t had been established in an effort to keep the mine air
pure--for the main system had been destroyed by the fall, and the
mining gangs were at work, digging away the obstruction and loading
with feverish haste.

This was a very different matter from hewing coal, which is always
laid out in regular seams and naturally divided by splitting planes.
The rock from the strata above had fallen into the galleries at all
angles, and was mixed up with the crushed and partly splintered
timbers of the roof and sides. Blasting had to be done on a small
scale and with extreme caution, for there was fire damp in the mine,
due to the lack of complete ventilation.

The road-bed and rails, on which the cars for the transporting of the
debris must run, were flattened and twisted. It was necessary to lay
down new rails, however shakily. Moreover, since all the coal
conveyors and electric haulage systems were a tangle of wreckage, the
loaded cars had to be pushed by hand all the way along the underground
galleries, to the bottom of the shaft.

The timbering gangs had a desperate job to do, for there was no solid
flat roof overhead under which props could be put, nor could enough
time be given to build a stable timber roof. Yet, upon the ability of
the timber boss hung the lives of all the rescuers.

Night came, but without any slacking of the work. The electrical
engineer and his staff strung temporary wires, and, both below ground
and above ground, the colliery workings were as bright as day.

The scene was one of furious rush. Neighboring mines sent gangs to
help. Cars loaded with mine timbers came from all the near-by
collieries. The news of the accident, published in the local evening
papers, had brought offers of help from every quarter. Before
midnight, officials from the Bureau of Mines were on the scene.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, one of the great Rescue Cars maintained
by the Bureau rolled into the railroad yards of the colliery. In this
car were experts whose principal work was the direction of rescue
operations in mining disasters, and the car contained a complete
equipment of all the most modern scientific appliances.

The first rays of Saturday's dawn showed the crowd still gathered
around the shaft. Owens, hollow-eyed from lack of sleep and from
watching, was still directing the operations, but with the advice and
assistance of government officials.

The work was proceeding apace. The miners' picks rang incessantl