ane alone was more than a mile, and
it was from the head of the plane that Ralph took the cars. When he
reached the end of his route he left one car of his trip at the foot
of each chamber in which it was needed, gathered together into a new
trip the loaded cars that had been pushed down to the main track for
him, and started back with them to the head of the plane.

He usually made from eight to ten round trips a day; stopping at noon,
or thereabouts, to eat the dinner with which the Widow Maloney had
filled his pail. All the driver boys on that level gathered at the
head of the plane to eat their dinners, and, during the noon-hour,
the place was alive with shouts and songs and pranks and chattering
without limit. These boys were older, stronger, ruder than those in
the screen-room; but they were no less human and good-hearted; only
one needed to look beneath the rough exterior into their real natures.
There were eight of them who took trips in by Ralph's heading, but,
for the last half-mile of his route, he was the only driver boy. It
was a lonesome half-mile too, with no working chambers along it,
and Ralph was always glad when he reached the end of it. There was,
usually, plenty of life, though, up in the workings to which he
distributed his cars. One could look up from the air-way and see the
lights dancing in the darkness at the breast of every chamber. There
was always the sharp tap, tap of the drill, the noise of the sledge
falling heavily on the huge lumps of coal, sometimes a sudden rush of
air against one's face, followed by a dull report and crash that told
of the firing of a blast, and now and then a miner's laborer would
come running a loaded car down to the heading or go pushing an empty
one back up the chamber.

There was a laborer up in one of these chambers with whom Ralph had
formed quite a friendship. His name was Michael Conway. He was young
and strong-limbed, with huge hairy arms, a kind face, and a warm
heart.

He had promised to teach Ralph the art of breaking and loading coal.
He expected, he said, to have a chamber himself after a while, and
then he would take the boy on as a laborer. Indeed, Ralph had already
learned many things from him about the use of tools and the handling
of coal and the setting of props. But he did not often have an
opportunity to see Conway at work. The chamber in which the young man
was laboring was the longest one in the tier, and the loaded car was
usually at the