So down we goes into a black hole that yawns in the middle of a muddy field. I hadn"t gone far, either, before I discovers that being your own street light wasn"t such an easy trick. I expect a miner has to wear his lamp on his head so"s to have his hands free to swing a pick. But I"ll be hanged if it"s comfortable or easy. I unhooked mine and carried it in my hand, ready to throw the light where I needed it most.
And there was spots where I sure needed it bad, for this Slope 8 proposition was no garden pathway, I"ll say. First off, it was mucky and slippery under foot, and in some places it dips down sharp, almost as steep as a church roof. Then again there was parts where they"d skimped on the ceilin", and you had to do a crouch or else b.u.mp your bean on unpadded rocks. On and down, down and on we went, slippin" and slidin", bracin" ourselves against the wet walls, duckin" where it was low and restin" our necks where they"d been more generous with the excavatin".
There was one "specially sharp pitch of a hundred feet or so and right in the worst of it we had to dodge a young waterfall that comes filterin" down through the rocks. It was doin" some roarin" and splashin", too. I was afraid Llanders might not have noticed it.
"How about it!" says I. "This ain"t another visit from the creek, is it?"
"Only part of it," says he careless. "The pumps are going, you know."
"I hope they"re workin" well," says I.
As for Waddy, not a yip out of him. He sticks close behind Llanders and plugs along just as if he was used to scramblin" through a muddy hole three hundred feet or so below the gra.s.s roots. That"s what it is to be 100 per cent in love. All he could think of was gettin" that ring back and renewin" cordial relations with the lovely Marcelle. But I was noticin" enough for two. I knew that we"d made so many twists and turns that we must be lost for keeps. I saw the saggy, rotten timbers that kept the State of Pennsylvania from cavin" in on us. And now and then I wondered how long it would be before they dug us out.
"Where"s all the coal?" I asks Llanders, just by way of makin" talk.
"Why, here," says he, touchin" the side-wall.
Sure enough, there it was, the real black diamond stuff such as you shovel into the furnace--when you"re lucky. I scaled off a piece and tested it with the lamp. And gradually I begun to revise my ideas of a coal mine. I"d always thought of it as a big cave sort of a place, with a lot of miners grouped around the sides pickin" away sociable. But here is nothing but a maze of little tunnels, criss-crossin" every which way, with n.o.body in sight except now and then, off in a dead-end, we"d get a glimpse of two or three kind of ghosty figures movin" about solemn. It"s all so still, too. Except in places where we could hear the water roarin" there wasn"t a sound. Only in one spot, off in what Llanders calls a chamber, we finds two men workin" a compressed air jack-hammer, drillin" holes.
"They"ll be shooting a blast soon," says Llanders. "Want to wait?"
"No thanks," says I prompt. "Mr. Fiske is in a rush."
Maybe I missed something interestin", but with all that rock over my head I wasn"t crazy to watch somebody monkey with dynamite. The jack-hammer crew gave us a line on where we might find Bruzinski, and I expect for a while there I led the way. After another ten-minute stroll, durin" which we dodged a string of coal cars being shunted down a grade, we comes across three miners chattin" quiet in a corner. One of "em turns out to be the mine-boss.
"Hey, Joe!" says Llanders. "Somebody wants to see you."
At which Waddy pushes to the front. "Oh, I say, Bruzinski! Remember me, don"t you?" he asks.
Joe looks him over casual and shakes his head.
"I"m Lieutenant Fiske, you know," says Waddy. "That is, I was."
"Well, I"ll be d.a.m.ned!" says Joe earnest. "The Loot! What"s up?"
"That ring I gave you in Belgium," goes on Waddy. "I--I hope you still have it?"
"Ye-e-es," says Joe draggy. "Fact is, I was goin" to use it tomorrow.
I"m gettin" engaged. Nice girl, too. I was meanin" to----"
"But you can"t, Joe," breaks in Waddy. "Not with that ring. Miss Jedain gave me that. Here, I"ll give you another. How will this do?" And Waddy takes a low set spark off his finger.
"All right. Fine!" says Joe, and proceeds to unhook the other ring from his leather watch, guard. "But what"s all the hurry about?"
"Because she"s here," says Waddy. "In Washington, I mean. The lovely Marcelle. Came over looking for me, Joe, just as she promised. Perhaps you didn"t know she did promise, though?"
"Sure," says Joe. "That"s what she told all of us."
"Eh?" gasps Waddy.
"Some hugger, that one," says Joe. "Swell lady, too. A bear-cat for makin" love, I"ll tell the world. Me, and the Cap., and the First Loot, and you, all the same day. She was goin" to marry us all. And the Cap., with a wife and two kids back in Binghamton, N. Y., he got almost nervous over it."
"I--I can"t believe it," says Waddy gaspy. "Did--did she give you a--a token, as she did to me?"
"No," says Joe. "None of us fell quite so hard for her as you did. I guess we kinda suspected what was wrong with her."
"Wrong?" echoes Waddy.
"Why not?" asks Joe. "Four years of the Huns, and then we came blowin"
in to lift the lid and let "em come up out of the cellars. Just naturally went simple in the head, she did. Lots like her, only they took it out in different ways. Her line was marryin" us, singly and in squads; overlookin" complete that she had one perfectly good hubby who was an aide or something to King Albert, as well as three nice youngsters. We heard about that later, after she"d come to a little."
For a minute or so Waddy stands there starin" at Joe with his mouth open and his shoulders sagged. Then he slumps on a log and lets his chin drop.
"Goin" to hunt her up and give back the ring?" asks Joe. "That the idea?"
"Not--not precisely," says Waddy. "I--I shall send it by mail, I think."
And all the way out he walked like he was in a daze. He generally takes it hard for a day or so, I understand. So we had that underground excursion all for nothing. That is, unless you count my being able to give Mr. Robert the swift comeback next mornin" when he greets me with a chuckle.
"Well, Torchy," says he, "how did you leave Bruzinski?"
"Just where I found him," says I, "about three hundred feet underground."
CHAPTER VI
HOW TORCHY ANCh.o.r.eD A COOK
It began with Stella Flynn, but it ended with the Hon. Sour Milk and Madam Zen.o.bia. Which is one reason why my job as private sec. to Mr.
Robert Ellins is one I wouldn"t swap for Tumulty"s--unless they came insistin" that I had to go to the White House to save the country. And up to date I ain"t had any such call. There"s no tellin" though. Mr.
Robert"s liable to sic "em onto me any day.
You see, just because I"ve happened to pull a few winnin" acts where I had the breaks with me he"s fond of playin" me up as a wizard performer in almost any line. Course, a good deal of it is just his josh, but somehow it ain"t a habit I"m anxious to cure him of. Yet when he bats this domestic crisis up to me--this case of Stella Flynn--I did think it was pushin" the comedy a bit strong.
"No," says I, "I"m no miracle worker."
"Pooh, Torchy!" says Vee. "Who"s saying you are? But at least you might try to suggest something. You think you"re so clever at so many things, you know."
Trust the folks at home for gettin" in these little jabs.
"Oh, very well," says I. "What are the facts about Stella?"
While the bill of particulars is more or less lengthy all it amounts to is the usual kitchen tragedy. Stella has given notice. After havin" been a good and faithful cook for "steen years; first for Mrs. Ellins"s mother, and then being handed on to Mrs. Ellins herself after she and Mr. Robert hooked up; now Stella announces that she"s about to resign the portfolio.
No, it ain"t a higher wage scale she"s strikin" for. She"s been boosted three times durin" the last six months, until she"s probably the best paid lady cook on Long Island. And she ain"t demandin" an eight-hour day, or recognition as chairman of the downstairs soviet. Stella is a middle-aged, full-chested, kind of old-fashioned female who probably thinks a Bolshevik is a limb of the Old Boy himself and ought to be met with holy water in one hand and a red-hot poker in the other. She"s satisfied with her quarters, havin" a room and bath to herself; she"s got no active grouch against any of the other help; and being sent to ma.s.s every Sunday mornin" in the limousine suits her well enough.