mps, running at fullest speed, were barely able to
keep the water from rising and flooding the new heading, so great and
continuous was the flow into the mine from the soaked earth above it.
They did not know but that any moment some fresh and unsuspected
accumulation in the old workings might break forth and send a second
flood pouring in upon them. Above all there was an ever-present danger
from foul gases, which formed so rapidly that at times work had to be
entirely suspended until they could be cleared away. Thus every time the
relief men went down to their self-imposed labor their departure was
watched by anxious women with tearful eyes and heavy hearts.

For a day and a night these stout-hearted men worked without knowing
whether they sought the living or the dead. On the afternoon of the
second day, during a momentary pause in the steady rattle of the picks,
Jack Hobson, who was at the inner end of the heading, thought he heard a
knocking. Calling for perfect silence, he listened. Yes, it was! Faint,
but unmistakable, it came again.

"Tap, tap, tap; tap, tap, tap; tap, tap, tap," and a pause. Then it was
repeated, and its meaning could not be doubted. As plain as human
speech, it said,

"Here we are, still alive, but in great distress. We know you are
coming, but you must hurry."

From mouth to mouth the joyful news was carried out from the heading,
across the sullen waters, up the slope to the anxious waiting throngs,
and on throbbing wires throughout the length and breadth of the land.

Mrs. Sterling heard it and lifted her tear-stained face in earnest
thankfulness to Heaven. The Halfords heard it in Philadelphia, and Mr.
Halford said he could stand it no longer, but must go to Raven Brook and
be on hand when the men were rescued. Before another sun rose that faint
tapping made in the recesses of the drowned mine by Derrick Sterling
with a bit of rock had been heard around the world.

Now the brave fellows in the heading knew what they were working for,
and the blows of their picks fell faster and harder than ever on the
glistening wall that still opposed its black front to them.

The excitement at the mouth of the mine was now intense, and every man
who came up from it was besieged by anxious inquiries for the very
latest news. What was the meaning of the three taps three times
repeated? Did it signify that there were nine persons in the breast, or
only three? If only three, where were the others? Who