of their favourite "Kirsch," and, maddened by
its influence, were acting like demons. We
first liberated young Alison, and then
proceeded to encounter the men who surrounded
his father. Two brawny Germans were soon
sprawling on the sandy floor, and each of us
was now opposed to his man, for the two had
been only temporarily disposed of. Our object
was to keep the miners from the doorway, in
order that Alison might escape, trusting to
ourselves to save ourselves.

Our opponents seemed to have no notion
of letting us go, and rushed on us with great
ferocity. Twice I floored my man, for I found
that by keeping him at a respectful distance
and practising the English science, I had a
great advantage: he, however, nothing daunted,
rose from the dust and repeatedly endeavoured
to close with me. Once in the grasp of those
powerful arms, I knew I should be at their
owner's mercy, so I kept wide of them and hit
out. I perceived that my friends were adopting
a similar course, and I was hoping that we might
come to a parley, when I heard a cry from
Alison, behind me, and saw him stretched on the
ground. A burly miner, with yellow hair and a
shaggy beard and moustache of the same colour,
stood over him, holding in his hand a bar of iron
some three feet long, and as thick as his own arm.
I afterwards learnt that my friend had vainly
endeavoured to make his way past this fellow,
who guarded the doorway, and appeared from
his general manner and huge size to be the
leader of the party. At last, enraged at the
immobility of his opponent, he had launched out
a well directed blow at his nose, which staggered
him, and served to open a passage for escape.
He rushed forward, and turning round to
observe the state of affairs, had just time to
perceive the fellow raising the iron bar above his
head. He held up his arm to break the force
of the blow, and remembered nothing else when
he told the story.

Matters seemed now to be taking a still
more desperate turn; for the other miners,
perceiving the success which had attended their
leader's prowess with the iron "pig," proceeded
to help themselves to similar weapons, which
lay in a large pile at one corner of the smelting-room,
ready for carting. I felt that the only thing
to be done, was, to attempt to wrest the bar from
my opponent. The man who had stunned
Alison was now employed in rifling his pockets,
regardless of the blood which streamed from his
arm and head. Soon young Alison joined his
father on the floor, felled by a fearful blow from
one of those same iron bars. In struggling with
my man, who was fast getting the better of me,
I slipped, stumbled, and fell. I expected to be
murdered and robbed, and I had given up hope,
when I heard a shot, and almost at the same
moment my adversary, who was kneeling on me,
dropped the bar from his hand on to my leg,
and giving a cry of "Och mein Got!" placed
his left arm to his shoulder where a bullet had
entered.

The smell of gunpowder had a wonderful
effect on all of them, and soon, to my great
joy, I perceived them skulking off behind the
furnace. I quickly gained my legs, and found
our friend Mr. Barton, who had stayed by the
river with the ladies, standing at one of the
entrances, revolver in hand. Mr. Barton was a
cool hand at anything of this sort, and, finding
we did not return, had followed our trail: little
doubting that the small weapon he had that
day purchased at Coblentz would effectually
scare the miners.

"I didn't think I should make this use of you
to-day!" said he, apostrophising the pistol. "But
what's this? Is Alison dead? Ah! Only stunned,
I see. Pick up father and son, and bring them
down to the river. I'll cover your retreat."
And then he warned the miners, in the usual
style, that the first man who moved might
consider himself dead. Slowly we carried poor
Alison and his son towards the river: our own
limbs almost giving way at each step we took,
after the fearful excitement we had gone through.
We were all more or less injured; one had a
black eye; another was suffering from a severe .
blow in the back, administered by one of the
bars of iron; as for myself, I felt dreadfully
shaken by my last fall, and, moreover, was
temporarily crippled by a blow on the leg.
After crossing the river, we poured cool water
on the faces of the injured men, and soon
brought them round sufficiently to show us that
they were still living. On reaching the main
road, which was at some distance from the river,
we found the party awaiting us, and we all
proceeded back as quickly as circumstances would
permit. Mr. Alison was laid up for a month:
both the bones in his fore-arm being fractured,
and a broad wound six inches in length inflicted
on his scalp: he has never since been the man
he was. His poor son had an attack of brain
fever, the effects of which are still upon him.
Large sums of money have been spent in
endeavouring to trace the men who attacked us, but
they appear, soon after the occurrence, to have
decamped. The Prussian police shirked the
business, and declared that the responsibility
rested with the government of Nassau, who in
their turn referred the matter back to the
authorities at Coblentz. Between the two no
redress has yet been obtained, nor have the men
been captured. This is a specimen of the
activity of the local police authorities acting under
the direction of the excellent Government!