re rapid pace. But he was weak enough
still. He wavered from side to side as he walked, and his face was
very pale.

When the two men reached the site of the burned breaker, they went
directly to the opening to learn the latest news concerning the
search. There was not much, however, for them to hear. The shaft was
entirely cleaned out and men had been down into the mine, but they had
not been able to get far from the foot, the air was so very bad.

A rough partition was being built now, down the entire depth of the
opening, a cover had been erected over the mouth of the shaft, and a
fan had been put up temporarily, to drive fresh air into the mine and
create an atmosphere there that would support life.

It was not long after the arrival of the two men before another party
of miners stepped into the bucket to be lowered into the mine.

Bachelor Billy asked to be allowed to go with them, but his request
was denied. They feared that, in his present condition, the foul air
below would be fatal to him.

The party could not go far from the foot of the shaft, no farther,
indeed, than the inside plane. But they found nothing, no sign
whatever of the missing boy.

Others went down afterward, and pushed the exploration farther, and
still others. It seemed probable that the lad, driven back by the
smoke and gas, had taken refuge in some remote portion of the mine;
and the portion that he would be apt to choose, they thought, would
be the portion with which he had been most familiar. They therefore
extended the search mainly in that direction.

But it was night before they reached those chambers which Ralph had
been accustomed to serve with cars. They looked them over thoroughly;
every entrance and every corner was scrutinized, but no trace of the
imprisoned boy could be found.

Bachelor Billy had not left the place. He had been the first to hear
the report of each returning squad, but his hope for the lad's safety
had disappeared long before the sun went down. When night came on he
went up on the bank and sat under the tree on the bench; the same
bench on which he had sat that day in May to listen to the story of
Ralph's temptation. His only anxiety now was that the child's body
should be brought speedily from the foul air, so that the face might
be kept as fair as possible for the mother's sake.

Conway, who had gone down into the mine with the first searching
party, had been overcome by the foul air, and had been bro