Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1894-12-13

iuOuth VI iue slidit lIic iluS vi NdiliHS
women and children thickened every
minute. Within, the managers We're
already busy organizing rescue parties.
Jake Grimsby, with set face, pressed
his way through. He noticed Ned's
old mother there-and remembered she
had him only for her bread winner. He
passed close to Jessie, caught her look
of fright and again remembered Ned.
1t struck him she wished to speak.
But he pressed on there was no time
to talk.
What had happened soon became
known, and some relief was felt. 1t
was not an explosion, but the supports
of new gallery had given way, and
those working in it-Ned among them
had become entombed. The engineer
had been down. Now, while he called
for rescue parties, he gave his opinion
frankly. Examination showed the
whole of that part of the workings to
be in SO rotten state that it seemed
little short of certain death to any who
should go in and attempt to dig out the
buried men. Further falls threatened
on every side.
But the flame of English heroism
had already begun to burn in the hearts
of the rough, coarse men who listened.
In very little while the cage was de-
scending the shaft with one rescue
party, Jake Grinsby at their head, and
another was formed and ready to fol-
low. Fortune favored the rescuers.
For hours they worked like Titans, and
no more falls occurred. And at last
enough of the debris was cleared away
to enable the imprisoned men to escape.
Ned Walton was among the first to
crawl through the hole. AS he saw
Jake he pressed his hand in silence,
then passed on. Others followed, and
were taken to the top. Two men were
missing still, however, and the rescuers
worked on. Round after round of true
Lancashire cheering greeted the arrival
of the rescued men at the pits mouth.
Ned's old mother rushed at him, and,
probably for the first time since he was
baby, Rugged him, and kissed some
of the coal dust off his cheek.
"He's moan hurtW she said, and
laughed.
Jessie saw him, too, and when his
mother let him go, drew near. Her
face was white with the anxiety which
was on every other face there till the
frightened; on hers the pallor increased.
at sight of Ned. She seemed, indeed,
not to be thinking of Ned just then.
"Wheer's Jake?n she asked, imperi-
ously, CAV reet?n
Ned assured her he was safe enough,
still digging. He himself was very
faint, and inwardly in great pain. He
had offhandedly declined for the ''owld
mother'sn sake to confess he needed
the medical aid loffered, and said he
would go home. But the revelation in
,Jessie's eyes and manner was too plain
to be missed.
Almost before he had finished an
swering Jessie, the cage came up again.
1t contained, not the missing ones, but
two men who had but little while be-
fore gone down. They jumped off the
cage and began speaking to the mana
gers in way that those who saw it I'M
derstood only too well. Soon enough,
indeed everybody knew that another
collapse in the workings, and one per-
haps more serious than the first, had
taken place, and that now the rescuers
themselves needed to be rescued. At
the news, jessie became frantic and
turned almost fiercely upon her lover
".Jake's broWt 20 oop fro death3'
she cried. eff yo'r mon, if yo'r true
1lduCdSuIIc, yo'll IllNNSI lSO Ilul Sllc
loike rat j. thu hole down theer.n
To her, Ned looked none the worse
for his adventure. She did not know
till afterward, till al Blackville knew,
that he had been badly struck by the
falling coal and could barely keep him
self upright. 1t seemed to her he was
holding back, was not swift enough in
answering the demand for rescue.
Ned looked at her, half dazed. Her
words stung him, but he forgave them,
for he understood.
"Ned Walton is true Lancashire,
Jess" he said simply. "Yo' dunnot
need to talk sou
And he left her at once.
Its Jake" he said to himself, as he
staggered to where the new rescue
party was hurriedly forming. can
it's Pm nobbut the stranger to her."
None saw the staggering. All atten-
ton was too deeply engrossed by the
fresh call to heroism. So Ned passed
down in the cage. The second rescue
did not take long to effect, and happily
there were no more falls. AT length
the rescuers crawled back to life and
safety, and once more the rough hands
of the two friends were locked in a grip
more eloquent than words. But Ned IS
strength failed him at that moment
the hero spirit alone had kept him up
until his work was finished. He sank
exhausted upon the coal.
Jake, ovid lad he said, in whis-
per, "Jess belongs to thee. I'm nobbut
the stranger to her. Tell her, lad-tell
her, ed-was-true-Lan u
He never spoke again. When they
carried him to the top he was dead.
! Blackville soon knew the whole
story. 1t became common property,
partly from the examination of Ned's
body, which showed he must have been
in mortal agony all the time he worked
at the rescue, and partly through the
belle herself, who, when she knew, was
hardly more proud of the living hero
/ whom she loved than of the dead hero
whom she pitied. And Blackville was
no less proud of Ned, to whose "owd
mother" it was thereafter itself son,
while it still speaks of its two cham.
pions as splendidly matched, and max.
ing draw of it to the end, in heroism
as in fighting.
Il