Bob nodded thoughtfully.
"Well, I must get back to my work. I think it is safe to say that nothing will occur yet a while, and perhaps not at all. But we shall be on the job when it does, old man."
Waving their hands in parting salute, the young foremen turned and walked away to attend to their duties. But, though they did not apprehend any immediate trouble, they were destined, within the next few days, to meet with the most thrilling experiences of their lives—experiences that they would never forget.
CHAPTER V
"THE MINE IS ON FIRE"
THREE days had passed uneventfully, the Iron Boys having kept up their record for mining more ore than any other section in either of the company's mines. How they succeeded in doing so was a mystery to Mr. Penton, for he failed to discover that the boys were applying any new methods to the operation of their drifts.
At noon on the third day, when most of the miners were eating their dinners in the mines, the foremen and shift bosses having come to the surface, Steve also had come up for the purpose of going to his boarding place to get a pair of boots.
The lad ate a quick dinner at the boarding house, then hurried back toward the shaft. Bob had remained in the mines, and Steve hoped to be down in time to have a chat with his friend before the whistles blew for the resumption of work at a quarter after one o'clock. The Iron Boy was walking rapidly, when all of a sudden just about an eighth of a mile from the Red Rock shaft, he saw a wisp of smoke shoot up from the main shaft.