ters calling to me for aid in the
name of God. I scrambled one or two paces forward, when I fell directly
over the head and shoulders of my companion, who, I soon discovered,
was buried in a loose mass of earth as far as his middle, and struggling
desperately to free himself from the pressure. I tore the dirt from
around him with all the energy I could command, and at length succeeded
in getting him out.

As soon as we sufficiently recovered from our fright and surprise to be
capable of conversing rationally, we both came to the conclusion
that the walls of the fissure in which we had ventured had, by some
convulsion of nature, or probably from their own weight, caved in
overhead, and that we were consequently lost for ever, being thus
entombed alive. For a long time we gave up supinely to the most intense
agony and despair, such as cannot be adequately imagined by those
who have never been in a similar position. I firmly believed that no
incident ever occurring in the course of human events is more adapted to
inspire the supremeness of mental and bodily distress than a case like
our own, of living inhumation. The blackness of darkness which envelops
the victim, the terrific oppression of lungs, the stifling fumes from
the damp earth, unite with the ghastly considerations that we are beyond
the remotest confines of hope, and that such is the allotted portion of
the dead, to carry into the human heart a degree of appalling awe and
horror not to be tolerated--never to be conceived.

At length Peters proposed that we should endeavour to ascertain
precisely the extent of our calamity, and grope about our prison; it
being barely possible, he observed, that some opening might yet be left
us for escape. I caught eagerly at this hope, and, arousing myself to
exertion, attempted to force my way through the loose earth. Hardly had
I advanced a single step before a glimmer of light became perceptible,
enough to convince me that, at all events, we should not immediately
perish for want of air. We now took some degree of heart, and encouraged
each other to hope for the best. Having scrambled over a bank of rubbish
which impeded our farther progress in the direction of the light, we
found less difficulty in advancing and also experienced some relief from
the excessive oppression of lungs which had tormented us. Presently we
were enabled to obtain a glimpse of the objects around, and discovered
that we were near the extremity of the