Camp Venture: A Story of the Virginia Mountains

  CHAPTER XXXVIII

  _Old King Coal_

  It was nearly morning when the boys, wrapped in their blankets, began tostir uneasily and kick at their coverings. Every one of them wasoppressed with heat, but for a time, weary as they were, they did notfully come to a consciousness of what it was that disturbed them.

  After awhile Jim sat up, stripping off his blanket and giving vent tohis feeling in the half word, half whistle, "Whew!" He looked about himfor an instant, and then hastily jumping up, called to his half-awakecompanions:

  "I say, fellows, wake up, quick. The slate rock bank is afire!"

  It was true enough. As the boys shook off the cobwebs of their dreams,they discovered what it was that had been overheating them in theirsleep. The whole bank under which they had built their fire was ablazeand throwing out an intense heat.

  The Doctor was the first to grasp the situation.

  "Drag the fire away from the bank as quickly as you can, boys!" hecried. "Fortunately the wood is nearly burned out."

  That done, the cliff continued to blaze and sputter and the Doctor, whohad seized authority and taken control of affairs, called for water.

  "Bring it in your hats, boys, or anything else that will hold water, butbring it quick!"

  The boys obeyed with alacrity, and when the water came, the Doctor madethem cast it only upon the lower parts of the burning cliff.

  "We get a double advantage that way," he explained. "We put out thesource of the fire, which originates at the bottom, and the steam thatrises from water thrown there helps to dampen the fire above."

  But the burning had made such progress that it required quite two hoursto put it out. When that was done, daylight having completely come, theboys addressed themselves to the work of getting breakfast, by a newfire kindled at some distance from the lately burning bank. The Doctor,meanwhile, was pottering around the bank, breaking off bits of theformation with his little geological hammer, and seriously burning hisfingers in efforts to examine them critically.

  Finally he seized his axe and with an entirely reckless disregard of itsedge, he began chopping into the bank. Even when breakfast wasannounced, he would not quit his exploration for a time.

  "The Doctor seems interested in that cliff," said one of the boys.

  "Yes, and he's ruining the edge of his axe upon it," said another. "Isuppose he has found something of geologic interest there."

  Just then the Doctor quitted his work on the bank, removed his huntingshirt, tied it up by the neck and filled it full of the blocks he hadchopped out of the bank. It held about half a bushel. Going to the fire,he emptied the mass upon it, and watched for results with eagerness. Theslate rock, as the boys had called it,--burned slowly and gave out agood deal of heat.

  Then the Doctor addressed himself to his breakfast, but he ate insilence. After he had done, he said to Tom--for he and Tom had becomespecial cronies--"Tom, I wish you would take two of the boys with youthis morning, go down to the railroad camps and buy four or five picksand four or five shovels."

  "Certainly, Doctor," answered Tom. "But what is it you want with thepicks and shovels?"

  "I want to dig into that bank. I want to find out whether what I suspectis 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 veryrichest coal mines in America. I may be wrong, but if you'll go down andget 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 anybodyto 'jump our claim'--that is to say, to come here and claim a royalty onthe plea that he first discovered the mine. Boys, I don't think we'llany of us get home as soon as we expected. This is something worthstaying 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 rememberthat the contractor who is to pay you boys for your ties and cordwoodand bridge timbers, is named Latrobe?"

  "Why, yes, certainly," said Tom. "But I never thought of that. Is he arelative of yours?"

  "Only my father," answered the Doctor. "I don't think we shall have anydifficulty in purchasing any supplies we need while guarding this 'slaterock' mine."

  After further conversation it was arranged that the Doctor should senda note by Tom to the elder Latrobe, asking him to send up tools and foodsupplies. He wrote the letter on a leaf or two torn from his note bookand delivered it into Tom's hands.

  "Now, Tom," he said, "as you go down, suppose you study the groundcarefully and see if you can't pick out a route by which you can bring awagon up. If so, my father will load it with provisions and it willcarry much more than many pack mules could. On the whole, I think you'dbetter go alone. I suggested taking two others with you, to help carrythe tools, but you'll bring them in a wagon, or if you can't find awagon path, you'll bring them on pack mules. But find a wagon track ifyou can. Take your time going down. You can't get back much beforeto-morrow night, anyhow, and it is important to secure a wagon way ifpossible."

  "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 likegood 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 itscombustible constituents. Sometimes it will not burn at all. But Ithink this the outcrop of a very fine vein of coal, because from itslocation and from what I can discover of its formation by examiningpieces of it, I think I know the 'measure,' as they call it, to which itbelongs. If I am right in this, we have here a vein of the very best andpurest coal in the world for making steam, for direct furnace uses andfor making coke. But come, we have no leisure now for talking about coalor anything else. We want picks and provisions the first thing. So packyour 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 getback," answered Tom. "I have at least ten thousand questions to ask, andI simply won't go for provisions if you're going to answer any of themwhile I am gone."

  "I promise, Tom," answered the Doctor, laughing. "I won't even mentionHis Majesty King Coal, till you return and I'll scalp any boy in theparty who asks me a question on that subject while you are away. Now, beoff. Take plenty of time. We'll kill a little game now and then, and wehave enough flour to last us till you get back. The important thing isfor you to get a wagon load of supplies up here, and you must do it ifit takes a week."

  "I'll do it," answered Tom. "Good by, fellows!" and the boy started offdown the hill.