t a projecting lance of rock
immediately above him. There had been a speedy end to his troubles, poor
fellow, and he sat there stiff and cold and pallid, staring before him
like a figure in an exhibition of waxworks.

The waters barred our further descent into the mine, but there was
a belief that by breaking through the earthy wall of the stable a
continuation of the old airway would be found. The experiment was tried
with an alarming result No sooner was the breach made than a slow stream
of choke-damp flowed into the chamber, and the lights began to go out
one by one. We scrambled back at once for our lives, and once past
the pool were safe; the water effectually blocked the passage of the
poisonous gas. I got but one whiff of it; but it gave me a painful
sensation at the bridge of the nose which lasted acutely for some days.
In all, our expedition had not lasted an hour; but it had proved to
demonstration the impossibility of saving a single life.

I was dressed and mounted in another quarter of an hour and scouring
hard through the dark and the rain in the direction of Birmingham. When
I arrived there the country edition of the _News_ was already on the
machine and the compositors were leaving work. Word was given at once,
however, the whole contingent detained, and I sat down to write an
account of the night's adventure--the printer's devil coming for the
copy sheet by sheet as it was written, and each folio being scissored
into half a dozen pieces so that as many men as possible might work on
it at once. I slept a few hours, and then rode back to Pelsall with a
copy of the paper in my pocket. Forbes packed up his belongings an hour
later and left the scene.

I had an idea that I had made an enemy, and that Forbes would never
forgive me for beating him. I did not know my man, however; for it was
he who took me by the hand in London a year afterwards and secured for
me the first regular engagements I ever held there. He introduced me to
Edmund Yates, who found me a place on the original staff of the _World_,
and to J. R. Robinson, manager of the _Daily News_, who gave me a seat
in the gallery of the House of Commons and a chance to show what I was
good for as a descriptive writer. Forbes did more than this; but the
matter I have in mind is private and confidential. I have no right to
speak of it here, except to say that it was an act of large-hearted
generosity performed in a fashion altogether characteristic of