The vicar's advice was good, and, for example's sake, he denied himself the pleasure of hurrying off to the well, and many of his congregation refrained also. It was then twelve o'clock, and by three that afternoon the rescue gang reached the cylinder twenty feet below the surface by tunnelling, only to discover, to their intense dismay, that a mass of woodwork had fallen on to the mouth of it, and that rescue that way was impossible. The foreman, however, managed in a clever way to pull out a small piece of loose wood, and calling down to the men below received the welcome answer, "We are all right, but are in three feet of water. Couldn't you get us a drink?"
The foreman shouted up the message, and in a trice a dozen willing messengers were running to the village, returning speedily with jugs of such various liquors as their personal tastes and means suggested. There were beer, porter, milk, brandy, cocoa, cider; but the doctor, who had been on the scene all morning with his improvised ambulance, insisted on milk and beaten up eggs with brandy. The tidings, of course, soon spread, not only over Willowton, but to all the neighbouring villages, and the half-dozen policemen who were on duty had their work cut out for them in keeping the crowd from coming inside the ropes. As it was, every tree in the vicinity was thick with boys and men, and every fence and bank that offered any point of vantage was a mass of eager lookers-on.
Now it was that the most dangerous work was to begin. It was decided to endeavour to reach the men by making a hole in the top of the cylinder, and three men were lowered with ropes around them, and instructed to remove the soil in pails. This they did with the greatest care, so as to prevent any falling back—a danger that was very likely to occur. At the end of an hour and a half a slight slip occurred, and the entombed men called out that the mould was coming down upon them.
"You're goin' to cover us up and ha' done with us," said Hayes, with a feeble attempt at jocosity; "but give us a drink first."
"Sartinly, sartinly, that we will," said one of the men encouragingly, and a few minutes later a bottle of the "egg-flip," with a covered light attached to it, was lowered through the aperture, and the work began again.
It was nearly half-past seven when the men were again spoken to. They seemed to be losing heart. They had knocked the light out, they said, and they were wet through and wanted to come up.
"So you shall, my boys," shouted the foreman, "as soon as we can get you." And with that they had to be content.
CHAPTER XVII.
GEO TO THE FORE AGAIN.
All through the middle of the day, till six o'clock, Geo Lummis slept. At three o'clock Nurse Blunt came over to Mildred and asked her to go to Mrs. Lummis.