ing the second time,
both the rescue team and the first-aid team were at their places.
Simultaneously, the cages containing the first load of miners came to
the top.

A great sigh of relief went up.

"Well?" queried the superintendent to one of the mine foremen, who was
in the first cage.

"A big roof-fall, sir," was the reply. "It was still fallin' when I
came up. I left Lloyd to handle the men at the bottom while I came up
to report."

"Gas?"

"None showin' as yet, sir. But I came right away. It might gather a
bit later."

"How many missing?"

"Can't tell, sir. Most o' the men seemed to be gettin' clear."

"Ready to go down again?"

"Sure!"

"All right, get in the cage, then."

The assistant superintendent, the mining engineer, the safety
inspector, and the fire boss were already in. The foreman jumped in
beside them, and the cage rattled down to the bottom.

Already the word had spread to the gathering crowd that the accident
was but a roof-fall, not an explosion, that two cages full of miners
had come and that there was a likelihood that most of the men were
safe.

Volunteers clustered around the mine-owner, clamoring to be allowed to
go down.

"We'll dig 'em out, sir!" they cried cheerily.

"Keep back, men!" was the answer. "Wait till we know just what has to
be done. Maybe every one below ground will have a chance to get out."

There was need for caution. While mine disasters are numerous--over
two thousand men being killed every year in United States collieries
alone--such an accident as this one had rarely happened before. The
landslide above, combined with the sinking of the strata below,
produced a condition which might be of the extremest danger.

The foreman of the pumping plant was the first to find evidence of
this trouble. He hurried forward, consternation on his face.

"Mr Owens, the pumps have quit working!"

"What's wrong?"

"Pipes busted, sir, probably. The turbine's goin' all right, but she's
suckin' air."

"How much water were you throwing this morning?"

"Over three thousand gallons an hour, sir."

"H'm, it won't take long to drown the mine at that rate. And if there
are any poor fellows cut off--"

He turned to the store-house keeper.

"Got plenty of spare pipe?"

"Lots of it, sir."

"Get it out!"

Then, to the mine boss:

"Murchison, get a new pipe down the uptake shaft as quick as you know
how! Double pay for every man working on the job! Put them on th