



Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Dave Morgan,
Ernest Schaal, and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team at http://www.pgdp.net







      [Illustration: Rush Pointed to a Seam in the Rocks Overhead.
      _Frontispiece._]




                            The Iron Boys as
                                Foremen

                                   OR

                      Heading the Diamond Drill Shift

                                   By

                             JAMES R. MEARS

          Author of The Iron Boys in the Mines, The Iron Boys
                         on the Ore Boats, etc.


                              Illustrated


                              PHILADELPHIA
                         HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY




                          COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY
                           HOWARD E. ALTEMUS




                                CONTENTS


            CHAPTER                                   PAGE
                I. THE TRAGEDY IN THE SHAFT              7
               II. AN UNEXPECTED PROMOTION              21
              III. STEVE SHOWS THE IRON HAND            31
               IV. MYSTERY IN THE AIR                   40
                V. "THE MINE IS ON FIRE"                46
               VI. THROUGH TUNNELS OF FLAME             57
              VII. THE IRON BOYS WIN                    67
             VIII. BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND              78
               IX. THE LABOR LEADER'S LURE              91
                X. THE GENTLEMAN IN THE WOODPILE        99
               XI. RUSH SCORES HEAVILY                 109
              XII. MINERS MEET IN SECRET               119
             XIII. STEVE'S SUSPICIONS AROUSED          127
              XIV. MINERS MAKE DEMANDS                 138
               XV. A WARNING NOT HEEDED                145
              XVI. THE VENGEANCE OF THE MOB            155
             XVII. FACING THEIR ASSAILANTS             170
            XVIII. PROMOTED BY THE PRESIDENT           177
              XIX. A COWARDLY BLOW                     186
               XX. LAMB CHOPS FOR THE BABY             194
              XXI. THE ICELANDER ON THE TRAIL          209
             XXII. THE BATTLE OF THE GIANTS            217
            XXIII. THE HERO OF THE BRIDGE              228
             XXIV. CONCLUSION                          246




                        The Iron Boys as Foremen

                                CHAPTER I

                        THE TRAGEDY IN THE SHAFT


"WHERE'S the cage?" asked Steve Rush.

"I guess it's waiting for a load at the surface," answered Bob Jarvis,
listening at the shaft opening. "I don't hear it coming."

"Ring it down, Bob."

Young Jarvis gave the bell lever a pull. A second later the gong on that
level rang sharply. A rush of air told them the steel cage was on its
way down to the fifteenth level, where the young men were awaiting it.
With a noisy clatter the cage came to a stop at the opening on that
level; the iron guard bars fell back with a bang.

"All aboard," said Steve, standing aside that the five other men, all
miners, waiting to be conveyed to the surface might step into the damp
cage.

"You first," bowed Jarvis with mock politeness, waving Steve in ahead of
him.

"Give them the signal, Bob," ordered Rush.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang! Five strokes rang out on the gong at
the top of the shaft leading down into the mine, indicating to the
cage-tender of the Red Rock Mine that his cage was coming up with a load
of human freight. In other words, there were men on the cage, hence the
steel elevator was to be raised with care.

Slowly, but steadily, gaining in speed as it ascended, lighted only by
the faint glimmer of the tallow candles on the oilskin hats of the
occupants, the cage rose toward the surface.

Steve Rush and Bob Jarvis had been inspecting the tracks in the Red Rock
Mine and were now on their way to the surface for the purpose of going
down in the Cousin Jack Mine, there to continue their work of
inspection. A few seconds had passed when the cage began to sway from
side to side.

Steve instinctively reached up and took hold of the safety rod that
extended across the top of the cage.

"Hang on, Bob! We're going altogether too fast for comfort," warned
Rush. "What ails that engineer up there? It looks as though he were
trying to give us a shaking up."

"I'll shake him up when I get to the top," answered Bob with a growl, as
he grasped the rod over his head for support.

The others on the car, all foreigners, were standing stolidly, not
appearing to care one way or the other what happened. They were too used
to riding up and down in the cage to and from their daily work to be
greatly disturbed by the rough ride they were now taking.

Steve, however, knew full well that they were riding altogether too fast
for safety. He was not afraid; his nerves were too steady for that. Nor
was his companion, Bob Jarvis, the least bit worried, but he was
growling at the cage-tender far above them for his roughness.

Suddenly there came a sound that startled all hands. It was a quick,
crunching, grinding sound, followed by crash after crash of metal
meeting metal.

"Hold fast," shouted Steve.

"What's happened, Steve?"

"The car's off the track! Look out everybody! We're in for trouble now."

No sooner had he spoken than the steel floor beneath their feet seemed
to slip suddenly from under them.

"She's turning turtle!" cried Steve. "Hold fast!"

His warning had come too late. The miners had been thrown from their
feet to the floor of the cage. With quick instinct Steve; gripping the
iron bar over his head, stretched his legs down full length. Bob's grip
had been wrenched from the safety bar.

"Grab my feet, Bob!" Steve shouted at the top of his voice.

Bob Jarvis was a quick-witted boy as well. He fastened a firm grip on
the ankles of his companion just as the floor of the cage began slipping
from under him.

By this time the stolid foreigners were fully awake to the peril that
confronted them. With cries that neither lad ever forgot, the men
slipped from the cage that had turned turtle, plunging into the dark
abyss, that quickly swallowed them up. There was one of the five miners,
however, more quick of wit than his companions, who had also fastened to
Steve's ankles. He and Bob Jarvis found themselves dangling in space
while Steve, clinging to the iron cross bar above, was holding them up.

The two men were very much in each other's way, and the miner was
fighting desperately to push Jarvis away down into the shaft.

"Quit that, you cowardly cur!" commanded the lad. "You'll have the three
of us down if you don't look sharp. Steve, are you all right?"

"Yes, but be careful down there. Whom have you with you?"

"I don't know. He's a heathen--that's all I know about it."

"Me--me Dominick. Me----"

"So you're the loafer who tried to knife Steve that time when he saved
you from being blown to the moon by dynamite? I ought to drop you, and
I'll do it as sure as my name's Bob Jarvis if you don't stop your
fighting. Steve, can you hold us?"

"I am afraid not for long," answered the plucky lad, who was supporting
the two men by the sheer strength of his arms. "My arms are aching like
a sore tooth, but I'll hold on till they come off. Don't make any more
disturbance down there than you can help."

Bob groaned.

"We'll never make it. You can't hold on and bear our weight."

Steve's arms were growing numb. Fortunately he was possessed of great
strength, and his present position was something like that of a bar
performer's when about to attempt a giant swing. Had it not been for the
great weight that he was supporting Steve could have held on
indefinitely. As it was, he could not hope to cling to the bar much
longer. The lad's mind was working rapidly. He was trying to plan some
way out of the predicament,