"Well, old man! What is the matter?" the miners asked, surrounding him. He continued to gaze in the same direction. "Does this place remind you of something?" asked the chief miner. They all listened eagerly for his answer.
"It is here that my mother was buried in a landslip. Yes, here on this side."
"Comrades!" the chief miner exclaimed joyfully. "There is no doubt about it! We are in the Znamensky mine!"
So true is it that one man's grief is another man's happiness.
Old Ivan himself was forgotten. They saw that he had guided them all to the old mine, which had been long abandoned, but which he remembered from his childhood. As the mine had been dug in the rock itself, the shaft was undamaged, but they had to find the entrance to it.
The old man remained motionless where he was, his eyes fixed on the place where his mother had perished. The chief miner, who had recovered his collectedness of mind, approached him.
"Well, old man, has Jesus gone without you?"
"No ... He is there.... He waits for me. Here I am, Lord, here I am."
He resumed his march, and the miners followed him cheerfully.