The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-01-18

sea. When would he ever touch another,
and what pitfalls might lie between?
The air was chilling and smelt sui
phury. and water could be heard trick
ling and dropping with hollow, dreary
sound But he must not linger; SO with
one hand still on the pillar, he put a
foot forward. 1t did not come down
upon any thing, so Tony stretched out
his leg little more, and yet met with
nothing. Drawing his foot back it
struck against sharp edge. Then he
sat down and felt with his hands.
Horrors! he was on the brink of a
precipice, and there was no telling how,
deep it might be.
Sitting down, with his legs hanging
over, he could not touch bottom; lying
prone he could not reach it with his
arms extended. Tremblingly he let
himself down, and hung by his hands,
but his feet found no resting-place. He
drew himself up again and sat down To
think.
The thought of turning back never
once came to him; this thing had been
undertaken, and it was to be carried
through-Tony did not say to himself,
''if possible''-he simply meant to do it.
Where he sat the coal was crumbled
up, and his hand played unconsciously
among the loose pieces.
Suddenly he remembered once seeing
his father drop stone down.a ''cave-in,"
and that his father had said it was o
very deep hole, because of the lorg IT,
they had to wait to hearr -ss.1e ste, 40 Coug,
bottom. So he took bit of COAL in IS
hand, held it over the ledge anhdroped
it. Instantly there came back little
sharp clink that sounded very near
Not moment was to be lost. Agin
he let himself down by his lands, tok
long breath, let go, and fell-abut
four inches.
After another long brelth of relief,
Tony began exploring on lis handsand
knees. lie did not intend to risk falling
off any higher lodges. The floor still
slopcd downward, and Tony alpost
walked on his head as he crawled abEg.
Presently he bumped UP against an&her
pillar, or was it the side wall? lie felt
carefully along for some distance and
decided that it was the wall; then Using
up from his knees which was cranped
and cut, he ventured to walk, or rsther,
creep, feeling the wall all the while
with his hands, which gave him 8 GER
tain sense of security.
But he yet felt as if at any moment
he might step into hole, and h, did
step into deep pools of water, getting
wet up to his knees, and sometimG he
stumbled over stalagmiteS - cuious
ringed formations made by water crop
ping upon the mine floor-but by lint
OF pluck he gained Roadway.
Also, he began to grow used to the
utter blackness, as he found that how
ever nccdful the sense of sight seems,
there are ether senses that will take it's
place. He was certainly kept on the
alert. TO guard his face from sharp
projections of the WALL to find safe
footing before ever he dared plant a
foot-waving his leg before him as a
measurinG-worm waves its head-above
all, to keep from swallowing the ring;
Tony's mind and body were well occu-
pied, even though his eyes were of no
use to him.
He now felt sure from the sound of his
footsteps that he had left the great opsr
chamber with its pillars, and had en-
tered the gangway, or corridor, which
connected this old mine with the new
one. He knew, for he had heard his
father say SO, that this gangway was
forked at q certain point, leading in one
direction down into the working mine,
and in the other direction bringing one
out upon the surface OF the ground.
How was Tony to choose the right
way, when he did not know whether the
working vein led to the right or to the
left?
This difficulty was serious one, for,
although he could not get hopelessly
lost, he could not lose much precious
time. However. he thought that if the
worst camo he might meet miner in
the new gangway who would show him
the way out.
So he took heart and plodded on
warily. His hearing was intentionally
sharp. Every noise seemed important,
and now and then came a sound which
made his heart thump. 1t was crack
ling, sometimes succeeded by falling
sound, and it brought to Tony's mind all
that he had ever heard of miners buried
beneath falls Of coal.
This old mine had lost many of it's
supports. Sometimes the huge pillars
had been "robbed," as it is called by the
miners, who hated to see SO much good
coal wasted, and also found it easier
mining than drilling into a solid
breast" Then they would neglect to
put in wooden props, or where they did
put them in, these props would decay,
and then the wall overhead, already
cracked by the action of springs, wol~d
tumble in by sheer, unsupported weight.
Tony felt - and had good reasons
to feel-that at any moment he was
likely to be crushed by tons of coal and
rock.
The floor was now getting soft and
culmy, as is the case when much trod-
den upon by men and mules, so he
thought he must be nearing the fork,
or else, that without knowing it, he had
entered the new gangway.
He quickened his steps little, and in
another moment bumped his head
against great wooden door, and at the
same time got a big splinter in one of