Rutherford paused for a moment, then started in the direction of the tunnels. At that instant, Lyle, still struggling against the fury of the wind, had just reached the ground surrounding the mines; in a few seconds more she would have been within the fatal boundary line, but Bull-dog’s voice, as he rushed past, warned her back.
“Go back, go back, Miss Lyle! they’ve given the signal to fire the mines, I’m goin’ to warn ’em; don’t be afraid, I’ll save ’em, Mister Houston and Jack,” and with these words, he rushed on, disappearing through the incline shaft.
Lyle retreated a few steps, and then paused, looking wildly about her, dreading, expecting, she scarcely knew what.
Suddenly the darkness seemed divided by a blinding flash, which spread into a sheet of flame, enveloping her within its lurid folds, while peal after peal of deafening thunder crashed and roared about her, and the lightning flashed and gleamed till it seemed as if earth and sky were commingled in one mass of flaming combat.
Scarcely had the blinding flashes died in darkness, and the reverberations of the thunder still echoed and re-echoed among the surrounding mountains, when the earth began to rock and vibrate beneath her feet; there was the sound of a terrific explosion, she felt for an instant a strange sensation as if floating through the air,––then she knew nothing more; she had been thrown to the ground, unconscious, by the shock.
Meanwhile, down the rough, narrow road, leading to the mines, Leslie Gladden and Ned Rutherford were making their way, having started immediately after Lyle, but unaccustomed to the furious mountain storms and unfamiliar with the road, they made slow progress in the darkness and tempest.
“Miss Gladden, this is too hard for you,” said Ned, as they paused once, gasping for breath, “I don’t believe it is safe either, you ought never to have come.”
“What do I care for difficulty or danger?” she replied, “Think of Lyle going through this storm alone; I only pray she may not have been too late!”
Scarcely had she finished speaking, when, without an instant’s warning, the timber through which they were passing suddenly seemed one mass of blinding flame, while almost simultaneously came the deafening crash of the thunder.
“Great Heavens! that must have struck awfully near us!” exclaimed Ned, but no cry escaped from Leslie’s lips, as, shuddering, she clasped his arm more closely and struggled bravely on.