bunch of white livered
cowards--all of you."

I saw Dan double up his fists and start towards the man. The latter
checked him with a command.

"Go back down there or you're fired," he said to him.

Dan turned red. Then I saw his jaws come together.

"Begod!" he answered. "_You_ shan't fire me, anyhow."

Without another word he started down the ladder again. I saw the
Italians crowd together and watch him. By that time my head was
clearer but my legs were weak. I sat down a moment uncertain what to
do. Then I heard someone shout:

"By God, he's right! He's lying there at the bottom."

I started towards the ladder but some one shoved me back. Then I
thought of the bucket. It was above ground and I staggered towards it
gaining strength at each step. I jumped in and shouted to the engineer
to lower me. He obeyed from instinct. I went down, down, down to what
seemed like the center of the earth. When the bucket struck the ground
I was dizzy again but I managed to get out, heave the unconscious Dan
in and pile on top of him myself. When I came to, I was in an
ambulance on my way to the hospital but by the time I had reached the
emergency room I had taken a grip on myself. I knew that if ever Ruth
heard of this she would never again be comfortable. When they took us
out I was able to walk a little. The doctors wanted to put me to bed
but I refused to go. I sat there for about an hour while they worked
over Dan. When I found that he would be all right by morning I
insisted upon going out. I had a bad headache, but I knew the fresh
air would drive this away and so it did, though it left me weak.

One of the hardest day's work I ever did in my life was killing time
from then until five o'clock. Of course the papers got hold of it and
that gave me another scare but luckily the nearest they came to my
name was Darlinton, so no harm was done. And they didn't come within a
mile of getting the real story. When in a later edition one of them
published my photograph I felt absolutely safe for they had me in a
full beard and thinner than I've ever been in my life.

When I came home at my usual time looking a bit white perhaps but
otherwise normal enough, the first question Ruth asked me was:

"What have you done with your dinner pail, Billy?"

Isn't a man always sure to do some such fool thing as that, when he's
trying to keep something quiet from the wife? I had to explain that I
had forgotten it and that was enough to exc