Down the Slope

During the first five minutes after he was locked in the short drift, Sam Thorpe gave himself up to unreasoning anger. He threw himself again and again upon the timbers as if be...

On the second morning Fred did not present himself at the dingy old building until nearly time for the whistle to sound, and those whom he had good cause to look upon as enemies...

The farmer who sold the property to Joe was literally frightened into telling the truth, and although the company showed a deed for the land, no record could be found for the same.

Fred could not prevent himself from glancing now and then in the direction of Skip Miller and his friends during the forenoon, and on each occasion he found one or more of the p...

If Skip had been an actor in a pantomime, and rehearsed the scene every day for a week, he could not have arrived more precisely, than when he made his appearance at the very mo...

Mrs. Byram had no suspicion that her son might be exposed to any danger until after he had been absent an hour, and then the remembrance of the threats made by Skip Miller and h...

The capture of Brace seemed to inflame the passions of the mob, and not even while the buildings were being sacked was the town in such a state of excitement.

Two trustworthy men had been selected from the night shift to keep guard on the lower level during the time between sunset and sunrise, and about an hour before the relieving wh...

It seemed to Fred as if they were about to sacrifice Sam in order to aid in confirming the title of the land, and it required no slight amount of Mr. Hunter's eloquence to persu...

In order to reach the yard where the lumber was to be found it was necessary that the boys should pass near the store, and at a point where Mr. Wright's house could be seen plai...

When Fred left Sam to defend the breach in the wall he fully realized the necessity of giving the alarm quickly, and did not stop to light his lamp until after scrambling over t...

Knowing that Joe and Bill were in Mr. Wright's confidence Donovan had no hesitation about placing guards as desired, and immediately after they ascended from the slope every exi...

After the first alarm passed away, Fred understood that he had fallen but a few yards, and the earth which covered him represented only a very small portion of the upper tunnel'...

During the time that Billings was making his preparations for the last act of his life, Sam and Fred remained seated a short distance from the cut which led to Skip's hiding place.

"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...

Neither Fred nor Bill had any desire to sleep, now that the solution of the mystery seemed so near. They remained in the same place where the halt was made until the blackness o...

At the moment when Skip Miller knocked away the joist which supported the timbers at the top of the tunnel, Fred had stooped to pick up his shovel, and this position saved him f...

Brace did not so much as ask if Fred was willing to join him in the struggle which must surely ensue, if they met those who intended to work such great injury to the mine. He wa...

"When a man knows that he's to be arrested, he ain't likely to hang 'round so's the warrant can be served without much trouble to the constable. But jest now Bill isn't in a con...

Food and rest were all that was needed to restore the boys who had been rescued to their normal condition once more, and since the works were necessarily shut down they had ampl...

Joe Brace did not appear to think there was much to fear from the late rioters, so far as the possibility of their making an entrance through the old shaft was concerned.

"I've bought the land!" he cried, exultantly. "The farmer was mighty glad of a chance to sell for five hundred dollars, an' if I'd had more time the price could have been whittl...

They uncovered the spurs of pure coal sufficiently to learn that it was a true vein, and, judging from the indications, there could be no question but it extended over a large a...

Recognizing at once that the voice they had just heard did not belong to the man for whom they were looking the rioters remained silent with surprise, and during this short inte...

Not for a moment did Fred believe it possible Sam had done anything dishonest in regard to the money, and yet it seemed very singular that he could have been robbed without know...

"I have sent for surveyors, and we will run our own lines early to-morrow morning, after which an officer shall be stationed there to warn him from encroaching. You must be on t...

The constant straining caused Fred to perspire freely, and after many vain efforts he succeeded in catching the rope which was around his wrists, under the point of a projecting...

Fred was forced to attend to his duties at the store immediately after the return from Black town, and while so engaged could not fail to hear the many comments upon the case.

"A trip down the slope will be enough to make you wish such a place in which to earn a living never existed. Why don't you try something else before it is too late?"

"Don't give in an inch," Bill said, in conclusion to his remarks concerning the validity of the title. "Get over there as quick as you can, and don't let the lawyer weaken."

"It ain't likely we could get into the jail now the day is so far spent, an' if we did, what would be the use? There's nothing that could be said to cheer the boy."

"You've done a big thing, my boy," Brace said, approvingly, when Fred's story was concluded, "an' it won't be long before we can bring Sam back to Farley's with not so much as a...

That Gus could concoct so plausible a story was none the less astonishing than that Mr. Wright should give it credence, so far as to refrain from ordering the boy's immediate ar...

It was as if each person who had doubted Sam's honesty felt it necessary to call at Mrs. Byram's and congratulate him upon what now appeared to be good proof of his innocence.