CHAPTER VIII
IN THE NEW SHAFT
When the mine-surgeon visited his patient that evening he found onlyMrs. Trefethen, sitting on the porch and awaiting him, "her men-folk,"as she informed him, "being on the trail of they murderers."
"Which, if they ain't so many Cainses this night, hit bain't theirfault, as I sez to Miss Penny the moment I sees that pore lamb broughtinto the 'ouse just like 'e was struck down the same as a flower ofthe field that bloweth where hit listeth; and she sez to me--for meand Miss Penny was wishing at that blessed minute, like hit wereprovidential--she sez--"
"It is certainly very kind of you to take such an interest in astranger," ruthlessly interrupted the doctor; "but may I inquire howmy patient is getting along?"
"You may indeed, sir, and may the good Lord preserve you from a likeharm, which hit make my blood boil to think of my pore Mark's hescape,him being what you might call owdacious to that degree. He weretelling me has'ow 'One and hall' was everythink that saved 'im, andthey rocks pattering same has 'ailstones hall the time. Law, sir!"
"Doubtless, madam, the episode must have been most exciting; but now,if you will allow me to interview the cause of all this trouble, Ishall be much obliged."
"Trouble, doctor, dear! Don't mention the word when hit's 'im 'eld thelife of my Tom in 'is two 'ands, and but for they cruel rocks thatbattered 'is fore'ead would ha' throttled them rascal pushers same asrattan in tarrier's grip; for my man 'olds there was ne'er afisticuffer like 'im in hall the Jackets. But, doctor! doctor! Oh,drat the man! now 'e'll go hand wake Maister Peril, which I werea-settin' 'ere a pu'pos' to tell 'im lad's asleep."
Impatient of longer delay, and despairing of obtaining a direct answerto his questions, the doctor had indeed slipped into the house andinstinctively made his way up-stairs towards the only room in which alight was burning. He was met outside the door by a warning "Sh!" fromNelly Trefethen, who had been left on guard by her mother, andtogether they entered the room where the wounded man lay tossing inrestless slumber.
The doctor started at close sight of him, and for a moment refused tobelieve that the handsome, high-bred face, from which every trace ofgrime and blood had been carefully removed, was that of the youngfellow who, he had declared, could never become a gentleman. Only theevidence of his own handiwork, in shape of the bandages still swathingPeveril's head, served to convince him that this was indeed hispatient of the shaft-house.
After a few minutes of observation he left the room, without awakeningthe sleeper, and gave his directions for the night down-stairs. Healso questioned Nelly closely concerning the young man who had soaroused his curiosity, but she could only tell him that the stranger'sname was "Peril," that he had come to Red Jacket in search of work,had saved her brother's Tom's life, and had in consequence been givena job in the mine.
"But he is evidently a gentleman?" said the doctor.
"Claims to be working-man," put in Mrs. Trefethen.
"He can be both, can't he, mother?" asked Nelly, somewhat sharply."Surely you think father is a gentleman."
"Not same as him yonder," replied the older woman, stoutly.
"Well, I don't care what he is or isn't," answered the girl, with atoss of her pretty head, "he hasn't shown any sign yet of holdinghimself above us, and Tom thinks he is just splendid. If he was herehe wouldn't hear a word said against him, I know that much."
"Save us, lass! Who's said aught 'gainst thy young man?"
"He's not my young man, mother, and you know it. Can't a girl stand upfor a stranger who saved her brother's life, and who has just beenknocked senseless while fighting beside her own father, without beingtwitted about him?"
"Certainly she can," replied the doctor, with an admiring glance atthe girl's spirited pose and flushed face. "But have a care, MissNelly. There's nothing so dangerous to a girl's peace of mind as aninteresting invalid of the opposite sex."
"Thank you, for nothing, doctor, and you needn't fret one little bitabout me. We Red Jacket girls can take care of ourselves without goingto any man for advice."
"Save us, lass, but thee's getting a pert hussy!" cried Mrs.Trefethen; but the doctor only laughed, and took his departure,promising to call again the next day.
He had hardly gone before Mark Trefethen returned, filled withexcitement over certain discoveries he had just made. One was that thecar-pushers of the mine had sworn either to force Peveril from it orto kill him. He had also learned that Rothsky, the Bohemian, who hadbeen found wanting when tried in the timber gang, had led the attackof that evening, and had received a broken jaw in consequence. Theidentity of the two car-pushers who were with him at the time havingalso been discovered, the captain of the mine had promptly dischargedall three. Moreover, the Cornish miners had sworn that if either theirown leader or his protege were again molested while underground theywould drive every foreign car-pusher from the workings.
When Tom came home he confided to his father a belief that MikeConnell had been at the bottom of all the recent deviltry, but, as heconfessed that he could not verify his suspicions, Mark Trefethenbade him keep them to himself.
"We'll not take away any man's character, lad," he said, "withoutproof that he deserves to lose it. But if ever I know for certain thatMike Connell had hand in this, lat him have a care o' me. As for yonDick Peril, there's no fear but what he can look out for hissel', nowthat we can warn him of his enemies."
For two days Peveril kept his bed, assiduously waited on by Mrs.Trefethen and her daughter, watched over at night by Tom, and anobject of anxious solicitude to the entire family. Then he was allowedto venture down-stairs, while the children were driven from the house,that they might not disturb him. Before the week ended he was takingshort walks, escorted by Miss Nelly, who was only too proud to showoff this new cavalier before the other girls of her acquaintance.Several times as the doctor saw them thus together he shook his headdoubtfully.
During one of these walks Peveril made the joyful discovery of apublic library, and thereafter much of his convalescence was passedwithin its walls. There he read with avidity all that he could findconcerning the Lake Superior copper region, and mining in general.Particularly was he interested in everything pertaining to theprehistoric mining of copper by a people, presumably Aztecs or theirclose kin, who possessed the art, long since lost, of tempering thatmetal.
All this time he never for a moment forgot the object of his comingto that country, nor neglected a possible opportunity for gaining newsof the mine in which he believed himself to be a half-owner. Thus, inall his reading, as well as in his conversations with Mark Trefethenand other miners, he always sought for information concerning theCopper Princess, but could find none. His books had nothing to say onthe subject, and, while the men knew by report of many abandonedmining properties, they had not heard of one bearing the name inquestion.
Finally, chafing under this enforced idleness, as well as under thepoverty that compelled him to be a pensioner on those who could illafford to support him, Peveril announced his complete restoration tohealth, and declared his intention of again going to work.
Mark Trefethen tried to persuade him to wait a while longer beforethus testing his strength, but without avail, and at length, findingthe young man set in his determination, used his influence to procurefor him a temporary situation in which the work would be much lighterthan with the timber gang. This job was in a shaft then being sunk bythe White Pine Company, and included a certain supervision of theexplosives used in blasting.
The new shaft was already down several hundred feet, and was beingdriven through solid rock by drill and blast, at the rate of twentyfeet per week. Of course there was no regular running of cages up anddown as yet, but the loosened material was hoisted to the surface in abig iron bucket, or "skip," and in this the miners engaged in thework also travelled back and forth.
The great opening was a rectangle twenty-two by six and a half feet,and to sink it a series of holes was drilled around its sides. Thenall the men but one were
sent to the surface, while Peveril descendedwith a load of dynamite and a fuse. The man left at the bottom wasalways an experienced miner, and it was his duty to charge the holes,place and light the fuses, which were timed to burn for severalminutes, jump into the skip and give the signal for hoisting. In allof this work he was of course assisted by Peveril, and when their taskwas completed the two men were lifted to the surface as quickly aspossible.
After our young friend had been engaged in this delicate business sometwo weeks, and had become thoroughly familiar with its details, he wasdisagreeably surprised one day, upon descending with his freight ofexplosives, to find Mike Connell awaiting him at the bottom of theshaft. The Irishman seemed equally annoyed at seeing him, but thepurpose for which they were there must be accomplished, and so, gladas each would have been for a more congenial companion, they setdoggedly to work.
When Connell, in a spirit of bravado, handled the sticks of dynamitewith criminal recklessness, and finally managed to drop one of themclose beside Peveril, the latter sharply commanded him to be morecareful.
"Afraid, are you?" sneered the other.
"Yes, I am afraid to work with a man who knows so little of hisbusiness as you appear to," answered Peveril.
"Go to the top then, and lave me to finish the job alone. Lord knows,I don't want no dealings with a coward."
"It makes no difference what you want or do not want," answered theyounger man steadily, though with a hot flush mounting to his cheeks."I was sent here for a certain duty, and intend to stay until I haveperformed it."
"And I've a great mind to do what I ought to have done the first dayyou struck Red Jacket, and that is to punch your head."
"You shall have a chance to try it when we get to the surface."
"Where you think you'll find friends to protect you. No, by ----, I'lldo it now!"
With this the Irishman sprang forward with clinched fists, but theother, being on guard, caught him so deft a blow under the chin thathe dropped like a log. Then, with the full exercise of his strength,the young Oxonian picked his enemy up and dropped him into the skip.After doing which he proceeded to complete arrangements for the blast.
He worked with nervous haste, and did not see that his enemy had sofar recovered as to be watching him with an expression of deadly hateover the side of the great iron bucket. But it was so, and, just asPeveril had lighted the several fuses, Connell gave the signal tohoist.
The movement of the skip disclosed his devilish purpose in time forPeveril to spring and catch with outstretched arms one of itssupporting bars. With a mighty effort he drew himself up, and, inspite of Connell's furious attempts to prevent him, gained itsinterior.
At that moment something went wrong with the hoisting machinery, theupward movement was arrested, and the bucket hung motionless not morethan ten feet above the deadly mine. In the awfulness of their commondanger, the men forgot their enmity and gazed at each other withhorror-stricken eyes. Then, with a groan of despair, Mike Connell sanklimply to the bottom of the skip.