Sharp County record., 1881-01-20
THE NINE BY THE SEA.

A strange sight IN a coal NINE. Won
derfully picturesque with its streets and
lanes and alleys, its unending corridors
and countless chambers of the dead.
The men there, with blackened faces
and scanty attire, seem of another race
from those above ground and the
feeble. lights cleaning in the midst of
the darkness gave a weird, unreal as
pect to the scene.
The only sounds heard are those Of
the coal wagons slowly pushed along by
boys towards the mouth of the pit and
in the narrow passages, where the men
are at work. the clang of their pickaxes
as they cleave their way through the
great rocks of coal. Men are not the
only beings here. There are horses
that have not seen the daylight for
many a year. to draw the wagons IN
the broader passages, and sometimes if
the light Of the lamp is turned toward
the ground, the bright little eyes of rats
chow they came to that underworld |
don't know may be seen peering out
of hooks among the walls. There is an
almost fearful sombreness about the
place. Thoughts that the daylight
would at once dispel seem to haunt the
air and the voices of the men as they
wander about, each one, Gideon-like,
with his lamp. and pickaxe, have a
deeper, follower tone than above
ground.
? For two days storm, long remem-
bered on the coast, had been raging; but
the men in the mine, accustomed as
they were to hearing the roar of the
waves above their heads, paid little heed
to the increased noise. George Heinz
ers alone had noticed it, and each day
had spent more time than usual in ex-
amining the supports of the roof.
1t was now night time, and he had
been experimenting some rather dan
gerous work in the lower levels, of blast
ing-Btb- gunpowdar, which, much
against his advice, the owner had or
dered. This being done, leaving further
orders for work with the men, George
turned away and walked alone in the
direction of the pits mouth, carrying
in one hand alarge canister containing
the gunpowder; in the other his lamp
and the heavy stick that, on account of
his lameness, was his constant COM
panion. Even in the imperfect light it
might have been seen that a great
change had passed over his face; it was
haggard and pinched-looking; there was
a strange restless glitter in his eyes and
now and then his lips parted with in
voluntary, quiyering movements, quick
ly pressed together again with that
stern, set expression that was now habit
ual to them.
Instead of leaving the mine, a sudden
thought seemed to strike him halfway,
and he turned aside and entered q part
of the mine long deserted on account of
working too near the bottom of the sea,
but which recently had been opened
again; and though George had many
times warned the owner of the danger
of weakening the supports of the roof,
large quantities Of coal had been taken
from it.
All was still as he advanced through
the narrow passages, but soon these
widened into a more open space, and as
he entered the noise of the tumultuous
waters overhead was fearfully loud. A
cold draught of air smote on him and
made him shiver The place was known
to the colliers as the "BOggart's Hole"
or the "Ghost's Hole" 1t was an i'm
mense low-roofed hall, one of those
natural caverns that exist beneath the
sea and land; and in the centre was an
abyss, into whose depths no human be-
ing had ever penetrated. The work.
ings had been carried on along the
sides and rude pathway led halfway
round, abruptly stopping above the
great chasm.
The poor light which George had il
lumined only narrow circle round him,
but he knew the place well and eau
tiously stepping along, reached the
part where the last workings had been
made, and which was so low that he
could touch with his hand the black
Shiny roof, to which gigantic loath-
sOlut lullSl ClullS.
As he stood there wild fancies stole
over him. Loud above sounded the
thunderous boom of the surf, and be-
meath him lay, wrapped in eternal dark
ness, the great mine. stretching for
miles into the depths of the earth. He
seated himself on a projecting rock, the
canister of powder on the ground at his
side, and the lamp held between his
knees.
What were his thoughts Just then? l
know not at all-but there was one
fiercer than the clamor of the waves
above, more terrible than the abyss be-
meath him-he had lost all, all! He
looked back upon his life-all had gone
wrong from the beginning, and now,
when at last the cup of sweetness had
seemed to be so near his lips he had
seen it dashed away. He ground his
teeth with rage and then his passion
took another form-his breast heaved,
and great sobbing cry rose to his lips.
:" If she only knew how love her!
He love! A moment of the love could
give her would be more than lifetime
of his. But l know that never, never
let me make en- end Of ii.
An, and Jim Massey, too; a light
to this powder and there d be no victory
to any one-the sea would cover us toe
close for that! But the others?