"I tried to get you on the telephone," he shouted in Juggernaut's ear; "but they have cut the wire."
"What is it?" asked Juggernaut.
Walker told him.
There was just time to act. The mob were pouring up the steps in response to Killick's final invitation. Juggernaut strode forward.
"Stop!" he cried in a voice of thunder. "Stop, and listen to what Mr Walker has to tell you!"
His great voice carried, and there was a moment's lull. Walker seized his opportunity.
"There has been an accident at the pit," he bellowed. "Some of your lads went down after you had left, to see what damage they could do to the plant. Some of the older men went down to stop them. Something happened. The roofs of the main road and intake have fallen in, and Number Three Working is cut off—with eight men in it!"
There was a stricken silence, and the wave rolled back from the steps. Presently a hoarse voice cried—
"Who are they?"
Mr Walker recited six names. Four of these belonged to young bloods who had been foremost in the riot at the pit-head. There were agonised cries from women in the crowd. All four men were married. The fifth name, that of Mr Adam Wilkie, who was a bachelor and a misogynist, passed without comment. The sixth was that of a pit-boy named Hopper.