ard, thinking to go to their assistance, and knocking his head
against a boulder.

"John! Faither! I'm feart," and he began to cry. Afraid to move, unable
to see, he staggered from one side to another, bruising his face and
arms against the jagged sides, the blood already streaming from his
bruises, and his heart frantic with fear.

"Oh, faither! faither! Where are ye?" and he began to crawl up the
incline, in desperate fear, while still the rumbling and crashing went
on in long rolling thunder. "Oh! oh!" he moaned, now almost mad with
terror. "Faither! John! Where are ye! Oh! oh!" and he fell back stunned
by striking his head against a low part of the roof.

Again he scrambled to his feet, certain now that some disaster had
happened, since there was no response to his appeals, and again he was
knocked to the ground by striking his head against the side of the
roadway. But always he rose again, frantically dashing from side to
side, as a caged lark, when first caught, dashes itself against the bars
of its prison; until finally, stunned beyond recovery, he lay in a
semi-conscious condition, helpless and inert, his bruises smarting but
unfelt, and the blood oozing from his nose and mouth.

Andrew Marshall, working about fifty yards away, heard the roar and the
crash, and the boy's cries, and at once ran to Geordie's place. In his
haste and anxiety he nearly stumbled over the prostrate boy, who lay
unconscious in the roadway.

"Good God! What has happened?" he exclaimed, anxiously bending over the
boy and raising him up, then dashing some cold tea from Robert's flask
upon him, and forcing some between his lips. Then, when the boy showed
signs of recovery, he plied him with anxious questions.

"Where's yir faither? What's wrang?" But the boy only clung to him in
wild terror, and nothing connected could be got from him.

Andrew lighted the boy's lamp and tore up the brae, leaving Robert
shrieking in nervous fright.

"Great Christ! It has fa'en in!" he cried, when he had got as far as he
could go. "Geordie! Geordie! Are ye in there?" and as no answer came, he
began tearing at the great blocks of stone, flinging them like pebbles
in his desperation, until another warning rumble drove him back.
Immediately he realized how helpless he was alone, so he went back to
the boy and hurried him down the brae and out to where some other men
were at work. A few hasty words, and Robert was passed on, and Andrew
went back with the