Cattle-Ranch to College

on, Mr. Worth pointed ahead to a rolling knoll covered with trees and announced that there was their future home, John and Ben set up a wild cheer and dashed ahead

welling and kitchen, and several more for the men, o

lar camp routine begun. It was necessary to get a considerable portion of the tunnel driven before frost came. The opening was made horizontally into

, fully able to do their share. During the preliminary digging of the drift they did little beyond t

sted to them, and it was not long before every haunt of furred and feat

ctors, general manager, inspector general, passenger and freight agent, chief engineer, and superintendent of motive power. One day he was engaged in his many brain-taxing duties, the most trying of which was keeping the motive power "moting." The flaring lamp in his hat showed but little of the mule's tough hide, but that little the superintendent belabored lustily. The little car rumbled and

cap-light had showed so clearly up the tunnel. "You'd bette

ventilating current of air, and it was Ben's duty to open and close it after each loaded or empty

Been reading about Aladdin; he was underground, too, but all he had to do was to rub a lamp and he just wallowed in pearls, diamon

m," answered John, as he

him. "Couldn't be. Aladdin was a Chinaman,

echoing back through the darkness, mingled with the rumble of

n, and the younger boy was feeling very tired of living away from the sun and the bright fresh air; th

n the c

ath the

dusky

year a

alf, and had a chance to see daylight once in a while

selled the elder. "I'm going to be promoted,

ired the discont

r; going to work with Bill Coop

ather in the dollar," cried

hought came of a way out of the difficulty. A friendly Indian camp was located acros

?" said Ben exultingly. "He'd be scared to death at first, but I'll

place, while John turned over Jerry to his bro

couragement whenever he went by, and never failed to remind him of the money he was mak

elves as pleased with the change; what

er, for he found it hard to work squeezed in between the walls of coal as the crevice deepened. The bottom and side cuts made, he bored holes (round holes with a flat drill, the knack of which he acquired only after long practice and a choice collection of smashed fingers) and then tamped in the paper cartridge of powder. When the fuse was in place, all that was needed to c

the black wall and the powder within it. The red sparks drew nearer and nearer the hole, then, after a spiteful little shower, disappeared. It seemed a long time to the miner waiting behind his protecting shield before t

ous places himself; so it came about one day that the boy worked at the vertical cut while his partne

as visible and Cooper had disappeared entirely under the overhanging ledge of coal; only the faint glowing of the light and the sound of the tools betrayed the workmen. It was d

" cried John suddenly. "I hear it popping and

His voice seemed to come from the bowels of the ea

me out, quick!" John's voice had such a note of fear

said, "I'll co

liding sound that filled the air all about him, and from tim

s extinguished, and all the breath was knocked out of him, but he managed to work himself free and make hi

d darkness, his hands outstretched befor

working in the e

up?" the

es under a who

e imprisoned man lay, buried under tons of coal; the men, seizing picks

horror. The body was found. The poor fellow's arms were raised in the very act of

sy as his," said old Mike McGuire, w

the car, the mule was unhitched, and the miners pushe

orth read a few verses from the camp's only Bible, of

d question as to his origin he would probably be answered with, "Came from the East, I gu

he stopped to rest the sight came before his eyes of his dead friend as he lay under the black shroud of

g on the ice was something the boys had never learned, they had to get Yumping Yim, the Swede, to teach them how to use these new acquisitions. Though they were rude affairs, the boys, whose muscles were developed by snowshoeing, soon managed to make good headway on the river. In a sharp spin down

nd their wonder and interest were great. This camp, in turn, greatly interested the white boys; as they lay in bed they could hear the bum-bum-bum-bum of the medicine man's tom-tom come booming

much dodging-for the Indian will not tolerate any spying on or interference with what he considers sacred-they reached the tepee fr

matter?" w

was afraid he'd see us," John ans

mmon condition, for the red men generally keep their hair most neatly parted). Crow Hat swayed to and fro in time with the slow beating of his drum, and as he swung he chanted, "Eeyuh! Eeyuh! Eeyuh!" raising and lowering his voice as the tom-tom

away hurriedly and made for home, and it was some time befo

out of the black hole and into the open air. Indeed, both boys welcomed the work of cutting

xcitedly: "Say, John," he cried, "a squaw just came down from the big flat and she says she saw some

urn. "You'll have to ask father. Go on

nt returned. One look at his face was sufficient

e quickly saddled, rifles, belts, and cartridges were slung on, and in a twink

THE COUNTRY AFF

ST SAW SOME BUFF

cks had already started, but old "Wolf Voice," a minor c

ith him," said John. "Hello, can we go

se? Me go quick,"

way up the slope to the plateau which surrounded the camping place. Baldy kept up easily with the Indian

eat anything around here in a

f rode was his best, but the thought of the cha

easts were already surrounded, so they took a place in th

ically in all directions. The party of hunters, of whom there were about twenty-five, also split

to his brother, "and let him pass

watched, ready to spring away in case he should charge them,

od his ground till his rider urged him after the fleeing game. John held his rifle ready to make a safe shot when opportunity offered. The horse was now gaining rapidly, but hearing the thump

the boy turned to see from whence it came, zip! another bullet went humming by: the Indian was firing from behind, and the sh

and he lunged forward on his massive head. Big

angry cle

t he didn't either. Anybody could do up a buffalo from behind.

dian protested against sharing the game, but Wolf Voice happened to come up at this moment, and, with the authority of a chief, soon settled the