_ CHAPTER XVII. AN OLD FRIEND
From that hour forth the Redwood mine became a paying property and, as Guilford Duncan liked to think, one which was contributing its share to the public benefit and the welfare of the people.
But Duncan's work there had only begun. Having solved the problem of shipping coal as fast as the miners could dig it, he gave his attention next to the equally pressing problem of increasing output. In the solution of that a great help unexpectedly came to him.
He was sitting late one night over the books and correspondence, when, near midnight, a miner sought speech with him.
He bade the man enter and, without looking up from the papers he was studying, asked him to take a seat. Still without taking his eyes from the papers, he presently asked of the man, who had not accepted the invitation to sit:
"Well, sir, what can I do for you?"
"Nothing," answered the man. "I came to serve you, not to ask service."
The voice seemed familiar to Duncan--almost startlingly familiar. He instantly looked up and exclaimed:
"Why, it's Dick Temple!"
"Yes," answered the other. "You and I quarreled very bitterly once. The quarrel was a very foolish one--on my side."
"And on mine, too!" responded Duncan, grasping his former enemy's hand. "Let us forget it, and be friends."
"With all my heart. It was in that spirit that I came hither to-night--I want to render you a service."
Meanwhile Duncan had almost forced the miner into a chair.
"Tell me," he said, "how is it that you----"
"That I'm a miner? You think of me as an educated engineer, eh? Well, that's a long story and not at all so sad a one as you might suppose. I'll tell you all about it at another time. But it can wait, while there are some other things that should be said now--things that vitally affect the affairs you have in charge."
"It is very good of you to come to me with suggestions, and they will be very welcome, I assure you, and very helpful, I've no doubt. For I have faith in your skill as an engineer."
"My skill still remains to be proved," answered the other with the merest touch of sadness in his utterance. "But, at any rate, I've had the very best engineering education that the schools can give. Never mind that--and never mind me. I didn't come here to talk of myself. I want to talk to you about this mine."
"Good. That is what I am here for. Go on."
"Well, everything here is wrong. With your readiness of perception you must have seen that for yourself. With the general management I have nothing to do. I'm only one of the miners. But there is a problem of ventilation here that ought to be solved, and I have come simply to offer a solution, in the interest of the company that pays my wages and still more in the interest of the miners. Two of them were killed by choke-damp a little while ago, four of them are now ill from the same cause, while all of them are earning less than they should because the best and most easily accessible headings are closed."
"Is there any very serious difficulty involved in the problem of ventilating the mine?"
"None whatever--at least no engineering difficulty."
"Just what do you mean?"
"I prefer not to say."
"Perhaps I can guess," said Duncan. "I have myself discovered a very serious difficulty in the personal equation of Mr. Davidson. He does not want to ventilate the mine--he has his own reasons, of course. That difficulty shall no longer stand in the way. I shall eliminate it at once. Go on, please, and tell me of the engineering problem."
"It scarcely amounts to a problem. The mine lies only about seventy-five feet below the surface. At its extreme extension the depth is considerably less, because of a surface depression there. What I suggest is this: Dig a shaft at the extreme end, thus making a second opening, and pass air freely through the mine from the one opening to the other. The cost will be a mere trifle."
"But will the air pass through in that way?"
"Not without help. But we can easily give it help."
"How? Go on. Explain your plan fully."
"Well, we have here three or four of those big fans that the government had made for the purpose of ventilating the engine rooms and stoke holes of its ironclads. They utterly failed and were sold as junk. Captain Hallam bought a lot of them at the price of scrap iron, and sent them out here. Davidson tried one of them and reported utter failure as a result. The failure was natural enough, both in the case of the ironclads and in that of the mine."
"How so?"
"Why, in both cases an attempt was made to force air down into spaces already filled with an atmosphere denser than that above. That was absurdly impossible, as any engineer not an idiot should have known."
"And yet you think you can use these fans successfully in ventilating the mine?"
"I do not think--I know. If Mr. Davidson will permit me to explain----"
"Never mind Davidson. If this experiment is to be tried you shall yourself be the man to try it. Go on, please."
"But, Duncan, I simply mustn't be known in the matter at all."
"Why not?"
"I have a wife to care for. I can't afford to be discharged. Besides, the miners like me and they think they have grievances against Davidson. If he were to discharge me--as he certainly would if I were to appear in this matter--the whole force would go on strike, no matter how earnestly I might plead with them not to do so. I don't want that to happen. It would be an ill return to the company that gave me wages when it was a question of wages or starvation with me. Worse still, it would mean poverty and suffering to all the miners and all their helpless wives and children. No, Duncan, I must not be known in this matter, or have anything to do with the execution of the plans I suggest. I want you to treat them as your own; suggest them to Davidson, and persuade him to carry them out. In that way all of good and nothing of harm will be done."
"Why, then, haven't you suggested your plans to Davidson?"
"I have, and he has scornfully rejected them. Coming from you he may treat them with a greater respect."
"Now, before we go any further, Dick--for I like to call you by the old nickname that alone I knew before our foolish quarrel came to separate us--before we go any further, let me explain to you that I am absolute master here. My word is law, to Mr. Davidson as completely and as absolutely as to the old fellow who scrubs out this office--or doesn't scrub it, for it's inexcusably dirty. Davidson can no more discharge you than he can discharge me. I don't know yet what I shall do with Davidson. But at any rate he has no longer the power to discharge you, so you need have no fear in that direction. Go on, now, and tell me how you purpose to ventilate the mine. I'm mightily interested."
"Thank you," said Temple. "My plan is perfectly simple. You can't force air down into a mine with any pump that was ever invented, or any pump that ever will be devised by human ingenuity. But you can easily and certainly draw air out of a mine. And when there are two openings to the mine--one at either end--if you draw air out at one end fresh air will of itself rush in at the other end to take its place. My plan is to sink a shaft at the farther end of the mine, and to build an air-tight box at the surface opening, completely closing it, except for an outflow pipe. Then I shall put one of the big ironclad fans into that box
upside down. When it is set spinning it will suck air out of the mine, and fresh air will rush in at the main shaft to take the place of the air removed."
Duncan was intensely interested. Very eagerly he bent forward as he asked:
"You are confident of success in this?"
"More than confident. I'm sure."
"Quite sure?"
"More than quite sure; I'm absolutely certain. I've tried it."
"Tried it? How?"
"I've reconstructed the mine in miniature. I've made a little fan whose suction capacity is in exact proportion to that of the big fan which I propose to use in the mine. I have fully experimented, and I tell you now, Guilford Duncan, that if you permit me to carry out the plan, I'll create a breeze in that mine which will compel you to hold on to your hat whenever you go into the galleries."
Duncan rarely showed excitement. When he did so, it was in ways peculiar to himself. At this point he rose to his feet, and with an unusually slow and careful enunciation, said:
"Go to work at this job early to-morrow morning, Dick--or this morning, rather, for it is now one o'clock. Your wife is Mary, of course?"
There was a choking sound in Duncan's voice as he uttered the words.
"Yes, of course," answered the other, instinctively grasping Duncan's hand and pressing it in warm sympathy.
"Will you bear her a message from me?"
"Yes, any message you are moved to send."
"Tell her that Guilford Duncan has appointed you sole engineer of these mines, with full salary, and that if you succeed in the task you have undertaken, a far better salary awaits you."
Temple hesitated a moment and at last resumed his seat before answering. Then he said:
"This is very generous of you. I will go to her now, and deliver your message. She will be very glad. She was in doubt as to how you would receive me. But may I come back? Late as it is, I have a good deal more to say to you--about the mine, of course. You and I used often to talk all night, in the old days, long ago, before--well before we quarreled."
"Go!" answered Duncan with emotion. "Go! Tell Mary what I have said. Then come back. One night's sleep, more or less, doesn't matter much to healthy men like you and me." _