09/06/2012
TRYING TO FINISH THE 3RD BOOK...
Here's a sample....
What do you think???
The mountain shuddered with the deep, hard thump of seven closely spaced explosions, and for a moment, all life paused as if stunned to motionless silence. Mule deer froze in mid step, ears tilted like compasses pointing directly toward the epicenter of the offending event. A chipmunk halted its work on a grounded pine cone and stared intently in the same direction. Birds severed all conversation, and the mountain was suddenly and completely silent. No echoing reverberation followed, for the whole of the event had taken place deep in the ore-bearing strata of the mountain, and only that one solid thump of vibration had escaped to signify the presence of men in the depths of the earth.
Deep within the mountain, shattered rock clattered to an uneasy rest on the tunnel floor. Dust and the smoke of burnt blasting powder rushed up the throat of the tunnel until it burst upon the outside world in a chaotic cloud of tumbling gas and dust.
Three-hundred feet below, and a quarter of a mile into the mountain, two miners raised their candles and peered cautiously from the niche where they had taken refuge from the violence of the explosion. The dust settled, and the air slowly cleared until their handiwork became visible in the dim light of the two candles.
“What in the hell?” The first miner raised his candle higher and frowned. “That was only the seven charges; wasn’t it, Mike?”
Mike Paige lifted his own candle and peered into the gloom. “Just seven… an’ that upper reliever was only half a charge ‘cause we thought it was drilled a little high.”
Art Williams eased forward, toward the shattered face of the tunnel and the strange sight that lay before them. “Must have cut into a pocket of some kind,” he suggested.
Paige shrugged. “Seen plenty of ‘em before.”
Williams stooped and thrust his candle beyond the shattered remains of the face and into the pocket. “Bet you ain’t seen the likes of that before.”
Paige edged up beside the older man and bent to peer into the pocket. “Good lord! How’d he get in there?”