he'd be here inside of an hour and a half."

"That'll work!" exclaimed the boss. "That's it! You'll go, Muskoke?"

"Sartenly. I'll get a fresh hoss, and wait fer him myself." Wilson,
finding an envelope in his pocket, dropped to a boulder and began
writing.

* * * * *

"W. B. J., Exeter," he scribbled. "Am at the mine. The tapping has
stopped. No one else can go in, so I am going myself. Please send down
operator from Ledges to read my tapping if I am unable to return.

"Jennings."

* * * * *

"Redding! Whar's Red?" shouted Muskoka as he folded the message.

"Here. What?"

"I'm going back to the station for another operator. I'm going to take
your Johnny hoss. Mine's blowed."

"Sure yes," agreed the owner, and with a "Good luck, kid," Muskoka was
clattering down the path.

"Now, Mr. Bartlett, will you please explain the plan of things inside;
just how the tunnel runs?" requested Wilson.

"Have a seat and I'll draw it," said the boss, setting the example. He
turned the board bearing the fragmentary message, and Wilson dropped down
beside him.

"The main gallery, the old lead, runs straight in, at about this dip
down," he said, drawing as he spoke. "Runs back 550 feet, and ends. That
was where the old lead petered out.

"Here, about 200 feet from the entrance, is a vertical shaft, 90 feet,
that we put down to pick up the old Pine-Knot lead. It's from the foot of
that the new gallery, the lower level, starts. It slopes off just under
the old lead--so--330 feet, there's a fault, and it cants up 12
feet--so--then on down again at a bit sharper dip, nearly 600 feet; then
another fault and a drop, and about 50 feet more.

"It's down there at the end we think most of the men have been caught,
but some may have been near the shaft. The pumping-pipe where Hoover and
Young must have been tapping is here, half way between the first and
second faults, where it comes down through a boring from the old gallery.
It must have been at that point, because we had disconnected two leaking
sections just below there only this morning."

"How do you get down the shaft to the lower level?" Wilson asked.

"There was a ladder, but it was smashed by the explosion. Hoover, the
first man in, came out for a rope, so I suppose that's there now. Young
must have gone down by it.

"Hoover also reported that the roof of the old gallery was in bad