"Are you all right?" shouted Mr. Phipps after the deadening effect of
the shock had passed.
"I'm all right," returned Ned Rector. "Can't anything kill me now.
I'm proof against bullets, wrecks and earthquakes."
"Was that an earthquake?" questioned Walter weakly.
"Dynamite. The red car exploded when it was wrecked," explained the
mining engineer. "That was what I feared. Is Master Tad hurt?"
"No, he's all right, I guess," answered Tad for himself. "All the
lights have gone out. Can't we turn them on again?"
"I'm afraid not. The wires undoubtedly have been torn and twisted
apart in many places. There will be no more light in this drift for
some time to come, I reckon."
"Think anyone was killed?" asked Walter apprehensively.
"Oh, no. There was no one near the explosion, except ourselves, and
luckily we are safe and sound. I'll try the telephone."
Mr. Phipps spun the handle of the telephone, but without result.
"Like the lights, it's dead," he said.
"What was that crashing noise in here? Was that what did it?"
questioned Tad.
The miner struck a match.
"Look!" he exclaimed.
In the center of the chamber was a heap of rocks, weighing probably a
ton or more. These had been wrenched from the roof of the place and
dropped into the room where Phipps and the lads were waiting.
"Somehow, I'm feeling a goneness under my belt," spoke up Ned.
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