In effect, it was not surprising that Otto should not be able to see a way out of the difficulty, for the problem was a serious one.
The proportion of white damp, or carbon monoxide, in the air where the rescuers had now been compelled to work in respirators, was strong enough to kill a man in ten or fifteen minutes. In the undoubtedly weakened state of the three survivors, a lesser time than this would suffice to be fatal.
If, in the course of digging away the obstruction which remained between the rescuers and the entombed men, a small hole were made, or if the rocks should lie in such a manner that there were interstices between, Clem and his comrades would succumb before a sufficiently large breach could be made in the wall whereby they might be dragged through to liberty.
Where the Timber Goes.
Whole forests are cut down to hold up the mine galleries. On the strength of this work the lives of the miners depend.
Courtesy of the Wigham Coal Co.
