"No; we shall not be able to do that. I'm going to save Dominick if you will help me. Both of you move over as close to the ends of the bar as possible; then I will tell you what I want to do."
Dominick and Bob did as directed, edging along the iron bar inch by inch. Steve's candle was burning dimly, the others having gone out; but the single candle lighted up the scene so that they could see what they were about.
"Now listen to what I have to say," directed Rush with as much calmness as if he were managing a piece of work above ground.
In Steve Rush and Bob Jarvis the reader has no doubt ere this recognized the Iron Boys, the lads who, as told in "The Iron Boys in the Mines," began their career in the industrial world by joining the army of workers underground, deep down in the Cousin Jack Iron Mine. It will be recalled how the friendship of the two sturdy boys began with their battle in the lonely drift, where Steve, though of somewhat slighter build than the other, not only held his own, but gave Bob Jarvis the roughest handling he had ever received. Almost from the beginning the lads had attracted the attention of their superiors by their attention to duty, their intelligent work and their honesty. It will be remembered how Steve and Bob invented a new gravity system for the mine, by which many thousands of dollars were saved for the mining company; how the lads saved the officials of the company from being blown up by dynamite and how in the end they were rewarded by the officers for their bravery.
Rush and Jarvis were still inspectors of the trackage in the mine. The second mine of the group had been added, so that now they were in charge of the tracks in both the Cousin Jack and the Red Rock Mines. Beyond this there had been a rumor that the Iron Boys were to receive further promotions. A clerk in the office had whispered this to the boarding-house boss where the boys lived. As yet the boys knew nothing of the proposed promotion, and they never would know unless they were quickly rescued from the desperate situation into which they had been so suddenly plunged.
"What is your plan now?" questioned Jarvis. "I am listening."
"I want you to stay where you are, both of you, for I shall shake the cage up a bit."
Steve began swaying his body back and forth as if he were in reality about to essay the giant swing. All at once he curled his legs up and over the bar. There he hung for a moment, then by sheer strength swung himself up astride the bar.
"Well, that's a stunt for certain," cried Bob, for the moment lost in admiration of the feat he had just witnessed. "I'd like to see a circus performer beat that, especially if he were hanging over a thousand feet of nothingness, with a couple of clumsy louts trying to pull him down."
"This is better," announced Rush, with a mirthless grin.