The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-01-28

pipe had been taken of, and, without needing the blackness of the shaft below, grasped the top edge of the pipe and swung myself into it. The men paid out the rope, and slowly and gently felt myself going down, the darkness closing over my head, and the hollow echo of the noises above sounding in my ears.
 If the valve was going to fix had not leaked, the pipe would have been filled with water. It had had about five hours to escape in, and the sides of the pipe were yet moist, and the yellow boy" was soft and gummy. I carried portion of it with me, and could hear it dropping on the valve below.
 Breathing in so narrow place was difficult, and the air had damp, un- wholesome smell that was very dis agreeable. The flame of my lamp was as small as could be used, and it's smoke ascended out of my way. It cast dim light on the sides of the plpe, and 1 knew my fathers eyes above were watching its yellow flame.
 l had made the same perilous descent before, and no thought of danger pre- sented itself. Aside from its unpleas- antness I relished the idea that I was the only one who could go down, though my father had laughed when I was hoisted out the last time, and said if didn't stop growing he'd have to hunt for anofher hoy
 I reached the valve chamber safely. This was considerably larger than the pipe, to provide free passage for the torrent of water. I could bend down in it, though it was a tight squeeze, and doing so pulled the valve up. It swung on hinge, and rested against cap to keep it in place. Iquickly took out the belt that held the old leather in, and fitted the new leather on. A few turns of the wrench and l was through.
 "Hoist up," I called, the pipe mak- ing trumpet; but imagine my hor- TOT when the rope came tumbling down upon me, smarting and cutting wherever it struck, and putting out my light. At the same time l heard a strange rumbling noise that l could in no way account for, and felt the pipe vibrate.
 l looked up, obeying my first inn pulse. An opening two hundred feet away, only eighteen inches in dia- meter, becomes small, round, white patch, and although looked steadily for some minutes, was unable to distinguish anything but daylight.
 Whatever has happened, 1 thought, father will not desert me.
 was not passive prisoner long. l knew better than to light my lamp when I might need all the air that came down the pipe myself, and 1 could not get beyond its iron wall. l unbuckled the strap and freed myself, and began to "shin" up the column. 1 did not get over five feet from the valve before 1 was exhausted. The yellow-boy was slippery, the air close and heavy, and had to slide down to the valve to rest. My exertions had heated me, and there was choking sensation in my throat.
 "f atner, Iatner Y calle0.
 The hollow reverberations of my own voice mocked and terrified me, and died away. I heard the beating of my heart.
 I saw daylight, liberty above me. I made another try to crawl up the in- side of the pipe by bracing my hands and feet against my body, but fell back. The blackness seemed to be closing over me. I felt weight upon my chest, and gasped for breath. I called out for help again.
 Then 1 began to reason. If l could get air enough could live for hours, or even days, if some one did not come to my aid. picked up the wrench and sounded the iron with it. The pipe was too thick and the wrench too light to break hole through into the shalt.
 sat down on the rope and tried to calm my excitement. Something se- rious must have happened to make my father desert me. What? Was the breaker afire? Had boiler burst? Had the mines caved in?
 Or had there been an explosion or gas? I had it could now account for the rumbling noise had heard and the vibration of the column pipe. There had been an explosion! What had become of my father and the men standing on the staging over the top of the shaft? There was no other out let for the expansion but there, and the second opening some five hundred feet away, and perhaps they had been blown to pieces.
 I had often seen the effects of an ex- plosion, and knew what power there was in one. The Clark vein was gassy, and there had been several har mless explosions in it. The one had heard must have been terrific, and was for Oot in the avcitananf affpndtnv if