From the moment the whistle blew he was hard at work. He had no time to talk with the motor-man as he had before when dumping the cars, for he had to keep the number of cars and the drift or contractor in his mind while he was dumping them, and until he could jump back to the tally-board. When night came Steve was ready to turn in. He confessed that he was tired. For one thing he felt no little relief, and that was that Spooner and Marvin were no longer in the employ of the company. The next morning the boys went to work in high spirits. The shift had been at work something more than an hour, when the catch on one of the tram cars caught as Steve sought to release it, and resisted his efforts stubbornly. "Smash it!" cried the motor-man. "I'm in a hurry." "I'm going to," answered Steve. Raising the iron bar above his head, he brought it down on the offending catch with all his strength. A crash followed and the ore shot down through the chute with the roaring sound of a cataract. Instantly the second car was pushed over the chute. "Get busy, there!" yelled the motor-man when he saw that no effort was being made to release the ore. He shouted several times, but there was no response from Rush. "Where's that lazy bones?" he demanded, hopping from his motor and running around the end of the train. "What, what---- Something's happened! Look!" shouted the motor-man, pointing to the platform. Steve had disappeared. In the place where he had stood a moment before was a black hole about three feet square. Through this hole could be heard the thunder of the skips as they rushed back and forth at almost projectile speed. CHAPTER XV BORNE SKYWARD ON A SKIP "He's gone through the hole! Call the captain! Where is he?" "I saw him on the sub-level above a minute ago," cried a brakeman, running up the ladder to summon the mine captain. The latter was on hand, it seemed less than a minute later, and behind him came Bob Jarvis. "What is it?" shouted the captain before he had reached the scene. "Tally-man and dumper gone down through the hole there." The captain started in amazement. "How did it happen?" he demanded excitedly. "I don't know. He just went through, that's all." "Who--who was it?" stammered Bob. "Steve Rush." Jarvis uttered a half articulate cry and began to let himself down into the opening. The mine captain grabbed him. "You'll be killed," he said sternly, dragging the lad back to the platform. "You cannot help your friend by going through that way." The captain opened the door leading into the skip shaft and ran down the ladder. His quick glance took in the broken-down supports, but what he did not see was that the planking beneath the post had been sawed part way through. There was no planking there to see. There were no signs of Steve on the platform below. The captain hurried back. "Jarvis, run to the telephone on this level, and tell each level below to look for the body of a man who fell through the shaft."