xt night. He had left the mine
to run itself, for his thoughts were of Virginia, but as he slowed down
at the sand-wash and listened for the pumps he noticed that the engine
had stopped. Well, he had an engineer and that was his business--to keep
the sump-hole pumped out; perhaps he had shut down for repairs. But the
big thing, after all, was to restore Virginia her pets and win his way
to a place in her heart. He drove boldly up the street and stopped
before the house, but nobody came to the door. He waited a while, then
leapt out uncertainly and released the mother of Virginia's pet kittens.
She ran under the house and, as no one came out, Wiley let the rest of
them go and turned disconsolately back towards the mine. If he had ever
thought, when he had the Widow arrested, that Virginia was going to take
it so hard--but then, of course, it had been absolutely necessary--and
just wait till she found her kittens!

There was trouble in the engine-house. He knew that the minute he saw
the dancing torches in the dark, and he went up the trail on the run;
but when he saw the wreckage, and the gear-wheel dismounted, he burst
into a wailing curse. The mine had been all right, pumps operating,
hoist running, when he had left the day before; but the minute he
turned his back---- "What's the matter?" he demanded and then,
pushing the engineer aside, he flashed a torch on the wreck. Wedged in
the gearing of the shattered gear-wheel was a pair of engineer's
overalls. They had jammed tight in the teeth and the resistless
driving of the engine had cracked the great gear-wheel like an
eggshell. Held solid by its base in the bolted concrete there had not
been a half-inch's play and, since something must give, and the
opposing wheel had stood, the enormous casting had smashed. The
engineer and his helpers were pottering about, trying guiltily to
remove the cause of the accident, but one look was enough to tell
Wiley Holman that his mine was closed down for a week. No welding
could ever repair that broken gear-wheel--he would have to wire for
another.

"Whose overalls are those?" he asked at last as the men sought to evade
his eye and the engineer himself confessed ownership.

"They're an old pair of mine," he explained, "that got caught when I was
wiping up the grease."

"What? Wiping up grease when the machinery was in motion? Why didn't you
wait until it stopped?"

"Well--I didn't; that's all. There was a big puddle of grease ga