The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-06-29


know. I was Supplied with the shock.
sick with a mortal fear Of death. He
and / stood staring mutely at each
other. The one thing 1 recolIect is
that his face was gray as marble and
that a line Of froth stood on his lips.
"He was the first to come back to
sense. He gave one choking cry of
'JimI and staggered forward to that
black pile. The boys hand was stick
ing out from the bottom of it, clutch
ing convulsively at nothing. I sank
down and watched, ina sort of dreary
fascination, as old Jim, uttering
strange cries, tore at the mass in a mad
frenzy. God help him! Jim was the
only thing he had in the world to love.
In less than five minutes he had
dragged him out and sat down to hug
him in his arms. Dead9 No. He could
just open his poor dust filed eyes in
answer to his fathers whispers. But
we knew at once that he would never
again make the galleries echo his pierre
ing whistle.
For whole hours, I suppose, neither
of us attempted to realize our situa
ton. We sat on in the dead silence,
never speaking. Once or twic9 we
saw young Jlm's bIackened lips move
feebly, and each time his father would
mutter brokenly, Aye, my precious
boy, we'll look after herI Once the
old man broke out quaveringly into the
hymn, Abide With Me, but he got no
further than the third line. That was
perhaps about 8 o'clock, but we could
keep no count of the time, as my watch
had stopped. Hour after hour must
have gone by, and still old Jim sat,
with rigid face and staring eyes, clasp
ing his burden. In all probability it
was morning above ground before at
last he spoke.
"'How long can we hold out, MI.
Carson9 I'm feared to go. I've been
a goddess man all my time.'
"That reused me. I examined our
position carefully. The passage was
about eight yards wide at this point
and measured about 20 PAGES from the
end to where that solid wall of coal
blocked our path 10 the outer world.
AS the bore ran level with the foot of
the north shaft, we were about 40 feet
below the clear surface. We had no
food, and u lamps would burn, say,
another five or six hours, while the
breathing air, hot and gaseous already,
would probably become uncomfortable
before the evening came. That was the
situation, and let any man conceive a
worse if he can. One slender chance
of escape at the best was left. Per
haps the entire passage was not
blocked, and we might force u way
to the main gallery. / was not afraid
of death in the way that it comes to
most people, but / was afraid to meet
and struggle with it there. We sprang
to the task, wild at the thought that
those few hours of stupor might have
made all the difference.
"You can guess what happened and
why, after a long spell Of fighting to
break through that horrible wall, old
Jim threw himself down with a groan
and refused to go on. As soon as we
loosened one mass another crushed
down in it's place. At the end of our
desperate attempt we were half choked
and blinded with dust, our hands were
raw, and we had made scarce. any
Roadway. Barely, too, had we given
up the work as hopeless when my lamp
fickered out. Half an hour later old
Jim's followed suit.
"Total oblivionl AS I sat and con
templeted our fate a faintness Of min
gled hunger and despair crept I'VE me.
Young Jim, quite still, was propped
up against the wall close by. Within
q few feet Of me sat his father. At
times he would start up and shrek out
in nameless terror; at others he would
catch up his pick and hack at the
walls with the fury of a maniac. And
worse was to come.
81 think I must have tainted. I do
not seem to recollect any more until
the moment when I became conscious
Of my mates hard breathing over me,
and Of the fact that his hand was feel
ing, or so it seemed, for my throat.
I dashed him away, painting under the
shock of this new horror.
"'Jim,'I gasped, for heavens sake,
keep sanel If we're to go, let us die
like menr
mo answer. I heard him crawling
away, that was all. The dead silence