Some one in authority stood in the door of the engine-room
giving orders.
The carriage was descending the shaft. When it came up it was loaded
with men. It went down again, almost with the rapidity of lightning
itself.
The engineer was crowding his servant of iron and steel to the utmost.
The men of the next load that came up had hardly time to push
each other from the carriage before it darted down again into the
blackness.
The flames were creeping lower on the shaft timbers, and were rioting
among the screens.
The engine-room was hot and stifling. The engineer said he was
hoisting the last load that could be brought out.
When it reached the surface Conway leaped from among the men and stood
in the door of the engine-room.
"Let it down again!" he shouted. "Ralph is below yet, the boy. I'll go
down myself an' git 'im."
He heard a crash behind him, and he turned in time to see the iron
roof of the carriage disappear into the mouth of the shaft.
The burning frame-work at the head had ceased to support it, and it
had fallen down, dragging a mass of flaming timbers with it.
Conway went out into the rain and sat down and cried like a child.
Afterward, when the storm had partially subsided, a wagon was stopped
at the door of the office near the burning breaker, the limp body of
Bachelor Billy was brought out and placed in it, and it was driven
rapidly away. They had found him lying on the track at the head with
the flames creeping dangerously near.
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