t this isn't any time for long
stories. The first thing for us to do is to get back into the breaker
and cook Tommy and Sandy three or four breakfasts apiece!"

"So you found them, did you?" asked Canfield.

"No; we found them," shouted Tommy.

"Well, how're you going to get out?" asked the caretaker.

"Get a rope," directed Will, "and throw it over the sound rung lowest
down, and we'll climb up until we can trust our weight on the ladder."

This plan was followed, and in a short time the boys all stood, hungry
and tired, in their room in the breaker. Tommy made an instantaneous
dive for the provisions which had been brought in the night before.

"Nice old time we've had!" he exclaimed, with his mouth full of pork and
beans. "I guess we're some Boy Scouts after all!"

"I'm going to tie you up tonight!" Will declared.

While the boys talked and ate the caretaker darted to the door leading
to the passage which ended at the shaft.

He returned in a moment looking both angry and frightened.

"The pumps have stopped!" he said. "The mine will probably be flooded
before tomorrow morning! The very devil seems to have taken full charge
here today. I never saw anything like it!"

"There are boys in the mine who will be drowned!" exclaimed Tommy.

"I'm not so sure of that!" answered Canfield. "It was only a suggestion
on my part that the boys we are in search of have taken refuge under
ground. I think I must have been mistaken!"

"Do you know whether these breaker boys belonged to the Boy Scouts or
not?" asked Will. "Did you ever see any medals or badges on their
clothing which told of Boy Scout experiences?"

"Sure they belong to the Boy Scouts!" declared the caretaker, "and that
is the very reason why I sent for Boy Scouts to help find them."

"What Patrol did they belong to?" asked Will.

"If you had heard them howling like wolves around the breaker night
after night," was the reply, "you wouldn't ask what patrol they belonged
to!"

"Then they are in the mine!" shouted Tommy. "We all heard the call of
the pack, but the funny thing is that they wouldn't show themselves."

CHAPTER VIII

"THEY WENT UP IN THE AIR!"

"There's something funny-about those boys!" exclaimed Canfield. "They
seemed to be merry-hearted fellows, just a little bit full of mischief,
but for some reason they never mixed with the others much."

"Where did they come from when they came here?" asked Will.

"The information in the