The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1916-05-17

room and told him what had happened.
"The main tunnel of the Surersti-
ton mine has collapsed he cried.
Were On the way out in car.
Rhinelander, Storm and crew OF the
men are caught inside"
Sorry to hear that" said Seagrue,
shortly. go on. Don't lose any time.
III follow" He called to his servant
for his coat and hat as the doctor
ran cut. Putting OH the coat he hest.
tated. changed his mind. and decided
not to go. He threw his hat and coat
on the table again and sat down.
In the tunnel the Wen he'd been
| caught like rats in trap.
Serious as their situation was, none
of them lost their heads, and Rhine
lander and Storm, in particular
neither OF them unused to great peril
were calm. But what to do in cir
cumstances so strange to them. the
two could not tell A hurried exam
| nation OF the cave.in showed their
exit completely cut off. This misfor'
tune, however. did not paralyze their
| activities.
With the two railroad men encour'
| aging them, the men worked hard to
! get through the obstruction in front
| Of them. They toiled unremittingly,
knowing how every hour within their
prison would lessen their chances for
life. One of the men, exhausted by
tie labor. picked up water canteen.
| It was broken. A canvass was made
| Of the situation and it was found they
had no water. Gloom settled for
time on them. Thereafter, question.
| ing the foreman carefully, Rhineland.
or picked a place where the expert.
| enced miner thought they might, with
little work, get through and turned
to the men. Dynamite through this
WALL he said. = .,,
The men began, The moment the
blast. was ready. it was set of and
they were back again at their drills
preparing for the next. Working thue
with frenzied energy, they tore great
holes into the tunnels side. but seem
ingly with no hopeful result. And the
work was beginning to tell ON them
By the time they had gotten what they
hoped might be the final shot ready
Rhinelander and the niners-all in
| the tunnel except Storm-were on the
verge Of collapse.
Nerved to final effort by the hope
of life, the shot was fired. No ray OF
daylight greeted their straining eyes
as the smoke thinned away. The air.
now foul. had so overcome them that
few could crawl forward to examine
the shattered wall. One grizzled fel.
low, sturdier than his mates. stag
gered to it. He looked for moment
at the rock and cried out. Animated
by. fresh hope. the exhausted men re-
sponded by dragging themselves to
him.
The blast had not given them the
hoped.for avenue Of escape. But
broadly lined across the Jagged sur
face now dislocged, they saw staring
! at them as IL in mockery. Of their
state. the lost vein. the lead of pre-.
cious quartz again before them. I'm
told riches confronted them.
Seagrue, In his rom, had heard the
distant report Of the explosion, but he
had been drinking of late and his
nerves were on eIge. &
! He strobe up and down the room re.
vo1ving in his n!nd the situation OF
the men imprisoned within the big tun.
mel. He knew enough Of the r.ine to
understand perfectly the peril Of their
position aas the necessity OF quick
rescue II their lives were to be saved.
Further than this. he charged his mind
with nothing Of responsibility; indeed,
he would hardly have walked across
the street to save one of the imper.
lied men. Yet. strangely persistent
curiosity moved him to want to know
mere Of the fate Of those who were
thus struggling for their lives.
A Gecanter stood On the buffet and,
he turned to it. While he poured
brandy into a glass, he heard a strange
noise In an adjoining rcom-a sound
as II OF u miners doublejack. II
startled him unpleasantly. He called
to his servant and the man, thus az.
ruptly; SUNNI oned. came quickly, car.
rying an ice pick. .'&,''F =
whats that noise? What are you
doing?" demanded Seagrue, harshly.
Tie nan in half-frightered way
began tc laugh. "Oniy picking lit:
tie ice. sir" he said. alphabetically.
Seagrue. without answering. snatched
the ice pick from his LAID. Give
me my hat and coat" he exclaimed
with anger. And as the man hurried
ly produced them, he added curtly:
Get out" And serving himself, he
made ready to start for the mine.
AtteErt after attempt c.. the part Of
Khinelander. Storm ard the miners to-
olen a way of freedom was failing,
| AID overcome by the foul air, the E,ea,
| Que after another, had sunk down from
exhaustion.
Outside, the engine and little train
had brought Helen and the relief and
the men were running up the slope.
The few men attacking the face Of
tho cave.in, cow greatly Reinforced,
worked with desperate energy at the
fallen rock The cool-headed foreman
assumed leadership and organized the
men so that no energy should he vast