"Why, here," says he, touchin' the side-wall.

Sure enough, there it was, the real black diamond stuff such as you
shovel into the furnace--when you're lucky. I scaled off a piece and
tested it with the lamp. And gradually I begun to revise my ideas of a
coal mine. I'd always thought of it as a big cave sort of a place, with
a lot of miners grouped around the sides pickin' away sociable. But here
is nothing but a maze of little tunnels, criss-crossin' every which way,
with nobody in sight except now and then, off in a dead-end, we'd get a
glimpse of two or three kind of ghosty figures movin' about solemn. It's
all so still, too. Except in places where we could hear the water
roarin' there wasn't a sound. Only in one spot, off in what Llanders
calls a chamber, we finds two men workin' a compressed air jack-hammer,
drillin' holes.

"They'll be shooting a blast soon," says Llanders. "Want to wait?"

"No thanks," says I prompt. "Mr. Fiske is in a rush."

Maybe I missed something interestin', but with all that rock over my
head I wasn't crazy to watch somebody monkey with dynamite. The
jack-hammer crew gave us a line on where we might find Bruzinski, and I
expect for a while there I led the way. After another ten-minute stroll,
durin' which we dodged a string of coal cars being shunted down a grade,
we comes across three miners chattin' quiet in a corner. One of 'em
turns out to be the mine-boss.

"Hey, Joe!" says Llanders. "Somebody wants to see you."

At which Waddy pushes to the front. "Oh, I say, Bruzinski! Remember me,
don't you?" he asks.

Joe looks him over casual and shakes his head.

"I'm Lieutenant Fiske, you know," says Waddy. "That is, I was."

"Well, I'll be damned!" says Joe earnest. "The Loot! What's up?"

"That ring I gave you in Belgium," goes on Waddy. "I--I hope you still
have it?"

"Ye-e-es," says Joe draggy. "Fact is, I was goin' to use it tomorrow.
I'm gettin' engaged. Nice girl, too. I was meanin' to----"

"But you can't, Joe," breaks in Waddy. "Not with that ring. Miss Jedain
gave me that. Here, I'll give you another. How will this do?" And Waddy
takes a low set spark off his finger.

"All right. Fine!" says Joe, and proceeds to unhook the other ring from
his leather watch, guard. "But what's all the hurry about?"

"Because she's here," says Waddy. "In Washington, I mean. The lovely
Marcelle. Came over looking for me, Joe, just as she promised. Perhaps
you didn't know she did promi