CHAPTER V

"THE MINE IS ON FIRE"

THREE days had passed uneventfully, the Iron Boys having kept up their record for mining more ore than any other section in either of the company's mines. How they succeeded in doing so was a mystery to Mr. Penton, for he failed to discover that the boys were applying any new methods to the operation of their drifts.

At noon on the third day, when most of the miners were eating their dinners in the mines, the foremen and shift bosses having come to the surface, Steve also had come up for the purpose of going to his boarding place to get a pair of boots.

The lad ate a quick dinner at the boarding house, then hurried back toward the shaft. Bob had remained in the mines, and Steve hoped to be down in time to have a chat with his friend before the whistles blew for the resumption of work at a quarter after one o'clock. The Iron Boy was walking rapidly, when all of a sudden just about an eighth of a mile from the Red Rock shaft, he saw a wisp of smoke shoot up from the main shaft.

Steve halted, fixing a keen glance on the dark upper works of the towering shaft trestle.

"That's curious," he muttered. "I am sure I saw smoke there. Perhaps it came from the engine house yonder. But, no; the wind is in the opposite direction."

The lad saw no further signs of smoke, so he started on, half believing that he had been wrong. He had gone but a short distance when he halted suddenly, uttering an exclamation of startled amazement at what he beheld.

A huge column of black smoke burst from the shaft, shooting high in the air. When far above the top of the shaft the column opened up like an umbrella, darkening the landscape, throwing the base of the upper works into deep shadow.

"There's been an explosion!" cried Steve. "They'll all be lost down there!"

The lad sprang forward, running with all speed toward the mouth of the shaft. Ere he had reached it, however, sparks were belching from the mouth of the shaft. The smoke was so dense, however, that the shaft was almost hidden from view.

Men were running toward the scene from all directions, shouting and yelling. Steve was not saying a word. As he ran his mind was actively at work. He understood what was happening underground. He did not know what the cause had been, though he believed there had been an explosion.

"The mine's on fire! The mine's on fire!" was the cry passed from mouth to mouth. Pandemonium seemed to have broken loose. The cage gong at the shaft entrance could be heard through the heavy smoke, crashing out its plea for help.

The cage-tender was too excited to give the signal any heed. He had run from the mouth of the shaft, half suffocated by the smoke. Steve dashed up to the man, grabbed him by the collar and spun the fellow about.

"Get to work! There are men down in the mine trying to get up. Start the cage!"

"I--I can't. The smoke will strangle me."

"Haul up that cage, you coward!" roared Rush, giving the man a shove that sent him staggering toward the shaft. The fellow was about to turn back when he saw Steve striding quickly after him. Then he dived into the dense smoke, answered the signal and began hauling up the cage. Rush followed him, dipping his own handkerchief into a pail of water as he passed.

"Stuff the handkerchief into your mouth. Get somebody to keep you supplied with wet cloths."

The cage came to a rattling stop and a dozen black-faced miners staggered out into the open.

Steve dragged them out into the fresh air.

"What's happened down there? Tell me quick!" he demanded.

"It's a roaring furnace! The whole mine's afire," gasped the man.

"Are there any alive to come up in the cage?"

"N-n-n-no."

"Send the cage down!" commanded Rush, dashing to the mouth of the shaft. "Watch sharp for signals. Stand by your post unless you want to be thrown in. Be a man! This is no place for cowards. Where's the superintendent?"

"I--I don't know."

Steve dashed out. A new idea had occurred to him. He rubbed the smoke from his smarting eyes as he emerged into the open. The lad was so dizzy on account of the smoke from the burning mine that he could scarcely keep his feet.

As soon as he was able to collect his senses he glanced toward the shaft where the lumber skip went down into the mine to carry the timber for the bull gang, the timber used in shoring up the levels to keep them from caving in.

There was smoke there, too, but Rush noted that it was not nearly so dense as in the main shaft.

"I don't believe there is much fire near that shaft. I hope the men have been able to get to that part of the mine."

The Iron Boy started on a run for the lumber skip.

"Where's your skip?" he demanded sharply.

"On the first level."

"Jerk it up here! Why aren't you bringing up the men on it?"

"I haven't had any orders to do so."

Rush restrained himself with difficulty. The skip came up with a bound and the lad jumped into it, bracing his feet on the narrow flooring, grasping the shelving steel over his head.

"Drop me to the twentieth. Let her go full speed."

"You'll be killed," warned the skip-tender.

"Do as I tell you, and be quick about it, unless you want to answer to me here and now. I'll----"

Steve's words were cut short. The skip-tender threw his throttle wide open. The skip shot down at a frightful rate of speed. The rapidity of his descent took the boy's breath away. He gasped, opening his mouth wide to fill his lungs with air. But he did not succeed very well. He feared that he would fall from the skip in his dizziness, there being no guards to prevent his doing so. The front of the scoop-shaped skip was not protected in any way, and the slightest slip would send the solitary passenger to his death.

The skip stopped with a jolt that hurled Steve Rush forward on his face. He thought that was to be the last of him. A moment later, however, the brave lad discovered that the skip had stopped at the twentieth level, and that he had been thrown out into the level itself.

Scrambling to his feet, the lad uttered a shout to attract the attention of anyone who might be near.

There was no reply. Steve nearly strangled from the smoke he had drawn into his lungs. The drift was silent and deserted, the electric lights gleaming dimly in the thick veil of smoke that hung over everything.

"I wonder where they are?" breathed the lad, keeping his lips tightly shut. "They must be trying to work their way up by the ladders."

Running to another part of the level, the Iron Boy sprang up a ladder and once more uttered a long-drawn shout.

"Hello," came the answer. "Where are you?"

"Chute thirty-one."

A man came running through the half darkness. His face was so blackened from smoke that Rush did not recognize him.

"Is that you, Steve?" cried a familiar voice.

"Yes--Bob, is that you?"

"What's left of me."

Steve gave his companion a mighty hug.

"Where are the men? Quick, tell me! We must help them!"

"I've been herding them on the lower level; that is, all of them that I have been able to find, but they are the craziest lot I ever saw. The heathens won't listen to reason."

"How bad is the fire--is the whole mine going?"

"It strikes me that it is pretty well gone already."

"Come on! We've got our work cut out for us," cried Steve, starting along the level at a brisk trot. "You've shown great judgment in getting the men below. Is there much water down there?"

"No, not very much, but enough to keep them from burning to death, I guess."

The chums had gone but a short distance when Rush caught the crackling sound of burning timber. The smoke was becoming suffocating and the boys were obliged to move with more caution.

"We can't get through there, Bob."

"No; this has started since I came through."

"We shall have to go around through the cross-cut. That isn't on fire, is it?"

"I don't know. It was not when I was over there last."

"How many levels are on fire? Do you know?"

"I guess most of them are. You see, the fire works down through the wooden rises, then scattering, sets the woodwork on each level ablaze."

This gave Steve Rush a sudden idea.

"They can't all be going. Get together a lot of the men. We'll station two or three at each rise with pails of water and the gangs ought to be able to head off the fire when it comes through."

"That's a good idea. I'm with you."

The Iron Boys hurried away. They found groups of excited men, so beside themselves with fear that they were powerless to think or to act.

Steve was obliged in some instances to handle the men roughly--men much larger and stronger than himself--in order to shake some courage into their trembling bodies.

Yet he did not blame them so much. It was a scene calculated to shake the nerves of the strongest men. The interior of the mine was a roaring furnace; the flames were crackling with a sinister sound, eating their way through the dry timber. Now and then a dull, heavy reverberation told where a drift or a level had caved in under the weight of the rocks above it.

In the meantime Rush had explained to the men what he wanted done. The mine captain was not in the mine and the men all seemed to have lost their heads completely. After a time, however, Steve succeeded in getting a number of them to the point where he thought they would be able to obey orders.

Rush headed the first shift and led the way to a rise on a level that had not been attacked by the flames. Stationing a squad there, he went on to other levels, and other rises, arranging his forces in the same manner.

While he was doing this, Bob Jarvis was performing a similar service. The boys had no thought, apparently, for their own safety. They were working to save the company's property, and at the same time to make it possible for the men still in the mine to live. By this time the smoke had become so thick in the lumber shaft that it was impossible for anyone either to get up or down. The skips and the cage had stopped running altogether.

One of the foremen in the mines had been stationed at the only telephone that was working, where Steve directed him to keep the superintendent informed of the progress of the fire and of the work that was being done to check it. At the same time the Iron Boy was calmly demanding orders from his superior.

"Tell Rush I have no orders to give. What he cannot think of is beyond me," was the answer sent back to the mine from Mr. Penton.

No one knew how many lives had been lost, though everyone believed that a great disaster had overtaken the miners in the Red Rock Mine. This was true. Many had been cut off by the caving in of the roofs of the levels and drifts, while others, having been overcome by smoke, had fallen unconscious, some never to rise again.

Steve Rush, with his companion and a band of courageous men, was now fighting desperately to confine the fire to the eastern section of the mine, which was nearest to the shafts.

Both boys had thrown off their coats, they had lost their hats, their faces were black and almost unrecognizable, and the hair of each was badly singed.

"The telephone has gone out of business," announced the man whom Steve had assigned to this work.

"Very well; we shall be in the same condition if we do not succeed in stopping the progress of the fire."

Every little while the workers were obliged to flatten themselves upon the ground for a breath of fresher air. Now and then one would topple over unconscious, to be dragged out of harm's way by a companion. On all this Steve kept a watchful eye. Thus far he had not lost a man, thanks to his watchfulness and bravery.

All at once a new idea occurred to Rush that startled him.

"Bob!" he called.

Jarvis was at his side instantly.

"What about the powder room?"

"The--the--the pow----" stammered Jarvis.

"Yes; what about it?"

"Why--why, the fire must be right on it at this very minute. I--I never thought of it before. I----"

"Then the whole mine will be blown up!" cried Steve. "_There are more than five tons of dynamite in that room!_"