Tom’s words evidently carried, for a jeering laugh came rumbling and echoing down the shaft. “We’re waiting, all right! It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel!”
“I’ll fix it so we can get out!” Bud whispered to his companions. He edged along the wall, in order to approach the shaft opening under partial screening from a rack of tools. Holding the carbine belonging to Gursk out in front of him, he fired it up the shaft. The shot brought an oath of alarm from topside.
“Good work, pal,” Tom murmured. “You’ve cleared the way!”
JET RESCUE 185
The water was rising faster and faster. Soon it was up to the boys’ waists.
Bud guarded the shaft opening, while Tom and Ed shoved a workbench underneath it for them to stand on.
In twenty minutes the laboratory was flooded. The three prisoners tread water to keep themselves chest-deep as they began floating upward. They pressed against one another, as well as the walls, for support. Tom and Ed supported Bud, so that he could hold the carbine high out of water.
“Some elevator!” Bud muttered wryly. The fifteen-foot shaft was filling rapidly.
“What happens when we spill over?” Ed asked with a tight grin.
“Run!” Tom advised. “If Bud can scare them back with a couple of quick shots, we might just reach cover.”
None of the three really believed his words. The odds seemed hopeless. But all were determined to make a valiant effort.
“One thing in our favor,” Tom reminded his companions, “is that they’ll have to be grouped on one side of the shaft opening, or they’ll be gunning one another-so we’ll have a clear track!”
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