The Blind Brother: A Story of the Pennsylvania Coal Mines

that he could find on the instant were gathered together; there was a sudden onslaught at a dark corner of the Court-House Square; the sheriff and his deputy lay prone upon the groun

k Rennie again, nor was the hand of the law eve

hat night through the drizzling rain, his hear

there was with him a sense of duty done, even though tardily, w

le his mother and Bennie listened silently, often with tears, he told the story of his adventure at the breaker on the night of the fire, of his temptation and

before been so proud of Tom and so fond of him as he was at that moment; and the dear, good mother took the big fellow on her lap, as she used to do when he was a little child, and

a week of an approaching compromise between the miners and the operators, but one day ther

company with bitter want; and it brought especial rejoicing to the little h

to pale in the east. They climbed into a car of the first trip, and rode down th

ite Billy, and set him to his accustomed task. There came soon a half-dozen or more of driver-boys, and su

ace-hook to the first trip of cars. "Through tra

n, an' no porters 'lowed!" squeaked out a little

ad of them all. Whereupon he prodded Tom's mule viciously in the ribs, and that beast began playing

a, now! Stiddy-there, git-tup!" cracking his long leather whip-lash over Billy

he whistle, and the labored puffing of a locomotive engine; while the sound-waves, unable to escape fr

th were compelled to labor, from daylight to dark, in the grimy recesses of the mine, for the pittance that broug

ence, and felt the high pleasure that nothing else on earth can so fully bring as the

et at Rennie's hands; but as the days passed by this fear disturbed him less and

arp curves so swiftly that the yellow flame from the little tin lamp was blown down to the merest spark of blue;

s he came back, with his trip of lights; and the third time he stopped to sit with his brother on the bench and to

oberness. To sit for hours with only one's thoughts for company, and with the oppressive silence broken only at

nd him, and there were no cars in the heading or airway, and no noises to break the silence, he could hear, somewhere down below him, the "w

thing," he said, "but to

ee if we can hear

re enough, over in the darkness, they heard an occasional

support it was becoming so great that it could not be sustained, and the gradual yielding of the pillars to this enormous weight was

e roof for additional support, and, if this is not done, there comes a time, sooner or later, when the strained pillars suddenly give way, and the whole mass comes crash

ie; but they knew, too, that the working often continued weeks, and sometimes mon

examination, and said he thought there was no immediate danger, but that he woul

slope, though, when he come in," said Tom, after

," replied Bennie, "'

ill leave a mine in which a fall is about to take place. Sa

added Bennie, "it's time for men an

eemed to have a prem

e gave a long sigh of relief when he heard T

losed behind the last car, "an' you catch on behind-Whoa, Bil

e me your hand; we'll hav

nd, and in the next instant a noise as of bursting thunder, and a crash that shook the foundation

ll had

a series of rumbling echoes,

nni

Tom who

nni

he name som

nni

ast, and there was

. He felt weak and dizzy. He was bruised and bleeding, too, but he did not know it; he was no

for a moment, in trembling hesitancy, dreading what its light might disclose. Then he s

e lamp and lo

lying on his side, quite still. He bent down and flashed the light into Bennie's face. A

om

in a whisper

, I'm here;

't know; what

Can you get up? He

ily when the boys were forced against it, and so had broken the severity

got a la

und it; come on

face with a wall of solid rock which filled every inch of the passage. It had dropped, like a curtain, blotting out, in o

," said Tom; "we'll have t

irway, and were met by a

nd Tom flashed the light of his lamp into every entrance, only

id Tom, at last, "an' down through the old

s the old chambers to the west wall of the mine, as was more than likely, they were shut in beyond hope of escape, perhaps beyond hope of rescu

eeping over the pile of "gob" that partially blocked the entrance, they passed down into a se

t, as Tom had expected and feared, to the line of the fall: a mass of crushed coal and

t heading; perhaps the heading itse

and more tightly in his, and hurried, almost ran, down the

l, jagged wall of rock rose up before them, marking the confines o

ped, and Bennie said, "

upon a jutting rock, with a sudden weakness upon

ut till they break a way into us, and, maybe, by the

uring, and, thinking of his lonesome adventure on the day of the strike, he whispered, "Well, 'taint s

"for Mommie's sake. I wish it'd 'a' been only me. Momm

of Mommie's name, they both began to weep, and, for many minutes, the noise

he first

e greater the hope that they might live until a rescuing party could reach them. Besides this, it was his place, as the older and stronger of the two, to be very brave and cheerful for Bennie's sake. So he

ever He'd do for us up there He'll do for us down here. An' there's them 'at won't let us die here, either, w'ile t

ne of the fall, through the old chambers, and see if there was

gs, in and out, to the face of the fall at every point where it was exposed, only

e between the top of the fallen rock and the roof, and, releasing Bennie's hand, and climbing up to it, wit

allen rock, across one chamber after another, nearer and nearer to the slope, nearer and nearer to freedom, and the blessed certainty of life. Then, suddenly, in the midst of his reviving hope, he came to a place where the closest scrutiny failed to r

d, in as strong a voice as he cou

nto the next chamber, he was startled to see, in the distance, the light of

comin', To

e. There wasn't anybody in the new chambers w'en I started dow

d, and, with the light, appeared, to Tom's astonished