He went up in the
ascending skip, and, escaping from the curiosity of the people on the
bank, he darted as straight as an arrow to Stephen's cabin.
'I'm nigh clemmed,' were his first words, as he seized the brown loaf
and cut off a slice, which he devoured ravenously. 'It seems like a
year,' he continued; 'thee'lt never catch me being left behind anywhere
again. Eh, Stephen, lad! many a time I shouted for fear I'd never see
daylight again; it's awful down there in the night. Thee hears them as
thee can't see punning agen the coal; and then there comes a downfall
like a clap of thunder. I wasn't so much afeared of little Nan: she
never did any harm when she was alive; and I thought God was too good to
send her out of heaven just to terrify a poor lad like me.'
'But how did thee get left behind?' asked Martha.
Then Tim told them how the horse-doctor had gone down to secure one of
the ponies in a large, strong net, in order to bring it to the surface
of the earth for a time; and that he had gone down with him more for his
own amusement than to help him. He had wandered a little way into the
winding galleries of the pit, and came back just as the skip was going
up for the last time but one.
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