Like Veins of Red Rubies (Most Precious Book 1) Read Online Free

away." He walked over to Victor and said,
"Hand me the drill. I have experience, I’ll climb first. I suggest that
you climb at your own pace, and take time to adjust. Don’t risk yourself
getting an injury."
    "Yeah," Victor mumbled.
He turned on his helmet light.
    Stanley took the drill and went
in first. He stepped on ledges to step upward. "Keep your feet wedged in
something," he said. "If you take a flat step, you’ll slip."
    Victor placed his foot on the
ledge and grasped on a rock and climbed.
    Stanley progressed quickly, his
steps moving well to each ledge. When he bumped his head, he patted the end of
the tunnel and looked down. He said, "Take your time. I’ll begin by
myself."
    Stanley stuck the handle of his
drill into a ledge and placed a large rock on top of it. He reached into his
apron pocket and withdrew his chisel and mallet. He turned his light on and
shone it upon a vein of rubies. "There you are," he said. "I
knew you were there." He took his chisel and picked around the edges of
the vein. With care, he picked a small one out. Another vein seemed to stem
deeper in. He took his chisel and picked at it.
    Victor approached with cautious
steps. "I don’t hear that drill going," he said.
    "Yeah, I’m clearing some of
this before we begin," said Stanley. He chiseled faster.
    "Clearing what?"
    "Some harder rocks."
    Victor squeezed a glance in
between Stanley.
    "Those are rubies,
right?" said Victor.
    Stanley didn’t respond, he
continued chiseling.
    "You mean to tell me that
you came up this way to get rubies for your wife?" said Victor.
    Stanley remained silent.
    "Damn the rubies!"
Victor said. "We’re digging in this little hole because of you. You need
to act right."
    Victor yanked the drill from the
ledge. "I’m going to be drilling," he said. "You stay behind and
push the dirt down."
    "No wait," began
Stanley. "Let me just get these out." But Stanley was interrupted by
the sound of the drill whizzing and whirring. Stanley swerved away as Victor
aimed and pushed the drill upward. The metal tip tore at the rubies, dirt, and
rocks, flinging them all over and quickly amassing mounds of them around
Victor’s legs.
    "Do your job and push them
down," said Victor. The pile of dirt had climbed to his ankles.
    "Fine, damn you,"
Stanley said. He pushed the dirt through Victor’s legs and they tumbled down.
The falling dirt was relentless and pushed Stanley’s arm against Victor’s left
leg, causing him to jerk and disrupt his aim. With both hands, Stanley held
Victor’s foot up.
    "You fool!" cried
Victor.
    "Act quickly, find a
ledge," said Stanley. "I cannot hold you up for long, my own feet are
slipping."
    Victor’s arms dirtied as he held
his violently spinning drill in place. He wriggled his left index finger free,
and reached for the button, but his shaking leg made his arm tremble and the
drill veered slowly to the left and he quickly repositioned his grip.
    "Turn that stupid thing
off," Stanley said.
    "I can't hold it
straight," Victor said.
    Stanley pulled Victor’s foot to
the wall and forced it into a ledge.
    "You’re good now,"
Stanley said.
    Victor deactivated the drill and
looked down.
    Stanley sat down and covered his
face with his palm. His heavy breaths escaped through his fingers.
    "That was close,"
Victor said.
    Palm still over his face, Stanley
said, "You think if you had waited to start drilling, that wouldn’t have
happened?"
    "I think you just had to
push the dirt away in time."
    "You know what, you're
right. Arguing will get us nowhere," said Stanley. He lowered his palm and
pointed to the drill. "Let’s prevent a clash and just work."
    "Are you willing to do your
job right this time?"
    "Just start drilling."
    Victor set his drill in place and
proceeded to drill up. Endless amounts of dirt and rocks broke and fell.
Stanley carefully pushed the dirt down the tunnel and he could not find a
second to even stretch his arms. Only when Mr. Roberts called up the tunnel did
they stop. His