Part 32 (2/2)
Then the Doctor addressed himself to his breakfast, but he ate in silence. After he had done, he said to Tom--for he and Tom had become special cronies--”Tom, I wish you would take two of the boys with you this morning, go down to the railroad camps and buy four or five picks and four or five shovels.”
”Certainly, Doctor,” answered Tom. ”But what is it you want with the picks and shovels?”
”I want to dig into that bank. I want to find out whether what I suspect is true or not.”
”What is it you suspect, Doctor?” asked Jack eagerly.
”I suspect that that slate rock bank is the outcrop of one of the very richest coal mines in America. I may be wrong, but if you'll go down and get the picks and shovels, we'll soon find out.”
”But why not all go down and bring back some miners with us?”
”Because we don't want any miners and especially we don't want anybody to 'jump our claim'--that is to say, to come here and claim a royalty on the plea that he first discovered the mine. Boys, I don't think we'll any of us get home as soon as we expected. This is something worth staying for, and fortunately we are now within easy reach of supplies.”
”But we haven't any money with which to pay for them,” said Harry.
”I'll take care of that,” said the Doctor. ”Do you happen to remember that the contractor who is to pay you boys for your ties and cordwood and bridge timbers, is named Latrobe?”
”Why, yes, certainly,” said Tom. ”But I never thought of that. Is he a relative of yours?”
”Only my father,” answered the Doctor. ”I don't think we shall have any difficulty in purchasing any supplies we need while guarding this 'slate rock' mine.”
After further conversation it was arranged that the Doctor should send a note by Tom to the elder Latrobe, asking him to send up tools and food supplies. He wrote the letter on a leaf or two torn from his note book and delivered it into Tom's hands.
”Now, Tom,” he said, ”as you go down, suppose you study the ground carefully and see if you can't pick out a route by which you can bring a wagon up. If so, my father will load it with provisions and it will carry much more than many pack mules could. On the whole, I think you'd better go alone. I suggested taking two others with you, to help carry the tools, but you'll bring them in a wagon, or if you can't find a wagon path, you'll bring them on pack mules. But find a wagon track if you can. Take your time going down. You can't get back much before to-morrow night, anyhow, and it is important to secure a wagon way if possible.”
”All right,” said Tom. ”But, Doctor, why do you think this is good coal?
It looks to me like very poor stuff, and certainly it doesn't burn like good coal.”
”O, that's because it is outcrop, and outcrop coal is always poor stuff.
It has been so long exposed to the weather that it has lost most of its combustible const.i.tuents. Sometimes it will not burn at all. But I think this the outcrop of a very fine vein of coal, because from its location and from what I can discover of its formation by examining pieces of it, I think I know the 'measure,' as they call it, to which it belongs. If I am right in this, we have here a vein of the very best and purest coal in the world for making steam, for direct furnace uses and for making c.o.ke. But come, we have no leisure now for talking about coal or anything else. We want picks and provisions the first thing. So pack your haversack, Tom, and hie you away.”
”I will on one condition,” said Tom.
”What is that?” asked the Doctor.
”That you won't talk about Old King Coal to the other fellows till I get back,” answered Tom. ”I have at least ten thousand questions to ask, and I simply won't go for provisions if you're going to answer any of them while I am gone.”
”I promise, Tom,” answered the Doctor, laughing. ”I won't even mention His Majesty King Coal, till you return and I'll scalp any boy in the party who asks me a question on that subject while you are away. Now, be off. Take plenty of time. We'll kill a little game now and then, and we have enough flour to last us till you get back. The important thing is for you to get a wagon load of supplies up here, and you must do it if it takes a week.”
”I'll do it,” answered Tom. ”Good by, fellows!” and the boy started off down the hill.
CHAPTER x.x.xIX
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