Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-21

much affected to speak. We could not
believe our own senses.
Grabbing hold of the picks and axes,
our men began to tear down the loose
pile of earth and rock. Frequently we
stopped to hear whether the pounding
continued. 1t took us several minutes
to make much headway into the OBJ
struction.
1T was a weird scene. The lights of
our torches on our caps kept bobbing
up and down as we labored, filling the
place with moving shadows.
Now let's stop and listen again.
said Powell. Much to our joy. the
pounding sounds came louder. A few
more digs brought down the dirt from
the top and a little black hole ap-
peared before us
1.-Two or three of us climbed over the
dirt and yelled: Are any of you alive
in there, boys?'
'An answer came back, Yes!' The
men began pulling at the dirt again
and soon a large gap appeared. We
yelled into it: You hold one of our
torches.
"'How many of you are alive in
there, boys? We will save you in a
MINUTE
Alive and Hungry
'Iu faint, husky tones the men called
back: Yes, we are alive and you bet
we are hungry, too Have you got
some lunch out there?'
Il crawled up as near the hole as l
could without interfering with the men.
God bless you men, we will get
you out in a minute and give you all
the lunch you can eat. Be patient as
you cam
Il could not see anything back in
there, for the men were in total dark
ness, so I climbed back and prayed
that God would make the number we
were about to rescue from the living
grave as many as possible We kept
yelling in to the men to keep up their
courage, promising them that the way
would soon be clear and the cage in
the hosting shaft was down and ready
to carry them to the surface.
zone of the men inside answered
back: Most of us are all right and
feeling fine, but there is one poor fell
low, "a Frenchman called Frank, VINO
is almost gone, and I'm afraid he will
be dead in few minutes if he doesn't
get some fresh air.
when the pile Of dirt finally tum-
bled down some of the men were
staggered by the inrush of air and the
lights from our torches; for during
seven days they had lived in total
darkness.
with a shout we jumped over and
met them. throwing our arms around
their necks and almost lifting them
from their feet. Their joy was mex
pressible. They pounded us on our
backs and continued to laugh and cry
aloud until the whole place reverber-
ated with the cheering.
Blinded by Light
I'VE wanted to carry the men to the
hosting shaft in our arms, but they
insisted they were strong and well
enough to walk out themselves. The
only trouble was they were practically
blinded bv the torches. We threw
blankets over their heads and started
to escort them.
MY first concern was to get after
the poor little Frenchman who was
reported dying. l found him out
stretched on his back breathing his
last Holding a torch over his face,
which was black from SCOT, l said TO
him, DO you give your soul to God|
He answered, I'm afraid l will never
get up alive That was true. l ad-
ministered the last sacrament and IN
a minute he was dead.
"I then Joined the others and walked
toward the shaft, there occurring one
Of the greatest acts Of heroism l have
ever heard or read of. 1t can hardly
be believed. 49, .,. ,,.o
rescued, on hearing that there were
others alive in another part of the
mine. threw off the blanket with
which we had covered him and shout
ed, We'll, then 1 am not going out Oh
this mine until 1 get the others.
I'VE demonstrated, saying that Tor
him to remain down there longer
would mean his death.
1--WE will take you up to the tresn
air and give you some warm food ana
then maybe we will let you help us do
the rest of the work But Waite pro
tested and we actually had to force
him into the cage. All the way up ne
shouted. Let me go down and help
get the others up.