lamps were sent down, and the saving party were soon
in the mine, with a sight before them never to be forgotten.

The few men who stood erect with picks in their hands were men of rare
endurance; and even they began to fall, exhausted with fatigue and
hunger. Five times their number lay dotted about the mine, prostrated by
privation, and some others, alas! were dead. None of the poor fellows
were in a condition to give a rational answer, though Walter implored
them to say where Hope was and his daughter. These poor pale wretches,
the shadows of their former selves, were sent up in the cages with all
expedition, and received by Bartley, who seemed to forget nothing, for he
had refreshment tents ready at the pit mouth.

Meantime, Walter and others, whose hearts were with him, ran wildly
through the works, and groped on their knees with their lamps to find
Hope and his daughter, but they were not to be found, and nine miners
beside them were missing, including Ben Burnley. Then Walter came wildly
up to the surface, wringing his hands with agony, and crying, "they are
lost! they are lost!"

"No," cried Bartley, "they must not be lost; they shall not be lost. One
man has come to himself. I gave him port-wine and brandy." Then he
dragged the young man into the tent. There was stout Jim Davies propped
up and held, but with a great tumbler of brandy and port in his hand.

"Now, my man," said, or rather screamed, Bartley, "tell him where Hope
is, and Mary--that I--Oh, God! oh, God!"

"Master," said Jim, faintly, "I was in the hall with Mr. Hope and the
lady when the first explosion came. Most of us ran past the old shaft and
got clear. A few was caught by the falling shaft, for I looked back and
saw it. But I never saw Master Hope among them. If he was, he is buried
under the shaft; but I do really think that he was that taken up with his
girl, and that darned villain that fired the mine, as he's like to be in
the hall either alive or dead."

He could say no more, but fell into a sort of doze, the result of the
powerful stimulant on his enfeebled frame and empty stomach. Then
Bartley, with trembling hands, brought out a map of the mine and showed
Walter where the second party had got to.

"See," said he, "they are within twenty feet of the bottom, and the hall
is twenty-three feet high. Hope measured it. Give up working downward,
pick into the sides of that hall, for in that hall I see them at night;
sometimes they are