The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1915-03-05

perhaps ten feet behind them. and
poured down In ever deeper volume
| to back up against the barrier.
It was waist deep, however, before
they retreated to the head Of that
| rise.
Half an hour later It was waist
deep there. on the highest spot In the
tunnel
In fifteen minutes more 1t had
reached their chins. And they stood
| with head against the roof Of the tun.
| mel.
Holding Rose close to him, Alan
kissed her lips. that were as cold as
death.
Then. fumbling under water. he
found the hand Of the man at his side.
The water Tapped his lips like a
blind hand
In the tunnel that branched of from
the main shaft, beyond the bulkhead.
some thirty minutes before this juno.
ture, a candle had guttered in its stick.
left carelessly thrust into the wall by
Marrophat's lieutenant, and guttering.
had dropped flaming wick into a lit
tie heap of bone-dry debris. This last
famed, licked hungrily at the timber.
ing that upheld the falls of the tunnel.
The timbering caught fire without de
lay. In space Of time incredibly
brief the flames were spreading right
and left, the tunnel was a vault OF
blistering fury.
AS Alan said his last mute farewell!
to Rose and Barcus. the fire spread
out in the bottom of the shaft and in,
vaded the powder room.
Alan had guessed Alright at Mario
phat's design; the keg of blasting pow
der was less than an eighth full; its
explosion could not possibly have ef-
fected the cave-in Alan had at first
feared.
But what Marrophat had overlooked
was the proximity to the keg Of some
several sticks Of dynamite. masked by
film Of earth that had fallen from
the crumbling walls
When the blazing fuse dropped
sparks into the blasting powder this
last exploded right willingly and the
dynamite took its cue without the
least delay.
The resultant defamation was ter
rife The bulkhead was crushed In
like an eggshell barrier. Part Of the
walls fell in, but the tunnels and shaft
remained intact. The released food
streamed out and spread swiftly to the
farthest recesses of the burning tun-
mel. Dense clouds Of steam filed that
place Of terror as the fires were extin-
guished.
Swept with the stream as 1t poured
out of the tunnel, Alan contrived
throughout to retain his hold round
the waist of Rose. Barcus shot past
him unseen in the darkness. 1t was
not until Alan had contriyed to catch
an unburned timber and stay himself
and his almost witless burden beneath
the mouth OF the shaft that he discov-
cred Barcus alive, IL almost unrecog-
nizable In his mask Of mold and SCOT,
battling back toward the shaft against
the kneedeep tide.
Hah-blinded and stifed as he was by
the reek Of steam and powder fumes,
Alan struggled with himself until his
wits were passably clear.
Immediately before him dangled the
hosting bucket and rope.
Surrendering the care Of Rose to
Barcus, Alan climbed into the bucket
and stared upward. examining the
top.
There was none other than the most
difficult: gaps too great to be bridged
by climbing showed In the wooden
ladders.
The one feasible route was via the
rope. And there was nobody at the
top to work the windlass-and Alan
hoped there would be nobody to op-
pose his essay.
He addressed himself to the task
without murmuring-lifted himself up
on the rope. wound 1t round one leg,
and began that heartbreaking climb.
How he accomplished Il he never
knew. That It must be accomplished
was his one, allabsorbing thought
And somehow, by some almost super.
human effort. 1t was eventually accom-.
plished.
He arrived at the top of the shaft
far too exhausted to show surprise
when. falling In half-fainting condt
ton within two feet Of the brink. he
saw Judith Trine running like mad
across the clearing.
But without her aid he would not
within hours have been able to work
the windlass and liz Rose and Be-.
Gus 70 the surface.
rro Bz coNrMuEn,