Down the Slope

Joe was thoroughly puzzled, and after several moments of silence Mr. Wright said:

"Get your supper now, and then talk the matter over with Thomas."

At this intimation that the interview was at an end, the miner left the office followed by the two boys, and when they were out of the store Skip Miller came from his hiding place without having been seen by the superintendent or his clerks.

The leader of the regulators lounged carelessly toward the door until satisfied no one was paying any particular attention to him, when he stepped briskly out, and walked rapidly to a groggery situated at the farther end of the town.

Here, as he had anticipated, was Cale Billings and a select party of friends, all of whom were discussing their late defeat.

Skip did not care to state the reason for his coming in the presence of the entire party, and waited patiently in one corner of the room until it should be possible to beckon the leader out of doors.

"Wright may think we're whipped," Billings was saying; "but that's where he makes a big mistake. He can't drive us out of this town, no matter how much he may blow, an' it won't be many days before we'll show what's what."

"There's little chance for us the way things look now," one of the party said, with a laugh.

"How do you know? The folks 'round here have seen what I can do, an' they'll soon find out that there's a good deal of fight left."

As he said this Billings looked first at one and then another to note the effect of his bold words, and in doing so chanced to see Skip, who immediately made a series of what he intended should be mysterious gestures.

"What's the matter with you?" the man asked, angrily; but instead of replying, Skip placed his finger on his lips and quickly left the room.

It was several moments before the leader understood he was wanted, and when this fact dawned upon him he followed, meeting the boy a few yards from the entrance.

"Was you cuttin' up them monkey shines for me?" he asked in a surly tone.

"Of course."

"Well, what's wanted?"

"You jest said as how you'd like to get square with the company."

"S'posen I did? Does that concern you?"

"P'raps I heard somethin' 'round to the store you'd want to know."

"Say, if you've got anything to tell, out with it, for I can't fool away my time with you."

"First I've got a trade to make."

"Talk quick."

"Do you know the new breaker boy? The one what's so thick with Wright an' Joe Brace?"

"Yes."

"I want to get square with him, an' if you'll help me do it I'll tell what I heard a lot of 'em saying."

"Was it anything I'd like to know?"

"It'll show jest how you can get the best of the whole crowd."

"Then I'll do what I can, an' be glad of the chance, 'cause I've got a little score to settle with him myself."

Skip no longer hesitated; but repeated in detail all he had heard while hiding in the store, Billings listening with closest attention.

"That's the best piece of news I've heard for a year, my boy," the latter said, "an' you sha'n't be the loser by tellin' me. If you've got the nerve to do a little work after everything is ready, both the breaker boss an' this new feller shall be where they can't help themselves."

The leader of the regulators felt exceedingly proud that the rioter should ask him to participate in the plot, and promised, without the least show of hesitation, to do anything which might be required of him.

"How long before you'll be ready?" he asked.

"It may be a week; but you drop in here for a minute every evenin' so's I can talk about the thing if the plans don't work. There's no use to be in a hurry over sich a job as this."

"I'll show up reg'lar," Skip cried gleefully, and then, as Billings re-entered the groggery, he hurried away to tell the good news to some of his chums.

During this plotting Joe Brace and Bill Thomas were at Fred's home discussing the best means of following Mr. Wright's instructions. The plan of the works was studied carefully; but in it was found no solution to the problem, and when they retired that evening nothing definite had been decided upon.

The night shift went to work as usual, and but for the evidences of wanton destruction a stranger would hardly have mistrusted that Farley's had lately been a scene of rioting.

On the following morning Fred passed through the breaker to speak to Donovan before entering the slope, and Skip Miller displayed the greatest excitement on seeing him.

"I don't know how it could have happened," the breaker boss said, "for I haven't told even my own wife that you was to be Joe's butty; but these young villains know all about it. I've heard Skip tellin' his cronies, an' I'm sure they're up to some mischief. Be careful, an' don't go outside alone, leastways, not till the business of the riot has blown over."

"I'll look to it that they haven't a chance to do much harm," Fred replied, laughingly, as he passed on to learn the first duties of a miner.

Joe, Bill, and Sam accompanied Fred to his new working place, and the former said as they were being let down the incline:

"I hear Billings swears he won't leave town."

"I passed him on my way home last night," Bill added, "and he warned me agin keepin' Sam as my butty."

"Why?"

"He says he is a spy, hand in glove with you, an' that all who work with them as give information to the bosses will catch it rough."

Bill Thomas laughed as he said this; but Joe looked serious.

"I don't like this way of working. The lower level is bad enough without thinkin' all the time that somebody is tryin' to do a fellow up."

"Nonsense. Barkin' dogs don't often bite, an' so long as we know he means mischief there ain't much chance of trouble. The thing to be figgered out is, how're we goin' to fix this job?"

Again the two men discussed the situation, walking along the drift with the plans before them, while the boys were forced to be content with listening to the conversation.

It was finally decided that they should work here and there along the entire cut, trusting that it would be possible to hear if any one began to dig on the opposite side.

"It's a case of keepin' quiet an' listenin' for suspicious sounds," Bill said. "We won't try to get out coal to-day, an', perhaps, by night Mr. Wright will have a better plan."

"By watchin' Billings we could get some kind of an idea as to when he was likely to begin operations."