The explosion had, as Jack well knew, destroyed all the doors which
direct the currents of the air, and the ventilation had entirely ceased.
The lower part of the mine, where the explosion had been strongest,
would soon be filled with choke-damp, and Jack was making for the old
workings, near the upper boundary line of the pit. There the air would
remain pure long after it had become poisonous elsewhere.
It was in this quarter of the mine that Bill Haden (Jack's adopted
father) and some twenty other colliers worked.
Presently Jack saw lights ahead, and heard a clattering of steps. It
was clear that, as he had hoped, the miners working there had escaped
the force of the explosion, which had, without doubt, played awful havoc
in the parts of the mine where the greater part of the men were at work.
"Stop! stop!" Jack shouted, as they came up to him.
"Is it fire, Jack?" Bill Haden, who was one of the first, asked.
"Yes, Bill; didn't you feel it?"
"Some of us thought we felt a suck of air a quarter hour since, but we
weren't sure; and then came another, which blew out the lights. Come
along, lad; there is no time for talking."
"It's of no use going on," Jack said; "the shaft's choked up. I came
down after the first blow, and I fear there's no living soul in the new
workings. By this time they must be full of the choke-damp."
The men looked at each other with blank faces.
"Have you seen Brook?" Jack asked eagerly.
"Yes, he passed our stall with Johnstone ten minutes ago, just before
the blast came."
"We may catch him in time to stop him yet," Jack said, "if he has gone
round to look at the walling of the old workings. There are three men at
work there."
"I'll go with you, Jack," Bill Haden said. "Our best place is my stall,
lads," he went on, turning to the others; "that is pretty well the
highest ground in the pit, and the air will keep good there as long as
anywhere--maybe till help comes. You come along with us, mate," he
said, turning to the man who worked with him in his stall.
As they hurried along, Jack, in a few words, told what had taken place,
as far as he knew it. Five minutes' run brought them to the place where
the masons were at work walling up the entrance to some old workings.
They looked astonished at the newcomers.
"Have you seen Mr. Brook?"
"Yes, he and the manager have just gone on. There, don't you see their
lights down the heading? No? Well, I saw them a moment since."
"Come along," Jack said. "Quick! I expect they've met it."
At full speed they hurried along. Presently they all stopped short; the
lights burnt low, and a choking sensation came on them.
"Back, Jack, for your life!" gasped Bill Haden; but at that moment
Jack's feet struck something, which he knew was a body.
"Down at my feet; help!" he cried.
He stooped and tried to raise the body. Then the last gleam of his light
went out--his lungs seemed to cease acting, and he saw no more.