Page:Frank Packard - On the Iron at Big Cloud.djvu/287

, waved an arm and shouted: "All out. Let 'er go!" He saw the foreman bend over the battery and make the connection that would spark the time-fuse at the other end, and then a groan of horror went up around him. Number Eighteen, with a cry and a desperate effort to pull himself over the top, had slipped back and disappeared from sight!

Haggerty's pipe dropped to the ground from between his teeth, his heart seemed to stop its beats, a cold sweat broke out upon his face. He was on his feet now, and the foreman's words were ringing in his ears: "Then there's a minute, lots of time! Then there's a minute, lots of time!"

He began to run, and the seconds, as he ran, lengthened into years and cycles. "My God!" he muttered in a catchy way.

But fast as he ran, someone was faster than he. Five yards from the edge of the excavation, a figure, small, short, speeding like the wind, passed him. It was Hale—the super!

Behind, the foreman's voice bellowed hoarsely: "Come back! Come back! Ye can't get to the fuse! D'ye hear!"

"Mabbe," mumbled Haggerty between his teeth, "mabbe we can get the man. Mary, Mother, help us!"

Hale, flat on the ground, was making to swing himself over as Haggerty, for the second time, caught him by the collar of his coat. "You ain't strong enough," he grunted, yanking the super back. "You help me from the top"—and over the edge he went himself.