Boy Scouts in the Coal Caverns | Page 3

the first place, who knows that we are here on this job?"
"Not a soul, unless some one saw you coming into the breaker!"
"That's just as it should be," Will went on. "Now I propose that we camp out in the breaker. There must be a cozy corner somewhere, under the chutes, or in back of a staircase, or away up under the roof, where we can camp out while we are going through the mine."
"You won't find the old breaker a very comfortable place to live in," suggested Canfield.
"Well, we can line the walls of some little cubbyhole with canvas if necessary, and you can string a wire in so as to give us electricity for heating and lighting, and we can live as comfortable as four bugs in a rug. If we keep out of sight during the day time, no one will ever suspect that we are here."
"Have it your own way!" replied Canfield. "I'll see that you get plenty to eat and plenty of bed clothing."
"That'll help some!" laughed Tommy. "During the night we can travel through the mine with our lights, and during the daytime we can crawl into our little beds and sleep our heads off!"
"When do you want your first load of provisions?" asked Canfield.
"Right now, tonight!" replied Sandy.
"Well, come along then," Canfield said, rising from his chair, "and I'll let you pick out a spot for your camp, as you call it."
After quite an extended search through the breaker the boys selected a small room on the ground floor, from which one window looked out on the half deserted yard where the weigh-house stood. The room was perhaps twenty feet in size each way, and the walls were of heavy planking. The whole apartment was sadly in need of it scrubbing, but the lads concluded to postpone that until some future date.
"I can bring in cot beds and bedding," the caretaker announced, "and string the electric wire for heating, lighting, and cooking before I go to bed. That will leave you all shipshape in the morning, and you can then begin your cleaning up as soon as you please."
The caretaker was as good as his word, and before ten o'clock the cots and bedding were in place, also an electric heater and an electric plate for cooking had been moved into the apartment.
Not considering it advisable to go out for supper, Canfield had also brought in provisions in the shape of bacon, potatoes, eggs, bread, butter, coffee, and various grades of canned goods, so the boys had made a hearty meal and had plenty left for breakfast. While cooking they had covered the one window with a heavy piece of canvas.
"Now you're all, tight and snug for the night," the caretaker smiled, as he turned back from the door and glanced over the rather cozy-looking room. "If I'm about here during the night, I'll look in upon you again."
Canfield stepped out and closed the door behind him. Then he came back and looked in again with a big smile on his face.
"Do you boys know anything about mines?" he asked.
"Not, a thing!" replied Tommy.
"Then don't you go climbing down the ladders and wandering around in the gangways tonight," the caretaker warned.
"Say, there's an idea!" Tommy said to Sandy, with a wink, as Canfield went out. "How do you think one of these mammoth coal mines looks, any way?"
"Cut that out, boys!" exclaimed Will. "If I catch one of you attempting the ladders tonight, I'll tie you up!"
"Who said anything about going down the ladders tonight?" demanded Tommy.
CHAPTER II
THE CALL OF THE PACK
It was somewhere near midnight when the boys sought their beds. Will and George were soon asleep, but Tommy and Sandy had no notion of passing their first night in the mine in slumber. Ten minutes after the regular breathing of the two sleepers became audible, Tommy sat up in his bed and deftly threw a pillow so as to strike Sandy in the face.
"Cut it out!" whispered Sandy. "You don't have to do anything to wake me up! I've been wondering for a long time whether you hadn't gone to sleep! You looked sleepy when the light went out."
"Never was so wide awake in my life!" declared Tommy.
"Well, get up and dress," advised Sandy. "If we get into the mine tonight, we'll have to hurry!"
"Have you figured out how we're going to get into the mine?" asked Tommy. "It will be the ladders for us, I guess."
"Of course, it'll be the ladders!" replied Sandy.
"Do you suppose Canfield is coming here in the middle of the night to turn on the power?"
"I wonder how deep the shaft is?" asked Tommy. "I guess this one must be about five hundred feet."
"Is that a guess, or a piece of positive information?"
"It's a guess," laughed