A new fear had taken possession of him, a fear that Harry Hardy, if alive, would perhaps move and roll down the incline into the water again before the miners reached him.

He waited in an agony of anxiety, and his eyes never moved from the cage at the surface.
The miners began to come in at length, with heavy footsteps, swinging their crib billies, calling to each other in gruff voices.

Lamps were lit upon the brace, and in the boiler-house and changing shed, and Dick saw the first cageful of men drop out of sight, as the engine groaned and the mine took up its busy duties again.
One cage-load after another went down, and still Dick waited.

At last there came a wild, unusual beat of the knocker.

The boy knew the signal and started up on his knees.