible of the shock of the explosion when it
occurred. The rush of air that immediately followed was strong enough to
extinguish their safety-lamps, and cause them to stagger, but it did
them no injury.
When these two had so suddenly stepped from the presence of the Mollies,
and slammed the door in their faces, they had instantly extinguished
their lamps, and started on a run back through the gangway by which they
had come. Of course, in the utter darkness, they could not run fast nor
far, but they were well beyond the circle of light from Job Taskar's
lamp when he sprang out after them, and that was all they wanted. When
they saw the little cluster of flickering lights borne by the Mollies
disappear in the opposite direction from that they were taking, they
felt greatly relieved, and a few minutes later ventured to relight their
own lamps and continue their retreat.
"Looks as if we'd got to go out the way we came in, after all, doesn't
it, sir?" said Derrick, who was the first to speak.
"It does rather look that way," answered the mine boss, "but I'd rather
risk it, under the circumstances, than face those fellows just now. They
have had a chance to recover from their surprise at our appearance, and
some of them are as mad as hornets to think they let us go. A moment's
hesitation when we opened that door and found ourselves among them would
probably have cost us our lives. Our very boldness was all that saved
us. A danger boldly faced is robbed of half its terrors.
"By-the-way, Derrick, our coming on those fellows as we did was a most
remarkable thing. I thought your tracing was leading us to the top of
the air-shaft instead of to the chamber at its bottom. We must be on a
lower level than we thought. How do you account for it? Can you have
made a mistake in regard to the plans?"
Derrick's heart sank within him as he remembered the weak spot in his
tracing; but he answered, "I don't think so, sir; though it does look as
if something was wrong."
Here conversation was interrupted by the difficulties of the road, for
they had reached the mass of fallen debris that blocked Job Taskar's way
a little later.
As they crawled on hands and knees over the obstruction, the mine boss
said, hoarsely, and with great difficulty, "Hurry, boy! there's gas
enough here to kill us if we breathe it many minutes. If we had naked
lights instead of safeties we'd be blown into eternity."
After they had safely passed this danger he said, "I hope with all my
heart that those fellows won't come that way looking for us; there's
sure to be an explosion if they do. I don't believe they will, though,"
he added, after a moment's reflection; "they're too old hands to expose
themselves needlessly to the fire-damp."
They had again waded through the icy water, which the mine boss said he
must have drawn off before it increased so as to be dangerous, and were
well along towards the opening into the break, when the muffled sound of
the explosion reached their ears.
"There's trouble back there!" exclaimed Mr. Jones, as he relighted their
lamps, which the rush of air had extinguished, "and I'm afraid that
somebody has got hurt. You go on out, Derrick, and I'll go back and see.
No, I won't, either. I can get there as quickly, and do more good, by
going round outside and down the slope. Come, let us run."
In a few minutes they had reached the bottom of the break, climbed the
rickety ladder, and once more they stood in safety beneath the starlit
sky of the outer world.
"Eight o'clock," said Mr. Jones, looking at his watch. "We've been in
there three hours, Derrick, and seen some pretty lively times. What I
can't understand, though, is how we got in on that lower level. Never
mind now; we must run, for I'm anxious about that explosion."
The news of the disaster in the mine had already reached the surface,
but nobody knew exactly how or where it had taken place. A crowd of
people, including many women and children, was rapidly gathering about
the mouth of the slope, anxious to learn tidings of those dear to them
who were down in the mine with the night shift.
The voice of the mine boss calling out that the explosion had occurred
in an abandoned gangway, and that nobody who was in the new workings was
hurt, gave the first intimation of his presence among them. His words
carried comfort to the hearts of many who heard them, but filled with
dismay the minds of those who had seen him but a short time before at
the underground meeting. They had thought he must surely be still in the
mine, and could in no way account for his presence, for they knew
positively that he had not come up by the slope or the travelling-road.
While the mine boss was speaking, Derrick felt a hand on his shoulder,
and turning, he saw Paul Evert, who exclaimed, joyfully, "Oh, Derrick,
I'm so glad! I was afraid you were down in the mine, and I was going to
help hunt for you."
"No, Polly, I'm all right, as you can see; but I wish you'd run home and
tell mother I am--will you?"
Paul went willingly to do this, and Derrick prepared to follow the mine
boss once more into the underground depths, to render what assistance he
could.
They were about to step into an empty car and start down the slope, when
the signal was given from below to pull up a loaded car, and they waited
to see what it might contain. As it came slowly to the surface, and
within the light of their lamps, they saw in it Monk Tooley and four
other miners, who, battered and bruised, had evidently suffered from the
explosion.
When the first of these was helped carefully from the car, and his
glance fell upon the mine boss, with Derrick Sterling standing beside
him, a look of fear came into his face, he uttered a loud cry, staggered
back, and would have fallen had not Monk Tooley caught him.