nexpected a deliverance
drowned everything else for a few moments; but as man after man was met
and received half dazed into the arms of his family and friends, the
name of Keith began to be heard on all sides. One voice, however, was
more imperative than the others; one figure pressed to the front--that
of the gayly dressed woman who had just been comforting and encouraging
the weeping women about the mine entrance.

"Where is Mr. Keith?" she demanded of man after man.

The men explained. "He went on to try and find three more men who are
down there--Bluffy and Hennson and his boy."

"Who went with him?"

"No one. He went alone."

"And you men let him go?"

"We could not help it. He insisted. We tried to make him come with us."

"You cowards!" she cried, tearing off her wrap. "Of course, he insisted,
for he is a _man_. Had one woman been down there, she would not have let
him go alone." She sprang over the fencing rope as lightly as a deer,
and started toward the entrance. A cry broke from the crowd.

"She's going! Stop her! She's crazy! Catch her!"

Several men sprang over the rope and started after her. Hearing them,
Terpsichore turned. With outstretched arms spread far apart and blazing
eyes, she faced them.

"If any man tries to stop me, I will kill him on the spot, as God
lives!" she cried, snatching up a piece of iron bar that lay near by. "I
am going to find that man, dead or alive. If there is one of you man
enough to come with me, come on. If not, I will go alone."

"I will go with you!" A tall, sallow-faced man who had just come up
pushed through the throng and overtook her. "You stay here; I will go."
It was Tib Drummond, the preacher. He was still panting. The girl hardly
noticed him. She waved him aside and dashed on.

A dozen men offered to go if she would come back.

"No; I shall go with you," she said; and knowing that every moment was
precious, and thinking that the only way to pacify her was to make the
attempt, the men yielded, and a number of them entered the mine with
her, the lank preacher among them.

They had just reached the bottom when the faint outline of something
black was seen in the glimmer that their lights threw in the distance.
Terpy, with a cry, dashed forward, and was just in time to catch Keith
as he sank beneath the black water.

When the rescuing party with their burdens reached the surface once
more, the scene was one to revive even a flagging heart; but Keith a