e
jump!"

As fast as his eye could travel round the circle of eager men, the
boss picked his workers, miners of tried worth.

Almost as though by magic a line was formed from the storehouse to the
shaft. Mechanics, with their tools ready, were on the ladders by the
time the first joint of pipe reached the shaft, and the first
nine-foot length was flanged on in less than five minutes after the
giving of the order. So fast were the joints thimbled and braced
against the side of the shaft that the long pipe seemed to grow like a
living thing. In an hour's time, the pumps were going again.

Meanwhile, the time clerk, not needing to wait for his orders, had
checked the names of all the men who had come up the shaft, until the
cage came up empty save for the foreman.

"That's the last," he said.

The time clerk closed his book and nodded, then went to the
superintendent.

"Eight missing, sir."

"That's bad enough, though it might have been a good deal worse. Make
out a detailed list and bring it here."

Truly it was bad enough. The fire boss and safety engineer had
reported that fire had broken out in some part of the mine, probably,
for white damp was leaking through. The report of the mining engineer
was graver still. The first subsidence of the mine had caused the
landslide, and the shock of the landslide had crushed all the
galleries leading from the shafts.

"You mean that all the workings are smashed in?"

"I wouldn't say that. They can't be, the way the workings are laid
out. But there's more rock to be cleared away than I like to think
about. How many men are caught?"

"Eight."

"Do you know whereabouts, Mr Owens?"

"I'll tell you in a minute. Here's the clerk now." He scanned the
list. "Well, three of them were working in the end galleries."

"They might be safe," interjected the mining engineer. "That's under
the hill."

"Two of them," the superintendent continued, "were working in the
broken, out towards the old workings, and the other three were near
the North Gallery."

"We might get at the last three, but, judging from the lie, the old
workings section will be choked until Doomsday."

"You mean we can't try to get those two men out?"

The mining engineer looked his chief full in the face.

"No, you can't," he said bluntly. "There's a fair chance of rescue in
the North Gallery section, and, as for the others, we might drive
galleries through to the rooms under the hill--though it'll tak