‘Young man—or rather gent!’ said the miner—‘You are now in the bowels of old mother Earth—grandmother and great grandmother of all these seams of coal; and you see a set of men around you, whose lives are passed in these gloomy places, doing the duties of their work without repining at its hardness, without envying the lot of others, and smiling at all its dangers. We know very well that there are better things above ground—and worse. We know that many men and women and children, who are ready to work, can’t get it, and so starve to death, or die with miserable slowness. A sudden death, and a violent is often our fate. We may fall down a shaft; something may fall upon us and crush us; we may be damped to death;[3] we may be drowned by the sudden breaking in of water; we may be burned up by the wildfire,[4] or driven before it to destruction; in daily labour we lead the same lives as horses and other beasts of burden; but for _all_ that, we feel that we have something else within, which has a kind of tingling notion of heaven, and a God above, and which we have heard say is called ‘the soul.’ Now, tell us—young master, you who have had all the advantages of teachers, and books, and learning among the people who live above ground—tell us, benighted working men, how have _you_ passed your time, and what kind of thing is your soul?’ Footnote 3: _The choke-damp_, carbonic acid gas. Footnote 4: _Fire-damp_, also called _the sulphur_—hydrogen gas. The miner ceased speaking, but continued standing. Flashley stood looking at him, unable to utter a word. At this moment, a half-naked miner entered hurriedly from one of the main roads, shouting confused words—to the effect that the fire which is always placed in the up-cast shaft to attract and draw up the air for the ventilation of the mine, had just been extinguished by the falling in of a great mass of coal, and the mine was no longer safe! ‘Fire-damp!’—‘The sulphur!’—‘Choke-damp!’ ejaculated many voices, as all the miners sprang from their seats, and made a rush towards the main outlet. Flashley was borne away in the scramble of the crowd; but they had scarcely escaped from the cavern, when the flame of the candles ran up to the roof, and a loud explosion instantly followed. The crowd was driven pell-mell before it, flung up, and flung down, dashed sideways, or borne onwards, while explosion after explosion followed the few who had been foremost, and were still endeavouring to make good their retreat. Among these latter was Flashley, who was carried forwards, he knew not how, and was scarcely conscious of what was occurring, except that it was something imminently dreadful, which he momentarily expected to terminate in his destruction.