A second or two later, a miner dashed past him, without his tools, his safety-lamp swinging as he ran.
"The bank is coming down!" he yelled, and disappeared down the gallery.
Almost at the same moment, another man came out of the entry, his naked back gleaming as he passed under the electric light hanging at the opening of the entry.
"Make for the shaft, kid!" he shouted, when he saw the shine of Anton's lamp.
A sudden babble of excited cries, borne on the strong current of the ventilating air, reached the boy's ears.
It was the doom of Otto's warning!
Shoving a lump of coal under the car-wheel, Anton whirled on his heel to follow the escaping miners, when, like a blow, came the stunning thought:
"Clem!"
He hesitated an instant, and, while he halted, a second and a louder crash told him that the fall of rock—wherever it might be happening—was not over. Every fraction of a second that he delayed might ruin his chances of escape.
But Anton was of sturdy miner stock, and, in addition, was thoroughly fatalistic. That very feature of his character which his older comrade had blamed so often, now was to show its good side. If he were going to be caught by the fall, there was no use in his trying to prevent it, he thought.