midday
`` That 's the last chance ? '' queried Anton , gloomily . `` The very last , '' said Clem , `` we 're buried . '' The midday whistle of the mine had just begun , when a violent blast of air roared up the intake shaft , followed by a portentous -- Cra-a-ack ! A terrific crash rose from the bowels of the earth . The growling rumble of the underground disaster came rolling upward in throbbing volumes of sound . The ground trembled , the buildings shook , the lofty skeleton of the pit-head gear wavered as though about to let fall the huge revolving wheels overhead .