storm.

"No, my boy, I am going to find Mr. Houston, to save him if I can."

"Oh, sir, let me go! I know about it, they're goin' to fire the mines,
I heerd Jake say so, and I was a goin' to find Mister Houston myself;
I'll get there quicker, 'n I know the mine better 'n you."

"But, my boy, you risk your own life," said Rutherford.

"Never mind that, sir; Mister Houston, he's been my friend, 'n his
life's worth more'n mine anyhow; I'll risk it," and he was already
rushing on ahead, shouting back to Rutherford, "You go to the tunnels,
sir, you can help him there."

"Tell him the signal has been given!" called Rutherford, and Bull-dog,
swinging his ragged hat in reply, sped swiftly on through the raging
wind.

Rutherford paused for a moment, then started in the direction of the
tunnels. At that instant, Lyle, still struggling against the fury of
the wind, had just reached the ground surrounding the mines; in a few
seconds more she would have been within the fatal boundary line, but
Bull-dog's voice, as he rushed past, warned her back.

"Go back, go back, Miss Lyle! they've given the signal to fire the
mines, I'm goin' to warn 'em; don't be afraid, I'll save 'em, Mister
Houston and Jack," and with these words, he rushed on, disappearing
through the incline shaft.

Lyle retreated a few steps, and then paused, looking wildly about her,
dreading, expecting, she scarcely knew what.

Suddenly the darkness seemed divided by a blinding flash, which spread
into a sheet of flame, enveloping her within its lurid folds, while
peal after peal of deafening thunder crashed and roared about her, and
the lightning flashed and gleamed till it seemed as if earth and sky
were commingled in one mass of flaming combat.

Scarcely had the blinding flashes died in darkness, and the
reverberations of the thunder still echoed and re-echoed among the
surrounding mountains, when the earth began to rock and vibrate
beneath her feet; there was the sound of a terrific explosion, she
felt for an instant a strange sensation as if floating through the
air,--then she knew nothing more; she had been thrown to the ground,
unconscious, by the shock.

Meanwhile, down the rough, narrow road, leading to the mines, Leslie
Gladden and Ned Rutherford were making their way, having started
immediately after Lyle, but unaccustomed to the furious mountain
storms and unfamiliar with the road, they made slow progress in the
darkness and tempest.

"Miss Gl