Part 34 (2/2)

”Time drifted on this way, from Winter until Spring, from Spring until Summer; at last the something unusual that always comes about sooner or later happened, and I awoke. It was just after dinner one day and I'd gone back to the job. I had a lot of loose coal knocked down in the drift and was shovelling steadily into a car when, away down the main tunnel, I saw a bunch of lights bobbing in the darkness. It wasn't the time of day for an inspection, and anyway there were several people approaching, so I waited to see what it meant.

”They came on slowly, stopping to look at everything by the way. At last they got near enough so I could make them out; there were three men and a woman. I recognized one of the men by this time,--our foreman, Sharp. He was guiding the others and I knew then they were visitors, owners probably, because no stranger had ever come before while I was there. The woman, I saw that she was a girl now, called one of the men 'father'; and from the way she spoke I guessed why she was along too. She'd come anyway, whether they approved or not. The drift I was working in was a new one, just opened; and when they got there the whole group stopped a little way off, and Sharp began explaining, talking fast and giving figures. If any of the men saw me they didn't pay any attention; they just listened, and now and then one of them asked a question. But the girl wasn't interested or listening. She was all eyes, looking about here and there, taking in everything; and after a bit she noticed the light in my cap and came peering over to see what it meant. I just stood there watching her and she came quite close, all curiosity, until finally she could see my face. She stopped.

”'Oh,' she said, 'I thought it was just a light. It's a man.'

”'Yes, it's a man,' I said.

”She was looking at me steadily by this time, wholly curious.

”'A--a white man?' she asked.

”I thought a moment, then I understood.

”'Yes, a white man,' I answered.

”She came up to the car at that and looked in. She glanced back at me.

Evidently she wasn't entirely satisfied.

”'How old are you?' she asked. 'You look awfully old.'

”I leaned over on the car too; I'd begun to think. I remembered that to me she seemed so very, very young; and all at once it flashed over me that probably I wasn't a day older.

”'Eighteen,' I said.

”'Eighteen!' She stared. 'Why, I'm eighteen. And you--have you been here long?'

”I suppose I smiled. Anyway I know I scared her. She drew back.

”'I don't know,' I said. 'I've forgotten. If you'll tell me the date maybe I can answer. I don't know.'

”'You don't know! You can't mean that.'

”'Yes, I've forgotten.'

”She didn't say a word after that, just looked at me--as a youngster looks when it goes to the circus for the first time. I fancy we stood there half a minute so; then at last, interrupting, the man she'd called 'father' looked over and saw us. He frowned, I could see that, and said something to the foreman. He spoke her name.”

Just for a moment Roberts s.h.i.+fted his head, looking at his silent listener steadily. ”What do you fancy was that name he called, Elice?”

Elice Gleason started involuntarily, and settled back in her place.

”I haven't the slightest idea, of course.”

”It wasn't an ordinary name. At that time I'd never heard it before.”

”I'm not good at guessing.”

Roberts s.h.i.+fted back to his old position.

”It was 'Elice.' 'Elice, come,' he said.

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