Middletown transcript., 1897-06-19

his violin, after very soft solo-for i
was considerably past midnight when
ventured that curious question. There
had been an evening party, and, as
was to stay at the house till morning
Carson's wife had said "Good night
and left us to finish our inevitable
smoke and talk. His mouth twitched a
little, but it was sometime before he re
torted in low tone:
SIS it usual for man we'll under
forty to have hair as white al
miner"
"Well, perhaps not-but | thought
you attributed that to some shock or
other. What has that to do with-with
the two rings?"
Everything" He listened at the
door for moment, turned down the
lights and then came and sat down.
spreading bis hands over the fire.
"Two rings? Exactly, one is tue ring
l put on her finger when | married her;
the second was put there bv another
man, and will stay there as long s the
frst.'
ssNever mind now," | said. His
voice had trailed off huskily. 81 had
no idea there was any tragic element
behind the fact.n
"Tragic? Heavensl It was more
than that, Arthur" he whispered
turning up drawn face. 81 never
meant to touch upon it, but when you
spoke it came back with rush as vivid
as il had been stan ling at the mouth
of the old north shaft again. And that
was six years ago.
you've heard me speak at least, OF
the mine itself-the Langley Mine. in
Derbyshire. I had only been assistant
surveyor at the pits there for about
nine months when it happened. At 8
o'clock that morning, Arthur, three of
us stepped into the cage-old Jim
Halliday, the foreman, his son Jim.
and myself; the men had gone down
an hour before. I shall never forget
that young Jim's sweetheart had
walked over to the pit with him. as
she occasionally did. They were to be
married in week or two, and She
had on her, finger the ring that
he had bought in Derby tho day be-
fore-just for safety's sake, or per-
haps out,of Womanly pride. recollect
that just as the chain clanked and the
winter sunshine was disappearing over
head, he shouted out third 'Good-byP
to her-little dreaming that it was to
be good-by. Little enough old Halliday
and thought that days would elapse
before we emerged into Gods sunlight
again!
IA new vein had been bored the
year before. and then abandoned be-
cause it ran in the direction Of the
river. We three had instructions to
widen it for a space of 300 yards-a
piece of work that had occupied US
nearly month. Old Jim picked and
young Jim wheeled the coal away to
the nearest gallery, from where it was
carried over rails to the bottom of the
main shaft.
aWell, by o'clock that afternoon
we calculated roughly that we had
reached the limit laid down.
ST think it's as near as possible, Mr..
Carson, old Halliday said. Jim, give
another count, we don't want the water
coming in
Jim went back. We could hear
him singing out the PAGES in his light
hearted fashion as he returned, his
voice echoing through the long CALLER
les. Two-sixty-nine--poohl you're
miles of it, dadp He was only score
Of yards off, though. 'Two-sixtyLnine- :
two-seventy-four. It'll allow q full
twenty yet, recon.
He had just finished his count when
but there, no man could properly de-
scribe it. Il was something one had to
realize for himself before he could un-
derstand bare half of the sudden ter
ror that whitened our lips and seemed
to bring our hearts to stsudstill.
There was rumbling in one of the
distant galleries, and sickening trem-
Bile of the ground underneath us; then
then the most paralyzing sound, | do
believe, that is to be heard in this
world. How or why IL happened is
something TO be placed among the host
of uDsolyed mysteries; but there was
one grinding, splinlering roar, as
though the earth had split into pieces.
Before we could stir hand or foot
to save ourselves, before We could even
take in that an explosion had occurred
while we were guarding against am
other sort of danger. down thundered
q mass ofcoal, tons upon tons Of it,
that blocked up the only passage lead
Ing to the shaft. II just reached young
Jim; standing where be did, be was