The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-02-12

mental vision. Sins of omission and
commission passed by in torrent, and
my oftenses magnifed themselves, and
their blackness and size overshadowed
the good acts had done, blotting them
out completely.
The superintendent, thinking audi
bly,, murmured, 50 My wife, my child !"
and we heard deep sigh from the
boss. We turned to look at the latter,
aud as we cid SO he fell on his face, the
blood gushing from under the bandage
in stream. Hurriedly lifting him we
tried to staunch the wound, but in
win tie it no matter how tightly the
blood oozed through the handkerchief
The condensed air of the chamber
forced it from his body, and his face,
which had been hvid, became pallid
beat.
He was 6eadI
The superintendent looked at his
watch. It had stopped. He shook it
and found that it had run down. Had
another tventy-four hours passed? It
was insupportable, this death in life.
| Was there no hope for us?
| We reflled our lamps, exhausting
the oil in the bottle, and, with brains
reeling and blood gushing from our
finger ends, again attacked the coal.
| Hark ! Was not that a sound We
listened and heard it again, and I
raped back vigorously. It bad
CHANGED that, for some time previously,
on the Morse instrument, of the opera
tor at our Office, and suppose that,
unknowingly, I, in my tapping, had
made use of their signal of " atten-
ton" The same familiar tap-tap-
4 tap-tap-tap was returned, and saw
| at once that my instructor must be
among those outside.
I raped: E'Is there any hope for
us % He answered "We'l try to
save you raincloud burst over the
shaft deluging it with water, and one
ploded, blowing up the engine house. -
s'How did you get in ?" I asked. eve
are in an air hole which communicates
with the surface" "What time is it %
ssThree o'clock, Sunday morning."
We had been inside over two days
Would we ever escape?
A short silence, and he raped j:
"How far above the water are you work
ing?" turned to look. It was within
five feet of us. The condensed air was
exhausting our strength; our lamps
gave a final flicker and burnt out ]
reached down for water to bathe my
throbbing temples and felt something
soft resisting. It was the body of the
boss. I drew back with shudder. A
rat crawled up my leg; it made my
blood curdle.
put my hand toward the water again
and felt several rats floating the air,
with pressure of at least three atmos-
pheres, had killed them.
And now we heard the sound OF
picks and bars on the other side. They
had sent outside for them. It rein
spirited us and we worked for life.
The water was within three feet of
us. They soon signaled from the Other
| awaited the shock and could almost
hear the fzzing of the fuse.
Crash i''- the thunders nearly
deafened me.
called the superintendent by name
No answer. put out my hand to fee
him; he was breathing family.
reached dawn foot to the watar anc
sprinkled it on his face. He heaved .
sigh which. light though it was
sounded like deep groan in the thick
heavy atmosphere.
of attention" and tried to answer
but had not enough strength. My fac,
felt sufused with blood and I couis
hear the pulsations of my heart. The,
seemed to become more rapid, faster
faster-faster, and I counted no more
can indistinctly remember, however
a more violant crash, and being violent
ly forced thr ough a narrow aperture.
When I recovered my senses an,
recollection I was in bed, with m,
gray-haired mother bending over M
and asking how I felt? tried t.
move, but shooting pains went through
my whole body. I looked at my hands
they were covered with strips of plaster
I was about to interrogate m,
stepped in, and, seeing that was con
! valescent, began, without questionin,
Che always was rather garrulous), b
acquaint me with the particulars.
, "You see," he said, "we did no
miss you till after the hurry and co,
. fusion incident to the explosion-b
which the fireman was killed and tn
engineer badly hurt-were over. Then
in the evening, when all three of yo
were missed, they started in search Q
you. was away and did not retur
! till the evening of Saturday, when q
: once ordered research as far as "
| were AO16, 1OI tu0 WdtcE WSSc AOG I've
all the gangways. We supposed tha
> you must have taken refuge In the-fal
ther end of the mine, and we went q
far as the water would allow us, an
were just giving up the search when
recollected the air-way, where we foun
you and afterward heard your picks
You remember the conversation b
telegraph? ?"
, nodded, though I could but indii
= tinctly recall it.
"Wen, then," he continued, {. "
!. got as large force as we could
. work, made a blast, and afterwar
heard nothing from you whatevel
Then we worked on vigorously, an
= = when we thought we had gone fs
= . enough put in slight blast, whic
? broke hole, through which gust {
!, air and water came, shooting you an
: the superintendent violently into th
Z water in the air-way and extinguishin
= all our lamps. We brought you to tI
. surface as soon rs possible, carrie
: you with trouble through the croWd-
I. for there must have been nearly fy
!. thousand people on the ground, as ii
4 news had spread, and our conversatio
through the coal had been in evel
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