ft of
the mine in safety.

Some, however, escaped with the utmost difficulty, and a few there
were--chiefly among those who had been near to or immediately below the
scene of the outbreak--who perished miserably.

At the first rush the water had almost filled the level where it
occurred, and, sweeping onward about eight fathoms to a winze, plunged
down and partly over it. The greater part, however, went down to the
eighty-five fathom level. East of this a man named Anguin, with his two
sons, William and James--youths of about twenty years of age--were at
work. They heard the roar of the approaching torrent, and the father
and younger son James rushed towards the winze, intending to ascend the
ladder. Before they reached it the flood was pouring down with
deafening noise. The least harmful part of the cataract was the water,
for the current now carried along with it stones, pieces of timber, and
rubbish. To encounter all this might have caused the stoutest hearts to
quail, but miners can never calculate the probable extent of an
inundation. They might, indeed, by remaining in the roof of the level,
escape; but, on the other hand, if the flood should be great enough to
fill the place, they would certainly be drowned. Father and son,
therefore, preferred to make a desperate effort to save their lives.
They dashed into the flood and made a grasp at the ladder, but before
their hands touched the first round they were beaten down and swept away
dead corpses. William, on the other hand, climbed to a cross-piece of
timber, where he remained until the water abated, which it did in a very
short time, for events of this kind are for the most part awfully sudden
and brief as well as fatal. Then, descending, he groped his way in the
dark over the very spot where his father and brother lay dead--fearfully
mutilated and covered with rubbish--and escaped up the shaft.

In a still lower level two brothers were at work. Miners usually work
in couples--sometimes in larger numbers--and brothers frequently go
together. They were in a winze about thirty fathoms from the
engine-shaft. Being overtaken by the flood they were washed _down_, to
the next level, and along it nearly to the shaft. As the torrent tore
past this place, bearing splintered timber, stones, and rubbish along
with it, an iron wagon was caught up and flung across the level. This
formed a barricade, against which the brothers were dashed. The elder
of these