n the midst of a group of women laying off his idea
of a rescue.

"I'm rale glad to be out of it," he said, "for Jean's sake, an' the
bairns; but for a' that I'd gang doon again an' try an' get them oot if
there was ony chance o' doin' it."

"Hoo is Jean?" one woman interposed to enquire about his wife, who had
been ill a long time.

"Oh, she's gettin' on fine noo, an' the doctor has a hopeful word o'
her," he answered. "In fact, I was just feeding the birds the last time
he was in, an' asked him hoo she was doin'."

This man, Dugald McIntosh, had one god--his canaries. He read all he
could get to read about them, and studied the best conditions under
which to rear them, sacrificed everything he could to breed better
birds, and this was always a topic for him to discourse upon.

"I was just busy feedin' them when he cam' in, and after he had examined
her, I asked him hoo she was gettin' on."

"Fine," he said, "gi'e her plenty o' sweet milk noo, and fresh eggs, an'
she'll sune be on her feet again. Fresh eggs! mind you, an' me canna get
yin for my canaries! I thocht it was a guid yin!"

Robert turned away; but there was working in his mind an idea, and he
ran round to the colliery office to the manager, who was nearly mad with
grief and anxiety at what had happened.

"Come in, Sinclair," he said simply. "Can you suggest anything to help
us? Whatever is done, it can only be done quickly; for the moss is
rising rapidly in the shaft, and even though some of the men are safe in
the upper workings, it is only a question of a very short time till the
moss will rise and suffocate them, or until the black damp does so. If
you have any idea that can help, out with it and let us make a trial,
for the inactivity is killing me."

"I have been thinking, Mr. Anderson," replied Robert, "that we might go
down the old air-shaft over in the moss there, and run along the top
level, which is not far from the surface, and try and blast it through
on the heading into which the moss broke."

It might be full of moss too, for no one knew the extent of the breakage
in the metals, and even though it were clear, the damp would be lying in
it; but surely they might make an attempt on it. Robert remembered
working this level to within about nine feet from going through on the
heading. If he had plenty of hands, just to go down and drill a hole in
anywhere, and blast out the coal with a shot or two wherever he could
best place them, he mi