"There they are! I knew they'd send in a rescue party, right away!"
Then his voice dropped.
"No," he added, "there's only one lamp."
A single miner came running towards them.
"The North Gallery?" he queried.
"No good, Jim," Clem answered, who recognized him as a new-comer in the mine. "Blocked solid!"
"So's the entries to the goaf! I've been there! How about the old workings I've heard the boys talk of?"
The student miner shook his head.
"Not much chance that way, I'm afraid. They'll be full of gas, sure. The ventilation has been cut out of there for months. But we can try it, anyway."
"I'd ought to ha' known better'n to work this shift," declared Jim, as they ran. "You mind when you talked to Otto in the cage, comin' down?"