CHAPTER XVIII.

THE RESCUE

It was eight o'clock, and the crowd that had come and gone during the afternoon had now gathered again in force. It was known all round that the critical moment had arrived. Everything was ready; the supreme act of bringing the men to the surface alone remained to be accomplished. The rope was carefully lowered, and the watchers held their breath.

For some minutes the rope dangled, now and then becoming taut for a moment, and then hanging limp again. It was evident that something was wrong.

"What is it?" the foreman shouted anxiously.

"We can't do it," came a voice from the bottom.

"We're too stiff; we can't get hold."

There was a silence for what seemed an interminable space after these words.

"Some one must go down to them," said the foreman slowly, his own face growing very white. He knew that whoever went down might be passing to instant death; for though everything that could be done had been done to render the passage safe, yet he had hoped against hope that the necessity of a passage _down_ would be avoided. He was a great stout fellow himself, and not so active as Hayes, who he had trusted, would squeeze himself through.

During that pause the workmen looked questioningly at each other, and no one read in his mate's face any desire to try the dangerous experiment. The crowd listened again breathlessly. The foreman cast an imploring look around.

"Won't anybody volunteer?" he asked.

"I will."

It was Geo Lummis who spoke, and a burst of approbation broke from the bystanders.

It was as well the men below were in ignorance of the immediate and extreme danger they were suddenly exposed to by the lowering of a third person into the abyss; for their position was this:--The woodwork which had fallen over the mouth of the cylinder had held up the fallen earth when the wall caved in. This mould was now removed, and by the extraordinary skill and care of those engaged in the difficult task the woodwork had not shifted; but it remained to be seen whether the bad passage of a man working his way down with practically no light go guide him, and with the chance of dislodging odd pieces that had stuck fast in their fall, would not bring the whole thing upon their heads and his own, and, as Hayes put it, "finish the job and have done with them."

Geo was fully alive to the danger as he adjusted the rope round his body, put his foot into the loop, and gave the command to "lower away." At first he went down very slowly, and then came the order to "lower faster," and the crowd grasped the welcome fact that there was no insuperable obstruction in the cylinder.

For a short space of time there was an ominous silence, and then a closed lamp was let down, and the foreman's face cleared. One part of the difficulty had been surmounted; he began to feel more confident of success.

---

In the meantime Geo had reached the bottom, and found the men supporting each other as best they could, but stiff and chilled with their long immersion in three feet of water.

Hayes tried to raise a feeble cheer, but Chapman was past any attempt at cheerfulness. He had sunk into a sort of sullen apathy. Neither of them was capable of helping himself. At first both men wanted to come up at once, and Geo found himself suddenly confronted with an unforeseen difficulty. Chapman was obviously delirious, and Hayes was showing signs of losing his temper.

_"One at a time,"_said Geo decidedly. "Can't you see there's no room for two?"

"Well," said Hayes at last, "you can send up him; he's pretty nigh done for, and he've got a missus and little 'uns. Only hurry up and due it."

Geo lost no time in securing Chapman as best he could, and with a stern command to him (for he seemed to have completely lost his nerve) to hold on tight and keep his body straight, he chucked at the rope to show all was right, and with a beating heart watched him being drawn higher and higher, till he had passed safely through the aperture. Then he turned to Hayes. This was no time for sentiment, and neither of the men indulged in it.

Hayes had his pipe between his teeth. It had long ago been guiltless of tobacco, but it was comforting, all the same. He did not remove it, and he said nothing to Geo, but signified his gratitude by a nod, and what under happier circumstances might have been a wink.

When the rope reappeared he seized it, with Geo's assistance, made himself fast, and gave the signal for going up.

Geo saw the soles of Hayes's big boots rise over his own head with eyes that dilated with something like fear, and a heart that thumped audibly against his ribs, as for a few moments his own fate hung in the balance. Hayes's broad shoulders, even with the greatest care, might refuse to pass through the aperture without dislodging some of the fallen timber; such a little would send it down on his head. It would be a horrible death, for he would see it coming--coming--coming before it fell, and Geo didn't want to die. The possible nearness of death flashed into his mind, and he scarcely dared look when Hayes reached the hole, and a few broken straws, loosened by his passage through it, floated down on to his upturned face. The ominous words, "You'll cover us up and ha' done with us," occurred to him again with terrible persistence. Minute after minute passed, and the rope did not reappear. Impossible but horrible thought, were they so much taken up with Chapman and Hayes that they had forgotten him?

Geo had stepped on to one of the turned-over pails on which the other men had been standing, and the water had reached up to his knees when he had given Hayes his parting shove. He now noticed with surprise that it had suddenly reached considerably over them. He glanced apprehensively to the sides of the well. It was perfectly evident that the water had risen. Higher, higher it crept, till it nearly reached his waist, and then the awful truth flashed on him. _The springs had begun to work!_