can, with breathless anxiety, the faces of each
car-load of miners as it reached the surface.

At the mouth of the slope stood Mr. Jones, in constant communication
with a trusty fellow down in the mine, at the other end of the
speaking-tube. With him were half a dozen steady men, upon whom he could
depend, and to whom he had given orders not to allow a living soul to go
down in any of the empty cars he was despatching as rapidly as possible
to those below,

"There are plenty down there now," he said, "and perhaps more than can
be drawn up before the water reaches them. You can do no good there yet
awhile. When the time comes that I want volunteers to go down I'll let
you know fast enough." He kept the mouth of the travelling-road
similarly guarded, and no one was allowed to descend.

Among those who pressed close to him, and begged, almost with tears in
their eyes, to be allowed to go down and make one effort to save their
loved ones before the waters reached them, was burly Tom Evert.

"My lad, my crippled lad's down there, boss; ye can't refuse a feyther
the chance to save his boy," pleaded the big miner.

"Tom, if he's not already at the foot of the slope, you know as well as
I that there's not one chance in ten thousand of finding and getting him
out. They tell me the water's rising fast on the upper level already.
No, my poor fellow, you must wait a bit. You're to be my right-hand man
in the work that I fear is ahead of us. I can't let you throw away your
life without a chance of its doing good."

"And Derrick, boss, the brave lad I left in the low level facing the
waters. It's fearful to think on. If he's drownded and my lad's
drownded, their death'll be on my hands. I might ha' gone more slow and
cautious like. I might ha' kep' out altogether the day, an' let the low
level flood, as ye talked of, boss, but for being a pig-headed fool."

"Don't take on that way, Tom. Cheer up, man. You'll see them all coming
up out of the trouble safe and sound yet. And don't take this matter to
heart as you're doing. If there's any blame to be placed it's on my
head; but I don't think there's blame to be placed on any of us. There's
One above who rules such matters, and who sends rain and floods as He
does the sunshine, all for some wise purpose."

Just then word came up the speaking-tube that the water was gaining so
fast that all hands were about to leave the mine. At the same instant
the harsh clang of the engine-room