d in the same way; brought to the central shaft
in baskets by men, and carried to the surface by other men who spent
their lives toiling up and down the endless ladders, with baskets
strapped upon their backs. It was primitive work, and barbarous, but it
at least served the purpose of getting rid, in short order, of
insubordinate slaves. Earth from the tunnellings was treated in like
fashion; and every timber used for building up the walls was lowered
from level to level by ropes. Accidents were many and appalling.
Sometimes a huge stick slipped from its lashings and crashed downward
into the bowels of the earth, knocking men off the ladders in its course
as though they had been flies. Sometimes a ladder gave way, hurling
screaming wretches into eternity; sometimes men were buried in sudden
falls of earth. Also the ladder men, who necessarily went unchained,
died like rats from heart trouble brought on by their constant climbing;
and others were to be driven into their places.

The overseer of the second gang watched the loading of the baskets
strapped to his men's backs, noted the time on his clepsydra, which
stood on a near-by ledge, and started the men one by one, in quick
succession. He knew to a fraction of time how long the trip to the
surface should take, but to make assurance more sure, each carrier, on
his return, brought a check stamped with the exact minute of arrival by
the overseer who had received the ore above. If this check showed that
more time had been consumed than was necessary for the ascent and
descent, there was punishment swift and sure for that luckless one who
had lingered.

The chained slaves, with their empty baskets, filed off again into the
gallery from which they had come.

The shaft chamber, the centre of its floor pierced by the black hole
leading down to the next and lowest level, was lighted dimly by lamps
and candles standing upon shelves which jutted from the earthen walls.
From all the galleries radiating from it, files of men, staggering under
weighted baskets, kept coming to be relieved of their loads by their
unchained fellow-workers. Every moment a man started up the ladder,
clawing his way at top speed out of sight in the darkness of the shaft,
like a grotesque, huge monkey. No lashing, no punishment, could get more
than four such round trips out of a man without a period of rest equal
to at least two trips. When it came to this point, he would merely lose
his hold from shee