Home For Christmas.

Home for Christmas.

They drove on up north to Tonopah, and then farther up north toward
Battle Mountain. Linc wanted to get over the highest passes they had
to go over, before nightfall.
So far so good since there wasn't but a little snow on the highest
pass they went over, and the highway was clear
They stopped for lunch in a small town, after the pass. Linc parked
in front of the small café that only had a couple of cars parked
there. 'They went in and sat in a booth in front of a window where the
truck was parked. They could see Angel sitting in the seat looking in
the window of the café. The waitress came over with a coffee pot and
two menus. Linc gave her a thumbs up, so she turned the coffee cups
over and poured them coffee. She looked at the window, and asked, "
Is that your dog in the truck"? Linc nodded, then she said, If your
dog is well behaved, go get him and bring him in. The Harvey's over
there in that booth, bring their dog in all the time. See how he just
lays there at their feet. He's a good boy, sometime pets are better
behaved than some kids are."
Linc went out to the truck and got Angel. He told the waitress< "
this is Angel, and she is also a good dog", when Angel laid down by
his feet.
They ordered lunch and when their sandwiches and soup came, the
waitress also had a small paper plate with two hush puppies on it for
Angel. She Told them, "These hush puppies are not deep fried, but are
just small cornmeal patties we serve with breakfast orders, and save
leftovers for the pets". While Linc and Lucas ate their lunch, Angle
ate the hush puppies. When they were ready to leave, the waitress
said< 'There is a doggie potty yard right of the café".
Linc took Angel out to the yard while Lucas got back in the truck,
then they were on their way again.
With those mountain passes behind them, the only stopped once for
Angel potty break, then stopped at Battle Mountain for the night.
Linc didn't want to try and go over Emigrant Pass in the dark of
night.
They got a motel that took pets. They left Angel at the motel and then
went to supper at a café.
Back at the motel, Lucas sat watching TV, while Linc was surfing the
net on his laptop. Linc thought he heard a familiar voice, looked up
and saw Gus from the Tru Blu Mine on the ivy. He said to Lucas, "turn
that up, that's Gus on the news. What has happened"?
There was a news reporter talking to Gus. Said something about a mine
cave in. trapping three men underground. Linc thought, Oh God, now
what happened? Gus said, " First off, I want people to know, there
has been no cave in nor any accident at the Tru Blu mine. We here at
the Tru Blu mining company have been actively Had our geologist doing
some exploratory checking, all last week or so, for new outcrops of
sulfide gold bearing clay deposits. He has located, and we have
staked and claimed them. Just day before yesterday, he came upon an
old abandoned gold prospect. He entered it and found only a short
drift that had no timbering in it. He found it very unstable and got
some samples just inside the drift. He also found and staked other
deposits in the area. When he brought the co-ords and samples back to
the mine he warned me the prospect was very dangerous and to tell the
miners to stay out of it. I told my miners and surveyors that were
going to post claim markers, to also put a barrier in front of the
drift and post it danger, No Trespassing as well. I wanted them to
post no trespassing signs all around the area. The incident happened
when those three men, who were posing as mine safety inspectors, and
were harassing all the mine owners and managers months before, took a
helicopter out to the old prospect. It was not a working mine, only a
prospect, yet they broke the law, entered the prospect without our
permission and caved the woke thing in on them. Tru Blu denies any
responsibility and liability. The reporter then asked if his
geologist would back up this action about the mine being dangerous,
and Gus told him, to ask him, if he could find him, because he was on
vacation for the Christmas Holiday. Linc hoped that John hadn't told
any reporters about his folks in Provo. They didn't need any
harassment from the media. The news reporter switched over to a
reporter at the site of the disaster, so Linc called John to warn him
about what happened. John told him that Gus and the Sheriff both
called and warned him, and he was telling all callers that Linc and
Lucas were off on a Christmas Holiday and were unavailable at the
present time. Linc told him not to mention the folks to anyone. He
then called Axel to warn him as well. Axel said he was way ahead of
him and had already called the folks when he heard about the incident,
and when he found out Linc was safe. He said he tried to call, but
couldn't reach him. Linc told him, that he must have been in a no
service area when everyone tried to call him.
Back on the TV, the reporter was talking to the head of the search and
rescue team, trying to uncover the old tunnel. The search leader said
he was going to pull the men off the hillside, because the men buried
in there had been under the tons of rocks too long to still be alive
now, so the reporter switched over to the reporter at the airport,
talking to a man standing by a helicopter. The reporter asked him
what happened, and the pilot said, "These three dudes came here in
that van over there and told me they were mine safety inspectors, and
couldn't go out to a mine they had to inspect because their van
couldn't make it there on that old road. They wanted me to fly them
out so they could inspect the mine. Well I flew them out to the end of
the road and landed. There were no trespassing signs posted there.
When the men got out of the chopper I told them the area was posted,
and there was even a big danger no trespassing sign on the hole in the
hillside. The big man told me not to worry, because they had a job to
do and had permission to do it, so they went over the wash and up to
the mine. The big guy didn't just set the barrier aside, he took it
and threw it down over the hill into the wash.. I thought that was a
stupid thing to do. I got out of the chopper to have a smoke just as
they went in the hole. I had the smoke and was about to climb back
in the chopper when I felt the ground tremble and heard a loud roar. .
I looked over at the hillside that was falling down . There were tons
of rock and dirt crashing down the hillside. There was nothing I
could do so I called the base, told them to call the law, and came
back here to the base. That's all I can tell you". The reported
thanked him and turned the news over to the main studio. The reporter
at the main studio told everyone that they had been contacted by the
people the three men had worked for and they had demanded to know what
had happened, and were told to investigate. He told the people
listening that he had done all he was permitted to do, and as far as
he was concerned, it was just an unfortunate accident that could have
been prevented if the three men had just obeyed the law about
trespassing. Then he went to other news.
Linc called Gus and told him he had just heard all about what had
happened on the news here at Battle Mountain. Gus said , "I'm sure
glad you called. I have been trying to reach you. Boy, the home
office is sure glad they had me put you on the payroll. Warning me
about how unsafe and dangerous that tunnel was, saved our bacon.
Because of your warning I told the men to stay out of that tunnel and
to put that barrier and signs in front of it did the trick. The
outfit those guys work for want me to take equipment out there and
uncover that old tunnel. I told them, we have no plans to do anything
with the property at this time. We had to set up a mill site to
process the sulfides before we did anything. They were royally pissed
off but there is nothing I can do about it. I told them the men
should have obeyed the law and stayed out of the drift. Any way those
three guys won't bother us again, but you can bet we haven't heard the
last of it.

Linc called home and talked to his Dad. He told him that they were
doing fine and were spending the night in Battle Mountain. Going to do
Emigrant pass in the daylight, and spend the next night in Salt Lake,
to do their Christmas shopping before they head for Provo the next
morning. They would be home in time for lunch. They talked a bit
about the cave in at the old mine, among other things about the
family. He gave the phone to Lucas who talked for a while before they
went to bed.
The next morning they had a bite to eat then headed to Salt Lake where
they got a motel then went shopping for the day. They got everything
for Christmas and spent the rest of the day in the motel, wrapping
things up.
The Next morning, Linc called Uncle Vernon and told him they were in
Salt Lake and on there way home. Vernon told him, not to do lunch,
because he had everything ordered for it and was bringing it when he
went over to the folks place.

To be continued.