Year: 1867

the pit, with the feelings that ami
mate every miner on such occasions


l didn't seem minute before
came to the dust-heaps, round the
pits mouth, but some were there be
fore me, and the of.men and the wo
men were rushing up from the vii
lage in a stream. The smell from
the pit almost knocked me down al
l came up, and had to get my
breath little when three or four ol
us crept on to the mouth, and looked
down. The explosion had destroyed
the cage, not leaving a stick of it
but it hadn't injured the signal rope
hence means of communication re-
mained for any one Immediately be
low. AS soon as | saw this, set tc
work to rig cross-bar, and present
ly had it ready.


"Just lower me gently" said to
two banksmen. II may pick up one
or two, if there's any near"


"You can't go down yet |" cried
the viewer. "How many arc in the
pit 7"


"Half an hour ago there was fif
ty," replied the timekeeper ; "but !
am thankful to say they all came ur
but ten"


"And they are all lost" said the
viewer, =" for there will be another
explosion directly.n


"Pll go down, anyhow" said
doggedly "and if nobody will low
er me, Pll jump down"


A good many were on the heaps
now-men and women-some of the
women crying, and some praying
but when spoke out that way, there
was a dead silence. Then two OF
three called out =" Good. bye, Charley
God bless you, brave lad" The
banksman lowered me down, and
sank through the pits mouth. A
Davy-lamp was tied round my waist,
and held a rope in my hand, 80 that
/ might signal to be hoisted up, il
the air became too foul. But | had
no intention of going back till | had
searched the pit, and seen if there
were any alive. One thing, / didn't
care about my life and another, ]
would have been ashamed to face the
folks above without doing something
so felt impatient that they lowered
me at such snaiPs pace, and kept
looking up and down to measure the
distance yet to be traversed. The
shaft had never seemed so deep to
me before. l strained my eyes into
the darkness below, and | saw nc
bottom / glanced up, and the CLEAN
OF light grew smaller and fainter.
scanned the walls of the shaft, and
marked only their black bound. But
my progress notified by the increas,
ing density of the air, which began
to affect my breathing and, as !
went on, | had to shift my face from
side to side to make little current
At last my feet touched ground.


/ looked round, as jumped off the
straddle, and saw the furnace was
out, which put stop to the ventila.
tion of the mine, as far as it depend
ed ON the brattices, and no air enter.
ed but by the shaft. The stencil was
overpowering, and, from this and the
silence, l guessed the worst. 1t was
plain that the explosion had killed
the horses for not a sound came
from the stables, which were close to
the shaft and what hope could
there be for human beings in a dist
ant part of the pit? You may be
sure | didn't stand to make these re-
Elections ; they foated across me, and
| was working forward before they
had got through my mind. l knew
the old mine blindfolded but what
with the foul smell, and what with
the gloom, and my shortness of
breath, | was some minutes scramb-
ling to the top of the incline, keep
ing my arms stretched out, as | went
along, to feel for anything in the
way. And it was lucky did, or l
should have dashed my head against
some empty trucks, and in the state
l was in, that would have finished
me. Thus | reached the first gallery
which you could only enter STOPPING.
| pushed open the trap, and went ON
few steps, though my Davy-lamp
was what pitman call afre the
fame being all blue-and l knew
that the atmosphere was so much
gunpowder. But stumbled along ;
if wasn't to save any one, it didn't
matter what became of myself, and
| pleased myself with the thought
that Nelly would hear that / had died
in the attempt. And then, all at
once, it came into my head what she
had said about her brother Jack be-
ing in the pit. This gave my heart
such q turn that I quite staggered,
and the perspiration poured from my
forehead like water. l rushed for
ward as if / was mad my foot
struck something bent down over
what seemed corpse, and the CLEAN
of the lamp fell on its face. It was
Jack Glover. Ididn't know whether
he was alive or dead, but caught
him in my arms, and with the strength
of giant, and the speed of a deer
hardly conscious, hardly breathing
| made dash for the shaft.


1t was easier work going back,
when you were once in the main or
horse road for now the shaft was
before you, instead of behind and,
though you wouldn't think it, this
made a wonderful difference in the
light. Dark as pitch it still was,
though not to pitman's eyes, and
had found out that Jack breathed
when ! reached the shaft. The dis
covery nerved me afresh, and kept
all my senses at work, without my
seeming to know it. l only felt that
there would soon be another explo