Rhodes heard, but he seemed rooted to where he stood. As he jerked his eyes up to stare at the towering wall, the rock began to move.
With a choked, terrified cry, the engineer leaped wildly up the steps. For a moment, it appeared that he might make it safely.
The great main mass of rock and dirt fell behind him, sending up a cloud of dust. But Rhodes was caught by the edge of the slide. A huge rock felled him.
Clawing and fighting, he was buried beneath the debris.
Chapter 17
AN EARTH SLIDE
Even before the dust from the slide had cleared away, Mr. Livingston and the Scouts were frantically at work. Descending into the pit, they organized the miners and themselves seized shovels.
Rhodes’ left arm and his cap lay exposed. In a matter of minutes, they had freed him from the tomb of earth and rock.
Badly battered and unconscious, the engineer nevertheless still breathed.
On an improvised stretcher, Rhodes was carried to the cottage. His wife, meeting the procession, gazed at the prone figure, and uttered an agonized shriek. Becoming calm after a moment, she bade the Scouts carry her husband into the bedroom.
“How badly is he hurt?” she asked anxiously.