Down the Slope Part 26

The groggery was filled with men when he arrived, and in the number he found safety. All were excitedly discussing the accident, some intimating that Billings had a hand in it, and no one paid any particular attention to the frightened boy who crept cautiously in, as if to avoid being seen.

"Wants grub, eh?" Taylor asked, when Skip made known his errand. "What's he up to? Afraid they'll nab him for what was done to-day?"

"I don't know."

"Now, look here, Skip Miller, I ain't got any too much love for you, but it don't seem right to let a boy go on as you've begun. Go home now, an'

leave Billings to take care of his own business."

"If I don't carry back the stuff he'll say I stole his money."

"Well, take the grub, an' then get back as soon as you know how."

"All right," Skip replied meekly.

"If you're not home in half an hour I'll see your father to-night."

"I wish I dared to go," Skip said to himself as he hurried away with the bundle. "Workin' in the breaker ain't a marker to what it'll be runnin'

around with Cale Billings."

CHAPTER XIV

PRECAUTIONS

Not until two days had elapsed were the victims of the "accident" able to leave their rooms, and then they met Sam and Mr. Wright at Mrs.

Byram's home.

"We'll be ready for work in the morning," Bill said in reply to the superintendent's inquiries. "What troubles me is that I've lost the plan of the old mine. It was in my blouse when the timber fell, an'----"

"How that joist could have got away without some one to help it is what worries me," Joe interrupted. "I set it, an' know the weight from above could not have any effect."

"There is no chance of foul play. The level has been guarded night and day, therefore, unless our trusted men are at fault, it was purely an accident."

"I'm not sayin' it wasn't; but yet the whole business looks queer," and with this remark Joe dismissed the subject from his mind.

Mr. Wright had come to learn when the guardians of the level would be ready to return to duty, and Bill's answer sufficed.

"The men who have been there during the past twenty-four hours shall be given other work in the morning, and once more I can rely on you. Thus far nothing suspicious has been seen or heard," he said, "and I begin to believe Billings has given up his thoughts of revenge. The only strange thing is that Miller's boy has disappeared, and his father can think of no reason why he should run away."

"Farley's won't be the loser if he never comes back," Joe replied. "That boy is a bad one, an' it wouldn't take much to make me believe he an'

Billings are firm friends."

"There is no necessity of talking about him; we are not afraid of boys.

The question is whether we are warranted in guarding the lower level much longer."

"That's for you to say, sir. We had rather be at our regular work."

"Well, we'll try it a day or two more. Perhaps you'd better break through into the old drift, and then we shall know whether it is possible for evil-disposed persons to find a hiding place there."

This closed the interview so far as Mr. Wright was concerned, and on his leaving the house the others discussed the work to be done the following day; but Skip Miller's disappearance had little place in the conversation.

Bill mourned the loss of the plan, which was supposed to be the only guide to the old mine, but Joe did not think it was of such very great importance.

"All we care to know is whether the air's foul, an', of course, the best way is to finish the tunnel which came so near finis.h.i.+n' us. That work can be done without any guide."

"But we may want to follow up the drift, which will be a long job if we have to go on blindly."

"There's no use fussin' over what can't be helped. The paper got trampled into the dirt, most likely, otherwise them as have been lookin'

would 'a found it before this."

"I don't feel like givin' over the search so easy; s'pose we four have a reg'lar hunt in the morning?"

"Sam and I will go now," Fred said. "We shall feel better for a little exercise after being cooped up in the house so long."

"Very well. Take a turn at it this afternoon, an' if you don't succeed Joe an' I'll try to-night."

The boys set off without delay, but they were a long while reaching the slope, for every person on the street thought it necessary to congratulate them upon having escaped a terrible death, and at the breaker Donovan delayed the search by making minute inquiries as to the condition of affairs in the drift just prior to the accident.

"Any one would think from all these questions that you believed somebody was responsible for the trouble," Sam said with a laugh.

"P'rhaps I do. Billings an' Skip Miller disappeared on the same day, an'

that looks suspicious to me, though Mr. Wright won't listen to anything of the kind."

"It's a big satisfaction to know they have left," Fred added, "and we have gotten rid of them cheaply. Do you know where they went?"

"Out of the village somewhere; Harvey saw them walking up the track."

"Then we can reckon that there'll be no more mischief done for a while.

Come on, Fred, let's get down the slope."

The boys left the breaker without noticing that Chunky was trying to attract their attention, and were soon in the lower level making a systematic search.

Shoveling over the loose dirt along the track, they continued on until the cutting which had so nearly been a grave for Fred was pa.s.sed, and then Sam said as he halted:

"It's no use to hunt here. It couldn't have got up this way."

"The draught may have carried it quite a distance."

"There isn't air enough stirrin' to move it a foot; but it won't do much harm to look."

They were nearly at the chamber where Sam was taken prisoner before Fred abandoned the hunt, and as he turned to retrace his steps both came to a sudden halt.

As if from beneath their feet arose a m.u.f.fled cry of distress.

The boys looked at each other in alarm, and as they stood motionless the mysterious sound was repeated.