Tabitha's Vacation Part 17

"What did it quit working for?" ventured Billiard, testing the weather-stained rope still coiled about the winch above the shaft.

"The vein of rich silver stopped all of a sudden and they couldn't make the other ore pay, so they shut down, and the men went to work in other mines, or else moved away."

"How deep is a shaft?" asked Toady, as Susie sent another pebble spinning after the first and counted rapidly until it struck the bottom.

"Some are _hundreds_ of feet deep," replied Mercedes impressively, glad of a chance to air her meagre knowledge of mining affairs. "But this----"

"Is only a hole," finished Inez contemptuously.

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Billiard, mystified. "Ain't this a sure-enough shaft?"

"Oh, yes," Mercedes hastened to inform him; "only 'tisn't the main one.

That's all boarded up, and no one can go down it any more. This was dug later. Someone thought there was more silver here, and they made this shaft. It's not very deep----"

"Let's go down it!" proposed Billiard, boyishly eager for such an adventure.

"Oh, horrors!" shrieked Mercedes. "With all those lizards down there?"

"Shucks! Lizards won't hurt a fellow."

"Maybe there are snakes, too," said Rosslyn, hastily backing away from the place.

"We'd have heard them," Billiard answered promptly. "Susie has fired enough rocks at 'em to stir 'em up if there was any there."

"But Tabitha mightn't like it," suggested Irene in troubled tones.

"Did she ever say you _couldn't_ go?"

"N-o."

"Or did your mother?"

"N-o."

"Then what's to hinder?"

"S'posing the rope should bu'st," mused Irene aloud.

"_That_ rope? Why, it's half as big as my arm! Yes, bigger."

"But it has been here a long, long time. Ever since I can remember.

Doesn't rope rot?"

"I'll bet that's as strong as iron," boasted Billiard. "There's nothing rotten about it. I'll stump any of you to go down with me."

"Will you go first and see if there are any snakes?" demanded Susie, whose love of adventure was constantly leading her into mischief.

"If you'll promise honor bright to come next."

"I will," Susie rashly promised, her eyes dancing with excitement and eagerness. "Will you go, too, Toady?"

"Sure, but who's going to let us down? I'll bet it takes some work to keep the rope unwinding just right."

"I'll lower you all," proposed Mercedes magnanimously, for the idea of descending into that black, musty hole did not appeal to her in the least, but she could not bear to appear less brave than fly-away Susie.

"You! Pooh! You are just a girl! The bucket would get away from you the first thing, and then where'd the rest of us be? No, I've got a better plan than that. You and Toady and Irene let Susie and Inez and me down first; and after we have had a look at the thing, we'll come up and let you down. How does that suit you?"

"It's a go," Toady readily responded.

"All right," quavered Mercedes.

But Irene held her peace. Nothing could tempt her to crouch in that great, swaying bucket and be dropped into the blackness of that yawning pit, but she did not mean to voice her opinions until the proper moment. So she took her place beside Mercedes and Toady and puffed and panted as the rope slowly unwound, and Billiard, scrooched low in the bucket, disappeared from view. It was hard work and slow, to pay out the rope evenly, but Billiard did not seem at all inclined to be critical, and accepted his rough, jolting descent without a murmur.

Had the truth been known, the boy was too nearly paralyzed with fright to notice anything of his surroundings, and more than once he was on the point of signalling for his companions to hoist him to the surface again, but fear of ridicule kept him tongue-tied until it was too late.

With a final jerk and jolt, the bucket stood still, and cautiously opening his eyes for the first time since he had stepped into his queer elevator. Billiard beheld a row of black, shadowy heads hovering over the brink of the aperture, and heard Toady's voice, sounding strangely m.u.f.fled and far away, call cheerfully, "Well, you've struck bottom, old boy! What does it look like?"

Bottom? Billiard blinked and rubbed his eyes, and peered about him in surprise; but at first in the semi-darkness, he could distinguish nothing. Then as he grew more accustomed to the blackness, he could see before him the mouth of a still blacker cavern, which to his vivid imagination seemed yawning to swallow him up; and he shudderingly shrank back into the friendly protection of the bucket.

"Why don't you answer?" demanded an impatient voice from above.

"_Are_ there snakes and lizards?" called Mercedes.

Snakes! Lizards! Billiard had forgotten them, but with a sigh of relief he realized that there was not a sound of anything stirring about him. "Naw!" he yelled back, trying to make his voice sound brave and scornful. "Guess not. I can't see a thing. Might as well haul me up, 'cause no one could tell what a mine looks like in this blackness."

"Got any matches?" inquired Toady.

Billiard rapidly felt through his pockets. "One," he announced.

"Then here's a candle. Catch it!"

Toady let it drop almost before the words were out of his mouth, and with a tremendous thump it struck poor Billiard on the head before he had caught the significance of the directions from above; and with a yelp of surprise and pain, he tumbled out of the bucket against a timber, which shivered and splintered under his weight. But in some mysterious manner, he found himself in possession of the candle when he had righted himself once more and brushed the rotten wood from his eyes and mouth. He lost no time in striking his one lone match and lighting the slender taper in his hand, much to the relief of the group hovering anxiously about the shaft.

"There!" he heard Susie e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e. "I was sure he had killed himself."

"You mean that Toady did," spluttered the indignant Billiard. "What do you think my head is made of--iron?"

"_I_ couldn't tell that it would hit you on the head, could I?"

protested the younger boy apologetically. "Why didn't you dodge?"

"Dodge? D'ye think I'm a cat with eyes that see in the dark?"

"Never mind," soothed Irene, who had ventured near enough the curbing to take an occasional peep down into the blackness. "It's too bad it hurt you. Put some cold water on the b.u.mp----"

A derisive shout from her sisters stopped her, and even Billiard had to smile, though he felt grateful toward the little twin who was sorry he was hurt. By this time the pale candle flame had ceased to sputter and flicker uncertainly, but burned with a steady light, and with a thrill of exultation Billiard looked curiously about him, relieved to find no snakes or crawly things in the abandoned shaft, and pleased beyond measure to think he had actually braved the terrors of the dark to explore this mysterious place, so he could crow over his brother and cousins because of his courage.

"Say, but it's great down here," he called, venturing just inside the timbered cross-cut and staring at the rocky walls which here and there glistened alluringly. "And there's pecks of silver sticking out of every stone. Why don't you come on down, Toady?"

"Can't till you come up. It's Susie and Inez now. Going, girls?"