4. Into the Mine!

4 Into the Mine! Stanley and Arthur waited impatiently while Calamity Jasper led Gold Rush to a shady spot by a stream so he could drink and munch grass. Then they followed her to the mine entrance. Calamity handed each boy a flashlight. Then she switched on her headlamp and led them in. The mine was dark and dank. When their eyes adjusted, the boys could make out several men, blackened with dirt, chipping away at the walls and whispering to one another. "Don't pay them any mind," Calamity whispered. "Them prospectors are a jealous bunch. Every man to himself, that kind of thing. They'll hog-tie you and throw you off the mountain if they think you're trespassing onto

their claims." She nodded into the darkness. "Reckon we better mosey on a little farther." The boys followed Calamity deeper and deeper into the dark mine shaft. The tink-tink-tink of the prospectors' hammers grew fainter, and the light grew dimmer. "I don't see any gold yet!" Arthur called out to Calamity Jasper, who was far ahead now. "Right! Where's the gold?" Stanley called out even louder. The boys were comforted by their voices in the dark, dank mine. "Where's the gold?" they cried together. "Don't yell," came Calamity's voice. "You'll cause a—" Suddenly, there was a tremendous rumbling roar! Rocks and rubble came crashing down in front of Stanley and Arthur… a cave-in! So that was why everyone was whispering! At the mine's entrance, the prospectors dropped their hammers and ran out. "Every man for himself!" they cried. "Head for the hills!" Stanley was tempted to call after them that they already were in the hills. But he was much too worried to be bothered.

"Where's Calamity Jasper?" he asked Arthur. The boys played their flashlights over the wall of rocks and dirt in front of them. "Do you think —" Arthur whispered. "Shhh," Stanley whispered back. In the quiet, the boys could make out a muffled voice: "Gol-durned… gol-durned… gol-durned

fools!" "Don't worry," Stanley called in—quietly—to the trapped cowgirl. "We'll get you out." "Step aside," Arthur told his brother. "It's your fault she's in there." Then he called in to Calamity —quietly also, "I'll get you out. I'm very strong for my age." Arthur was strong, that was true. But it was also true that he felt a lot stronger when he was wearing his Mighty Man T-shirt. And today he was wearing his authentic cowboy clothes instead. He pushed against a big rock. He pushed and he pushed. The rock didn't budge. "Step aside," Stanley said. "It's your fault she's in there. I'll get her out with my flatness." Stanley surveyed the rubble in front of him. There was a gap between two big rocks about an inch wide. It might work! He squeezed and folded himself until… yes! Stanley Lambchop worked himself through until he came out into a small clear space… and there was Calamity, sitting on a rock. "I'm here!" he said proudly. "You can stop worrying now!" Calamity looked up at him. "And why's that?"

"Because I'm used to being a hero. It's what I do, now that I'm flat. I rescued my mother's favorite ring, and I helped capture sneak thieves at the Famous Museum. So I'll get you out," he assured her. Calamity Jasper stood up and turned her head so her headlamp illuminated the small space. "Really?" she asked. "How?" Stanley looked around. He saw the problem: He could get through the gap in the rocks, but she couldn't. "I'm sorry," he said, embarrassed. "I'll come up with something." "Just go get help," Calamity muttered. Then she sat back down on the rock and turned her back to him.

Stanley worked himself back through to the other side. "My flatness didn't help," he admitted to Arthur. "Well, my strength didn't help either," Arthur said. "Too bad we couldn't combine the two— hey!" He jumped up. "We've been studying machines at school! Do you know how a lever works?" Stanley understood Arthur's clever idea at once. The boys rolled a small rock beside the larger one, and Stanley lay himself over it. He worked his feet under the large rock and made himself stiff as a board. "Use your strength to press down on my shoulders," he directed his brother. Arthur did. With a deep creak, the boulder rolled aside! Calamity Jasper crawled through the gap. She narrowed her eyes and scowled at the two boys as she stormed past them to the mine entrance. The boys followed, and after the three children rubbed their eyes in the bright afternoon sunshine, they stared in disbelief: Gold Rush was gone!