"So I have already discovered, sir."
"There is no excuse for men getting hurt, however, if they do not get careless. That is why so many get hurt, and why some lose their lives. We do everything we can to look out for the safety of our people, but we cannot guard against everything."
"I shall try to follow your advice, sir."
The captain strode along rapidly through dark drifts, turning here and there with perfect confidence. Steve felt sure that he never should be able to find his way about in that labyrinth without getting lost, and he asked the captain how he should do so.
"Follow the crowd," was the brief answer. "There, do you see that ladder?"
"Yes, sir."
"Climb it. It is a forty-foot ladder. The top of it is the sub-level, where the Spooner contract is located."
"Thank you, sir," answered Rush, beginning his long, dark climb up the slender ladder to the unknown regions above him.