“Coming!” was the answer. “Who’s tossing stuff at me? Hey, don’t do that! I can’t—”
The voice stopped, cut off as though by a heavy curtain. The edge of the hole crumbled away and shot down into the shaft—and Roy was underneath.
“Roy!” Teddy shouted hoarsely. “Roy! You fellows, come here! Run! Quick! He’s buried!”
The little landslide stopped as quickly as it had begun. Now the hole was barely three feet deep.
Teddy leaped into it and began frantically to dig with his bare hands. “Get him!” he was yelling. “We’ve got to get him before he suffocates!”
Nick jumped to Teddy’s side, and his shovel ate into the earth. Silent, with rare presence of mind, ran for Gus, to obtain more shovels.
“We’ll make it,” Nick panted. “He’s not so far down!”
“That was my fault,” Teddy almost sobbed. “I leaned over the edge, and all of a sudden—”
Gus, bearing two shovels, arrived on the scene. As best he could he helped Nick and Teddy dig, while Silent shoved back the earth from the edge of the hole so as to prevent another cave-in.
“Careful,” Nick panted. “We’re gettin’ near him. If you feel your shovel strike—”