The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1890-04-19

we had come were all dry as a bone. we
looked at one another, and evidently the
same thought passed through both our
minds, but we kept on, and soon our
fears were realized. The tunnel ended
al what had been years before a cooling
station, a place where the miners ate
their lunch and rested and cooled off
when they were working in the neigh
boring drifts. We had followed some
one else's chalk marks, and we had now
no idea of our whereabouts.
"'We can't get out the way we came,
said Ben, and no work Is being done In
the upper levels, so what we've got TO
do is 10 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 a 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 followed as before.
Whenever we came to a shaft we threw
a 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 a 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 moldering old ore car.
"This cheered us, for we decided that
men must frequent some place near
there or the rats, which in the 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 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 a candle carried by miner We
let out a shout, but to our amazement
and horror the miner dropped his candle
and ran as If 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 be-
came 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 exhaust
ed, and with all our misery choking us
| II rNe.
out our candles and, holding each others
hands, fell asleep.
~ remember that my last thought be-
fore l became unconscious was that a
long time afterward they would find our
bodies, and think l even composed my
face and arranged my limbs so as to
make a more effective corpse. Nothing
about this struck me as being funny. In
deed, fell asleep crying We must
have slept a good many hours, and my
next recollection is of our lying there to-
gether, sobbing, in the dense darkness.
/. Suddenly became conscious Of low,
continued roar as of water running long
way off. My companion heard it and
we listened, DULY wondering what il
could be. We finally Lit candle, ate the
last Of our lunch and started to find out
We had both been down the mines FIRE.
quently before and had no fear of the
darkness or the rats, so we went without
hesitation. 1t was not hard to follow the
noise. Along tunnels, down short up
raises and up inclines we went until we
struck one corridor. We followed on to.
ward the noise. It was louder here, anG
as we advanced it grew into perfect
roar that filled the tunnel.
"Soon we ran into wall of wood, from
behind which the noise came. We peereC
through chink In the plank partition
and saw broad moving line. 1t was the
cable that hoists the cage, and that Il
what made the noise. We watched
through the chink in the boards until WI
saw cage loaded with rock 20 up, anC
then began to think how we could reach
the point from which the cage had start
ell We knew that we were very fal
underground, for the rocks that W,
threw down the frequent shafts splasheC
in the water at the bottom, so we did no
attempt to climb TO the top. 1t was no
long before we found a deep shaft, anC
QOWn IndI we CldulDeTeu. Ab we nedI6t
the bottom we heard another rumbling-
an ore car running along the tramway
We shouted as we went down the lad
ders, and the carman answered our cry
Soon we were standing by him, while h
looked us over with wonder
"'Where are wer we both shouted, a
soon as we could speak.
"'This is the fteen-hundred-foot leve
of the Crown Point, he answered.
"We had gone mile and half unde
the ground and nearly a third of mil
down. We were sick and bruised AM
hungry, and our clothes were torn al
most off us. 1t was 10 O'Clock Ia tn
morning when we entered the old In
cline, and 1t was nearly o'clock the mex
morning when the carman found us. Il
no time at all we had been fed and sen
In charge OF a miner on the cage TO day
J light again. San Francisco Examiner,