The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-09-02

attempt were many. Then he remem-
bered what my sufferings must be if
still lived, and how his own conscience
would reproach him in the after years
should he leave me to my fate, and
went on.
Now the could see the half detached
mass OF the roof still hung; it was a
smaller fragment that had fallen, one
nearer to the entrance. He could see
also that l lay in the same position be-
meath the rock and he thought that
was dead, because neither moved nor
spoke, though, in fact, 1 had but
swooned under the agony of my suffer-
ing.
Are you dead?'' he whispered, and I
heard his voice through my sleep, and,
lifting my head, looked up at him
astonished, for l had never thought to
see him again.
DO 1 behold spirit" 1 said, cor is
it you come back?"
1T is /, Ignatio, and 1 have brought
lever. Now when 1 lift struggle for
ward if you can
Then he placed the trunk of the
thorn tree in what seemed to him the
best position, and put all his strength
upon it. 1t was in vain; even so he
could not stir the rock.
TRY a little more to the right" 1
said, family, there is a better hold
He shifted the lever and dragged at
/ it till his muscles cracked, and l felt
the stone tremble as its bulk began to
rise.
IF you can help ever so little it will
Gomez he gasped.
Then in my despair, though the
anguish of it nearly killed me, I set my
palms upon the ground, and, contract
I ing myself like a snake that is held
with a forked stick, thrust upward with
my back, till the point of the stone was
raised eight of ten inches from the
ground.
For a moment, and one only, it hung
there; next instant the lever slipped,
and down it came again. But l had
taken my chance, for, clinging to the
| ground with my fingers, so soon as my
/ back was free, with a quick movement
( / dragged myself foot or more for
ward. Then the point of rock that had
! been lifted from my back fell again,
/ but this time it struck the ground be-
tween my thighs.
Now he seized me by the arms and
| tore me free, though 1 left one of my
| long boots beneath the stone. / strove
to rise, but could not because of the
! hurt to my back.
You must carry me, senior" l said.
= He glanced at the mass that trembled
above US, then, giving me the candle,
/ FAINT, and staggered forward down the
tunnel. Perhaps we had gone some
seven or eight PAGES, not more, when
there was dreadful crash behind us.
The roof had fallen in, and the spot
which we had occupied some thirty
seconds before was now piled high with
rocks.
on I said: Cracks are showing
in the stone above usr' and he rushed
orJ al1 faxy-
hausted and bleeding, among the
grasses outside the mine.
Now l bowed my head and returned
thanks for my escape; then, lifting it, l
looked my preserver in the face and
said:
81 swear by the name of God, senor
that He never made a man nobler than
yourself,''
The next instant I fell forward and
tainted there among the ferns.
Ten days had passed since l was
carried from the mouth of that ac-
cursed mine back to Cumarvo in a
litter, and during all this time 1 had
suffered much pain in my back and
been very i'll, SO i'll, indeed, that I was
scarcely allowed to speak with any one.
Now, however, 1 was much better, and
one afternoon the Senior Strickland,
assisted by my roster brother Molas,
lifted me from my bed into ham
mock.
.'By the way, Ignatio," said the sen
or, when Molas had gone, 81 never gave
you back this charm of yours. What
g queer-,ooking trinlset it is!' he add
ed, taking it from his neck; land what
did you mean by your talk in the tun-
mel about its making me heir to the
empire of the Aztecs in the heart OF
every Indian, and the rest of it? / sup
pose that you were delirious with pain,
and did N-- know what you were saw