When, at last, the noise of machinery above him and the sound of voices aroused him from his abstraction, the car emerged upon the surface of the earth, Clewe hastily slid back the door and stepped out.

At that instant he felt himself encircled by a pair of arms.

Bryce was near by, and there were other men by the engines, but the owner of those arms thought nothing of this.
"Margaret!" cried Clewe, "how came you here ?" "I have been here all the time," she exclaimed; "or, at least, nearly all the time." And as she spoke she drew back and looked at him, her eyes full of happy tears.

"Mr.Bryce telegraphed to me the instant he knew you were going down, and I was here before you had descended half-way." "What!" he cried.

"And all those messages came from you ?" "Nearly all," she answered.