SHORT STORIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 90

SHORT STORIES.

[ALIi JRIOHTfi RISERVXD.]

LOVE'S CROSS AND CROWN.

T3y J. Monk Foster, Author t>f 'Love's Labour,"' etc. The season was midwinter, the time was rfKtly morning, and the weather was in blackest, bitterest keeping with both. A thick, nauseous fog hugged the face of irth ; through it the muffled screams of 4eep-throated steam srliiatles or "buzzers," announcing the hour of 5 o'clock, rang Qjit lees stridently than usual ; and the Qbapes of men aad \hiags loomed out daytly, efcraalgelyBlack Moss Shunt »<as unlit by a single |(unp, save such as fche faint, glimmering flights swinging In the hands of hurrying (hitters, * or queerly garbed pit-brow women Among the rest, but "a score of yards apart, a man and a lass felt their " vajv. He was Dick Milwood, the sinker and contractor at the Black v Moss collieries, a big, honest-hearted, clever fellow sf eeven-and-twenty, and one already to ,oe well to do for a mere pitman ; she .Was Nance Ashurst, a tallish, well-shaped slip of a lass of 19, only a worker on the pit-top, but irith a face comely enough " sr. Its dark gipsyish fashion to have set amorous lad's heart on fire. Both were bound for the pits lying a rpile and' a-half across the mos3, and were peeking a place in the old railway vans or empty waggons which conveyed each anorning* the pit-folks from the town to their work in the mining village. Skirting a long line of trucks filled with coal, jMiJwood came upon a line of empty ones *«ady to be taken to the collieries, and (passing alongside these he came to the first of the old passenger carriages. He mounted the step, thrust his head 2u*ide to find the battered, age-worn comawfcment- empty, and before he had time *} wuu in and take a seat the woman was "*t laid back, and was asking, in a voice apoeb more sweet and softly modulated $b*a on© generally finds among pit-brow fomsels: "Is there army room inside, Mester?" "^Nance! So it's you. Ye 6, the van's £mpty. Come in, lass." There wa6 a pleased thrill in Dick's ttoice as he twisted round, for the other's tones were 'familiar enough if the enveloping fog hid the questioner. He passed in, ?be girl followed alertly, and soon they yvre sitting side by aide. There was E»h in the man's mind that he wished cay, and a Tesolve to utter it had come tdealy upon him. But the fitting chance was demedj him .fast then. Sharp on Nance's heels other Jrocfcerß had followed — a couple of other ifiH-orow women, and six or seven men ntad lads, and closely packed there they feu sat, a constant babble of talk filling toe van, Milwood and his elbow eomi >4nion alone silent — save for a casual word I>r two of no importance ; while beyond ixe doorless and windowless vehicle were leard laughter and cries as men, women, :acte, and lasses climbed and scrambled into the vans or waggons, the clammy fog etill enveloping everything. Happy enough 1 for the moment to be sitting there, with the form of the lassie he loved in touch with his own, Dick was pondering ascertain definite proposal he must make to Nance that morning, and presently tbe>- scream of an engine whistle <-Tras heard, the rumble of the coming ■epgine; then came a slight shock and thud as the locomotive collided gently against the first van ; * a few moments' - delay followed ; and then, with a hoarse, continued scream, engine, vans, waggons, and their .living freight of work-people went streaming across the desolate stretch of fog-swathed moss. . At the^ other end, in the big colliery *yar<f, the" fog "was / thinner, and as the -|>rimitive train' slowed- up as the pits were lieaxedj the- passengers issued forth in a tush' "from their quaint travelling carriages, ttnd r made for .."lamp-place," pit-top, or /workshop. Nance had risen with the rest, bat a.~, whisper from - Dick and a pluck at tier Cleave 'had arrested ber move towards

the" doorway "J. ' : "Wait, a minute, lass, please," he pleaded ; " there's- somethin' I want to -tell' yo'— must iell yo' too." ' She -turned -.a./ wondering face to him,.nodded quietly, and then, descending first, J the" held out- »: big, hard hand, which she i grasped, and leaped down smilingly- Together they paced a few yards in the fog, leaving .- the .beaten track, and making for a* vast, vaguely looming heap of slack. Then he'paused ' abruptly, faced her. and fepoke. lowly," "earnestly, passionately. .- »" Nance, how, long have you known me, ; v ' lassY'N J^J" v - '- »-*' ' > ' ■ " All' my life V thinE, Dick." ''And '"did- you ever know any good of -Qle, wench?.". - ' ■ "" Much-good, Dick, and never any ill. ' - " Thank God you" can say that ! Nance, % love you, and I want you, to be my wdfe. I'm not without money, dear, and I can't .bear the thought of you coming out of a morning like this. Nance, -you are the very lite and soul of me! Only say when 't shall be!" ' "Dick! Dick! Oh, m~ lad, how sorry 3 am ! " she cried then, her dark comely .face almost tearful in its sympathy, and one small, hard, brown hand clutching his jacket sleeve. "Sorry for what, Nance? My love— "I'm ihe promised wife of another man, Dick. It's too late now!" ' '•Goc'A Godll And that man, Nance r r "Ned — the man I sent to you Ihree months since.'' "Oh, my, God!" he orisjd, "what luck! The man I picked up off the streets in ia g S — a common tramp then ! — and made a charge-man of only the other day. Why, lass, I've Wed you for years, and he comes here to steal But I'll say go more. Forgive me, Nance. A wossan

h.M » right to please herself, and I hope you may be happy. Good morning." She echoed hk lost words, and they parted, going theii separate ways with sad faces.

A hoai'sely screeching steani-whietle at the Black Moss Collieries was shrilling out the hour of 6 a.m., notifying to all whom it concerned that t"he day's work was just beginning. A great cresfiel fire was blazing away on the brow of the new sinking pit, and its red glare flung back the walls of fog, arching it curiously overhead, and fell on a group of miners standing about the pit's mouth. The night-shift of sinkers was even then ascending, the day-shift was waiting to take their places, and among them were Dick Mil wood and the charge-man, Ned Ramßden — the latter a very handsome and well-built chap of five or six and twenty, brown of face, blue of eyes, with curly light liaiar, hard as nails, hard working tdo, a bit of a daredevil, and clever at his 'work --

"Were you doing a bit of courting on the' sly, doss, this morning?" Ramsden asked, carelessly enough, as he watched the gliding, snake-like steel winding-rope which was bringing up hoppet and men. "Ah ! "So you saw me then, Ned ?" Dick asked, with a start arid a twitching mouth.

"Just had a glimpse of you and the lass, as you moved off, and somehow the woman's back seemed a bit familiar. But it was no business of mine^ and I walked on without shouting." "Perhaps it was business of yours, Ned. The lass was Nance Ashurst, and I was asking her ,to be my wife." "The devil you did! Didn't you know, Dick, that I and Nanoe have been keeping oompany since "

"1 didn't know then, but I know now, -Ned, and you needn't fear me, lad. Good luck to you, too, A>r you've won the bonniest and sweetest woman God ever made. Hush ! Not a word now — see, the * men aa'e here "

At breakfast-time that morning Dick Milwood was still down the pit along with Ned Ramsdiem. and! the rest of tke shift The bottom of the great shaft being sunk presented a striking picture. Six miners, all of them, save the boss himself, stripped to the waist, were at work. One man was 6lling the great iron cvp — the bucket — swinging from its three chains, with broken rocks ; the other men were j stemming shot-holes soon to be fired ; ' and the faint lights of the Davy-lamps only dimly lit up the bottom of the wide circular hole being pierced in the earth. .Above in darkness rose the.&heer

Ten minutes later the sinking pit was cleared of all but two men, Dick and Ned. They were lighting the long, slow fuses protruding from each of the four rammed shots ; the hoppet was resting on the far side of the shaft ; and as the sparks, hissed out from the last fuse both men sprang into the hoppet, and the signal to ascend was rung on the signalling wire.

There was a slow jerk, the hoppet swung round slowly as it began to rise, and next instant a hoarse scream of alarm fell from the lips of both men and ripped through the stillness. Somehow one of the chain hooks had slipped from its socket, that side of the hoppet had been suddenly depressed, Ramsden had been flung out, and was then lying bruised and senseless & few feet below, right above the explosive and lit charges. Instantly Milwood's right hand had shot out to the bell-wire — his left hand still gripping the chain — and' rung once. Immediately the assent had been stopped, and then Dick bed signalled twice to be lowered. When the hoppet had again come to a rest at the pit-bottom, in the very act of stepping from the iron bucket to assistance of his stunned and > maimed workman a terrible — a damnable — temptation assailed Dick's souJ and 1 petrified his limbs. Why should he move a hand to save from a fearful -.death the man who stood between himself and sweet Nance Ashurst? j His rival lay there prone and unconscious ;' j in a brief space those four shots would ' ring out with clamour and flame, rending the rocks and all things near, and no one would ever know. No one- save God and himself. All he had to do was to fly and leave Ned to his fate.

For a few sharp, indescribable instants ! of time the tempted man hung there in breathless doubt, sweating fiercely. Then a gust of awful self-loathing surged through him ; he leapt from the hoppet with a curse aimed against his own murderous self, seized the senseless man, and placed him in the big iron cup, jumped ' in himself, and tugged at the signalling wire three times' sharply ; and when the • hoppet again began to rise, slowly at first, and then more quickly, he fell on his knees and tried to pray — pray, and while the muttered words were in his rrind that deafening blast rang out below. Less than half an hour after that tragic episode took place in the sinking pit Nance ftad heard of the mishap that had befallen her lover, and how Dick Milwood had caved him from the awfullest death at such terrible peril to himself! The news had flown all over the. coliiery top then. The sinkers, waiting on the surface face for their boss and the Oharge-man, had been sorely puzzled and troubled by the different signals from below, and when the thunder of the shots had at- last runs out, while Dick and Ned wers not far down the shaft, the tension of fear had grown welKnigh unbearable. But at last the hoppet — still dangling lop-sided from two chains only — had come to the surface, excited men were waiting to greet the solitary figure standing inside it erect ; and when the still senseless man had been lifted out and carried into the cabin close by Milwood had tried to explain matters. ' That evening, as Dick was leaving home for a saunter through the town, he came unexpectedly on Nance Aehurst. Her rough working garments were cast aside \

then ; she was looking more comely and sweeter than ever, but was very pale and evidently agitated. " Nanoe ! You, my good lass. You have scon. Ned, I daresay, and I hope he's all right."

" Right enough, Dick, but for his leg, which the doctors say is broken. But, Dick ! — oh, Dick, how can I thank you for what you did this morning? You saved Ned — saved him at the risk of your own life, and after what was said, you know." '" For the Lord's sake, don't thank me, Nanoe!" he cried hoarsely. "I was very near hell this morning, and nearly a murderer, and all on account of my love for you."

" Dick," she pleaded, lowly, " Ned sent me to you. He told me what you told him after he saw us together. And — and," she faltered, " I said to Ned that I had found out that I'd made a misiaJie, and that I wanted him to give me up." "Give you up? What for, Nance?" " Because I had found out that it was you I loved best, Dick." " Good Lord! And what did Ned say?" " That he didn't care much, and that he wasn't the sort of a man to stand in my way and the way of a man who had snatched him from certain death," and her eyes fell before his wild look.

" Thank God ! Nance ! Nance, this is heaven indeed ! " and careless then, of all chance passers he crushed her in his arms ?Jid covered her willing lips with kisses.

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