CHAPTER XVI

WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE SHAFT

"The crisis has passed," announced the surgeon in a relieved tone.

Two great tear drops rolled down Bob Jarvis' cheeks. He brushed them away and rose from the chair in which he had been sitting all night.

"I'm going home. I must get ready to go to work. If he should become worse won't you please let me know?"

"Yes," answered the surgeon, giving the boy a quick, keen glance. "He'll be all right now. No need to worry."

Bob went to his boarding place happier and more light of heart than he ever had been before.

Steve's recovery was very slow, however. All that day and the next he was too weak to talk, having lost considerable blood. Then again the shock had been greater than many men could have sustained and lived to tell about.

At the end of a week the invalid was allowed to sit up, but ten days had elapsed before it was considered prudent to permit him to dress and walk about. Bob spent all his evenings with his companion, but they did not discuss the accident. Each lad tacitly avoided the subject.

The first day that Rush was allowed to go out of doors he walked over to Mr. Penton's office, a hundred yards away, and asked permission to see the superintendent. Mr. Penton welcomed the young man warmly.

"I am glad to see you out, Rush. You had a pretty close call, didn't you?"

"I guess so, though I do not remember much about what happened beyond a certain point."

"If you feel strong enough I wish you would tell me exactly what occurred leading up to the accident," said the superintendent.

"Oh, yes, sir; I am strong enough. I could go to work and I think I shall to-morrow."

"We'll see about that."

Steve related briefly what he knew of the accident, but his story shed no new light on the affair. He could not even guess how it had happened, beyond what Mr. Penton himself told the boy.

"There is one thing I should like to do, sir," said Steve.

"And what is that?"

"I wish you would give me permission to examine the shaft where I fell in."

"That already has been done. Something gave way, and----"

Steve smiled faintly.

"I have reason to know that something gave way," he said. "I wish I could satisfy myself, though, just how it happened."

"Of course. There is no objection to your doing so."

"I will ask Bob Jarvis to help me. He is a shrewd boy, and he may see some things that I might not notice."

"He will have to be pretty keen if he does," laughed Mr. Penton. "I cannot imagine much of anything escaping your observation. But, my lad, you have some reason for wanting to do this. What is it?"

"I want to find out how the accident occurred."

"Ah, you suspect something?"

"I do not know whether I do or not. Perhaps I am curious. Most boys have some curiosity, you know, sir."

"Go ahead, but do not try it until you are well and strong. We can't afford to have you laid up again. We need you, you know."

A faint flush stole into Steve Rush's face. He had grown to be very fond of the big-bodied, big-hearted superintendent of the Cousin Jack Mine in the few months that he had known him.

"I thank you, sir. You are very kind to me. I want to tell you how much I appreciate it all."

"Rubbish!" scoffed Mr. Penton.

On the third day following, Steve made his first trip below ground since the accident. The lad was welcomed with enthusiasm by nearly every one he met, many of whom he knew only by sight.

"I never knew I was so popular," smiled Steve, after he had looked up Jarvis, who was still at work at level seventeen.

Bob grinned.

"I reckon there are certain quarters where you are not so popular, eh?"

"I should not be surprised if that were true. But those quarters no longer exist, I understand."

"Yes; the pair have hit the trail over the mountains. What are you going to do down here to-day?"

"I am going down in the skip shaft."

Jarvis nodded understandingly.

"Mr. Penton said you might knock off and go with me."

"Did he? That's fine. I'll see the mine captain and tell him."

"I have told him already. You may come with me now, and we'll make a little examination on our own hook."

Bob dropped his shovel, and, telling the shift boss where he was going, accompanied Steve down the ladder to the level below. There the lads looked over the platform by the tally-board, Steve pointing out where he was standing when he went through the floor.

"I never knew there was a trap there," he said, pointing to the new planking that covered the hole through which he had dropped.

"Nor I. I guess not many men in the mine knew about it. The timbers supporting it must have been rotten."

"Perhaps," answered Steve dryly. "Come on up to the sub-level; we will begin our investigation there."

Bob followed, though he did not fully understand the purpose of his companion. Rush made his way to the door on the sub-level through which the man Spooner had entered the shaft. The lad opened the door and stood peering in, holding his candle ahead of him as he did so.

"You are not going in here, are you?" questioned Jarvis.

"Yes."

"Why not go in on the level below and save this climb?"

"I have my reasons, old man. Do you see the red mud on the rungs of the ladder here?"

"Yes, I see it; but what does that prove?"

"No one has any business in this shaft and yet someone has been here rather recently, for the mud is still soft. That mud came from some one's rubber boots not so many moons ago."

"You ought to be a detective," exclaimed Bob admiringly.

"We will go down now. Be careful. This isn't a very safe place, and a misstep would take you to the surface by the route I followed two weeks ago."

Once on the platform below, the boys halted. Holding their candles above their heads, they looked about them curiously. A new post had been set in place of the old one, the latter still lying on the platform. This the boys examined carefully.

"You see, the post is in good condition, Bob. The post didn't give way, after all. I wonder how it was held up?"

"Perhaps it rested on a piece of wood placed across these two posts that project up through the floor," suggested Bob.

"Yes, that's so. I think you are right. But where is the piece? I should like to see it."

Steve was hunting here and there with his customary energy, while Bob Jarvis stood looking on, not being quite sure what he should do.

"You look about on that side, Bob. Be careful that you don't fall into the shaft. Here is sawdust on the floor, but I presume the men did that when they put in the new support. Hello! I've got something."

Steve triumphantly held up a saw that he had found.

"This may mean something and it may not. We shall find out when we get back again."

Suddenly the boy uttered an exclamation.

"What is it?" demanded Bob, hastening over to the spot where Steve was pulling something from between the platform and the rock wall of the shaft. What he had found was a piece of plank from which two pieces had been split off. At the breaking point on each end they plainly saw the cut of a saw.

"Well, what do you think of that?" muttered Bob. "Is that the plank that held up the post?"

"Judging from the mark in the middle, I should say it was. Bring the old post over here."

Bob did so, and at Steve's direction placed the end of the post on the broken piece of plank. The post fitted the faint outline perfectly.

"Well, what do you think of that?" breathed Jarvis.

"That somebody has tried to make a clean job of getting me out of the way. That plank was sawed partly through so that it might not break at once, but would do so when any extra weight was thrown upon it. We must find those other pieces, Bob. Look about. I guess we'll have something to report to Mr. Penton."

Illustration: Steve Triumphantly Held Up a Saw.

"Shall we say who did it?"

"We can't really say. We may have our suspicions, but unless we get more evidence we shall have to let it go as it is. I have some facts in my possession that may help us, though."

Steve got down on his hands and knees and began going over the floor with great thoroughness. He was keen and alert and his eyes glowed with resolute purpose.

"Here's one of the broken pieces," cried Bob.

"Good. See if you can find the other. We shall have our case complete in a few minutes if we keep on having such good luck."

But one piece was all that Bob was able to find, the other no doubt having been thrown into the shaft. The one found was lying at the edge of the platform near its end.

"I guess there is nothing more here for us to do," decided the lad finally. "We will take our evidence and go to Mr. Penton."

"We haven't enough to hang a dead cat on."

Steve smiled.

"We shall see," he answered. "You tuck the saw under your coat and I will carry the boards."

Entering the first cage that stopped at this level, the boys were quickly conveyed to the surface. Steve asked the cage-tender at the mouth of the shaft if he had seen the superintendent about the shaft, and was informed that Mr. Penton was at that moment in the dry house. He was no doubt dressing to go down in the mine.

The boys hurried to the dry house, finding Mr. Penton talking with one of the time-checkers.

"May we see you alone, sir?" asked Steve.

"Certainly. Come into my dressing room. You have some news, eh?" queried the superintendent, flashing a keen glance at them.

"We think we have, sir."

After entering the dressing room, Mr. Penton nodded for them to proceed. Steve went right to the point.

"We have been down in the skip shaft."

"On seventeen platform?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you discover anything of consequence?"

"Mr. Jarvis has a saw that we found there. It belongs to one of the timber-men, and was stolen from him the day before the accident."

The superintendent pricked up his ears at this.

"I learned that fact this morning. He doesn't know that we have the saw. We found it where it had evidently been thrown by the person who used it. And here is something else, sir."

Steve laid the broken pieces of plank on a table. Mr. Penton picked them up, turning them over in his hands, pausing when he discovered the marks of the saw, then he glanced at Steve.

"What is this?"

"It is the support that rested under the post holding up the old trap," answered the lad.

"Then--then----"

"Someone had sawed it partly through, so the support would give way and let someone else down. I happened to be the one who was let down."

The smile vanished from the eyes of the general superintendent and the lines of his face hardened perceptibly.

"How do you know this piece supported the post?"

"You will find the mark of the post on it. We fitted the post to the mark to make sure. Whoever did the job, entered the skip shaft from sub-level seventeen. I am sure of this, because I found fresh mud on the rungs of the ladder. No one is supposed to go down there, is he, sir?"

"No; no one does go down there. This is very serious. Why did not my men discover all these things?"

"I guess they did not look very sharply. The evidence was there to be found if one looked hard enough."

"Rush, you suspect someone?" said Mr. Penton sharply. "Whom do you suspect?"

"Perhaps this may answer the question," answered the lad, laying on the table a brass time check about the size of a half dollar.

"Where--where did you get this?"

"On the platform where the job was done, sir," answered Steve, directing a steady gaze at the stern face of the superintendent.