“Her eyes flashed through her tears, as she turned sharply on me; and pressing her hand for a moment, I said, softly, ‘Try and think more kindly of me, Mary.’ And then I turned to the men.
“‘Now, then, who’s going down?’
“‘You can’t go down,’ shouted half-a-dozen voices; ‘the choke got ’most the better of us.’
“‘But there are two men down!’ I cried, savagely. ‘You’re not all cowards, are you?’
“Three men stepped forward, and we got in the cage.
“‘Who knows where Andrews was?’ I cried; and a faint voice from one of the injured men told me. Then I gave the warning, and we were lowered down; it having been understood that at the first signal we made we were to be drawn up sharply.
“The excitement kept me from being frightened; but there was a horrid feeling of oppression in the air as we got lower and lower, and twice over the men with me were for being drawn up.
“‘It steals over you before you know it,’ said one.
“‘It laid me like in a sleep when Rotherby pit fired,’ said another.
“‘Would you leave old Andrews to die?’ I said, and they gave in.