"Did you spend any time there looking for us?"
"No, for Bill and me calculated that if you hadn't got to Skip before the explosion come it would be a month's work to find the bodies. We went down the old shaft, an' began from there, workin' at guess till both of us began to believe we'd gone wrong. If Sam hadn't yelled jest as he did the gang would have started in from the old drift that runs to the chamber."
"In that case we wouldn't have been found in time."
"You're right; but seein' as we did find you all secure, there's no use speculatin' about the other side of the matter."
"Have you seen Skip?"
"He was down to the store this mornin' tellin' what he knew of Billings' movements, for the coroner is investigatin' the affair."
"He's lively as a cricket, an' counts on comin' here this afternoon."
"How long will it be before the works can be opened again?"
"Two or three months for the whole gang, but some can begin in half that time, I reckon. It's goin' to be rough on them as haven't anything laid by for a rainy day."