“Where is Mr. Keith?” she demanded of man after man.

The men explained.  “He went on to try and find three more men who are down there—­Bluffy and Hennson and his boy.”

“Who went with him?”

“No one.  He went alone.”

“And you men let him go?”

“We could not help it.  He insisted.  We tried to make him come with us.”

“You cowards!” she cried, tearing off her wrap.  “Of course, he insisted, for he is a man.  Had one woman been down there, she would not have let him go alone.”  She sprang over the fencing rope as lightly as a deer, and started toward the entrance.  A cry broke from the crowd.

“She’s going!  Stop her!  She’s crazy!  Catch her!”

Several men sprang over the rope and started after her.  Hearing them, Terpsichore turned.  With outstretched arms spread far apart and blazing eyes, she faced them.

“If any man tries to stop me, I will kill him on the spot, as God lives!” she cried, snatching up a piece of iron bar that lay near by.  “I am going to find that man, dead or alive.  If there is one of you man enough to come with me, come on.  If not, I will go alone.”

“I will go with you!” A tall, sallow-faced man who had just come up pushed through the throng and overtook her.  “You stay here; I will go.”  It was Tib Drummond, the preacher.  He was still panting.  The girl hardly noticed him.  She waved him aside and dashed on.

A dozen men offered to go if she would come back.

“No; I shall go with you,” she said; and knowing that every moment was precious, and thinking that the only way to pacify her was to make the attempt, the men yielded, and a number of them entered the mine with her, the lank preacher among them.

They had just reached the bottom when the faint outline of something black was seen in the glimmer that their lights threw in the distance.  Terpy, with a cry, dashed forward, and was just in time to catch Keith as he sank beneath the black water.

When the rescuing party with their burdens reached the surface once more, the scene was one to revive even a flagging heart; but Keith and Bluffy were both too far gone to know anything of it.

The crowd, which up to this time had been buzzing with the excitement of the reaction following the first rescue, suddenly hushed down to an awed silence as Keith and Bluffy were brought out and were laid limp and unconscious on a blanket, which Terpsichore had snatched from a man in the front of the others.  Many women pressed forward to offer assistance, but the girl waved them back.

“A doctor!” she cried, and reaching for a brandy-bottle, she pressed it first to Keith’s lips.  Turning to Drummond, the preacher, who stood gaunt and dripping above her, she cried fiercely:  “Pray, man; if you ever prayed, pray now.  Pray, and if you save ’em, I’ll leave town.  I swear before God I will.  Tell Him so.”