construct a rude platform of timbers, on which to rest
more comfortably than on the smooth sloping rock floor, and here most of
them lay down to sleep.

Derrick and Paul lay side by side, with arms thrown about each other's
necks. The former was nearly asleep when his companion whispered,
"Dare!"

"Yes, Polly."

"Here's something for you; and if I don't live to get out, you'll always
keep it to remember me by, won't you?"

"I shouldn't need it for that, Polly; but I'll always keep it, whatever
it is."

It was Paul's sketch of the underground picnic-party, and Derrick knew
what it was when he took it and thrust it into the bosom of his shirt,
though days passed before he had a chance to look at it.

Three days after this the same men and boys lay on their log platform,
in almost the same positions, but they were haggard, emaciated, faint,
and weak. Their last drop of oil had been burned, and they were in total
darkness. A light would have shown that they lay like dead men.

Suddenly one of them lifts his head and listens. "Thank God! thank God!"
he exclaims, in a husky voice, hardly more than a whisper, "I hear them!
they're coming!"

Derrick's quick ear had detected the muffled sound of blows, and his
words gave new life to the dying men around him.

CHAPTER XVIII

TO THE RESCUE!--A MESSAGE FROM THE PRISONERS

From the moment the news came that nine men and boys were imprisoned in
the flooded mine, preparations for their rescue, or at least of learning
their fate, were pushed with all vigor. Although it had stopped raining,
the night was dark, and great bonfires were lighted about the mouth of
the slope. These were placed in charge of the old breaker boss, Mr.
Guffy, and his boys, who fed them with dry timbers, and kept up the
brilliant blaze until daylight.

Around these fires the entire population of the village stood and
discussed the situation; and by their light the workers were enabled to
perform their tasks. The miners were divided into gangs, headed by the
mine boss and by Tom Evert, and their work was the fetching of the steam
pumps from across the valley and setting them up near the mouth of the
slope. They had to be connected, by long lines of iron pipe, with the
boilers under the breaker, and from each a double line of hose was
carried down the slope until water was reached.

It was nearly daylight when these operations were completed, and a faint
cheer went up from the weary watcher