New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1890-04-16

the right and were gratifed to find
that it turned to the south after q few
yards. It ended in an incline some
thing like the one by which we had
entered the mine. Down this went
Ben, while waited above, so as te, be
able to direct him back with my voice..
Soon heard him calling to me, and /
followed
Look here said Ben, putting his
candle close to a clammy timber
Il looked and saw a chalk mark.
We've gone round in circle some-
how" said Ben. There is the wheel
barrow you fell over. We had better
follow our marks back and try it again
some other time
II was willing, and we walked back,
occasionally stopping to see the marks
on the timbers
81 didn't notice those things before,
did you?" said my companion, as we
passed half dozen rusty picks that
must have been Lying there a decade,
at least.
Il hadn't noticed them, either, and
soon we bumped our heads against an
old lantern hanging from the top OF
the drift. We hadn't met this before.
Then we saw more unfamiliar things,
and we noticed that there was water
beside the old ear track, while the
drifts by which we had come were all
dry as a bone.
I'VE look at one another and evi.
dentlyt the same thought passed through
both our minds, but we kept on, and
soon our fears were realized. The
tunnel ended in what had been years
before, a cooling station, a place where.
the miners ate their lunch and rested
and cooled off when they were in the
neighboring drift. We had followed
some one else>s chalk marks. and we
had now no idea of our whereabouts.
eve can't get out the way we came,'
said Ben, and no work is being done
in the upper levels, so what we've go
! to do is to get down as far as we can,
and we're bound to run across some
Miners then we began trying to find
ourselves We took the nearest tunnel
and followed it until we came to shaft
with ladders in it. These ladders were
crumbling and had evidently not been
used for years, but we were not heavy
| and they did not break. Down we
! climbed to another level. This we fol-
lowed as DcIOre.
'sWhenever we came to new shaft
we threw u fragment Of rock down to
! ascertain how deep it was. Then we
would climb down as far as we could
| We had just reached one level when
rushing sound broke the stiffness. The
noise startled us for an instant, but
hurrying ahead we saw hundreds of
rats coming out Of small tunnel. at
the mouth of which stood Wondering
old ore car.
'.This cheered, us, for we decided
that men must frequent some place
near there, or the rats, which in mines
/ live on the remains of the miners
lunches, could get nothing to eat. But
| though we hunted until we had to stop
and cry again, we could find no one.
Down an incline we went and struck a
tunnel that had evidently been used
more lately than the others. As we
turned into it we saw a spark away off.
Soon we saw that it was candle car
sried by miner. We let out shout.
/ but to our Amusement and horror She
miner dropped his candle an&ran as
| though forty devils were chasing him.
/ We hurried after him and picked up
his candle, but he must have turned
into some other drift for we could not
find him, and our weary search soon
became as hopeless as before. We had
by this time been in the mines good
many hours and had cried ourselves
sick. No matter which way we turned,
there were the same dead cold walls
of rock. The passages were endless,
they seemed to lead nowhere. We
passed several old cooling stations and
at last we got to one and stopped. We
were utterly exhausted. and with all
our misery choking us we swallowed
some of our lunch, blew out our can
dies and, holding each others hands,
fell asleep.
Il remember that my last thought
before-i BECAME unconscious was that
long time afterward they would find
our bodies, and I think / even COM
posed my face and arranged my limbs
j SO as to make more effective corpse.
Nothing about this struck ME as being
i funny. Indeed, fell asleep crying.
We must have slept good many hours,
and my next recollection is of our ly-
! ing there together, sobbing, in the
dense darkness. Suddenly / became
conscious of y low, continued roar as
of water running a long way off. My
companion heard it and we listened,
duly wondering what it could be. We
finally lit a candle, ate the last of our
lunch and started to find out. We
both had been down the mine frequent
q ly before and had no fear of the dark
ness or the rats, SO we went without
hesitation. It was not hard to follow
the noise. Along tunnels, down short
upraises and up inclines we went until
we struck our corridor. We followed
on toward the noise. It was louder
here, and as we advanced it grew into
4 a perfect roar that filled the tunnel.
''Soon we ran into a wall of wood,
from behind which the noise came.
We peered through a chink in the par.
tition and saw broad moving line. II
was the cable that hoists the cage and
. that is what made the noise. We
q watched through the chink in the
g until 1syo "a rrn cd WI +