Almost instinctively now Eben guided the boat, and in a few minutes more it grated upon the beach and brought up with a jerk.
"Get out quick," the lad ordered, as he threw aside the oars and leaped ashore.
Without a word the women immediately obeyed, and no sooner had their feet touched the ground than their rescuer caught each by the arm with a firm grip.
"Come," he gasped. "Guess we're in time."
They hurried up the bank, which here was quite steep, and in another minute Eben halted, before an opening in the side of the hill.
"Gee! I struck it right," he panted. "It's the mine. Bend yer heads an' come on. I'll show ye the way."
CHAPTER XXVIII
IN URGENT NEED
When Thomas Hampton laboured so hard in opening up his mine on the shore of Island Lake, he little thought in what manner it would one day be used. He had toiled through long weary months, working with pick and shovel, until he had drifted one hundred feet into the side of the hill. He had shored up the roof of the mine with poles he had cut and dragged from the forest, until everything was secure to his entire satisfaction. He had the coal unearthed and ready to be brought forth, but little interest was taken in his efforts, and he had no money to carry on the enterprise.
"We shall come into our own some day," he had told his wife not long before his death. "The mine will be used, and success and fortune will be ours."