Diamond Dick's Daring Deeds — page 9: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

me sin rz ce it og the very , Srst intimation he had had tt he young man ‘cared for Ella Coleman. Jae stay 4 es “wo 0 Spot went after Bertie, and Fritz brought up the ons Bist | r (oF F of I Diamond Dick's night shift, ae pe the fat Dutch boy stood at the top of the fete, 4 —_ a ~ “Don'd vorry aboudt me, girls, '’ said he. ‘‘T was 5 der _ - vorst feller i ina fighdt vat you efer heardt oof, und you oe BB % ‘g can bed someding for nodding dot I’ll make dot grazy ~ ? lof man dink he vas hit mit a cyclone, oof he only gifs me der shance!?? Se ~ “Don’ t try to featitte yourself, Fritz,’’ called up Two- = Spot from farther down the ladder; ‘‘all we've got to do is to stand by the electric bells and s:gnal for the lights or the cage.’’- Just then there came a rippling crack of weapous from below, followed by a whiff of smoke and a smell of powder. After that, when a few seconds had elapsed, a ~demoniacal,. blood-curdling laugh was heard, growing ‘ fainter and faiuter until it Gnaily died away. ‘Ach, du lieber!’’ instant he also liad vanished. and. the exclaimed Fritz, next Diamond Dick's night shift were away on their still hunt. Although they did not know it, there were more than tivo men in the mine. _ This fact was to develop later. CHAPTER X. TREACHERY! > There were seven in the mine owner’s night shift— - Diamond Dick himself, Bertie, - Burton, Handsome Harry, Fletcher, Fritz and Two-Spot. Although, as stated, Dick did not know that there _ were any more than two men in the underground work- me a _ ings, he was taking this force along to guard entrances = . to various levels as he made a clean sweep through the aL ete . aS ey pe nae ee uy ma rs es Sec . ’ -. iy 72 oe aia Si fen | Bs hs ART = ae : hy + ve : Sab Sas a, Y D Arie Re ate a Oy ae Oh ve = on) pe ee . ude ; (-- c pues fi oe fifty feet by meaus of a * No point behind was to be left unguarded. 3 Shaft uumber two marked the extreme oh iit of the workings. | This shaft was onl¢ fifty fect in depth Er ended. iu ax level which ran for a hundred feet and ‘dropped aother ¥ ‘winze,’’ | BY i, e se Another ladder led to a lower level and, beginning as eee rs a2 ~~ ea Dick was doing, it would be possible to go through the entire mine, searching every. drift, stope, winze ae cross cut. a} a There might be hard clashes, but escape for Skids “eg more and Morgan was utterly impossible. o3 Burton stepped off the ladder close behind the old’ veteran, the latter thrusting out his hand and outage hin through the dense darkness, a few steps along the tunnel? . Harry was not slow in joining them, and then came Fletcher. « ao ‘Where are you ?’’ called Fletcher, forgetting Dick’s request that strict silence should be observed. Hardly were the words uttered when a broadside was volleved out of the blackness. Fletcher gave vent to a muttered anathema, and Dick, the moment the unearthly laugh echoed along the drift, felt the deputy leap away from him. back !’’ 8 ‘* Burton, I say!’’ ‘*Come shouted Diamond Dick, sternly. ‘Tl have him!’’ shouted back the deputy. ‘The winze! Look out for the winze!’’ A hundred feet away was the well, fifty feet deep. Without a light, Burton would not. be. able to see it and would plunge downward to certain death. There was no answer to this—merely an echoing tall of steps that quickly died away. ‘‘T wonder what Burton means by that,’’ muttered Dick. ‘‘It’s dollars ter dimes he’ll git himself inter more trouble than he knows what ter do with ef he tries ter sashay through this mine in the dark, not knowin’ a foot of it.’’