ply. "Burke's hurt, and they'll need
your car to carry him out in. What's the signal for the cage?"

The boy stood silent, his mouth wide open, staring at him stupidly.

"Do you hear, you lunk-head? I 'm after a doctor; how do you signal
the cage?"

"Twa yanks on the cord, meester," was the grudging reply. "Wha was ye,
onyhow?" But Winston, unheeding the question, was already off, his
only thought the necessity of immediately attaining the surface in
safety, ahead of the spreading of an alarm.

The cage shot speedily upward through the intense darkness, past the
deserted forty-foot gallery, and emerged into the gray light of dawn
flooding the shafthouse. Blinking from those long hours passed in the
darkness below, Winston distinguished dimly a number of strange figures
grouped before him. An instant he paused in uncertainty, his hand
shading his eyes; then, as he stepped almost blindly forward he came
suddenly face to face with Biff Farnham. A second their glances met,
both alike startled, bewildered, doubtful--then the jaw of the gambler
set firm, his hand dropped like lightning toward his hip, and Winston,
every ounce of strength thrown into the swift blow, struck him squarely
between the eyes. The man went over as though shot, yet before he even
hit the floor, the other had leaped across the reeling body, and
dashed, stumbling and falling, down the steep slope of the dump-pile,
crashing head first into the thick underbrush below.

CHAPTER XVII

A COUNCIL OF WAR

In the magic of a moment a dozen angry men were pouring from the
shaft-house, their guns barking viciously between their curses.
Beyond, at the edge of their dark cover, Hicks and Brown rose eagerly
to their knees, while their ready rifles spat swift return fire, not
all of it wasted. But Winston had vanished in the green underbrush as
completely as though he had dropped into the sea. When he finally
emerged it was behind the protecting chaparral, his clothing rags, his
breathing the sobs of utter exhaustion. Brown, the spell of battle
upon him, never glanced aside, his eyes along the brown rifle-barrel;
but Hicks sprang enthusiastically to his feet, uttering a growl of
hearty welcome.

"Damn it," he exclaimed, his old eyes twinkling with admiration, "but
you 're a man!"

The engineer smiled, his hand pressed hard against his side. "Maybe I
am," he gasped, "but I 'm mighty near all in just now. Say, that was a
lively spin, and