n your body! You've got to toe the
mark now if you don't want to go to jail."

Billings used the tone of a master, and Skip understood that his crime
had brought him to slavery of the most degrading kind.

The groggery was filled with men when he arrived, and in the number he
found safety. All were excitedly discussing the accident, some
intimating that Billings had a hand in it, and no one paid any
particular attention to the frightened boy who crept cautiously in, as
if to avoid being seen.

"Wants grub, eh?" Taylor asked, when Skip made known his errand. "What's
he up to? Afraid they'll nab him for what was done to-day?"

"I don't know."

"Now, look here, Skip Miller, I ain't got any too much love for you, but
it don't seem right to let a boy go on as you've begun. Go home now, an'
leave Billings to take care of his own business."

"If I don't carry back the stuff he'll say I stole his money."

"Well, take the grub, an' then get back as soon as you know how."

"All right," Skip replied meekly.

"If you're not home in half an hour I'll see your father to-night."

"I wish I dared to go," Skip said to himself as he hurried away with the
bundle. "Workin' in the breaker ain't a marker to what it'll be runnin'
around with Cale Billings."

CHAPTER XIV

PRECAUTIONS

Not until two days had elapsed were the victims of the "accident" able
to leave their rooms, and then they met Sam and Mr. Wright at Mrs.
Byram's home.

"We'll be ready for work in the morning," Bill said in reply to the
superintendent's inquiries. "What troubles me is that I've lost the plan
of the old mine. It was in my blouse when the timber fell, an'----"

"How that joist could have got away without some one to help it is what
worries me," Joe interrupted. "I set it, an' know the weight from above
could not have any effect."

"There is no chance of foul play. The level has been guarded night and
day, therefore, unless our trusted men are at fault, it was purely an
accident."

"I'm not sayin' it wasn't; but yet the whole business looks queer," and
with this remark Joe dismissed the subject from his mind.

Mr. Wright had come to learn when the guardians of the level would be
ready to return to duty, and Bill's answer sufficed.

"The men who have been there during the past twenty-four hours shall be
given other work in the morning, and once more I can rely on you. Thus
far nothing suspicious has been seen or heard," he said, "and