down in the country, but not in such a concern
as this: why a Lifeguard might have walked
down it easy; so that there was plenty of room
to work. But then, mind you, it ain't pleasant
work; there you go, down ladder after ladder,
past gas-pipes and water-pipes, and down and
down, till you get to the stage stretched across
the part you are at work on, with the daylight
so high up, as seen through boards, and
scaffolds, and ladders, that it's no use to you who
are working by the light of flaring gas. There
in front of you is the dark black arch; and
there behind you is another; while under your
feet the foul rushing water hurries along, sending
up a smell as turns your silver watch, and
every sixpence and shilling you have in your
pocket, black as the water that swirls bubbling
along. Every word you speak sounds hollow
and echoing, while it goes whispering and
rumbling along the dark arch till you think it
has gone, when all at once you hear it again
quite plain in a way as would make you jump
as much as when half a brick or a bit o' hard
mortar dropped into the water.

But talk about jumping, nothing made me
jump more than when a bit of soil, or a stone,
was loosened up above and came rattling down.
I've seen more than one chap change colour;
and I know it's been from the thought that,
suppose the earth caved in, where should we
be? No doubt the first crush in would do it,
and there'd be an end of workmen and foreman;
but there seemed something werry awful
in the idea o' being buried alive.

Big as the opening was, when I went to
work it made me shudder: there was the earth
thrown out; there was the rope at the side;
there was the boarding round; there it was for
all the world like a big grave, same as I'd
stood by on a little scale the day before; and
feeling a bit low-spirited, it almost seemed as
though I was going down into my own, never
to come up any more.

Werry stupid and foolish ideas, says you—
far-fetched ideas. Werry likely, but that's
what I thought; and there are times when
men has werry strange ideas; and I'll tell
you for a fact that something struck me when
I went down that hole as I shouldn't come up
it again; and I didn't, neither. Why the werry
feel o' the cold damp place made you think o'
being buried, and when a few bits of earth
came and rattled down upon the stage above
my head, as soon as the first start was over
it seemed to me so like the rattling o' the
earth but a few hours before upon a little
coffin, that something fell with a pat upon my
bright trowel, which, if had been left, would
ha' been a spot o' rust.

Nothing like work to put a fellow to rights;
and I soon found that I was feeling better, and
the strokes o' my trowel went ringing away
down the sewer as I cut the bricks in half;
and after a bit I almost felt inclined to whistle,
but I didn't, for I kept on thinking of that
solitary face at home—the face that always
brightened up when I went back, and had
made such a man ov me as I felt I was, for it
was enough to make any man vain to be
thought so much of. And then I thought how
dull she'd be, and how fond she'd be o' looking
at the drawer where all the little things
were kept; and then I—well, I ain't ashamed
of it, if I am a great hulking fellow—I took
care that nobody saw what I was doing, while
I had a look at a little bit of a shoe as I had in
my pocket.

I didn't go home to dinner, for it was too far
off; so I had my snack, and then went to it
again directly along with two more, for we was
on the piece. We had some beer sent down to
us, and at it we went till it was time to leave
off; and I must say as I was glad of it, and
didn't much envy the fresh gang coming on to
work all night, though it might just as well have
been night with us. I was last down, and had
jest put my foot on the first round of the ladder,
when I heard something falling as it hit and
jarred the boards up'ards; and then directly
after what seemed to be a brick caught me on
the head, and, before I knew where I was, I
was off the little platform, splash down in the
cold rushing water that took me off and away
yards upon yards before I got my head above
it; and then I was so confused and half stunned
that I let it go under again, and had been
carried ever so far before, half drowned, I gained
my legs and leaned, panting and blinded, up
against the slimy wall.

There I stood for at least ten minutes, I should
suppose, shuddering and horrified, with the thick
darkness all around, the slimy, muddy bricks
against my hands, the cold, rushing water
beneath me, and my mind in that confused state
that for a few minutes longer I didn't know
what I was going to do next, and wanted to
persuade myself that it was all a dream, and I
should wake up directly.

All at once, though, I gave a jump, and,
instead o' being cold with the water dripping from
me, I turned all hot and burning, and then
again cold and shuddery; for I had felt
something crawling on my shoulder, and then close
against my bare neck, when I gave the jump,
and heard close by me a light splash in the
water—a splash which echoed through the hollow
place, while, half to frighten the beasts
that I fancied must be in swarms around me,
half wrung from me as a cry of fear and agony,
I yelled out,

"Rats!"

Rats they were; for above the hollow "wash-
wash, hurry-hurry, wash-wash, hurry-hurry" of
the water, I could hear little splashes and a
scuffling by me along the sides o' the brick-work.

You may laugh at people's hair standing on
end, but I know then that there was a creeping,
tingling sensation in the roots o' mine, as though
sand was trickling amongst it; a cloud seemed
to come over my mind, and for a few moments
I believe I was mad—mad with fear; and it
was only by setting my teeth hard and clenching
my fists that I kept from shrieking. However,
I was soon better, and ready to laugh at myself