“The coal—the coal came down on us—and—and—Herc’s inside!” choked out Ned frenziedly.
CHAPTER XV.
A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.
“Dig, men! Dig for your lives!”
Mr. Briggs, his face pale with anxiety, stood over half a dozen men who were making the coal fly as they dug into it in search of what they dreaded to find. Ned, in a state of semi-collapse, stood by the engineer.
“Now, bear up, Strong,” said that officer, “there’s a chance that he may be all right. Don’t give way.”
But, although the chief engineer spoke hopefully, he did not entertain a doubt that Herc must have been crushed into annihilation beneath the subsided mass of coal. There was just one chance, though, and it was that which incited the engineer to urge the men engaged in the work of rescue to work as they had never worked before.
But they needed no urging. Herc was a general favorite on board, and the thought that he was in there under that mass of coal gave each man twice the strength that he normally possessed. They dug on, careless of fatigue under the stimulus of the work in hand. Suddenly one of them stopped.
“Did you hear something, mates?” he cried excitedly.
“No, what was it?”