“Wow! They’d bring me out a grease spot,” ejaculated Herc.
Supper was eaten in the fire-room and a brief rest followed, then at it again they went. And all the time it grew hotter and hotter, till it seemed that flesh and blood could not stand the strain much longer. Only their healthy bodies and the clean lives they lived enabled them to stand up to the work as they did. To make their task harder, too, the ship was still rolling heavily, and it was difficult to stand upright at times.
Ned and Herc had just entered the “Black Hole,” as they called it, to take up their job once more, when Ned’s ear caught a rumbling sound. The ship gave a heavier roll than usual at that instant, and the next moment Ned grasped Herc’s arm convulsively.
“Herc! Come on! Get out of here, quick! For your life!”
Together both lads made a leap for the entrance of the bunker. As they did so, behind them there sounded a mighty roar, like the voice of an avalanche.
Ned found himself outside the bunker as, dislodged by the rolling of the ship, tons of coal came sliding down into the place where they had been digging.
It was not till that instant that he realized that Herc was not beside him.
He had been too slow to escape the collapse of the coal and was trapped in a living tomb. Ned’s senses swam, his vision blurred, and for an instant he thought he was going to collapse.
The other men, alarmed at the sudden roar from within the bunker, rushed forward. Ned’s glaring eyes and his terrible expression as he pointed to the bunker apprised them that some accident had happened.
“What’s up?” cried one of them. “What’s happened, ship-mate?”