Each morning the newspapers had printed long articles regarding the disaster at Farley's, and in the list of those known to be dead were four names, the number of victims sacrificed that Billings might avenge a fancied wrong.
With the rescue of the boys the work was finished, and in the rear of the bearers all the watchers and laborers followed to the village, remaining in the streets until word was sent that no injuries had been sustained.
Then, perhaps for the first time, came the question of what was to be done now that Farley's was in such a condition as to preclude any possibility that the works could be opened for several months.
"It's a hard look-out for all of us," one old miner said to a mate, "but thank God that villain of a Billings has no more than four lives to answer for."
CHAPTER XVIII
SHUT DOWN
Food and rest were all that was needed to restore the boys who had been rescued to their normal condition once more, and since the works were necessarily shut down they had ample opportunity for the latter remedy.
Fred learned from his mother that Bill and Joe had remained foremost among the laborers nearly every moment of the time they were imprisoned in the drift; but the full story of the rescue was not told until on the second day, when Joe called.
"It looked pretty blue one spell," the latter said in reply to Fred's questions. "The first attempt to get down the slope was a failure. When we reached the upper level all three were so nearly overcome by the foul air that Mr. Wright could hardly make the signal for the car to be pulled back. Late at night we tried it agin, an' brought out the four poor fellows who were caught on the slope. Next mornin' Billings' body was found, an' then it wasn't hard to tell what caused the trouble."