The state herald., 1890-04-25
IDENTIFY tho same Thought passed through

uoutly tno Suiuc tHUuSnt PhoSOu InrUuEu
both our minds. but we kept on, and
soon our fears were realized. The
tunnel ended in what had been years
before, cooling station, place where
the miners ute their lunch and rested
and cooled of when they were In the
ncighboring drift, We had followed
some one elsc's chalk marks. and We
hal now no idea Of our whereabouts.
I'VE 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 10 get down as far as VIC can,
and we're bound TO run across somc
miners then we began trying to hnd
ourselves. We took tho 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 VIC were not heavy
and they did not break. Down wo
climbed to another level. This we fol-
lowed as before.
'Whenerer we came to a new shaft
we threw fragment Of rock down to
ascertain how deep it was. Then we
would climb down us far rs we could
We had Just reached one level when a
rushing sound broke the stiffness. The
noise startled us for nm instant. but
hurrying ahead VIC saw hundreds Of
rats coming out of II small tunnel, at
the mouth Of which stood mouldering
old ore car.
This chccret, us, for wo decided
that mon 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 VIC had to stop
and cry again. we could find no one.
Down an incline we went and struck
tunnel that had evidently been used
more lately than the others. As we
turned into il we saw spark away off.
Soon we saw that il was II candle car
ried by miner. We let out shout
but TO our a,mazement and horror the
miner dropped his candle and ran Us
though forty devils were chasing him.
1 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 US 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 10 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 aud, holding each others hands.
| fell asleep.
Il remember that my last thought
before i became unconscious was that
II long time aficrward they would lind
our bodies. and think | even COM
posed my face and arranged my limbs
so as to make II more effective corpse.
Nothing about this struck ME as being
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 tho
dense darkness. Suddenly l became
conscious of low, continued roar AS
of water running long way on. My
companion heard it aud we listened,
duly wondering what it could be. We
finally lit candle, ate the last of our
lunch and started TO find out. We
both had been down the mine frequent
ly before aud had no fear of the dark
ness or the rats. so we went without
hesitation. 1t was not hard 10 follow
the noise. Along tunnels, down short
upraiscs aud up inclincs we went until
we struck our corridor. We followed
on toward the noise. II was loudcr
! here, and rs we advanced il grew into
perfect roar that filled the tunnel.
. soon we ran into wall Of wood.
from behind which the noise came.
| We pecrcd through chink in the par.
| lition and saw a broad moving line. II
was the cable that loisis the cage, and
that is what made the noise. We
watched through the chink in the
boards until we saw cage loaded with
| rocks 20 up. and then began Ia think
how we could reach the point from
| which the care hal started. We
knew that We were very far under
ground. for the rocks that we threw
down the ircqucb shafts splashc'l IL
the water nj the bottom. II was moi
long before we found deep shaft. ant
down that We clambercd. As we ncarec
| the bottom we heard another tumbling
AN ore ear running the lramway
| We sliouied us we went down the lad
ders and the rarman answered our cry.
Soon we were standing by him, while
he locked us OYER with wonder.
Where are wcP' we both shouted.
as soon as we could speak.
"'This is the l.joO-ioot level of the
Grown Point. he answered.
We had gone n mile and half un-
der the ground aud nearly u third of
mile down. We were sick and bruised
aud hungry and our clothes were torn
almost of of IL. |, was 10 % clock in
the morning when We entered the old
incline, and II was nearly o'clock the
next morning when the carman found
Us, In no time at all VIC had been fed
and sent in charge Of u miner on the
cage 10 daylight. again."-San Fran
cisco EIamtuer.
Thc RiDh0 iuh 0Brn