s the floor. "Where, Rosslyn?"

Mutely he pointed, too spent for words; and the girl, remembering the
old, unprotected shaft of the abandoned Selfridge mine, flew to the
rescue of her brood, pausing only to snatch a lantern from a peg on the
wall, and a handful of matches from the pantry shelf.

Mercedes had disappeared when she reached the spot of the accident, but
Irene was tugging desperately at the huge windlass, slowly winding up
the heavy bucket, moaning all the while in a distracted undertone,
while tears of fright trickled down her dirty face. So busy was she
that she never heard the patter of Tabitha's feet behind her, and the
first intimation she had of help at hand was when the older girl jerked
her back from the mouth of the shaft, released the half-raised bucket,
and sent it hurtling back into the pit once more.

"Go for the assayer," she commanded hoarsely, seizing the heavy rope
with both hands, and preparing to descend as Toady had done. "Run,
hurry! And then get Dr. Hayes. We may need him."

The windlass creaked and groaned, the rope swayed and strained, as
Tabitha slid out of sight, while Irene raced madly away to do her
bidding. Unmindful of bumps or bruises, and almost unaware that her
hands were cruelly burned and torn from her too rapid descent, the
black-eyed girl had scarcely touched the bottom of the shaft before she
had her lantern lighted and was digging like mad at the fallen rock and
debris which almost completely blocked the entrance of the narrow
cross-cut.

"Who is it?" called a voice from behind the barrier.

"Thank God!" breathed Tabitha, working with renewed fury. "That you,
Toady?"

"Bet you!" came the cheering response.

"Are you hurt?"

"Nope!"

"Where are the others?"

"Here!"

"Safe?"

"I--don't know. I can feel 'em, but they don't answer."

At that instant, without any warning, one of the fallen timbers slipped
from its position, and revealed a narrow aperture into the crosscut,
through which Tabitha caught a glimpse of Toady's white face and the
gleam of Susie's scarlet dress.

"Can you crawl through?" she demanded.

"Yes."

"Carefully now, so as not to start another landslide. There! Now, can
you help me make the opening bigger?"

But other aid was at hand. The assayer with three men from the town
had arrived and the rescue of the quintette at the bottom of the shaft
was speedily effected.

"Are they--" Tabitha's voice faltered as she stoo