The Green Forest tribune., 1916-01-21

| talked a great deal, at first, strong, capable voices. They were interfer- 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 i hosphorescent-faced watch, with 22 l jewels on the inside and a ruby on 1 the winding stem and he constituted | himself timekeeper.
 Thirty minutes" he called out. Its our shift"
 The men crawled in from outside, i but they stayed in the front compart- ment. The air was growing a trifle 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 stif1ing. 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 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; 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
 
 periods of rest they sat motionlessly facire seaE other, with 8 wheeZs ia- the drawing Of their breath Their stentorian breathing could be heard from the forward end of their little tunnel clear back into the car, where the three girls were battling to pre- serve their senses against the poison ous 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 elevel 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 floor; then, 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 staring, she saw crack of blessed light!
 There was a 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 freshening of the air she breathed with such tearing pain. Against the light of the open ings, two figures, the only two which were left to work, strove, at first with the slow. limp motions of exhaustion. and then with the renewed yigor of approaching triumph, She could dis, tinguish them clearly now, by the light which streamed 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 re. vealing his swelling biceps, and q long, red scratch. Calls senses were numbed, so that they were reduced to almost merely optical consciousness. so that she saw things photograph lcally; but, even 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 straining, and then the whole center between the two cracks rolled away. A huge boulder had barred the path. and it's removal let down a rush of pure, fresh air from the ground above, let down, too, a flood of dag. zling light; and in the curving, under. rim Of the opening, stood the two staI- Wart men who were the survival of the Attest! 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 hurriedly down to meet her, and each gave her hand.
 CHAPTER XIII