Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-07-21

all now, she moaned. Forgive me, dear
friend! Forgive mew
'For whatp'
Making light of your forebodings and
bringing you here to your DOOM"
"All is forgotten and forgiven, dear girl.
| shall think of nothing now but how to
get you out of this horror alive The foul
air here is almost suffocating Where are
our companions?" She hurriedly called
them by name, but received no reply.
| thought they might still be uncon-
scious on the ground and began to feel
about for them. They were only few
feet from us when the explosion occurred,
but as | reached out for them now in the
darkness my hands came in contact with
huge rock on the very spot where they
had been standing. In a moment | COM
pretended the horrid truth-they had
both been crushed to death under it. |
hurriedly made known to my fair compan-
ion the startling fact, and added: at may
be that we two, of all within the mine, are
the only ones that Providence has spared"
30 heaven" she groaned, Spared, per-
haps, for more terrible death For how
can we ever find our way up through this
awful darkness to the world aboye?"
I'VE will try, at all events, and while
there IS life there is hope" | rejoined, in
a cheerful tone, though with no cheerful
feelings, for thought the chances were
all against our ever seeing the light of
heaven again. Taking the hand of my
fair companion, that we might not become
separated in the awful darkness, / began to
carefully grope in the direction which
supposed would retrace our steps. The air
was very foul with poisonous gases, and at
times it seemed as if it would paralyze our
lungs to inhale it. We soon came to a
broad chasm, and were | not feeling my
way inch by inch, so to speak, / should
have plunged into death-pit and dragged
Miss Stuart down with me. | could not
tell the width of the assure in the dark
ness, but evidently we could not cross it,
for when | lay down on the edge and
stretched forth my hands | could not touch
the other side.
"Alas! We are doomed to perish here,
and it is all my wicked doinsl" said the
self-accusing girl, when | announced to
her the reason we could advance no fur
ther in that direction.
NAY, dear Miss Sibyl; l will not hear
you blame yourself for being here" l re-
piled. "1ou simply did not see the dan
ger in the same light that | did-or per-
haps | should rather say that you did not
see the danger at all"
"Only as we see danger when it light
ems" she responded; I'VE know we may
be struck, but we can scarcely be said
to fear it. Oh, Mr.. Naples, if there is
any way by which you can save your
life, do not give thought to me, but
make the effort alone, and | will pray for
your success"
"Ah now you do indeed wrong me,
and wound my sensitive nature, by assum-
ing in all seriousness that | am a coward,"
said | reproachfully.
80 no! no | meant not that" she pro-
tested. at was only that, if there is but
one life to be saved | would rather have it
yours instead of mine"
80, dear Miss Sibyl, dare understand
that you would save my life at the sacrifice
of your own p
Eyes" she family sighed after a moment-
airy pause.
| quickly drew back from the verge of
the dread abyss and there, in that rayless
darkness and that awful tomb of death, |
caught her in my arms and pressed her
to my heart. "You love me, then, Sibvl
dear, dearest Sibyl you love me ?"
exclaimed, as l passionately kissed her
tremulous lips. eyes; here in the pres
ence of death, frankly confess that love
you, dear Henry" she family murmured.
Heaven bless you, darlingw / re-
turned; " it makes me happy to hear these
sweet words, even though death be near
US both! What is death, darling, if we
are beloved by our beloved, and know we
shall die with our love? for death here is
only life hereafter. But we will not die
now, if any effort of our own can save us,
and so let us work together for life I"
With this, keeping a firm hold of the
dear girl, began to feel my way in an
other direction; and so we wandered about
in the darkness, hour after hour, seeing
nothing and knowing nothing of our
course, whether it were right or wrong.
said all | could to cheer my sweet COM
panion, but at length she began to dis
pair; and ], to tell the truth, lost all hope
OF ever leaving our prison pit alive. If
we could have known that we were going
in the right direction there would have
been some little encouragement to perse-
we're; but when we considered that the
chances were equal to our getting still
farther away from the point we wished to
reach, there seemed no reason for this ex-
ertion, and we sat down completely dis
heartened.
Well, darling, it will be as God wills"
Isighed. 81 have no other consolation to
offer.
. And / am to be punished for my boast
full presumption, in the suffering of one
whose life is dearer to me than my own"
she replied.
go, Sibyl, darling, you must not accuse
yourself, for that tortures me p cried |.
"Our being here is one of those misfor
tunes which were to be. We have reached
point where the air seems less poisonous,
and we may possibly exist here for DAYS !:
and who knows what time may do, when
there are so many anxious souls above who
will not rest day or night till they shall
have explored the mine in search of the
living and the dead'
In that rayless darkness we could not
make note of time, or tell whether it
were day or night in the world above.
We only know that, after long period,
we began to feel the pangs,, of hunger and
thirst; that we gradually grew weaker :;
that we slept at times and at last we be-
gan to have strange sensations in our
brains, and see dancing lights and phan-
toms, and wonder, in a vague sort of way
whether we were tenants of this world or
the other. That is the last | re-
member till | found myself in room
on bed, weak as an infant, and num-
bers of anxious friends standing around
me. Even then my first thought
was Of my dear companion, and my first
words were an inquiry for her. When as
sured that she was safe, | remember feeling
as il | were in heaven, and at once fell off
into dreamless sleep. l subsequently
learned that we both had been found,
after three days search, in an I'M
conscious condition, and that of all the
parties as far down in the mine as
ourselves, We were the only ones brought
to the surface alive. One hundred
and nine persons persisted in that awful
explosion, and the whole village was in
mourning. | have only to add that nv
dear Sibyl and | both recovered, and in
time regained our health, and that she is
now my loving wife.
Water for Tea and Coffee.
The Scientific american says: All tea and
coffee drinkers can tell by their taste ii the
water from which the beverage is made
has not been boiled or has boiled too much.