, 1897-10-30

clothes KEEP for visitors, and OF course
there were no marches. Then 1 conclud-
ed I'd yell U for The guide, but l WON
derai which way TO call. Felt or. with
my hands TO get the run OF lJhe drift, ard
was mighty puzzled by finding three sets
o. walls-that is, back and forward on
The dris- and off 10 a right angle. too.
That made me feel a ii0;le nervous.
for | knew enough about underground
work to know that the right angle walls
might be only a chamber off the drift
from whidh a Wine had been sunk. and
Il so ! would be sanding near the mouth
O; 'that Wine, which might might drop
a hundred or 200 feet to a stump OF hot
water.
Gentlemen, i confess there was some-
thing more than heat made h sweat
roll off my face JUS then. and | was not
just fit 10 take It calmly when a voice
near me said, 4 am going o push you
down the twinze.' | recognized the voice
as Harker's. but Ihere was something
in it shat 5old me | was dealing with a
maniac.
"'I Knocked your candle out Of your
hand; l waited tin your friends got out
OF earsho.. and now it will amuse me 20
trip you and tumble you down chat
winze.'
Il done claim any more courage than
the average run OF men. I've had 10 tace
men with guns-yes, and men with
knives, which IS a hundred times worse,
and I've done it without showing fear,
even il l felt some.
But this was a different kind OF
game. l couldn't even see the madman.
couldn't even locate him. before, behind,
or at my side. l did strike out, and split
my knudkles OF the tlmbers, while he,
hearing me, laughed. | couldn't reach
him, couldn't see him; couldn't tell from
which side he was gJlng to attack me.
or when, or how!
Now, it dul't do a man any good TO
lie about strdh a thing, n I'll admit
l was so frightened that at first l Could
mt speak. and when l could, I 'oegged
the man TO begin his attack, or I'd go
as crazy as him.
HE laughed at this as If he "a en>
joying the play, and | guess he was, but
he dou,dn't resist the bigger jul Of put
ding me in the WINE. Suddenly he
sprang on my back, and we boJh went
down, he on top, and as l threw my
hal ds ont | felt the timbers Of the little
sheave, or windlass, over the mouth OF
The Wine. That gave me one advantage
I knew what direction to figh: from.
and l fought. l do not know how Iona
It was chat We struggled in silence about
the ho; mouth Of that Wine, sometimes
width nearly half my body in it. some,
times dragging myself clear OF its edge
and nearly forcing him into the hole. /
could hear rocks which we Ioosened fall
and splash into the water far below, and
l felt mysei losing strength both from
the struggle and because OF the sitting
gases which came ny and XII OF the
grave into which we each tried to crush
the other.
He was a maniac, l probably little
better, as we, clutdhed in each others
arms, tossed and plunged about there
on the brink of the winze. AIT last l dis
covered by his actions that he had an
advantage which would surely make
him the winner in che end, for, in or.
der to put me in the winze ne was will
ing to go. too, while l had to fight both
to put him in and to keep out myseL.
81 had braced my feet against the
windlass and was making one last eff
fort 10 throw him of, when, with a
crash, the windlass collapsed and fell
into the winze. That, l knew, meant all
up with me, for it HAD been those tim
bers which had guided me-. I think I
would not have worked much longer II
l had not heard my friends calling. They
came just in time to keep us both cut
OF the Wine. They gnbbed us as we
were Slipping in.
II suppose You do have a good deal
Of excitement here. but. it is probably
o. another kind."-New York Journal.