was brought up. On seeing his condition,
the mine doctor shook his head dubiously. Artificial respiration was
begun, then and there.

The cage rose for the third time, bearing Clem Swinton, unconscious
like his comrades, but clearly in better case.

He stirred as he reached the open air, and his glance encountered that
of the mine owner.

"I said American mine pluck would get us," he gasped, "if we stuck out
long enough!"

And he relapsed into unconsciousness.

CHAPTER IV

EIGHT DAYS OF DARK

The three comrades were saved, indeed, but it was none too soon. Eight
days below ground without food or light and without any sure hope of
rescue, had brought them to a low ebb.

Clem, owing to his longer experience in the mine and his more prudent
conserving of the scanty supply of food that fell to his share, had
withstood the strain better than the two other survivors. He was badly
shaken, however, and his nerves were on the edge of collapse. His
efforts to help his companions had held him tense during those
unending hours of darkness and famine, and his optimism had kept him
from the ravages of despair.

Anton had received a terrible shock, both to body and mind. His hands
and feet had become deadened, as though frozen, and the most vigorous
treatment failed to restore the circulation. From time to time he was
seized by convulsive fits; resembling those of epilepsy, and
characteristic of white damp poisoning. His speech remained thick and
mumbling, and he repeated the same word over and over, a score of
times, without being conscious that he had spoken it.

Jim Getwood, the prospector, was in the weakest condition of the
three. He lacked the degree of immunity that Clem possessed through
his half-dozen years below ground, and that Anton possessed, in a
minor degree, through heredity. His former life of adventure in the
open air made him all the more susceptible to the poison gases.
Violent headaches brought him to the verge of madness, and alternated
with periods of delirium. He could retain little or no food, and,
several times, the doctor despaired of saving his life.

Yet, in the history of coal-mining, there are several cases on record
in which men have been even a longer time below ground and recovered.
In a French colliery, two out of thirty men who were buried for
fourteen days, recovered; in a Welsh colliery, one man survived out of
seventy who had been entombed for seventeen days.

A still mor