s, cap, lamp
and all.

"Get Reynolds a set of mining tools," said the officer.

These were soon brought, and consisted of a pick, a short-handled
shovel, two iron wedges and a sledge hammer.

"Take him," said the officer, "to room number three, and tell George
Mullen, who is working in that room, to teach him how to mine."

I got my arms around those implements of coal warfare, and following my
escort, passed along the entry for some distance, possibly two hundred
yards, when the roadway in which we were walking suddenly terminated,
and instead, there was a small hole that went further on into the earth.
When we came to this place my guide dropped down on his hands and knees
and passed into the room. I halted. I had never been in such a place
before. I did not know what there was in that dark hole. Soon my escort
called out, "Come along, there is nothing in here to hurt you." So I
dropped down on my hands and knees and into the dark hole I went.

These rooms where the miners work are about twenty-eight inches in
height, twenty-four inches wide, and about fifty feet long. Think of
working in such a place as that! Oh, how often have I sighed for room
enough to spread myself! How I would have made that coal fly had the
vein been on top where I could have stood on my feet and mined. George
Mullen, the convict who was to teach me to mine, was at the farther end
of the room at work when we entered. We crawled on our hands and knees
to him, and when my guide had delivered his message he withdrew and
hastened back to his headquarters near the stand where his officer sat.

After he had gone and my room-mate and myself were left alone, about the
first question that George asked me was, "How long have you got?"

"Eighteen stretches," was my quick reply.

George loved me dearly from that moment. I very soon discovered that I
was very popular with him on account of my long sentence.

"How long are you in for?" said I to him.

"Always," was his answer.

He was a life prisoner. At one time he was marshal of a Kansas town, and
while acting in that capacity he killed his man. He was trying to arrest
him, so he informed me, and the fellow showed fight, when he took
out his gun and shot him. It was claimed by the authorities that the
shooting was unprovoked, and that the man could have been arrested
without killing him. Aside from the fact that he had killed his man, I
must say that I never met a man for whom I had a higher re