It had been too deafening and general for me to
distinguish the cause before, and it was most
fortunate that I understood it when I did, for
another second would have plunged me into the
madly rushing torrents.

The water burst through the stoppings with
such force that, when it struck the angles of the
opposite pillars of coal, it caused the floor and roof
of the mine to shake as if convulsed by an earth-
quake. It seems to me as if I was then invested
with the power of seeing the events taking place
in all parts of the mine. The bodies of men were
caught up by the currents and dashed fearfully
against the jambs of the coal pillars, tearing
them, as I thought, limb from limb, and drifting
the parts in different directions. The most painful
scene which my imagination, or perhaps
something superior, forced upon my vision, was
that of a little driver, eleven years of age, whom
I recognised in the main waggon-way, with his
horse yoked to a train of rolleys and corves.
He had been in the act of driving outwards
with his load, but his horse was backing and
plunging. Tears were flowing fast down the
poor little driver's smutty face, when a rush of
water clown an adjoining headway engulphed
all at once—the horse, the driver, and the load.
This ended a succession of visions too horrible
to detail. It seemed as if I had been a
considerable time witnessing such scenes, but it
could not have been more than a minute.

It required all my energy to enable me to
start backwards; but the splash of a body of
water close to me showed the immediate necessity
of this only alternative. Back I ran as fast
as my now trembling limbs would carry me. I
had not gone far, when I came in collision with
some one running in the opposite direction. I
was knocked down, and had not the faintest
power to prevent my opponent from running
headlong into the water. I regained my legs,
and commenced a speedy retreat. I soon met
my remaining companions, and prevailed on
them to turn back, which I had to do by means
of cuffs and signs, for we could not hear each
other's voices. We all made directly to the
face of the drift, where the noise was not so
loud, and where we could talk to each other
quite easily. Thomson was missing, and we
knew too well his awful fate.

"VVe were so confused and terror-stricken at
our horrible situation that we could scarcely
command our senses, and raved more like
insane men than rational beings. There were
lamentations, prayers, hopes, wishes, all uttered
simultaneously—their poor wives and dear
children—who would protect them, was their
plaintive cry! Our situation was really desperate.
There we were, driven into the face
of a narrow drift, six feet wide by four feet
high, and we could hear the water rapidly
advancing, while none of us knew whether we
should be spared many minutes in this life or
not. About an hour afterwards we were
comparatively calm, like men in a state of fretful
resignation. The distant roar had gradually ceased,
and I was the first to venture to the water's
edge, which may have been about forty yards
from the face of the drift. I found great resistance
in moving, and, knowing some little trifle
of pneumatics, came to the conclusion that this
resistance was caused by the compression of the
air; therefore, that the column of water would
be kept back by the elasticity of the air, and
that we were no longer ia danger of being
drowned. I communicated my opinions to my
comrades, and then went into the other drift to
reflect. My spirits rose high, and I felt
extraordinary mental power; owing, I suppose, to
the increased pressure of the atmosphere and
the proportionate amount of oxygen. By the
height of the water, and length of the drifts
within the barriers, from which no air could
escape, I found the pressure had increased two
additional atmospheres; and by the degree of
inclination, I calculated that the water would
be stationary about thirty yards above the face
of the drifts. The upper edge of the barriers
of coal was expected to be about twenty yards
further than the face, thus leaving ten or twenty
yards of water above the upper edge of the
barrier. It also struck me that some one would
be down the up-cast pit examining the old works
to endeavour to give relief to those who had
been working in the upper part of the new or
down-east workings. I knew, however, that
this would be probably given up as soon as
the settled level of the water had been
discovered; yet, with the hope of being heard, I
commenced knocking on the face of the drift,
and continued to do so in measured time, so
that any one might recognise the knocks as
proceeding from us. Most fortunately the very
first blows I struck were heard: they were
faintly answered by similar knocks, which
appeared to us a hopeless distance off.

This, I afterwards learned, was the case; for
a party of explorers were there, and were on the
point of turning back in despair, when the sound
of my first blows reached them. They could
not tell what to make of it, nor how to account
for the sounds proceeding from below the level
of the water; and a sort of superstitious dread
came over them as they answered the knocks by
making similar ones on the nearest coal; which,
however, was cut off from the barrier by a
gallery, which accounted for their faintness. I
immediately returned to my companions, and
communicated to them my hopes of escape.
They were still in a state of quiet despair, yet
they agreed to keep up a system of knocking on
the face of the drift, though with small hopes of
good result. Knocks responding to our own,
and with the same measured time, a little raised
their spirits, for we knew that, if it was possible,
we should get assistance. The knocks seemed
to be about forty yards distant, struck on the
edge of the seam, which confirmed my supposition
that the upper edge of the barriers was
under water. The question was, could the
water be lowered by the new pumping engine,
so that a drift could be driven towards us from
tin- upper edge of the barrier? and could this
be accomplished before we died of starvation?