And the fat woman at a safe distance 

 wrung her hands and uttered exclama- 

 tions of horror and ill judged advice to 

 our departing forms. 



Between the fright, the altitude, and 

 the hill I had no breath left to speak 

 with as I pounded on the door of the 

 miner's hut. Mountaineers sleep lightly 

 and do not make toilets, so it was 

 barely ten minutes from the time of the 

 cave-in when three men were working 

 at the tunnel's mouth with pickaxes 

 and shovels. 



The tunnel had not meant to be ma- 

 licious, but merely to do the proper 

 thing (it had not even disturbed the 

 nitro-glycerine in the smithy). Not 

 much earth had fallen, and in less than 

 an hour we heard the shouts of the 

 imprisoned men; in two hours they 

 crawled into the air unhurt, and soon 



