The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1915-10-29

hohih6 al OpoHlh6 .lulO lue ueDi 10
through the forward windows. They
talked great deal. at first, strong,
capable voices. They were interior.
ing with each other, then helping,
combining their strength to move
heavy stones and the like, then they
were silent, working Independently, or
In effective unison
Tim German was the possessor OF a
phosphorescentfaced watch. with 22
jewels on the inside and a ruby on
the winding stem, and he constituted
himself timekeeper.
Thirty minutes" he called out Its
our shift"
The men crawled in from outside.
but they stayed in the front compart.
ment. The air was growing a trihe
close, and they breathed heavily.
"Good-by, girl" called the gayly fu-
nereal voice of Ted Teasdale. Illus,
band is going to work"
Another interminable wait, while
the air grew more sitting. There was
no further levity after Lincoln and the
motorman and Mccarthy had come
back; for the condition was becoming
serious. Some air must undoubtedly
be finding its way to the car through
the loose debris, but the carbonic acid
gas exhaled from a dozen pairs of
lungs was beginning to pocket, and
the opening ahead, though steadily
pushing forward, displayed no signs
of lessening solidity
They established shorter shifts now;
a quarter of an hour. The men came
silently in and out, and as silently
worked. and as silently rested, while
the girls carried that heavy burden of
women's hardest labor; waiting!
Gregory was the first to give out,
then the injured motorman. When
their turns came, they had not the
strength nor the air in their lungs
Strong Mccarthy was the next to Join
them
The shifts had reduced to two. of
two men each, by now; Ted and old
Tim, and Allison and the rector; and
these latter two worked double time
Their lips and their tongues were
parched and cracking, and in their
periods of rest they sat motionlessly
facing each other with a wheeze in
the drawing of their breath Their
stentorian breathing could be heard
from tho fnrKuorA nnH Of hot
tunnel clear back into the car, where
the three girls were battling to pre-.
serve their senses against the poison
Gus gases which were now all that
they had to breathe. Acting on the
rector's advice. they had stood up in
the car to escape the gradually rising
level of the carbonic gas, stood, as the
time progressed, with their mouths
agape and their breasts heaving and
sharp pains in their lungs at every
breath Arly dropped, silently crum.
ping to the floor; then, few minutes
later, Lucille, and. panic-stricken by
the thought that they had gone under,
Gail felt her own senses Keeling, when
suddenly. looking ahead through eyes
which we're staring she saw a crack
of blessed light!
There was hoarse cry from ahead!
The crack of light widened. Another
one appeared, some four feet to the
right of It, and Gail already fancied
that she could feel freshenlng OF the
air she breathed with such tearing
pain. Against the light of the open.
ings, two figures, the only two which
we're left to work, strove. at first with
the slow. limp motions of exhaustion,
and then with the renewed vigor of
approaching triumph. She could dis.
tinguish them clearly now, by the
light which stTeamed in. the stocky.
strong figure of Allison and the tail
sinewy figure Of the rector. They were
working frantically, Allison with his
coat off. and the rector with his coat
and vest both removed, and one sleeve
torn almost entirely from his shirt RI.
vealing his swelling bceps, and
long, red scratch. Calls senses were
numbed, so that they were reduced to
almost merely optical consciousness,
so that she saw things photograph.
tcally; but, even in her numbness. she
realized that what she had thought
trace of ives kness in the rector was
only the grace which had rounded his
strength
The two figures bent inward toward
each other There was a moment of
mighty straining, and then the whole
center between the two cracks rolled
away A huge boulder had barred the
path, and its removal let down a rush
OF pure, fresh air from the ground
above, let down, too. a food of daz
cling light; and in the curving. under.
rim of the opening. stood the two stall.
wart men who were the survival of
the httest! The mere instinct of self
preservation drove Gail forward with
cry, toward the source OF that life.
giving air, and she scrambled through
the window and ran toward the two
men They came nurriedly down to
meet her. and each gave her a hand
CHAPTER XIII.