CHAPTER XIII 

BURIED ALIVE 

At the moment when Skip Miller knocked away the joist which supported the timbers at the top of the tunnel, Fred had stooped to pick up his shovel, and this position saved him from being instantly killed. 

One end of the shoring plank was yet held by the upright placed in the center of the cutting, and it remained at an angle, although pinning him down, while the earth covered him completely. 

For a moment he was at a loss to know what had happened, and then he heard, as if from afar off, Joe calling him by name. 

"Here I am under the timber," he replied. 

"Are you hurt much?" 

"I think not; but I shall stifle to death if the dirt isn't taken away soon." 

"It ain't a sure thing that you won't stifle even then," he heard Bill say sharply. "Take hold, mate, an' let's get him from beneath while we have a chance to breathe." 

Then the grating of the shovels was distinguished, and pound by pound the weight was removed until nothing save the timber held him down. 

"Can you get out now?" Joe asked, and his voice sounded strangely indistinct. 

"Not till the joist is pulled away." 

"When that is done it's safe to say tons of the roof will follow," Bill muttered, and Joe asked: 

"Does it hurt you much, lad?" 

"The edges are cutting into my back terribly." 

"Grin an' bear it as long as you can. Our only chance for life is to break through the wall into the old tunnel; but if that timber is taken away it's good-bye for all hands." 
who called him by his name ?
Joe