question from
Keith. "It was rising a foot a minute. The lights were all put out, and
we just managed to get out in time."

According to their estimates, there were about forty men and boys still
in the mine, most of them in the gallery off from the main drift. Keith
was running over in his mind the levels. His face was a study, and the
crowd about him watched him closely, as if to catch any ray of hope that
he might hold out. As he reflected, his face grew whiter. Down the slant
from the mine came the roar of the water. It was a desperate chance.

Half turning, he glanced at the white, stricken faces about him.

"It is barely possible some of the men may still be alive. There are two
elevations. I am going down to see."

At the words, the sound through the crowd hushed suddenly.

"Na, th' ben't one alive," said an old miner, contentiously.

The murmur began again.

"I am going down to see," said Keith. "If one or two men will come with
me, it will increase the chances of getting to them. If not, I am going
alone. But I don't want any one who has a family."

A dead silence fell, then three or four young fellows began to push
their way through the crowd, amid expostulations of some of the women
and the urging of others.

Some of the women seized them and held on to them.

"There are one or two places where men may have been able to keep their
heads above water if it has not filled the drift, and that is what I am
going to see," said Keith, preparing to descend.

"My brother's down there and I'll go," said a young light-haired fellow
with a pale face. He belonged to the night shift.

"I ain't got any family," said a small, grizzled man. He had a thin
black band on the sleeve of his rusty, brown coat.

Several others now came forward, amid mingled expostulations and
encouragement; but Keith took the first two, and they prepared to enter.
The younger man took off his silver watch, with directions to a friend
to send it to his sister if he did not come back. The older man said a
few words to a bystander. They were about a woman's grave on the
hillside. Keith took off his watch and gave it to one of the men, with a
few words scribbled on a leaf from a memorandum-book, and the next
moment the three volunteers, amid a deathly silence, entered the mine.

Long before they reached the end of the ascent to the shaft they could
hear the water gurgling and lapping against the sides as it whirled
through the gallery be