Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-05-08
BURIED IN A MINE.

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grateful sensations on IA cold winter nigh
is procured from the bowels of the earth
Now have strong natural desire t.
see everything new and strange: but ther
| am also very cautious, and do not care
to put my life in peril merely to crafty
my curiosity, so hesitated and reflected
a little before answered:
II should like to see the miners al
work, if it could be done without risk OF
life"
A pretty, bright blue eyed young lady
who was present, and to whom | had
taken great fancy. burst out with a
ringing laugh
Surely you are not afraid Mr. Ma
plesr she exclaimed, with mischievous
twinkle of her blue eyes that did more to
urge me on than the arguments of all
her relations could have done in a month.
/ for no man likes To be thought d coward
/ in the presence Of beauty
Il certainly would not like to be con.
sidered afraid, Miss Stuart, merely be-
cause | have repelling sense Of dam
gerl replied Surely you do not think
1t necessary for man to be foolhardy in
order to prove that Ire is not poltroon?
believe every one is in some degree
afraid when he sees danger. but some
people are gifted with the faculty of see
ing danger where others do not"
And sometimes where it does not
exist
at may be.
And you possess that gift largely"
she laughed
NAY, Miss Stuart you hardly do me
justice. ! at least claim to be reason
able. In the case Of mining coal, neither
you nor any one else who is familiar
with past occurrences in the mines can
truthfully declare that there is not ali
the time danger down in those dark and
awful depths and that every one who
descends thither. be it for a minute or
month, carries his life in his hands.
We'll, at least am not afraid" she
rejoined, somewhat boastingly; land /
have been down there as many times as
am years old
"A matter OF nineteen?" | observed.
Exactly nineteen" she smiled
We'll, then, make it twenty, and l
will accompany you" said
Agreed" was her proud response.
The instant she said this | experienced
strange sensation, like presestiment
of evil, and would gladly have had my
promise unspoken But it was too late
for me to think of changing my declara-
ton, even had the danger been a thou
sand times more apparent, for | am one
OF those stubbornly firm individuals who
always live up TO my given word, let the
consequences be what they may; and SO
we prepared ourselves, and went down
into the mine-a party of four of us
two gentlemen besides myself. and the
lady have mentioned.
The descent for the first two hundred
feet was in a large bucket lowered by
windlass, and do not think that any
one for the first time ever vet took that
plunge into the awful abyss of darkness
and mystery without an inward shrink
ing akin to horror. however careless and
Indifferent may have been his outward
assumption.
One of our party, who was connected
with the mines and was to act as our
guide on the present occasion, carried u
Davy lamp fastened to his cap, and by
this feeble light we could dimly see each
others faces and the black, damp walls
which surrounded us as down, down
ever down, we kept sinking deeper and
deeper into the bowels of the black pit,
well knowing that the slightest accident
might land us suddenly on the shores of
eternity
The two gentlemen and myself looked
grave, as became the place and the oc-
caslon. but pretty Sibyl Stuart was full
OF talk and animation rafting on from
one thing to another. never seeming to
care for a reply, but apparently satisfied
to hear the sound of her own voice. Was
she really needless of any possible dan
ger. or was this light chatter done to
cover serious fancies and misgivingsf
could not believe the words came from
heart as light and free as they seemed to
represent.
Reaching our first landing, we began
our exploration through long dark gal
leries where every here and there d
heavy prop supported the rocky roof,
with the thin layer of foundation sup
ported in turn in the same manner, still
below us, tier on tier, SO that the yield
ing OF any weak spot far down in those
awful depths might precipitate thousands
OF square feet into one shapeless mass
and bury us forever from human sight
Still as there was no more danger APP
parently of this occurring now than at
any time within the past twenty years,
there was no good reason for my taking
The subject into consideration, except
that of my being still haunted by that
presentiment of evil, of which | have
spoken
Our guide led the way TO some NOV
ing lights which we could see sparkling
n the profound darkness, and we soon
'ound ourselves at the top of another
shaft, where another descent of hun
lred and fifty feet was made in a bucket.
after which followed some rough climb !
ng over rocks and assures, with here
md there a descent by ladders which /
proved both prccarious and tiresome. /
ill at last we stood upon a ledge from |
which, a hundred feet still below us, we
oeheld hundred moving lights, and |
leard the peculiar sound of the miners |
1t their daily toll of digging out and /
breaking the black Jumps of coal that /
vere intended to find their way to the |
bright world above.
There they are" exclaimed our fair .
vivaciously, looking, with .
heir red, bobbing lights and shadowy
orms, like so many tiends of Pandemon-