The sound of the gig had ceased. Down the shaft came shouts. I peered upwards. The lights of their lamps were still visible. The gig was motionless. 'Pryce! Pryce!' one of them was calling.
'What is it?' I shouted back.
'The gig has stuck,' came back the answer faintly. Try to work it your end.'
I thrust over the lever. It went over quite easily now. But nothing happened. 'What's wrong?' Kitty asked. I tried the lever again. The water's got down to the bottom of the main shaft,' I told her. 'It's stopped the wheel from turning.' Then suddenly an idea burst upon me. Fool! Why hadn't I thought of that before? Except for odd shafts there was only that one way into the old workings by Come Lucky. I listened. The distant roar of water pouring through the mine seemed fainter. It was finding its way direct to the lower level. 'Quick,' I said, catching hold of Kitty's arm. 'The sea.' We started running down the adit. The shouts of the three men trapped in the main shaft faded. 'Can you swim?' I gasped out the question as we ran.
'Yes,' she answered.
We stumbled on, the beam of her torch cutting a swathe in the darkness of the tunnel. The sound of water grew louder. Then we saw it, coming down the shaft we'd tried to climb. The volume was not so great now. The main weight of the water was probably finding other outlets. We waded into the brown flood that swept down the adit.
I gripped Kitty's hand. She didn't say anything, but I felt the answering grip of her fingers. My God, when I think of it now. It needed nerve to go down and not up — to go down into the race of swirling, brackish, ochre-coloured water. But she didn't hesitate. I'll admit my heart was in my mouth. The noise of water closed in around us, blocking out the sound of the flood breaking through the mine.
We reached the cross-cut that led to the pump and the shaft down to the Mermaid gallery. Vaguely I heard the pump beats. They were slow and laboured. I stumbled and almost fell. Kitty shone the torch down into the ochre stream. A piece of ladder was jammed across the tunnel, and by the wall to my right a hand was thrust up from the water. I caught it and pulled. Captain Manack's head rose above the level of the water. It lolled loosely like some frightful doll. The teeth were bared and the eyes glazed. His neck was broken.
We went on then. There was no smell of the sea. I was scared the weight of water had already filled the adit. The floor of the tunnel dipped sharply down to the adit mouth. The brown flood through which we waded deepened and moved faster. The sound of it became like a roar of a waterfall in that confined space. I kept tight hold of Kitty's hand. It was difficult to prevent our feet being swept from under us. At any moment the weight of water pouring into the lower levels of the mine might flood it to sea level. Then the full volume of it would come pouring down this adit.
The tunnel widened and the torch suddenly showed the dark cavern where the sea came in. But there was no sign of the flat rock slab of the landing place. It was covered by a bubbling froth of filthy liquid. And where a narrow opening should have led through to the sea there was only the sloping roof of the cave. I looked at Kitty. She met my gaze. I made a motion with my hand indicating we'd have to dive and swim under water through the adit mouth. It was impossible to speak in that din of roaring water. She nodded. Her grip tightened for a second on my hand and then released it and slipped off her overalls and gum boots. I did the same. Then we stood there, hesitating. She was looking at me, her eyes wide. 'Hurry,' I shouted.