CHAPTER XXITHE ESCAPE
The rest of the day was spent in discussing the plan of escape; and that night Hal and Chester slept well in spite of the fact that they were compelled to stretch out on the hard floor and that there were no blankets nor other clothing to keep out the early morning chill.
As upon their first day in the mines, they were aroused before daylight and marched to the shaft. It was still dark when they again found themselves below and at work.
Hal and Chester put forth their best efforts from the first, for they did not wish to draw the attention of the guards to them particularly and thus interfere with Harding’s plans.
It was just eleven o’clock when Harding lowered his pick and turned to the nearest guard.
“Bad spot here, sir,” he said. “Gas. It’s dangerous.”
The guard approached and sniffed.
“Go on with your work,” he said at last.
Harding made no reply, but picked up his pick and fell to work again.
A close observer might have seen him turn slightly to the man on his right, who chanced to be the Frenchman Mercer; a close observer might have seen Harding’s lips move slightly, and a keener ear than that of the nearest German guard might have caught these words:
“It’s time, Mercer. Pass the word. Be ready in five minutes.”
Mercer indicated that he understood and passed the word quietly. To Harding’s left, Hal also passed the word to the nearest man: “Be ready in five minutes.”
Harding had explained the day before that every prisoner in the shaft had been taken into his confidence—that he, having conceived the scheme, was entitled to be the man who had the first right to escape. This, Hal and Chester had learned, was the unwritten law among prisoners in Germany. Others who were in the plot would escape if it were possible, but they must shield the man who conceived the idea.
In less than the time allowed by Harding, every prisoner knew that the big Englishman had decided to “go.”
There was no indication in the face of any man that he knew something was about to happen and so the suspicion of the guards was not aroused.
Stealthily, Harding drew something from his pocket. It was a match which he had secreted in the lining. He drew even closer to the wall of earth before him.
There, it could be seen, he had dug a little pocket. At this point there was a stronger smell of gas.
“Look out!” cried Harding suddenly.
At the same moment he struck the match, he dropped his pick and shielded his face with his hand. At the same moment, too, every prisoner covered the glow of his safety lamp with his hat.
There was a flash and a roar, followed by the sound of tumbling earth. Hal and Chester felt their arms seized in a strong grip which they knew to be that of Harding.
“Come!” he whispered.
Came now sounds of confusion and hoarse guttural shouts from the German guards. Behind them the lads heard the sounds of confusion. Then they felt themselves drawn back by Harding’s hands.
“In here!” whispered the Englishman.
Chester now exposed his light sufficiently to show that the three were in what appeared to be a small cavern leading off from the mine tunnel itself.
Hastily, under Harding’s directions, the lads pushed forward large lumps of ore and dirt until now they were almost barricaded behind this fortification and seemed safe from prying eyes without.
“Not too much,” said Harding. “We’ve got to breathe, you know.”
“What was all the explosion?” demanded Chester.
“Well,” said Harding, “when a man strikes a match in a mine there is bound to be an explosion. I struck the match.”
“I know that,” agreed Chester, “but how does it happen that we are still alive? You might have brought the whole mine in on us.”
“I’ve worked in mines before,” said Harding. “These little local blasts don’t amount to much if you keep away from the flare. However, a man never knows when he hears the blast just how serious it may be. That’s why the German guards are in such confusion. I am not worried because I know the nature of the blast, and the other prisoners are not worried for the same reason. Hear them fight!”
The sounds of the struggle carried plainly to the ears of the three friends.
“Somebody will be killed,” declared Chester.
“Naturally,” said Harding quietly, “but it will be in a good cause and they know it. Don’t mistake me, boys; every man there knows that I am not doing this just to try to save my own skin. The word has been passed.”
“It has?” exclaimed Hal in surprise.
“Of course, and I pride myself in the fact that it was done cleverly if you didn’t see it.”
“I didn’t see anything,” said Chester.
“Neither did the guards, apparently,” said Harding. “But we had better keep quiet now. Remember, we have long hours ahead of us here and then work to do before we are free.”
The three became silent. The sounds of conflict without continued for possibly half an hour, then gradually died away.
But the sounds of the picks were no longer heard. There would be no more work in No. 10 level until after the German authorities had assured themselves that it was safe. For this purpose, of course, an inspection would be necessary.
“They’ll miss us, too,” whispered Hal, “and they’ll have a look for us.”
“And they will think they have located us when they encounter a mass of debris near where we stood,” said Harding.
“Oh, caused by the blast, eh?” said Chester.
“No; put there through Mercer’s efforts,” replied Harding. “You see,” he explained, “we had already dug in such a manner that a certain piece of rock could be unloosened by a couple of quick blows. Mercer gave them after I struck the match.”
“Great Scott! You seem to have had it figured out perfectly,” declared Hal.
“So I did,” replied Harding, “up to the point when we reach the outside. After that events will have to shape themselves.”
“But when they explore the debris out there and don’t find us, they will smell a mouse,” declared Chester.
“They won’t explore it right away,” declared Harding. “The inspection of the mine itself will come first.”
Harding proved a good prophet in this.
It was perhaps 2 o’clock in the afternoon when Hal heard footsteps approaching. The three friends listened intently.
Voices were conversing in German, and from their refuge the lads caught the glow of safety lamps.
“Must be four or five of them,” declared Hal in a low voice.
“I hope so,” Harding whispered back. “There must be at least three for the success of my plan.”
The inspectors, for such the lads knew the Germans to be, passed along the mine tunnel so close to the refuge of the three friends that Hal could have reached out and touched one of them.
“We’ll let ’em go by because there may be more coming, though it is unlikely,” said Harding. “You were right, boy, there are four of them.”
The Englishman waited until the four inspectors had turned an angle in the tunnel, and then, quickly removing the debris they had piled in front of them, the three friends stepped out.
“Now,” said Harding “we’ll get as close to that turn as possible, and we’ll nail ’em when they come back.”
They took their positions and waited in silence, every nerve on edge.
Directly the sound of footsteps were heard again and the Germans returned, conversing and utterly unconscious of the danger that lay in wait.
As the first man appeared around the turn, Harding’s right fist shot out and the man tumbled over. Instantly the Englishman and Hal and Chester were upon the other astonished inspectors.
“Hands up!” cried Harding.
But the Germans, realizing that their opponents were unarmed, reached for their revolvers. Hal sprang forward and closed with the nearest German before the man could press the trigger. The lad staggered him with a powerful blow to the nose, followed by a left to the chin that sent him down. Hal then possessed himself of the man’s revolver and turned to aid his friends should they need assistance.
Chester’s adversary had fired as the lad rushed him, but the bullet had missed its mark. As Hal now came to Chester’s assistance, the German held his hands high, dropping the revolver.
Harding, meantime, had disposed of the fourth inspector with promptness and dispatch, a heavy blow behind the ear laying the man low.
“Quick, now,” said the Englishman. “Change clothes with them. I’ll change with this big man here. I guess they’ll fit.”
The change was made quickly.
“Now to get out of here,” said Harding.
The three walked quickly along the tunnel to the little mine car, which they boarded. Harding became the motorman and the car moved off.
“The men at the top will wonder what has become of the fourth inspector, won’t they?” asked Chester, as they alighted from the mine car at the edge of the shaft.
“We’ll have to trust to luck there,” said Harding.
The three stepped in the elevator that was to carry them aloft, and Harding gave the signal to pull up by tugging sharply at the cable.
“Keep your caps down over your head and your heads lowered,” Harding cautioned, as the car began to go up.
The lads nodded in the semi-darkness, but said nothing.
Suddenly the elevator shot out into the light and came to a stop. From beneath their caps, the three friends glanced sharply about them, and Chester gave a sigh of pure relief.
At the top of the mine there were, at that moment, only three German guards and the man who stood on watch at the elevator. The three guards were engaged in animated conversation and apparently were not interested in the appearance of the car from below. There remained only the fourth man.
Harding stepped from the car. Hal and Chester followed him.