Part 13 (1/2)

Andrew, however, was feeling the strain. His injured hand was painful, the stones he had to lift were heavy, his arms and back ached; but he meant to hold out, for the gap between roof and pillar was getting narrow. He had raised a ponderous piece of rock and was holding it up to a man who reached for it when there was a smas.h.i.+ng sound above and a dark ma.s.s rushed past him. The tunnel echoed with a crash, and Andrew received a violent blow on his head. The pain of it turned him dizzy, but he heard a clamor of voices and harsh warning cries. They were followed by a smas.h.i.+ng of timber; he saw two or three props crush in; and then half the lights went out and he felt the water was.h.i.+ng past his boots.

The next moment his legs were wet, and he set off for the shaft, knee-deep in a rus.h.i.+ng flood. There was a confused uproar behind him: stones falling, timber breaking; and then the last of the lamps went out. It cost him an effort to keep his head. Hurrying men jostled him; he struck his feet against sharp stones and was thankful that he did not fall. While he battled with a growing horror, he made for the feeble glimmer which marked the bottom of the shaft. It was a short distance, and he presently stood in the gathering water among a group of half-seen men, watching one being slowly drawn up toward the brighter light above. Another was hurriedly climbing the ladder, while a comrade waited to follow as soon as he was high enough. Then Andrew felt a hand on his arm.

”I was looking for you,” Carnally said. ”You had better get up. Take the rope as soon as it drops.”

Andrew felt a strong desire to do so, but he mastered it.

”No,” he returned calmly; ”not yet. In a sense, it's my mine; I must see the boys out.”

A man near him raised a shout.

”What's the matter with the winch! Can't you heave on it?”

A deepening rush of water swirled about them and there were sharp cries:

”You above, get on to the handles! When's that rope coming? She ought to carry two!”

A man clutched at the rope, which fell among them but when another grasped it Andrew interfered.

”Steady, boys!” he said. ”The winch won't lift you both. Being heaved up is too slow. Tell them to make the rope fast, and then climb; it's strong enough to carry two or three.”

There was a growl of approval; instructions were shouted up; and while the water rapidly deepened, the group at the foot of the shaft decreased. Andrew, however, was above his waist before he clutched the ladder, while Carnally seized the rope. There was a man above him whose feet he must avoid, and he felt the timber shake, but it was with vast relief that he climbed out of the flood. He was near the top when a cross-batten broke and Grennan, the fellow above him, slipping down a foot or two, bruised Andrew's fingers with his heavy boot. For a brief moment Andrew clung by one hand, and then, his overtired arm suddenly relaxing, his fingers loosed their grasp and he fell, half dazed from pain and horror, into the swirling flood below. A crash of the timbers somewhere in the shaft preceded a fresh onrush of water.

The flood was neck-deep and rapidly rising.

CHAPTER VIII

THE ISLAND OF PINES

When Carnally crawled out, wet and breathless, into the open air with the last of the men, he turned to speak to Andrew.

”Where's the boss?” he demanded quickly of Grennan.

Just then the roar of a fresh rus.h.i.+ng of waters was borne up to them, and Carnally was filled with anxiety as he leaned over the edge of the pit.

”Allinson!” he shouted.

No answer came, and before the scared miners could fully realize what had happened, Carnally was sliding down the rope. In the feeble light at the bottom he saw Andrew's arms reaching above his head grasping desperately on to the ladder. He seemed unable to pull himself up, but held on with a vise-grip.

”All right, Allinson!” Carnally called across rea.s.suringly.

Letting go of the rope, a few strokes in the water brought him to the ladder.

”My knee!” explained Allinson, his face gray with pain. ”Struck a sharp ledge at the bottom!”

With Carnally's a.s.sistance, he managed to climb to the top of the ladder, where a dozen arms were extended to pull him to safety. He had a bad gash on his knee, his fingers on one hand were bruised and bleeding, and there was a large welt on his head where the cross-beam had struck him; but there seemed to be nothing serious.

He held out his hand to Carnally, and they gripped in silence. Words were unnecessary.

”The cross-pieces of the ladder could not have been properly notched in,” Andrew said after a while. ”I think it was supplied by Mappin?”