Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1913-04-17


His demands elected no informa-
ton. Nobody had seen Sturgis.
Four OF the victims and three OF
the volunteers still remained below.
In that gloomy, subterranean world,
disorganized by the fact that the ex-
plosion had occurred at closing time,
when all were making for the mouth
of the shaft. it was each for himself.
None knew where his comrade lay.
AS the elevator waited at the en-
. trance Pascoe and half a dozen more
volunteers climbed in. The button
was pressed and the cage shot toward
the earth.
It halted where the slope ceased,
and the men disappeared in the gloom,
shouting to one another. Pascoe did
not hear them. They knew the scene
{ of the accident-but he was bent upon
a single quest He ran lightly over
/ the masses of fallen slate and shale
I which choked the entrance TO Sturgis'
new heading, and then, crouching,
made his way cautiously under the
overhanging. untimbered rocks. Far
/ behind him tiny electric lights twink
/ led, a cluster of fairy lamps, but their
light did not penetrate into these sub
/ terranean recesses Sometimes Pas
coe, advancing now at a snaips pace,
1 with arms outstretched, collided with
! boulders, sharp Of edge and Jagged
OF tooth, which bruised and cut him;
| then again he was climbing upon
/ masses Of disrupted cliff, blasted by
I Sturgis and not yet removed from the
I irregular gallery
Then, just as Pascoe found the mar
/ rowing tunnel too small to permit fur
! Their progress. he heard a feeble an
/ swer TO his cry. He turned and CROPPED
his way toward the source of it,
/ stumbled over a body, and found him
| self kneeling at Sturgis side
Thank God" he shouted with the
/ JOY that comes to all men who are
given the saving Of human life. At
that moment he forgot Mary, forgot
/ the years of slow cruelty, the useless
ness OF the man lying at his feet,
( Whose death would give back the Joy
/ of living to both of them. Are you
/ hurt Sturgis?' he shouted.
I My legs are broken think the
\ miner answered. Somebody shouted
fire damp at the end Of the gallery,
/ and ] ran out to see. l passed near
/ somebody's fuse. The dog had left it
burning, ard taken to his heels. l
! got the charge and the rock. Who are
your"
Pascoe did not reply to this ques-
ton. I'm going to hoist you on my
( back" he said Get your arms
round my neck and bend your head
4 TO the level of mine, to avoid bump
ing Ready? Now
Srurgis groaned as Pascoe raised
him, and his legs trailed useIessly.
/ Pascoe forbore to touch them; thus
/ the labor was almost iutolerable. He
/ fought his way almost by inches out
of that inferno until the twinhing
lights in the distance began to sepa-
rate and the central gallery ap-
| peared
He was almost upon it when sud
! denly his tongue seemed to fill his
throat; he could not breathe. He
/ heard the man on his back cry once
| and begin choking Pascoe knew
well what had happened They had
/ run into sratuIS of fire damp, which
had filtered out of its gallery into the
central passage
Purple in the face, unable to draw
/ a breath, he staggered on with an ef-
! fort almost superhuman. He felt his
/ lungs bursting; then all at once he
was drawing in great gasps of air
again, and the distant shaft appeared,
a glimmering thing, ghostly in the
obscurity.
I He did not dare set Sturgis down,
/ for the deadly fire damp might be
upon them at any moment again; be-
/ sides, the pain in his injured legs
1 would become intolerable with further
/ handling He heard the mans quick,
I sharp intakes of breath and stumbled
onward. He had covered thirty PAGES
when the fire damp was upon him
again.
He felt his senses leaving him
The lights in the distance changed into
swinging lanterns He knew that he
could go no further, Very gently he
fell to his knees, letting Sturgis' body
slide off his back upon the ground.
His last thoughts would be Of Mary;
he thanked God that he had been per-
mitted to see her once again.
He thought he heard a distant call,
and tried to shout, but his mouth
only opened aimlessly. Not a sound
came from his closed air-passages.
But it was at that moment that a
fresh body of volunteers swung into
the gallery; at the same moment, too,
one Of those faint STRINGS Of air
which take the place Of wind in the
mines hurried the thil gas into the
heart of the workings. The newcom-
ers fell over the bodies and bore them
TO the elevator Ten minutes later
Pascoe opened his eyes on earth.
At first he could only see the strug.
Cling crowd at the pit head, and then.
between the patches of moving color,
he made out az interposing figure
that bent over him He looked up. to