The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1916-03-09

front the three men could be heard
making an opening into the debris
through the forward windows. They
talked a 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 .
phosphorescent-faced watch, with %
jewels on the inside and a ruby on
the winding stem, and he constituted
himself timekeeper.
Thirty minutes" he called out. Its
oaf shift"
The men crawled in from outside,
but they stayed in the front compart-
ment. The air was growing a trife
close, and they breathed heavily.
"Good-by, girl" called the gayiy fu-
nereal voice Of Ted Teasdals. 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 it's way to the car through
the loose debris, but the carbonic acid
gas exhaled from a dozen pairs If
lungs was beginning to pocket, and
the opening ahead, though steadily
pushing forward, displayed no signs
OF l~essening solidity.
They established shorter shifts now
a quarter Of al hour. The men came
silently in and out, and as silently
worked, and ss 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 notorman. 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-Teduced to two, Of
two men each, by now; Ted and ca
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 q wheeze in
the drawing of their breath. Their
gtentorian breathsas could be heard
from the forward end Of their little
tahsei clear back into the car. whese
the three girls were battling 10 psS
aerve their sense against the poison
Gus gases which we're 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-
bling to the foSr; then, a few minutes
later, Lucille, and, panic-stricken by
the thought that they had gone under,
Gail felt her own senses reeling. when
suddenly, looking ahead through eyes
which were staS4hs. she saw a cS1ok
Of blesseA light!
There was a hoarse cry from ahead!
Tho crack Of light wfdened. Another
one appeared, some four feet to the
right of IL. and Gail already fancied
that she could feA a fresbenipg Of the
air she breathed with such tearinS
pain. Against the light of the opezr
ings, two figures, the only two which
were left to work. strove, at srst with
the slow, limp motions OF exhaustion.
and then with the renewed vfgor Of
approaching triumph. She could dis
tinguish them clearly now, ~ the
light which strsamed IN. the ssoeky,
strong figure Of Allisoa and the tall.
sinewy figure OF the rector. They were
working frantioally, Allison with his
coat off, and the rector with his coat
and vest both removed, and one SLEEVE
torn almost entirely from his shirt. -
vealing his swelling biceps, and q
long, red scratch. Calls senses were
numbed. so THAI they were reduced 10
almost merely optical consciousness,
so that she saw things photograph
ically; but, yer In her numbness. she
realized that what she had thought
a trace of weakness 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 s~training. and then the whole
center between the two cracks rolled
away. A huge boulder had barred the
path, and its removal Ut down q rush
Of pure. fresh air frsn the ground
above. let down. too. 4 flood Of das.
zling light; and In the curving. under
rim of the opening, stood the two stak
wart men who were the survival OF
the fittest! The mere instinct of self
preservation drove Gail forward. with
a cry, toward the source Of that life
giving air, and she scrambled through
the window and ran toward the two
men. They came hurrieaiy down to
meet her, and sash gave her . hand.
CHAPTER Xiii.
@aft nAA~~~ 49, e-~xu~SA