The Iron Boys as Foremen; or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift

by Mrs. Molesworth

  CHAPTER V

  "THE MINE IS ON FIRE"

  THREE days had passed uneventfully, the Iron Boys having kept up theirrecord for mining more ore than any other section in either of thecompany'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 newmethods to the operation of their drifts.

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

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

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

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

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

  A huge column of black smoke burst from the shaft, shooting high in theair. When far above the top of the shaft the column opened up like anumbrella, darkening the landscape, throwing the base of the upper worksinto deep shadow.

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

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

  Men were running toward the scene from all directions, shouting andyelling. Steve was not saying a word. As he ran his mind was actively atwork. He understood what was happening underground. He did not know whatthe 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 mouthto mouth. Pandemonium seemed to have broken loose. The cage gong at theshaft entrance could be heard through the heavy smoke, crashing out itsplea for help.

  The cage-tender was too excited to give the signal any heed. He had runfrom the mouth of the shaft, half suffocated by the smoke. Steve dashedup 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 thecage!"

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

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

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

  The cage came to a rattling stop and a dozen black-faced minersstaggered 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 bethrown in. Be a man! This is no place for cowards. Where's thesuperintendent?"

  "I--I don't know."

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

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

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

  "I don't believe there is much fire near that shaft. I hope the men havebeen 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 boundand 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 tome here and now. I'll----"

  Steve's words were cut short. The skip-tender threw his throttle wideopen. The skip shot down at a frightful rate of speed. The rapidity ofhis descent took the boy's breath away. He gasped, opening his mouthwide to fill his lungs with air. But he did not succeed very well. Hefeared that he would fall from the skip in his dizziness, there being noguards to prevent his doing so. The front of the scoop-shaped skip wasnot protected in any way, and the slightest slip would send the solitarypassenger 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, thebrave 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 attentionof anyone who might be near.

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

  "I wonder where they are?" breathed the lad, keeping his lips tightlyshut. "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 ladderand 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 blackenedfrom 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 Ihave been able to find, but they are the craziest lot I ever saw. Theheathens 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, startingalong the level at a brisk trot. "You've shown great judgment in gettingthe men below. Is there much water down there?"

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

  The chums had gone but a short distance when Rush caught the cracklingsound of burning timber. The smoke was becoming suffocating and the boyswere 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."

&nbs
p; "How many levels are on fire? Do you know?"

  "I guess most of them are. You see, the fire works down through thewooden 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 stationtwo or three at each rise with pails of water and the gangs ought to beable 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 besidethemselves with fear that they were powerless to think or to act.

  Steve was obliged in some instances to handle the men roughly--men muchlarger and stronger than himself--in order to shake some courage intotheir trembling bodies.

  Yet he did not blame them so much. It was a scene calculated to shakethe nerves of the strongest men. The interior of the mine was a roaringfurnace; the flames were crackling with a sinister sound, eating theirway through the dry timber. Now and then a dull, heavy reverberationtold where a drift or a level had caved in under the weight of the rocksabove it.

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

  Rush headed the first shift and led the way to a rise on a level thathad not been attacked by the flames. Stationing a squad there, he wenton to other levels, and other rises, arranging his forces in the samemanner.

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

  One of the foremen in the mines had been stationed at the only telephonethat was working, where Steve directed him to keep the superintendentinformed of the progress of the fire and of the work that was being doneto check it. At the same time the Iron Boy was calmly demanding ordersfrom his superior.

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

  No one knew how many lives had been lost, though everyone believed thata great disaster had overtaken the miners in the Red Rock Mine. This wastrue. Many had been cut off by the caving in of the roofs of the levelsand drifts, while others, having been overcome by smoke, had fallenunconscious, some never to rise again.

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

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

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

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

  Every little while the workers were obliged to flatten themselves uponthe ground for a breath of fresher air. Now and then one would toppleover unconscious, to be dragged out of harm's way by a companion. On allthis Steve kept a watchful eye. Thus far he had not lost a man, thanksto 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 neverthought of it before. I----"

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