Munroe Kirk
Derrick Sterling: A Story of the Mines
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.
CHAPTER XII
THE MINE BOSS IN A DILEMMA
The companions of the Mollie who exhibited such consternation at the sight of the mine boss were almost as frightened as he to see those for whom they had been so recently searching through the old workings, and who they thought must surely have been killed by the explosion, standing before them. They shrunk back as the young man stepped towards them; but reassured by his cheery words, they allowed him to help them from the car, and were almost ready to believe that it was not he, but some other who had confronted them so boldly at the meeting. He could not have been kinder to them if they had been his dear friends; and from that hour they ranked among his firmest supporters and adherents in the colliery.
Derrick caught hold of Monk Tooley, and insisted upon taking him, as he said, to see Bill, and show him that he was all right. In reality he wanted to give the man a chance to rest, and recover somewhat from his recent trying experience, before meeting with his wife and children.
Bill Tooley, under kind care, amid quiet and pleasant surroundings, and aided by his own strong constitution, was in a fair way to recover his health and strength. The fever had left him, and he was able to sit up for a few minutes at a time. The only serious trouble seemed to be with his right leg. It gave him great pain, and was threatened with a permanent lameness. He already seemed a different boy from what he had been, and would hardly be recognized for the bully of a short time before. He gave way to occasional outbursts of impatient anger, but these were always quieted by the gentle presence and soothing words of either Mrs. Sterling or little Helen; and in his rough way he would express sorrow for them by saying, "Don't yer mind me, mum; I don' mean nothin'; only dis ere blessed leg gits de best of me sometimes." Or to Helen, "Don't yer be afeared, sissy; I know I talks awful ugly; but I ain't. It's only de pain of de leg breakin' out in bad words."
The meeting between father and son that night, when Derrick persuaded Monk Tooley to go home with him, was curious to witness. Bill was as fond of his father, in his way, as the latter was of him, and had been very anxious when he knew he was in the mine at the time of the explosion. Both were much affected when Monk stepped to his son's bedside; but they had no words to express their feelings. The father said,
"Well, lad, how goes it?"
Bill answered, "Middlin', feyther. I heerd yer got blowed up."
"Well, yer see I didn't. Job Taskar's killed, though."
"Better him nor anoder."
"Yes. Yer want ter be gittin' outen dis, son. Times is hard, an' idlin's expensive."
"All right, feyther; I'll soon be in de breaker agin."
This was all; but the two were assured of each other's safety and well-being, and for them that was enough.
Monk Tooley accepted a cup of tea from Mrs. Sterling, and departed with a very warm feeling in his heart towards those who were doing so much for his boy.
His wife and the neighbor women, who as usual were gathered in her house, were loud in their exclamations of pleasure and wonder at seeing him safe home again from "the blowing up of the mine," but he gruffly bade them "be quiet, and not be making all that gabble about a trifle."
The mine boss took an early opportunity to examine the plans of the old workings, and soon discovered the slight difference between them and Derrick's tracing that they had followed in their recent expedition. Summoning the boy, he pointed it out, and asked him whether he had made a mistake in copying the plan, or had purposely made the alteration that had led to such serious consequences.
Derrick confessed that he had added a little to one line of the plan, because he thought the line was intended to go that way, and when he drew it so it seemed to make everything come out all right.
"Well," said Mr. Jones, "the result shows that instead of making everything come out all right, you made it come all wrong. Now, Derrick, I want this to be a lesson that you will remember all your life. By making that one little bit of a change in a single line you placed yourself and me in great peril. In consequence of the situation to which it led one man has lost his life, and several others came very near doing so. You thought you knew better than your father who drew that plan, and in your ignorance undertook to improve upon his work.
"I won't say that good may not come out of all this, for I believe that with the loss of their leader the society of Mollies is broken up, in this colliery at least, for some time to come, but that does not make your fault any the less.
"Remember, my boy," he added, somewhat more gently, as he saw great tears rolling down the lad's cheeks, "that the little things of this life lead to and make up its great events, and it is only by paying the closest attention to them that we can ever hope to achieve good results."
This was all that was ever said to Derrick upon this subject, but it was enough, and he will never forget it. When he left the presence of the mine boss he was overwhelmed with shame, and was angry to think that what he considered so trifling a thing as to be unworthy of mention should be treated so seriously. For an hour he walked alone through the woods back of the village, and gave himself up to bitter thoughts. Gradually he began to realize that every word the mine boss had said was true, and to see what he had done in its proper light. He thought of all the kindness Mr. Jones had shown him, and the confidence reposed in him. Finally he broke out with, "I have been a conceited fool, and now I know it. If I ever catch Derrick Sterling getting into a scrape of this kind again for want of paying attention to little things, or by thinking he knows more than anybody else, he'll hear from me, that's all."
This was only a vague threat, but it meant a great deal, and from that day to this neither of these failings has been noticed in the young miner, even by those most intimately acquainted with him.
Nearly two weeks after this, upon returning home one evening from his day's work in the mine, Derrick found a message from Mr. Jones awaiting him. It asked him to call that evening, as the mine boss wished to see and consult him upon business of importance.
Mrs. Sterling was greatly pleased at this, for it showed that her boy still enjoyed the confidence of the man who had it in his power to do so much for him, and that his favor was not withdrawn in consequence of the recent affair of the tracing. Derrick had told his mother the whole story, without making any effort to shield himself from blame; and though she had trembled at the resulting consequences of his fault, and the knowledge of how much worse they might have been, she had rejoiced at the manner in which he accepted its lesson. She had only feared that Mr. Jones, upon whom so much depended, would never trust her boy again, or take him into his confidence as he had done.
Derrick was made equally happy by the message; for since the day on which the mine boss had pointed out the weak spot in his character, and delivered his little lecture on the wickedness of neglecting details, he had held no conversation with him. He made haste to finish his supper, wondering all the while, with his mother and Bill Tooley, who was now able to sit at the table with them, what the business could be.
"There's some ladies over there," said little Helen; "they came to-day, and I saw them."
"Where?" asked Derrick.
"At Mr. Jones's."
Now as the young mine boss was a bachelor, and lived alone, with the exception of an old negro servant, this was startling information, and her hearers thought Helen must have made some mistake. However, on the chance that she might be right, Derrick was more particular than usual in getting rid of every particle of grime and coal-dust, and dressed himself in his best clothes. These, though much worn, nearly outgrown, and even mended in several places, were scrupulously neat, and made him appear the young gentleman he really was.
Although Derrick had been away to boarding-school, and was very differently brought up from the other boys of the village, he was not at all accustomed to society, especially that of ladies, and he felt extremely diffident at the prospect of meeting these strangers, if indeed Helen's report were true.
As he approached the house of the mine boss he saw that it was more brilliantly lighted than usual, and just as he reached the door a shadow, apparently that of a young girl, moved across one of the white window-shades.
Instead of ringing the bell the boy walked rapidly on, with a quickly beating heart, for some distance past the house.
"Supposing it should be a girl," he thought to himself, "I should never dare say anything to her, and she'd find it out in a minute; then she'd make fun of me. I wish I knew whether I was going to see them, or see Mr. Jones alone. I hope he won't make me go in and be introduced."
Undoubtedly Derrick was bashful, and while he had apparently been brave in the burning breaker, and in various trying situations, was only a coward after all.
Again he approached the house, and again he walked hurriedly past it. As he turned and walked towards it for the third time somebody came rapidly from the opposite direction, and stopped at the very door he was afraid to enter. They reached it at the same moment, and the somebody recognizing him, said heartily, "Ah, Derrick, is that you? I'm glad I got back in time. I was unexpectedly detained by business, and feared you might get here before me. Walk in."
There was no help for it now. Wishing with all his heart that he were safely at home, or down in the mine, or anywhere but where he was, and trembling with nervousness, Derrick found himself a moment later inside the house, and—alone with Mr. Jones in the library.
"Sit down, Derrick," said the latter, as he stood in front of the fireplace. "I have sent for you to ask you to help me out of a sort of a scrape."
So he was not to be asked to meet strange ladies or girls after all, and his fears were groundless. What a goose he had been! Why should he be afraid of a girl anyhow? she wouldn't bite him. These and other similar thoughts flashed through Derrick's mind as he tried to listen to Mr. Jones, and to overcome a feeling of disappointment that in spite of his efforts presently filled his mind.
"It is this," continued the mine boss. "For some time past my only sister, Mrs. Halford, who lives in Philadelphia, has been threatening to bring her daughter Nellie on a trip through the Lehigh Valley into the coal region to see me, and be taken down into a mine. They arrived unexpectedly this afternoon, and have got to return home the day after to-morrow; so to-morrow is the only opportunity they will have for visiting the mine. Of course I had made arrangements to take them around, and show them everything there is to be seen; but now I find I can't do it. Two hours ago I received a telegram telling me that an important case, in which I am the principal witness, is to be tried in Mauch Chunk to-morrow, and I must be there without fail. Now I want you to take my place, act as guide to the ladies, and show them all the sights of interest about the colliery, both above-ground and in the mine. Will you do this for me?"
Derrick hesitated, blushed, stammered, turned first hot and then cold, until Mr. Jones, who was watching him with an air of surprise and amusement, laughed outright.
"What is the matter?" he asked at length. "Ain't I offering you a pleasanter job than that of driving a bumping-mule all day?"
"No, sir—I mean yes, sir; of course I will, sir," said Derrick, finally recovering his voice. "Only don't you think one of the older men—"
"Oh, nonsense! You're old enough, and know the colliery well enough. I don't want them taken through the old workings," added Mr. Jones, with a twinkle in his eyes.
"If you did, sir, I believe I could guide them as well as anybody!" exclaimed Derrick, with all his self-possession restored, together with a touch of his old self-conceit.
"I haven't a doubt of it," answered the other. "Now, if it's all settled that you are to act as their escort to-morrow, step into the parlor and let me introduce you to the ladies."
With this he threw open the door connecting the two rooms, and said, "Sister, this is Derrick Sterling, of whom I have spoken to you so often, and who will act as your guide in my place to-morrow. Derrick, this is my sister, Mrs. Halford, and my niece, Miss Nellie."
Poor Derrick felt very much as he had done when, with the same companion, he had been unexpectedly ushered into the meeting of the Mollie Maguires, and, as on that occasion, his impulse was to run away. Before he had a chance to do anything so foolish, a motherly-looking woman, evidently older than Mr. Jones, but bearing a strong resemblance to him, stepped forward, and taking the boy by the hand, said, "I am very glad to meet you, Derrick, for my brother has told me what a brave fellow you are, and that he feels perfectly safe in trusting us to your guidance to-morrow."
Then Miss Nellie, a pretty girl of about his own age, whose eyes twinkled with mischief, held out her hand, and said, "I think you must be a regular hero, Mr. Sterling, for I'm sure you've been through as much as most of the book heroes I've read about."
Blushing furiously at this, and coloring a still deeper scarlet from the knowledge that he was blushing, and that they were all looking at him, Derrick barely touched the tips of the little fingers held out to him. Then thinking that this perhaps seemed rude, he made another attempt to grasp the offered hand more heartily, but it was so quickly withdrawn that this time he did not touch it at all, whereupon everybody laughed good-naturedly.
Instead of further embarrassing the boy, this laugh had the effect of setting him at his ease, and in another minute he was chatting as pleasantly with Miss Nellie and her mother as though they had been old friends.
Before he left them it was arranged that, early in the morning, he should show the ladies all that was to be seen above-ground, and that they should spend the heat of the day in the cool depths of the mine.
The boy had much to tell his mother, little Helen, and Bill Tooley, who were sitting up waiting for him, when he arrived home; but, after all, he left them to wonder over the age of Miss Halford, whom he only casually mentioned as Mr. Jones's niece.
CHAPTER XIII
LADIES IN THE MINE—HARRY MULE'S SAD MISHAP
When Derrick awoke the next morning, at an unusually early hour, it was with the impression that some great pleasure was in store for him. Before breakfast he went down into the mine to give Harry Mule's sleek coat an extra rub, and to arrange for another boy and mule to take their places that day.
At eight o'clock he presented himself at the door of Mr. Jones's house, dressed in clean blue blouse and overalls, but wearing his smoke-blackened cap and the heavy boots that are so necessary in the wet underground passages of a mine. The mine boss had already gone to Mauch Chunk, and Miss Nellie was watching behind some half-closed shutters for the appearance of their young guide.
"Here he is, mamma!" she exclaimed, as she finally caught sight of Derrick. "How funnily he is dressed! but what a becoming suit it is! it makes him look so much more manly. Why don't he ring the bell, I wonder? He's standing staring at the door as though he expected it to open of itself. Ahem! ahem!"
This sound, coming faintly to Derrick's ear, seemed to banish his hesitation, for the next instant the bell was rung furiously. The truth is he had been seized with another diffident fit, and had it not been broad daylight he would probably have walked back and forth in front of the door several times before screwing up his courage to the bell-ringing point.
The door was opened before the bell had stopped jingling, and an anxious voice inquired, "Is it fire?" Then Miss Nellie, apparently seeing the visitor for the first time, exclaimed, with charming simplicity,
"Oh no! Excuse me. I see it's only you, Mr. Sterling. How stupid of me! Won't you walk in? I thought perhaps it was something serious."
"Only I, and I wish it was somebody else," thought bashful Derrick, as, in obedience to this invitation, he stepped inside the door. Leaving him standing there, Miss Mischief ran up-stairs to tell her mother, in so loud a tone that he could plainly hear her, that Mr. Sterling had come for them, and was evidently in an awful hurry.
"I'm in for a perfectly horrid time," said poor Derrick to himself. "I can see plain enough that she means to make fun of me all day."
Mrs. Halford's kind greeting and ready tact made the boy feel more at ease, and before they reached the new breaker—the first place to which he carried them—he felt that perhaps he might not be going to have such a very unpleasant day after all.
Both Mrs. Halford and Miss Nellie were greatly interested in watching the machinery of the breaker and the quick work of the slate-picker boys; but in spite of the jigs and the wet chutes the coal-dust was so thick that they did not feel able to remain there more than a few minutes.
As they came out Mrs. Halford said, "Poor little fellows! What a terribly hard life they must lead!"
"Yes, Mamma, it's awful," said Miss Nellie. "And don't they look just like little negro minstrels? I don't see, though, how they ever tell the slate from the coal. It all looks exactly alike to me."
"The slate isn't so black as the coal," explained Derrick, "and doesn't have the same shine."
They walked out over the great dump, and the ladies were amazed at its extent.
"Why, it seems as if every bit of slate, and coal too, ever dug in the mine must be piled up here!" exclaimed Miss Nellie.
"Oh no," said Derrick, "only about half the product of the mine is waste, and only part of that comes up here. A great quantity is dumped into the old breasts down in the workings to fill them up, and at the same time to get rid of it easily."
"But isn't there a great deal of coal that would burn in this mountain of refuse?" asked the girl.
"Yes, indeed, there is; and sometimes the piles get on fire, and then they seem to burn forever."
"I have an acquaintance in Philadelphia," said Mrs. Halford, "who has been trying experiments with the dust of these waste heaps. He pressed it in egg-shaped moulds, and has succeeded in making capital stove coal from it. The process is at present too expensive to be profitable, but I have no doubt that cheaper methods will be discovered, and that within a few years these culm piles will become valuable."
"What's the use of bothering with it when there's an inexhaustible supply of coal in the ground?" asked Miss Nellie.
"But there isn't," answered Derrick. "This coal region only covers a limited area, and some time every bit of fuel will be taken out of it. I have heard that it is the only place in the world where anthracite has been found. Isn't it, Mrs. Halford?"
"I believe so," answered that lady; "or at least the only place in which anthracite of such fine quality as this has been discovered. Inferior grades of hard coal are mined in several other localities, and bituminous or soft coal exists almost everywhere."
From the culm pile they went to see the great pumping-engine, and the huge fans that act as lungs to the mine, constantly forcing out the foul air and compelling fresh to enter it. Then, as the day was growing warm, they did not care to go any farther, but went back towards the house to prepare for their descent into the mine.
On their way they stopped to call on Mrs. Sterling at Derrick's home, which, covered with its climbing vines, offered a pleasing contrast to the unpainted, bare-looking houses lining the village street beyond it. Here both Mrs. Halford and Miss Nellie were greatly interested in Bill Tooley, of whom they had already heard. He could not be induced to enter into conversation with them, merely answering, "yes, 'm" or "no, 'm" to their questions; but from what he said after they had gone he evidently thought their call was intended solely for him. For a long time he cherished it in his memory, and often spoke of it as a most wonderful event.
Derrick took this opportunity to secure his lunch-pail and water-can, which he slung by their chains over his shoulder. When the ladies had prepared themselves for their mine expedition, he was amused to see that Miss Nellie was similarly equipped, she having found and appropriated those belonging to her uncle. Both the ladies wore old dresses, and India-rubber boots, which they had brought with them for this very purpose, and both were provided with waterproof cloaks.
At the mouth of the slope Derrick said something through a speaking-tube that reached down into the mine. Directly the clang of a gong was heard in the breaker above them, and the great wire cable, extending its vast length between the rails of the tracks, began to move. Two minutes later a new coal-car, one of a lot that had been delivered in the mine the day before, and had not yet been used, was drawn up out of the blackness to the mouth of the slope, and stopped in front of them. Some hay had been thrown into the bottom, and as the ladies were helped in, Miss Nellie exclaimed that it looked as though they were going on a straw-ride.
Handing each of them a lighted lantern to carry, and lighting the lamp on his cap, Derrick tugged at the wire leading to the distant engine-room, and gave the signal to lower. The car at once began to move, and as they felt themselves going almost straight down into the blackness between the wet, glistening walls of the slope, and were chilled by the cold breath of the mine, the mother and daughter clung to each other apprehensively.
At first they looked back and watched the little patch of daylight at the mouth of the slope grow rapidly smaller and more indistinct, until it looked almost like a star. Then Derrick warned them that there was danger of hitting their heads against the low roof, and said they must hold them below the sides of the car. When next they lifted them they were amid the wonders of the underground world, in the great chamber at the foot of the slope. They were surrounded by a darkness that was only made the more intense at a short distance from them by the glimmering lights of a group of miners who had gathered to watch their arrival. Here Derrick left them while he ran to the stable to get his mule.
The ladies did not get out of the car, but stood in it after the cable had been cast off, and watched the loaded coal-wagons as, one at a time, they were pushed to the foot of the slope, and quickly drawn up out of sight. During this interval their eyes gradually became accustomed to the lamp-lit darkness, so that they could see much better than at first.
In a few minutes their young guide returned, leading Harry Mule, whose swinging collar-lamp and wondering expression struck Miss Nellie as so comical that she could not help laughing at him.
"Haw! he-haw, he-haw, he-haw!" brayed Harry Mule, in answer to the unaccustomed sound; and at this greeting the girl laughed more heartily than ever.
The mule was hitched to the car, Derrick sprang in front, cracked the whip that had hung about his neck, and they started on what, to two of them at least, was the most novel ride they had ever undertaken.
When they reached his stable Harry Mule stopped short and refused to go on.
"What is the matter?" asked Miss Nellie.
"I expect he wants us to go in and see his house," answered Derrick.
"Why, I never heard of such a funny mule. Do you suppose he knows we are visitors?"
"Of course he does," answered the boy, gravely; "and he knows that visitors always want to see the mine stable."
So they all went in to look at it. In the long, low, narrow chamber, hewn from solid rock, were thirty stalls. Several of them were occupied by spare mules, who turned an inquiring gaze at the visitors, and blinked in the light of their lanterns. At one end were bales of hay and bags of oats, while just outside the door stood a long water-trough, which, as mine water is unfit for use, was supplied from above-ground through iron pipes brought down the slope. In spite of living in a continual midnight, so far from pastures and the light of day, which some of them did not see from one year's end to another, these mine mules were fat and sleek, and appeared perfectly contented with their lot.
Apparently satisfied that justice had been done to his place of abode, Harry Mule offered no further objection to moving on, when they again got into the car, and the stable was quickly left behind.
By-and-by Derrick called out "Door!"
As it opened for them to pass, and Paul Evert recognized his friend, he cried, "Oh, Derrick, Socrates—" Then seeing the visitors, he stopped abruptly, and stared at them in confusion.
"Never mind, Polly; we'll be back pretty soon," shouted Derrick, as the car rolled on, "and then you can tell us all about it."
"What did he say?" inquired Mrs. Halford.
"I didn't quite understand," replied Derrick; "but, if you don't mind, we'll go back there after a while and eat our lunch with Polly—he'd be so pleased!—and then we'll ask him."
"Who is Polly?" asked Miss Nellie.
"He's Paul Evert, my best friend, and he's a cripple."
"Oh, he's the boy you saved from the burning breaker! Yes, indeed, mamma, let's go back and eat our lunch with him."
Mrs. Halford agreed to this, and after they had visited the blacksmith's shop, where a cheery young fellow named Aleck was installed in Job Taskar's place, they went back to Paul's station.
Both the ladies were charmed with the gentle simplicity and quaintness of the crippled lad, and he thought he had never been so happy as in acting the part of host to this underground picnic party. He showed them all the strange and beautiful pictures on the walls of the gangway, and Derrick managed to break off for them a couple of thin scales of slate on which were impressed the delicate outlines of fern leaves.
Mrs. Halford sat in Paul's arm-chair, and he made a bench of the tally-board for Miss Nellie. The two boys were content to sit on the railway track, and each ate out of his or her own lunch-pail.
All at once Paul said, "'Sh! There they are! See!"
At this the visitors looked in the direction indicated, and both screamed.
"Oh, you've frightened them away!" said Paul, regretfully.
"Why, I do believe they were rats!" cried Mrs. Halford, in a tone of great surprise.
"Of course they were," answered Paul—"my rat Socrates and Mrs. Socrates and a whole lot of little Soc rats. I meant to tell you, Derrick; he brought them out this morning, his wife and a family of such cunning little fellows."
When the ladies had heard the whole story of Socrates the rat, and how wise he was, they became greatly interested, and wished he would appear again.
"He will," said Paul, "if we only keep quiet. He's too wise to stay away at lunch-time, but he don't like loud talking."
So they all kept very quiet, and sure enough the rat did come back after a little while, and sitting upon his hind-legs, gravely surveyed the party. In the gloom behind him could be seen the shining beady eyes of some members of his family, who made comical attempts to sit up as he did.
Being duly fed, they all scampered away with squeaks of thanks, and soon afterwards Harry Mule broke up the picnic by coming jingling back from his stable, to which he had been sent for dinner.
"I think he is just the very dearest old mule I ever saw," said Miss Nellie, when they were once more seated in the car, and Harry, was taking them towards a distant heading.
"Yes, indeed, he is," answered Derrick, proud to hear his mule thus praised; "and I love him as much as—as he loves me," he finished, with a laugh.
They spent several hours in visiting different parts of the mine, and becoming acquainted with all the details of its many operations. At the end of one heading they found the miners who had just finished drilling a hole deep in the wall of coal beyond them, and were about to fire a blast. The visitors were intensely interested in watching their operations. First a cartridge of stiff brown paper and powder was made. The paper was rolled into the shape of a long cylinder, about as big round as a broom-handle, the end of a fuse was inserted in the powder with which it was filled, and the cartridge was thrust into the hole just prepared for it. Then it was tamped with clay, the fuse was lighted, the miners uttered loud cries of "Blast ho!" and everybody ran away to a safe distance.
In less than a minute came a dull roar that echoed and re-echoed through the long galleries. It was followed by a great upheaval of coal, a dense cloud of smoke, and the blast was safely over.
