Level after level was thus regained from the chaos into which falling masses of rock, coal, woodwork, &c., had reduced them, and every hour saw increased means of communication open.

But still no traces of the eleven missing explorers !

It now grew clear to the Deputy that these men must have separated before the explosion from their fellows, probably to pursue their enquiries in a different direction.

It was also clear to him that whatever interposed between him and them could only be rubbish and falling matter, recently deposited, however much accident might have contributed to conceal the precise place.

Dividing his twenty men into four batches of five each, he sent them in as many different directions. He had previously gone before to indicate whatever spots seemed most hopeful, and there they set to work to bore into, or to make a sort of man-hole or passage through, according to circumstances.

Several hours thus passed, without any kind of reward for the labour bestowed, or for the suffering with which it was accompanied through the heat, the foul air, and the incessant injuries received from the crumbling, dangerous state of everything the labourers touched.

Dangerous indeed was the position-far more so than any but the Deputy knew, and he as yet knew it only indistinctly.

In more than one place where they had been boring, water oozed slowly through, and caused the Deputy to order the men to stop.

Still, he thought nothing of the incident till, in his constant passing to and fro to stimulate, advise, and direct his little groups of men, he found the water about his feet in places usually dry.

When he again came to the same place he found the water higher than before, and now he felt it a duty to own there was a real, pressing, and very great danger.

Still, if only he could find these men speedily, and get them away, there would be no more lives lost. And then they could go to work pumping from outside, and so keep

things tolerably safe till larger measures could be adopted, if found necessary.

But the Deputy was not the only one who foresaw this new terror. The men became discouraged, and some began to grumble. I don't believe as twenty-seven men ever came down!' said one. While another urged, In the confusion at the pit-mouth they hadn't correctly reckoned all that Mr. Mort had got out.' And, in fine, the belief became general that they were risking life for nobody's benefit, and that it was natural they should think it time to stop.

But the Deputy knew that if there was one man in the world to be trusted to take count correctly, even under such circumstances, it was Israel; and he assured them they had only to go on, and great indeed would be their reward and satisfaction.

And so it proved. At one place where they had been working in the sort of hopeless spirit of which we have spoken, it was not long before they stopped; and, the Deputy being elsewhere, began seriously to comment on his evident anxieties about something he didn't talk of; and to take counsel with each other whether they would not at once march off in a body, and abide no more words with their unreasonable leader.

But while, at the first mention of this project by one of their number, they stood gazing irresolutely in each other's faces, and in a silence that no one was willing to break, the stillness was broken by a dull yet distinct sound that in an instant electrified every face, and freshly nerved every hand and heart.

cry.

There they are! There they are!' was the general

One instantly ran to fetch the Deputy, who, when he came, looking flushed and agitated, ordered all to be silent and motionless while he knocked with a pick, and with the peculiar and timed blows only known to the collier, of one-two; one--two-three-against the side in the direction of the sound, as indicated to him, and then listened.

"Thank God!' he murmured. 'They are there—and

will soon be here.

be much betwixt us.

is ours.

The sound is so clear that there cannot

But lose not a moment! This time Who shall say how long it may remain so? Quick! and we may all be out of the mine in half an hour!'

The influence of that thought, added to all that had gone before, put such new heart into the men's toil, that in a very few minutes they heard a voice, and all stopped to listen.

It seemed to them as if the voice spoke as from the grave

'We've been knocking with our boot heels for the last three days or more.'

"How many?'
'Eleven!'

'All living?' asked the Deputy.

"We're all dying,' grumbled the voice.

'All right!' shouted the Deputy cheerily back, and then would not allow another moment to be lost for pauses of any kind.

He seemed to watch with extreme jealousy any delay between the strokes of the picks, which fell faster and stronger, and yet he could not help pleading in a broken, passionate voice

'Faster!

gether!'

Harder! Lest we be all overtaken to

Had they known what he knew, they would probably have thrown down their tools, and fled, and have smitten him to the earth had he attempted to stay them.

Was he doing right to conceal the truth from them? That doubt was the sting in his soul-not fear of any kind for himself.

He could not resolve it to his own peace and satisfaction. There were the lives within the barrier to balance against the lives without it. What endangered the one class might save the other. There was the assured certainty that a few minutes more would set them all free together to escape!

Ay, but would there be those few moments accorded? Yes, if no sudden rush of the waters broke in upon them he was sure of that. The silent, almost imperceptible, increase in the parts whence the Deputy had just come might go on for hours without endangering them; but the fact of the increase of water was itself so alarming that he knew not what he ought to do.

Ah, what relief! With what transports of joy and pious thankfulness does the Deputy note the sudden stop of the picks, the gathering at a point, the rending away with hands of pieces of half-removed rubbish sticking out from the side of the small opening, and then the drawing forth of a man; and before there is time to welcome him, as he rose staggeringly to his feet, another, and another, till the whole eleven are forth.

And wonder of wonders-the last of the eleven is David, Israel's son, who knew the Deputy instantly, and could not resist a kind of passionate cry to him, which made him known to Rees Thomas before his words had time to convey the truth.

With the miner's usual thoughtlessness in such matters, David's companions had taken down no food with them beyond that which sufficed for nourishment during any accidental delay that might occur to keep them for a few hours longer than they intended in the mine. But David, who had joined them as a volunteer after their descent, and who had filled his pockets with sandwiches and biscuits enough to have kept him quite free from hunger during the whole four days, shared all he had with the others; and made one or two men who had been also provident follow his example, though very reluctantly. Thus it was, ten more of the explorers were saved, besides David-one only having succumbed.

How David came to be there may be explained in few words. After he had sent off his note to Nest, he found himself so thoroughly wretched—so profoundly convinced he had been using circumstances to evade legitimate duties- -so moved once more at his father's thought of him -if he should know how he had fallen back at the critical

moment or if he should know on the other hand that he had gone down, and bravely acquitted himself all these thoughts combining, made him suddenly resolve to descend at once into the mine; and he did so without allowing himself a single moment's pause for further reflection.

The two men could not at first speak to each other as they met. It seemed no place or time for converse such as their hearts needed. A mutual grasp of the hand, that made each feel how dear the other was to him, how full of intensest gratification the meeting, and that was all for the moment. But as the other explorers moved on, and left them a little behind, the Deputy's arms opened, there was a silent embrace, and then a few murmured words from him to David

6

Oh, I did not know this! did not suspect this. I recognise a higher power in this! God must have moved me to risk so much for all these brave men here, intending to reward me by giving thee! Eternal blessings to His name! But come-hurry! David, the waters are coming in upon us. But we shall escape! I shall take you to your father, and make known to him who and what you

are!'

When they turned to look round they were alone.

CHAPTER XLVII.

THE FOUNTAINS OF THE DEEP BREAK UP.

As the two men had their danger thus unexpectedly brought home to them, they hurried after their companions.

They had not gone far before one of these men came running back, crying excitedly

The way is stopped! I have been up to my neck in water, and couldn't get any farther.'

6

Try other ways, then!' shouted the Deputy. Take