At the time when he threw his
remaining "coffin nails" in the cook's fire he really did "swear
off," and he afterwards was able to refrain from the use of tobacco
in any form. He grew taller and stouter and developed his muscles.
Tom and Harry employed him at the mine as a checking clerk, where
he actually earned his money, and saved a goodly amount of it
every month.
"Tom, you rascal, you promised some day to show me how you scared
that boy stiff with your rattlesnake click," Harry reminded his
partner.
"Nothing very difficult about it," laughed Tom. "Can you make
a noise by grinding your molars together---your grinding teeth?
Try it."
Harry did. The noise came forth from his mouth, though it didn't
sound exactly like the rattle of a rattler.
"Keep on practicing, and you'll get that rattle down to
perfection---that's all," nodded Tom.
Spring found the young engineers restless for new fields. They
longed to tackle other big feats of engineering. Jim Ferrers
understood, and said to them:
"You youngsters know, now, that you can trust me to run this mine.
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