Tiny sparks sputtered out into the darkness, and the miner understood.

He had blindly stumbled upon a lighted fuse, a train of destruction leading to some deed of hell.

With an oath he leaped recklessly forward, stamping the creeping flame out beneath his feet, crushing it lifeless between his heavy boots and the rock.
There was an angry shout, the swift rush of feet, the red flare of a rifle cleaving the night with burst of flame.

In the sudden, unearthly glare Brown caught dim sight of faces, of numerous dark figures leaping toward him, but he merely crouched low.

The girl! he must protect the girl! That was all he knew, all he considered, excepting a passionate hatred engendered by one of those faces he had just seen.