The Press., 1883-07-05
(From Harpers Young People.) IN THE HEART OF HUMPBACK HILL.

Jim was fifteen, Sam was twelve. Johnny was nine, and then came the twin babies, who were not of any age to speak of. Their father was miner who had come from England to the mining region of Western Pennsylvania, having heard that work was plenty and living easy in the new country. He had been killed by an accident in Q mine only three months after his arrival, and his family were left to fight their way alone in the world. Jim worked in the mines now, but he was not large or strong for his age, and his wages were small, and there was not always bread enough to go round, to say nothing of but ter.
 People were kind to them, especially the members of the iron company in whose employ their father had been but times were hard, and there were many poor fam flies to be helped, and lately there had been a great robbery, by which the iron company had lost many thousand dollars, and they did not feel that they could afford to give away as much as they had done.
 Sam carried Jim's dinner to the mine whenever there was anything better for dinner than piece of bread. One day their nearest neighbors, who were as poor as they except for the possession of pig, which they had converted into roasts and fries and sausages, sent them, as present, A fine roast. Not one of them would have cared to eat such fine dinner as that un- less Jim could have some too. Sam had been so unfortunate as to cut his foot in in chopping wood that morning, so that he could not take step, but Johnny de clared that he could carry Jim's dinner just as well as Sam.
 There seemed to be no reason why he couldn't, except that he was such little fellow, not larger than most boys of seven, and the mine on Humpback Hill was a good ways off from where they lived.
 His mother cautioned him great many times not to wander out of tho path, and she followed him to the door, and called after him to be sure to go into the right mine, because some of the old ones were very dangerous, especially the old Con. oshawen Mine, which was very near the one in which Jim worked. .-.--
 Johnny was somewhat impatient of hel warnings. He had been up to Jim's mine two or three times with Sam, and he rath CT thought he could tell which one it was even if the queer little square openings did look just alike. It was the third-no the fourth-at the left hand, as one step ped upon the little table-land, halfway uE Humpback Hill, where was the semicircle of tunnel-ike mines, extending not dow1 into the ground, like the mines Johnny remembered in England, but straight into the heart of the hill
 But was it not, after all, the fifth open ing? Johnny was conscious of httlt confusion in his mind upon that point as he struggled up the hill, and wished ht had asked Sam but he should be sure te know 1t when he saw it. And there were | almost always miners about the openings or men bringing the ore out in drays draw1 | by queer little donkeys that kept thei eyes blinking when they came into tht light, as if they never could get used to it There was no need of making a mistake about the mines, Johnny thought. H. did wish his mother would get over think ing he was such little fellow, and worry ing about him if he wasn't tied to her apro1 I string !!
 nobody in sight. He peered into the open ings of four or five, and could not see se much as twinklsng line in the distance | And he had forgotten whether Jim's mine was the third, or the fourth, or the fifth He was wondering what he should de when there suddenly appeared out of ont of the distant mines an Irishmans with dray full of ore and blinking donkey. 'I say, mister, which mine is it that my brother Jim-Jim Pringle-works in ? called Johnny.
 The Irishman, who was busily engaged in filling his pipe, nodded carelessly in the direction of the opening at Johnny's Jeff hand. It was the fourth mine.
 "That's the one I thought, but wasn' T quite sure" said Johnny, and ran into it. fastening the little miners lamp which his mother had given him into his cap, and hoping that Jim's dinner would not get cold before he found him.
 Before he had gone so far into the mine that daylight refused to follow him the at mosphere became warm and oppressive, like that of hot-house. The walls were dripping with water, and if he had not walked upon the rails which were made fol the drays to run upon, he would have had to walk in mud and water over his shoes. "It wasn't so wet the last time I was here" said Johnny to himself.
 On and on he went. Jim's dinner would surely be cold before he got it.
 ''Surely it wasn't so far to go the last time was here, he thought. "It doesn't seem as if Humpback Hill could be SC thick through as this. This seems like z 1un1le1 So1iIS uHOof ble WuOlo WOFlQ, W1Cn out any end''
 Gould he be wrong? But no, the mar would have .been sure to know, and he | thought he remembered that 1t was the fourth opening. He wasn't exactly afraid but 1t did make him little nervous tt think that he was under the ground. The roof was supported only by wooden beams
 it seemed very easy for the tons upon tons of earth above his head to fall and bury him. He wished Jim didn't have to worl to work in a mine. Suddenly the feeble fickering rays of his lamp were cast upo1 solid wall of earth in front of him. H, glanced upward. One of the wooden beams
 had given away.
 Johnny's heart beat like trip-hammer and he grew sick and faint. There hat been an accident. How much of one i was impossible to tell. Perhaps the whol. mine beyond that point had caved in. Where was Jim?
 Johnny uttered piercing cry-'sJim Jim !'-that the echoes brought back tt him, but nobody answered.
 After a minute or two, growing 8 ittl, calmer, he examined the wall of earth care full, and saw that at the top in one cornel | there was a large chink He climbed III carefully and peeped through. There was an open space on the other side, and tht chink was large enough for him to craw | through. For the first time Johnny was thankful that he was little fellow. Jin might be suffering, dying, on the other