The Iron Boys as Foremen Part 10

All at once he, too, stumbled and fell in a heap with a deluge of burning embers and live sparks showering about him. But Bob was not stunned. He was very much alive at this particular moment, for he realized for the first time that unless he moved rapidly he would be burned alive.

Just then he felt the object over which he had fallen move.

"Steve! Steve! Is that you?" cried Jarvis.

"Ye-yes."

Bob fastened on him with a powerful grip, and began dragging Rush from the fire, first having stripped off one of the burning s.h.i.+rts.

Steve regained control of himself almost instantly.

"Let go! Run for it! Something is going to happen!" he shouted.

But Jarvis did not let go. He ran faster than ever, holding firmly to his companion. Perhaps he was beginning to understand what Steve expected to happen. At least he was making all the speed possible under the circ.u.mstances.

Both boys drew in a long breath as they flattened themselves on the ground, well free of the fire zone.

Steve bounded to his feet.

"Run for your life!" he shouted.

"Is the magazine going up?" cried Bob.

"Something is going up in a minute. It may be the magazine."

This time Rush grabbed Bob, starting on a run with him. Both boys were choking from the smoke they were inhaling.

"You're on fire!" yelled Jarvis. "Stop! I'll put it out."

"No, no, no! Keep going. Don't stop. It won't hurt me to burn a little.

I'm already pretty well cooked--"

Boom!

A reverberating report sounded through the level, and the Iron Boys were hurled violently to the ground.

CHAPTER VII

THE IRON BOYS WIN

"NOW we will put out the fire," announced Steve Rush calmly, as he got to his feet and began whipping out the smouldering sparks on the scant covering that he had left on his body.

"The powder house has blown up and the mine is caving in!" cried a miner, das.h.i.+ng in front of them through a cross-cut. A dozen others were following him, yelling wildly.

"There go my firemen. Stop them, Bob!"

Rush sprang out into the cross-cut waving his arms.

"Stop! You are all right if you will keep your heads."

"The magazine's gone up!"

"The magazine has not gone up. Get back to your stations. How is the fire?"

"We were getting the best of it on our level when the powder house went----"

"Nonsense! I tell you it's all right, but unless you do keep the fire from spreading into the other side of the mine you'll go up in smoke, the whole crowd of you. Now get back to work."

Some of the men turned to retrace their steps.

"He's lying to you," shouted one of those who had not turned. "Come with me, and I'll show you the way out. The kid's gone crazy."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Back, Every Man of You!"]

"Back, I tell you! Every man of you!" shouted Steve, placing himself squarely in front of the man who had started to run.

The fellow did not stop. He started to run right over Rush, when, quick as a flash, Steve's clenched fist landed on the miner's jaw, sending the man down in a heap. In the meantime Bob Jarvis, with a howl, had jumped into the fray. He knocked down two men who sought to force their way past him.

"Come on, you cowards! You'll find my fist is harder to get away from than the fire in the lagging. I'll pound every one of you if you don't get back to your stations."

Others had come running along the cross-cut after the explosion, until there were fully thirty men in the party.

Facing them stood the two Iron Boys, naked to the waist, Steve's body streaked with soot and blood. The miners stood hesitating. Somehow the courage of the two lads shamed the men. They wavered between their shame and their fears.

"Go back and do your duty like men," commanded Steve Rush in a firm tone. "Now that you are in condition to listen, I will tell you that the powder house has not blown up. There is now little chance that it will."

"But we heard it go up," protested a voice.

"No, you did not. The powder house, in all probability, is buried under tons of rock. I planted the drift with sticks of dynamite. When the fire reached them the explosion of the dynamite caved in the drift, thus shutting off the magazine and burying it. Your danger is from fire alone. Go back to work."

For a moment the rough men gazed at the slender, resolute lad standing before them; then the miners, with one accord, uttered a yell. Before the lads could dodge out of the way the miners had grabbed the Iron Boys, and, uttering choking hurrahs, bore the lads back through the level on a run.

These same men were ready to fight anything now. Their courage had come back to them, increased tenfold. They had realized in a moment what desperate bravery had been Steve's.

From that moment on the men fought desperately against the flames.

Little by little, now that systematic efforts were being put forth, the fire died out. The mine was still filled with suffocating smoke, however, and men were being overcome on every hand.

From the surface a band of rescuers had begun to make their way down the ladders into the mine, headed by the superintendent himself. Each was provided with head-wrappings, damp cloths being placed over mouths and noses.

The instant the rescuers reached the first level, Mr. Penton hurried them off to the west, in order to get them as far away from the magazines as possible. He expected to hear the m.u.f.fled report of the exploding magazine at any moment, and to feel the ground tremble and settle beneath his feet.

Reaching a point far enough to the west to place them out of immediate danger, should there be an explosion, the party took to the ladders again and began their descent into the heart of the conflagration.

In the meantime Steve Rush had worked out another plan. He had visited the most dangerous places in the mine, learning where the main artery of fire was. This done, the lad sent out men to hunt up sticks of dynamite in some of the working drifts. A few sticks were thus secured. With these Steve blew down the roofs of the levels in several places, thus absolutely checking the fire at these points.