Finder, Coal Mine Dog by Alison Hart

Author:Alison Hart [Hart, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781561457663
Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
Published: 2015-09-24T04:00:00+00:00

“Oho. You mean a triple win for me when Honus Wagner outhits Ty Cobb!” He punches Thomas on the arm, who playfully returns the punch.

I run ahead. The breaker boys usually wait for me by the tower for a game of fetch before the morning whistle blows. But today they are playing baseball with a stick and a rolled-up sock, calling themselves the Pirates and Tigers.

“Hey, Thomas, take my picture!” the batter yells.

“Not today,” Thomas yells back. “Uncle put the Brownie away on a kitchen shelf,” he tells Dominick. “He says I can have it back when Pa’s debt is paid.”

Dominick shakes his head. “You’ll be an old man by then.”

Trotting up the stairs, I climb into the tower and wait by the cage. I know the routine. This is my life now—I am a coal miner like Thomas and the others, hurtling deep into the earth each day.

When the cage arrives, we all step in. It stops at the second vein, where the smell of burning kerosene is strong. Since the electricity went out, the passageways are lighted by kerosene torches that flicker and sizzle. Mr. McKinney is waiting by the sump. He seems more thin and hunched today, and his voice is raspy. “The air shaft cage is not working,” he tells Thomas. “We’ll have to use the ladder and stairs to the third vein. Do you think the dog can manage?”

Thomas scratches my neck under the collar. “Finder will follow, sir.”

We pass the company office. “Mr. Bundy, has the new wiring arrived for the lights?” Mr. McKinney asks a man who is checking a notebook.

“Not yet. I expect it any day,” Mr. Bundy replies.

Turning left, we walk past the mule stable to the trapdoor in the air shaft passageway. Thomas opens it, then lets the heavy door fall with a thunk. Mr. McKinney lights the lamp on his hat and climbs down first. Thomas goes next. When his head disappears, I lean over the hole and bark.

“Come on, Finder. It’s like the ladder to the hayloft.”

But it is not. This ladder descends into darkness, and I can see no bottom. “There are stairs right below,” Thomas calls. “So come now, boy.”

I don’t want Thomas to leave me so I start down headfirst, trying to keep my paws steady on the round rungs. The ladder is slanted, but steeper than the hayloft stairs. I slip on a damp rung, and Thomas catches hold of my collar. He guides me the rest of the way, until I jump to his feet. “Bravo,” he cheers.

From there we take many narrow steps to the next platform and then another ladder to the bottom of the third vein, which is lit only by torches. The swirl of air from the giant fan on the surface makes the flames dance.

“Seth will be trapping again tomorrow,” Mr. McKinney says as we pass through the door. “His mother said he fears coming back, but she needs his wages.” He shakes his head. “If I had a son, I would insist he be a grocer.

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