IN DEADLY PERIL.
For a moment Jack stood stunned by the calamity. There were, he knew,
over three hundred men and boys in the pit, and he turned faint and sick
as the thought of their fate came across him. Then he ran towards the
top of the shaft. The bankman lay insensible at a distance of some yards
from the pit, where he had been thrown by the force of the explosion.
Two or three men came running up with white scared faces. The smoke had
nearly ceased already; the damage was done, and a deadly stillness
seemed to reign.
Jack ran into the engine-house. The engine-man was leaning against a
wall, scared and almost fainting.
"Are you hurt, John?"
"No!"
"Pull yourself round, man. The first thing is to see if the lift is all
right. I see one of the cages is at bank, and the force of the explosion
is in the upcast shaft. Just give a turn or two to the engine and see if
the winding gear's all right. Slowly."
The engineman turned on the steam; there was a slight movement, and then
the engine stopped.
"A little more steam," Jack said. "The cage has caught, but it may
come."
There was a jerk, and then the engine began to work.
"That is all right," Jack said, "whether the lower cage is on or not.
Stop now, and wind it back, and get the cage up again. Does the bell
act, I wonder?"
Jack pulled the wire which, when in order, struck a bell at the bottom
of the shaft, and then looked at a bell hanging over his head for the
answer. None came.
"I expect the wire's broke," Jack said, and went out to the pit's mouth
again.
The surface-men were all gathered round now, the tip-men, and the
yard-men, and those from the coke-ovens, all looking wild and pale.
"I am going down," Jack said; "we may find some poor fellows near the
bottom, and can't wait till some headman comes on the ground. Who will
go with me? I don't want any married men, for you know, lads, there may
be another blow at any moment."
"I will go with you," one of the yard-men said, stepping forward;
"there's no one dependent on me."
"I, too," said another; "it's no odds to any one but myself whether I
come up again or not. Here's with you, whatever comes of it."
[Illustration: AFTER THE FIRST EXPLOSION--THE SEARCH PARTY.]
Jack brought three safety-lamps from the lamp-room, and took his
place in the cage with the two volunteers.
"Lower away," he shouted, "but go very slow when we get near the bottom,
and look out for our signal."
It was but three minutes from the moment that the cage began to sink to
that when it touched the bottom of the shaft, but it seemed an age to
those in it. They knew that at any moment a second explosion might come,
and that they might be driven far up into the air above the top of the
shaft, mere scorched fragments of flesh. Not a word was spoken during
the descent, and there was a general exclamation of "Thank God!" when
they felt the cage touch the bottom.
Jack, as an official of the mine, and by virtue of superior energy, at
once took the lead.
"Now," he said, "let us push straight up the main road."
Just as they stepped out they came across the bodies of two men, and
stooped over them with their lamps.
"Both dead," Jack said; "we can do nought for them."
A little way on, and in a heap, were some waggons, thrown together and
broken up, the body of a pony, and that of the lad, his driver. Then
they came to the first door--a door no longer, not a fragment of it
remaining. In the door-boy's niche the lad lay in a heap. They bent over
him.
"He is alive," Jack said. "Will you two carry him to the cage? I will
look round and see if there is any one else about here; beyond, this
way, there is no hope. Make haste! Look how the gas is catching inside
the lamps, the place is full of fire-damp."
The men took up the lad, and turned to go to the bottom of the shaft.
Jack looked a few yards down a cross-road, and then followed them. He
was in the act of turning into the next road to glance at that also,
when he felt a suck of air.
"Down on your faces!" he shouted, and, springing a couple of paces
farther up the cross-road, threw himself on his face.