In the Depths of the Earth
Joe Hardy still had the iron bar in his hand. He had not relinquished his grip on it.
"That's what caused all the trouble," he said to himself. The sight of the bar reminded him of Frank, still imprisoned back in the tunnel. He knew Frank would have heard the crash and would be wondering what had happened.
"I may as well set him free first and then we can reason out what we are going to do."
He turned and, dragging the heavy bar behind him, made his way to the opening of the tunnel. When he reached it he crouched down and proceeded into the passage.
With the flashlight illuminating the way, he went on toward the place where his brother was imprisoned. He found that the collapse of the shaft had shaken the entire mine. Bits of rock and heaps of earth and dirt along the floor of the tunnel testified to the shock of the cave-in. But when he came to the place where the tunnel turned to the right, he found, to his surprise, that the turning had vanished.
Instead, there was a solid wall of rocks and boulders ahead of him!
At first, Joe could not believe his eyes. Then realization dawned on him. The collapse of the shaft had shaken loose the boulders and rocks that lined the tunnel at this point and they had fallen down to block the passage.
He stared incredulously at the rocky wall ahead of him. He was cut off completely from his brother. Then he shouted:
"Frank!"