The Iron Boys in the Mines; or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft
h shovel in hand began throwi
ore of this red stuff on my head than you c
your way, wasn't I?" chuckle
Jarvis' meanness to him, Rush felt certain that the lad possessed a good heart, and it w
ally, "have you ev
? Licked,
es
d gave me a walloping
sound thrashing would do
dug down around Rush until the latter w
on't know
ve one before very long," announce
ill,
Steve, brushing the d
s licking, Little Miss Hurry-up
ied Steve in
n to take o
s time. We should both be discharged if we were to be caught figh
eh? I knew you didn't have t
d off to the
ou had better get your car back there or yo
ack over the top of the dump, Steve picking up his shovel
back ached, yet he kept to his task. When night came Steve had the
naturedly, turning Bob's jibes with soft answers. For a full week both lads had labored far up on the ore dump. They had been too busy to think of their personal grievances for
ge me," thought the boy. "Well,
he superintendent said, as the lad came t
done very
k you
you would like to
s,
may begin
hat s
er. You will find it pretty hard work. You see, these contracts are given out for so much per ton and the men who t
stand i
er to take you on as a miner's helper. Your wages will be a dollar and a quarter a day. Be very careful and gu
very care
r as a miner on a level two thousand feet below the surface. The lad had never been below gro
er. This latter, as used by the ore miners, is a piece of steel, one end coming to a sharp point, the other having an opening for the candle its
haft on the following Monday morning. There were about five hundred men to go down in the cage, the car that carries the miners and other
contract is located?" he asked of th
teenth
e car st
sn't, you'
ve his head to steady himself. The protecting bars i
," announc
a rush and a roar, a grinding and crunching the steel cage dropp
his?" asked the young miner
d on this morning because the cage has a
t would happen if the man forgot to shut
ner la
in the bottom of
is the s
working level. The bottom level is used to drain off the water from the
d scarcely h
t is on the seventee
e the seventeenth. Is that
; for Mr.
eel sorry
so,
nes knows him and none of them wants to work for h
e were any colored
hite man one who is not a f
O
ee men would leap off and disappear in the darkness, af
nced the miner. "Jump off,
jump
iner did not hear him, for the ca
by this time, running from the oilskins of the young miner in tiny rivulets. Dampness was
e I am to go?"
lights glowing dimly through the haze, so t
contract?" called St
way cautiously down the level or tunnel, which is the main avenue, a
ed by him, now and then narrowly missing running him down, the thunder of the skips, huge black objects hurling themselves surfaceward loaded
n it there was little danger of such an accident so long as he kept to the main level. There were many dangerous holes-ore chutes-but these
ht be a person in authority, and to this one he
" demanded th
ush. May I as
aptain. Do you w
o if I can find the
l show you how to get
y way and I guess I was among the l
irst experience
is,
ce; never get careless. There i
lready disco
at is why so many get hurt, and why some lose their lives. We do everything we can
to follow you
rfect confidence. Steve felt sure that he never should be able to find his way about
the brief answer. "There
s,
. The top of it is the sub-level, wh
ing his long, dark climb up the slender