"Quick!" shouted Florimel. "We must get out of here!"
He flung open the door, fearing that the Red Spirit was still outside, but the terrified clamor of voices that rose from all sides had caused him to desert his post.
The water which in an incredibly short time had risen nearly to their waists began racing down the passage, but still it did not appear to recede. "Let us go at once," urged Florimel, "for if we stay here we shall be lost." He gathered up the trembling Titania in his arms, and with his burden staggered through the water toward the door, while Dame Drusilda, Violet, and Daffodil followed close upon his heels.
Down the passage that had now become a violent raceway of raging, foaming water they all fled, for Florimel realized that their only chance of escape, small as it might be, was to join those who were familiar with the entrances to the mine.
But as they got closer to the main-shaft the confusion and uproar grew wilder, and with a sickening feeling he became aware that those whose help he had hoped for were quite as powerless as he. Ear-splitting shrieks of horror made a very pandemonium of awful sound, and over all was heard the despairing cry of Grouthead: "The mine is flooded, and the force-pumps can't save us. We shall all be drowned!"
Dragonfel's mine was flooded, and as the water kept pouring in from all sides, there was no escape for the unfortunates who were in its chambers.
The passage which was mainly used in a descent to the mine had become a raging river impossible to withstand so deep was it and with a current so strong.
The way by which the Brownies had entered the mine was blocked by the giant boulder which could only be removed by the pressure of a secret spring from the outside. The boulder had brought captivity to the band, and now it threatened even direr results, for those several tons of stone stubbornly barred the way to safety.
It was evident that the violent disturbances deep down in the earth which had caused the earthquake and volcano were likewise responsible for the flood.
The water came in streams from the entrances, cracks, and fissures until the main-shaft was transformed into a lake that constantly grew deeper, and through this with shrieks and screams all plunged, fleeing hither and thither, but with no definite point in their dazed minds.