The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-04-01
was stupehed with the shock, sick

with a mortal fear Of death. He and
stood staring mutely at each other.
The one thing I recollect is that his
face was gray as marble and that line.
of froth stood on his lips.
He was the first to come back to
sense. He gave one choking cry Of
black pile. The boys hand was stick
Ing out from the bottom Of it. clutch
ing convulsively at nothing. ! sank
down and watched, in 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. Dead? No; he could just open
his poor Justified eyes in answer to
his fathers whispers, but we knew at
once that he would never again make
the galleries echo his piercing whistle.
For whole hours, / suppose, neither
| OF us attempted to realize our situation.
we sat on in dead silence, waiting for
something to happen. Once or twice
we saw young Jim's blackened lips
move feebly, and each time his father
would muttar brokenly, 'Ay, my pre-,
cious boy, we'll look after herr Once
| the old man broke out, quaveringly, into
a hymn, Abide with Me? but he got
no further than the third line. That,
perhaps, was about 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,
c1asping his burden. In all probability
1t was morning above ground before at
last he spoke
"'How long can we hold out, Mr..
Carson? 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 twenty PAGES from
the end to where that solid wall of coal
blocked our path to the outer world.
AS the bore ran level with the foot OF
the north shaft we were about forty
feet below the clear surface. We had
no food, and our lamps would burn,
say, another five or six hours.
| IT 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,
dashed him away, painting under the
shock of this new horror.
'Jim,' gasped, for heavens sake,
keep sane! If we're to go, let us die
like men!'
| mo answer; I heard him crawling
away, and that was all. The dead ST.
lence was only broken by faint trick
ling sound. Trickling! Yes; put my
hand to the level, and found half an
inch of water. And hotter and
more sitting grew the. atmosphere.
Praying hard to myself, realized now
that should no help come, only a few
hours could lie betwixt us and the end.
| And then-old Jim might go first, and
/ should be left. Nay, was already
practically alone; the fear that was
slowly whitening my hair had turned
old Jim's brain.
He suddenly sent up peal OF de-
lirious laughter. Water! Who says
water? Why, mates, I'm swimming in
it! Here's go!'
presently he began creeping round
to find me. could hear him coming,
by his labored respiration, and the
swishing of the ooze as he moved.
Round and round the space we went
stealthily, until at last he made a cum
ming rush and caught me by the ankles.
Got him! He yelled it with glee that
was .unmistakable. -.
/ Mere words could never convey the
sensation of that moment. Half suffo-
Gated, past all ordinary fear, I closed
with my poor old mate, and we went
| staggering to and fro across our prison,
until at last managed to throw him
so that his head struck heavily against
the wall. After that he lay quite STILL
I believed at the time that had killed
him. but we knew afterwards that it
| was that blow which preserved his rea-
| son.
.'The rest can be told in few words.
+ After that I lay there like one in a
! dream, while the pestilential air slowly
! did its work. Sometimes I fancied I
could feel cool breezes blowing down
on me, and at others heard some one
telling me to wake up, for that the
whistle had sounded at the pits. How
long lay so I can only conjecture. I
really knew nothing more until I was
reused by the sound of that coal barrier
crashing down before the picks and
spades of dozen rescuers, and the hub
hub from dozen Threats as they broke
into our tomb.
"Only just in time. Old Jim's face
was only just out of the water, and
they said that no human being could
have lived in that atmosphere for an
other two hours. And young JIM
we'll, there was just enough life left in
him to last three days.
"Till the end of that third day kept
s to my bed, and then they sent to say
that he was going, but that he wished
to see me first. I reached the house