Out of the grimy smoke two figures slowly loomed up; one carried
the other on his back; whether shanty men or not, no one could
tell.
The crowd, no longer controlled by the foreman, surged about the
opening. Ready hands were held out, but the man carrying his
comrade waved them aside and staggered on, one hand steadying his
load, the other hanging loose. The big foreman started to rush in,
but stopped. Something in the burdened man's eye had checked him,
it was as if a team were straining up a steep hill, making any
halt fatal.
"It's the boss and the clerk!" shouted the foreman. "Fall back,
men,--fall back, damn ye!"
The man came straight on, reached the lips of the opening, lunged
heavily to the right, tried to steady his burden and fell
headlong.
CHAPTER XV
The street lamps were already lighted on the following afternoon--
when Ruth, with Peter and Miss Felicia, alighted at the small
station of Corklesville. All through the day she had gone over in
her mind the words of the despatch:
Explosion in tunnel.
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