Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1897-06-03
@~TWO q RINGS.~@

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 the 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 mutter brokenly,
'Ay, my precious boy, We'll look after
her"
"Once the old man broke out, CULVER
ingly, into the hymn, abide with Me!
but he got no further than the third
line. That, perhaps, was 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, claspng his burden
In all probability it was morning above
ground before at last he spoke.
How long can we hold out. Mr.. Car
son? I'm feared to go. I've been a
goddess man all my time
THAT aroused me. l 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; while
the breathing air, hot and gaseous al
ready. would probably become unen-
durable before the evening came. That
was our situation, and let any man con-
celve worse, il he can. One slender
chance of escape at the best left; per-
haps the entire passage was not block
ed, and we might force our way to the
main gallery. was not afraid of
death In the way that it comes to most
people, but l was afraid to meet and
struggle with it there. We sprang to
the task, wild at the thought that those
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 fast as we loosened one mass.
another era shed down in it's place; at
the end Of our desperate attempt we
were half choked and blinded with
dust, our hands We're raw and we had
made scarce any Roadway.
Barely, too had we given up the
work as hopeless when my lamp flick
cred out: half an hour later old Jim's
followed suit
Total oblivion! AS sat and con-
templated our fate, faintness of min
gled hunger and despair crept over me.
Young Jim quite still. was propped up
against the wall close by.
within 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 maniac.
And worse was to come.
II think l must have tainted. I do
not seem to recollect any more until the
moment when l became conscious of
my mates hard breathing over me, and
Of the fact that his hand was feeling
or. so it seemed-for my throat. l
dashed away, painting under the shock
i Of this new horror.
"'Jim,' l gasped, for heavens sake,
keep sane! If we're to 60, let us die
like men"
mo answer; heard him crawling
away, and that was all. The dead
silence was only broken by a faint
trickling sound. Trickling!
Yes; put my hand to the level. and
found half an inch Of water-and hot
ter and more sitting grew the atmos-
phere. Praying hard to myself. re-
allied now that. should no help come,
only few hours could live betwixt us
and the end. And then-old Jim might
go first. and l should be left. Nay,
was already practically alone; the fear
that was slowly whitening my hair and
turned old Jim's brain
"He suddenly sent up a peal Of de-
lirious laughter. Water! Who says
water? Why. mates, I'm swimming in
it! Here's go.'
Presently he began creeping round
find me. could hear him coming,
by his labored respiration, and swish
ing of the ooze as he moved.
Round and round the space we went
steallhily, until at last he made cum
ming rush and caught me by the ankle.
Got him" He yelled /: with glee that
was unmistakable.
"Mere words could never convey the
sensation of that moment. Half suf-
located. past all ordinary fear, 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. be-
lieved a the time that had killed him,
but we knew afterward that it was
that blow which preserved his reason
"The rest can be told in few words
After that l lay there like one in a
dream, while the pestilential air slowly
did its work.
Sometimes I fancied could feel
cool breezes blowing down on me, and
at others heard some one telling me to
wake up, for the whistle had sounded
at the pits.
How long lay so, I can only con-
lecture. really knew nothing more
until was reused by the sound Of that
coal barrier crashing down before the
picks and spades Of a dozen rescuers
and the hubbub from a dozen threats
as they broke into our tomb.