Chapters 51 - 55 Summary

When Rod finishes designing the angle and depth of the holes he wants drilled, adding the side walls as well to ensure the hall was close enough to allow for cementers to get in and seal off the tunnel in worst case scenario, he calls the Delange brothers in to see him. Twelve hundred holes twenty-feet deep are required, and both brothers had a lot of time to think while the holes were drilled. On the fifth day of drilling, Davy goes home and Hettie flirts with him, and he takes her right there. Filled with guilt he goes to the mine and does a safety check but all on auto pilot, his mind elsewhere. The fog he is causes him to not recognize the change in the lamp's flame indicating that Johnny's last drilled hole opened a pocket of methane...