r such circumstances as solitude, with the
knowledge that you are absolutely cut off from mankind, and may never
hear a human voice again.

He had pricked his lamp down very low so as to save his oil, and was
lying at full length on the cold floor, a prey to the most gloomy
thoughts. All sorts of fantastic forms seemed to mock at him out of the
darkness. He could almost hear their jeering laughter, and was rapidly
giving way to terror and despair, when a ray of light flickered for a
moment on the rocky roof above him.

Springing to his feet and rubbing his eyes, he looked in the direction
from which it seemed to have come, and saw it again, shining through
what he had taken for a solid wall of rock. Then he called out, and Paul
Evert, the very one of whom he had been in search, answered him.

Half an hour later the hole was sufficiently large to allow a man to
squeeze through it, and Derrick had thrown his arms around Paul, and
hugged him in his wild joy and excitement.

The thing for which the miners felt most grateful, next to their escape
from the little stifling chamber and their meeting with Derrick, was his
can of oil. Now they knew that with care they might keep a lamp burning
for many hours; and the dread of total darkness, which is greater than
that of hunger, or thirst, or any form of danger, no longer oppressed
them.

Aleck, the blacksmith, had a watch, and from it they learned that it was
still early in the evening; though it already seemed as if they had been
imprisoned for days. Some of the men began to complain bitterly of
hunger and to beg for food, but Monk Tooley said they should not eat
until the watch showed them that morning had arrived.

To divert their thoughts, he proposed that they should make their way
along the breast to its farther end, so as to be as near as possible to
the slope and a chance of rescue. Acting upon this advice, they made the
attempt. It was a most difficult undertaking, for the floor was of
smooth slate, sloping at a sharp angle towards the gangway. It was like
trying to crawl lengthwise of a steep roof to get from one row of the
timbers that supported the upper wall to another. They were several
hours on the journey, but finally reached the end of the long breast in
safety. There they must wait until relieved from their awful situation
by death, or by a rescuing party who would be obliged to tunnel through
many yards of rock and coal to reach them.

They managed to