Produced by David Edwards, Brett Fishburne, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net DERRICK STERLING A STORY OF THE MINES BY KIRK MUNROE Author of "THE FLAMINGO FEATHER" [Illustration: IN THE BURNING BREAKER.] NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY HARPER & BROTHERS COPYRIGHT, 19l6, BY KIRK MUNROE PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. CONTENTS I. IN THE BURNING BREAKER II. A FEARFUL RIDE III. THE MINE BOSS TAKES DERRICK INTO HIS CONFIDENCE IV. INTRODUCING HARRY, THE BUMPING-MULE V. ATTACKED BY ENEMIES, AND LOST IN THE MINE VI. THE SECRET MEETING.--A PLUNGE DOWN AN AIR SHAFT VII. A CRIPPLE'S BRAVE DEED VIII. DERRICK STERLING'S SPLENDID REVENGE IX. SOCRATES, THE WISE MINE RAT X. IN THE OLD WORKINGS.--MISLED BY AN ALTERED LINE XI. A FATAL EXPLOSION OF FIRE-DAMP XII. THE MINE BOSS IN A DILEMMA XIII. LADIES IN THE MINE.--HARRY MULE'S SAD MISHAP XIV. A LIFE IS SAVED AND DERRICK IS PROMOTED XV. A "SQUEEZE" AND A FALL OF ROCK XVI. BURSTING OF AN UNDERGROUND RESERVOIR XVII. IMPRISONED IN THE FLOODED MINE XVIII. TO THE RESCUE!--A MESSAGE FROM THE PRISONERS XIX. RESTORED TO DAYLIGHT XX. GOOD-BY TO THE COLLIERY ILLUSTRATIONS In the burning breaker "Here, lad, lead this mule down the rest of the way, will ye?" Suddenly there came a blinding flash, a roar as of a cannon Good-by to the colliery DERRICK STERLING: A STORY OF THE MINES CHAPTER I IN THE BURNING BREAKER "Fire! Fire in the breaker! Oh, the boys! the poor boys!" These cries, and many like them--wild, heartrending, and full of fear--were heard on all sides. They served to empty the houses, and the one street of the little mining village of Raven Brook was quickly filled with excited people. It was late in the afternoon of a hot summer's day, and the white-faced miners of the night shift were just leaving their homes. Some of them, with lunch-pails and water-cans slung over their shoulders by light iron chains, were gathered about the mouth of the slope, prepared to descend into the dark underground depths where they toiled. The wives of the day shift men, some of whom, black as negroes with coal-dust, powder-smoke, and soot, had already been drawn up the long slope, were busy preparing supper. From the mountainous piles of refuse, of "culm," barefooted children, nearly as black as their miner fathers, were tramping homeward with burdens of coal that they had gleaned from the waste. High above the village, sharply outlined against the western sky, towered the huge, black bulk of the breaker.