“We can’t get him out anyway, and if the locks are flooded, we can't get out ourselves!” he said, vainly tugging at the doors. In the progress of the tunnel the shield had slowly turned over so that the track of the sliding doors was no longer horizontal, but slanted upward, and the door was too heavy for the man to move alone up the incline,
“CLEAR THROUGH THE BED OF THE RIVER AND UP TO THE SURFACE!”
Things were getting desperate. But at last there was a shout of triumph. The foreman had succeeded in prying loose the rock that held Jake pinioned. It was none too soon; the water was pouring in faster than ever, It had reached the “spring line,” or the center line of the tunnel; that is, it was 81½ feet deep at the shield. Even when walking along the tracks that were elevated above the bottom of the tube, the water was up to our shoulders; and one or two of the shorter men had to swim.
The rescued worker was placed on a plank and floated to the locks. There was no time to think of closing the doors in the shield, besides they were submerged, and so we could not reach them now. If it had n’t been for the grade of the tunnel, the water would have filled it above the level of the locks. As it was, the water was beginning to slop over the sill of the lock as we splashed up to it.
But what of the other victim of the blow-out? We had found no trace of him anywhere, and there was no possibility of making further search for him,
But when we reached the top of the shaft, you can imagine our amazement at seeing the man who had supposedly perished, sitting calmly in the center of an admiring group of reporters, and telling a most astonishing story—such a story as was almost beyond belief! When the tunnel discharged like a great air-gun, he had played the part of a bullet, and had been shot clear through the bed of the river and up to the surface! Two men were in a rowboat under a dock picking up driftwood, when suddenly a screaming, mud-covered object shot up out of the depths, rising clear of the water, and dropping back again with a splash. They were terror-stricken; panic seized them, particularly when the object reappeared and struck out after them, but Jerry’s cries for help brought them to their senses, although it643
