nly customer, and on seeing Skip, he cried:

"Come in, lad. I reckon you're here to see me."

Struggling hard to prevent his heavy breathing from being observed by
the proprietor, the leader of the regulators entered, and whispered:

"There's been an accident on the lower level, an' two or three shut in."

"Explosion?"

"The top of the cuttin' fell in, an' it won't be a easy job to dig em
out."

"Was you there?"

Sam nodded his head in a triumphant manner.

"You're a lad after my own heart," Billings said, approvingly, as he
extended a huge, grimy hand for the boy to shake. "If half the men here
had your spunk Wright wouldn't have got the best of us so easy. Did you
fix that thing I told you about?"

Skip nodded his head, and again Billings shook his hand.

"That's what I call business. Let's have it."

The leader of the regulators was about to draw the dearly-earned
document from his pocket when the proprietor of the place interfered.

"None of that," he said sharply. "There's somethin' goin' on what ain't
straight, an' I won't have it in my shop."

"Do you mean to go back on a friend?" Billings asked in an injured tone.

"Not a bit of it; but the company are lookin' after you mighty sharp,
Cale, an' I don't want to get in trouble. There's plenty room out of
doors."

"All right, the shop belongs to you; but it may be the losin' of a good
customer," and Billings walked out with Skip close at his heels.

"Now give me the paper."

When the document was delivered the man glanced at it to make sure it
was the one wanted, and then said in a fatherly tone:

"I reckon you've fixed things to suit yourself if the new breaker boy
was in the cuttin' when the roof fell."

"They're diggin' for him now; but I'm goin' to get the worst of this
job."

"How so?"

"Taylor will blow the whole thing, an' then Wright will know it was me."

"Ain't I here to protect yer?"

"Yes; but----"

"Don't worry, my son. Go into the breaker as if nothin' had happened."

"I can't 'cause I sent word I wouldn't come to-day."

"Then keep out of sight till night, and meet me on the railroad track
after dark. We'll have this job mighty nigh done before morning."

Billings was walking toward the slope, and not daring to follow him any
farther, Skip ran swiftly in the opposite direction, wondering where he
could hide until sunset. For the first time he began to fear the
consequences of his cruel deed, and the thought that the of