Down the Slope

"Not much; I'm not going to be laughed at."

Fred hesitated only a moment; he believed that it was of the utmost importance this possible means of entering the mine should be guarded, and calling Donovan aside told him of his escape from the shaft; but refrained from mentioning Joe Brace's name.

"I reckon you're more frightened than hurt, lad; but at the same time I don't want to run any risks. Since Sam Thorpe knows the way through, take him an' start. One of you could keep a hundred from comin' in at such a small hole as you tell about."

"Are we to stay there?"

"Half an hour'll be long enough; if they don't show theirselves by then we'll know there's nothin' to be feared from that quarter."

Fred repeated to Sam what Donovan had said, and the orders were not received in a cheerful spirit.

"That's all you get for bein' scared. It ain't any joke to travel through the lower level, an' we can count on stayin' there till midnight."

"It's better than being flooded out."

"I'm not so sure of that."

"Then you won't go?"

"Of course I will. Do you think I'm such a fool as to act dead against orders. Come on, an' let's get through with it as soon as possible."

By using an empty car, allowing it to run down the grade by its own weight, they were soon at the heavy doors which marked the termination of the first level. Here a halt was made, because even the boys whose duties it was to open the barriers were absent, and from this point the remainder of the journey was made on foot.

At the lower level five miners were found repairing the pumps, and the boys were forced once more to tell what had occurred in the village.

"Men what want to work don't go round kickin' up sich a row as this," one of the party said, as Fred and Sam passed on. "Give some of that Billings' crowd a chance an' the slope never'd be opened agin."

"There's a miner who won't join the mob," Fred said.

"Yes; but for every man like that a dozen can be found to fight against their own interests."

Now the boys no longer walked side by side. Sam led the way, watching narrowly the lamp in his companion's cap to discover the first signs of fire-damp, and guarding well the flame which served to show him the proper course.

"Be careful of your matches," he said warningly. "They may be worth a good deal before we get back from this wild goose chase."

"How much farther must we go?"

"Half an hour of fast traveling should bring us to where you found the tunnel choked with coal, an' I don't reckon you count on tryin' to get any farther."

"We couldn't do it, no matter how much we might want to."

"Oh, yes; when the doors are opened that pile will come down mighty quick; but while it stays as it is the passage is blocked better than if a dozen men were on guard."

Another time of silence, during which the boys walked rapidly, and then Sam uttered an exclamation of surprise.

"Some one has been working here. Half the coal is pulled away, an' it won't be much of a job to get into the chamber."

"Who could have done it?"

"Perhaps Billings' gang worked a spell after the order to quit was given?"

"What could they have gained by reaching Joe again?"

"Taken him through the old drift to the shaft. But let's work our way over this pile, an' then start back before our oil gives out."

Ten minutes of sharp labor and the boys were in the chamber where Brace had been left to die, Sam throwing himself on the hard floor, as he said:

"We'll take a breathin' spell before leaving. You see now there was no use in comin'."

"So it seems; but I couldn't help thinking some of that crowd which passed the slope knew how to get here."

"It ain't possible – Hark! What was that?"

A low hum as of conversation could be heard from the other side of the wall, and Sam sprang to the aperture made by Fred and Joe Brace.

"I'll never yip again about you're being scared," he whispered after one glance. "Here come the whole crowd, an' we're in a fix."

"They won't dare to crawl through, if we threaten to shoot."

"Let's first find out exactly what they are here for. It may be they are only looking for Joe."

Standing either side the aperture the boys watched the approach of the men whose movements were revealed by the miner's lamp each carried.

It was impossible to distinguish the conversation until the party was very near the break in the wall, and then one shouted:

"Hello Joe! How are you?"

"We've come to pull you out of this scrape," another said, after waiting a few seconds for a reply.

Then a lamp was pushed through, Fred and Sam crouching close against the wall to avoid observation, and its owner cried in a tone of astonishment:

"He isn't here! The place is empty!"

A deep silence reigned for a moment, and then some one said in an angry tone.

"It ain't hard to understand the whole thing now. He slipped the ropes, an' come out this way. Wright has heard the story, an' that's why the works were shut down so suddenly."

"But what's become of him? He ain't in the town."

"Of course he is, an' hidin' somewhere. Jim, you run back an' tell Billings so's he can hunt the sneak out."

"Are you goin' on alone?"

"Why not? Them fools are guardin' the slope, an' we can flood the place before they so much as think any one has got in behind them. Tell the boys we'll be back by sunset."

Sam touched Fred, to warn him that the time for action had arrived, and, slight as was the movement, it caught the attention of the man on the opposite side.

"Hold on," he cried. "There's somebody in here, an' we must know who it is."