“The boss? whom do you mean?”
“Begging your pardon, sir, I meant the boss as was up here yisterday; Mr. Haight, he told me this morning as these was the orders he give him.”
“Haight,” said Houston, as, a few moments later, he entered the office of that individual, “did Mr. Blaisdell leave orders yesterday for powder to be taken over to the Yankee Boy mines?”
“Yes,” replied Haight, with his usual smile, “and I intended to have spoken to you about it this morning, but I forgot it.”
“What is his object? any blasting to be done?”
“Yes, we had quite a long consultation together yesterday, he and Rivers and I, and we decided that it would pay to do some extensive drifting in those mines, and a good deal of that rock will have to be blasted.”
“How soon is this blasting to begin?”
“Well, I can’t say exactly, just how soon, probably within the next seven or eight days.”
“In what direction is the drifting to extend?”
Haight looked slightly surprised but replied: “We’re a little undecided about that, just what course to take; Rivers was for one thing, and Blaisdell and I for another. After they have blasted a ways, we can tell something from the character of the rock in what direction it will be best to run the drift.”