It had taken the little car about five minutes to come to us the first time, after the operator had signaled for it, so I allowed twelve minutes as the maximum time it should take for it to get back to us again, if all went well. But the minutes dragged along and there was still nothing in sight down the length of the tunnel.
At last, when fifteen minutes had passed and we were still anxiously waiting, I turned to the men about me and addressed them in a low voice. “Look here, you fellows,” I said, “now that the Chief is not here, I do not know who is in command among you. But I feel pretty sure that something has gone wrong at the other end. Are you willing to follow me into the tunnel on foot and try to reach the Chief? He may be in desperate need of our help while we are waiting here.”
For a moment or two they stared at each other. Then one of them spoke up, crowding forward to my side: “I’m with you, sir, let’s go ahead and try to reach him!” He stared at the others and a number of them murmured their assent.
“Right!” I said. “Come on, then. But be sure to walk in the middle of the track. I think that car is run with a battery, but it may be some sort of a third rail affair. Are you ready?”
And I stepped down into the tunnel and started to walk briskly along it.
I did not look back at once, for I could hear the others behind me, but after a moment I glanced over my shoulder. They were strung out along the track in single file. And I set my face to the walk and the work ahead with a confident mind and did not look back again.
It was a longer walk than I had expected. The car must have been able to develop a considerable speed. But after we had trudged along for perhaps ten minutes or so, stooping down now and then to avoid low places in the roof, we rounded a corner and saw another platform like the one we had left, twenty or thirty yards ahead of us. I broke into a run and the others came pounding after me. And as I drew near enough to take in the details of what lay ahead, I gave a shout and put on every bit of speed that I could muster.
The other platform was similar to the one we had left and the little car was stationary in front of it. The operator we had captured was sprawled half in and half out of it. Blake lay face down in the tunnel, and on the platform beyond the Chief rolled this way and that, in the grip of one of the biggest men I have ever seen, The light glinted on the Chief’s revolver, still in his hand, but his opponent had that wrist in his grip, while the Chief had reversed the position with his other arm and held the fellow’s other wrist. They had been struggling there for nearly fifteen minutes when we came, and it has always been a mystery to me how the Chief held out so long in the grip of so powerful a man. But he did hold out and so saved the situation and probably all our lives into the bargain.
I did not wait to parley, but scrambled up on the platform between the car and the end of the tunnel. The Chief was on his back, with his opponent on top of him. I stooped down, slipped the revolver out of the Chief’s fingers and brought it down with all my force on the back of the big man’s head. He relaxed at once and the Chief heaved him off and struggled painfully to his feet. Then he held out his hand. “Good man, Clayton,” he said quietly, “I was nearly done for. I won’t forget this.”
“Nonsense, you saved us all by hanging on so long,” I answered. “Now what, sir? The men are all here behind me.”