could be, I calculated what my funeral would
cost the Odd Fellows, and then about the allowance
there'd be for my people out o' the Widow
and Orphan's Fund, and then I thought how
things might have been worse than they was.
At last of all, I feels quiet and palient like, and,
for the first time since I'd been buried, I was
down on my knees with my face in my hands.

I don't know how long I stopped like that,
when all at once I fancied I heard a voice speaking,
and I started up; but it sounded no more,
and as I sat listening I could see again all sorts
of things coming and going. Now it was coffins;
now strange-looking beasts and things without
any particular shape; and as they moved, and
coiled, and rolled forward, I kept feeling as
though they must touch me; but no, they
glided off again, and at last, to keep from thinking,
I stripped off coat and waistcoat, and,
groping about till I got hold of the shovel, I
cried out, " God help me!" and began to try
and dig a way out.

"Every man for himself," I half roared, and
the curious, stifled sound of my voice frightened
me; but I worked on till I had thrown back a
few spadefuls, when I found that I had put it off
too long, and that I could do nothing but sink
down, panting for air. I couldn't keep off the
idea that something was pressing down upon me
and trying to force out rny breath; at last this
idea got to be so strong that I kept thrusting
out my hands and trying to push the something
away. I don't know how time went, but at last
I was lying, worn out and helpless, upon the
ground, feebly trying to grub or burrow a way
out with my fingers.

All at once I remembered poor Sam, and,
after a good deal of groping about, I found the
board again, and laid my hand upon his face,
but only to snatch it away with a chill running
through me, for it was as cold as ice. Then I
tried to touch his breast, but soon gave up; for,
with the exception of his face, he was completely
bedded in the earth, while the board had only
saved him at the first moment from instantaneous
death.

I crept as far off as I could; for now it seemed
that death was very very near me, and that my
own time must be pretty well run out.

I won't tell you how weak I was again, and
how all my past actions came trooping past me.
There they all were, from boyhood till the
present; and I couldn't help groaning as I saw
now precious little good there was in them—
just here and there a bright spark amongst all
the blackness. At last, I began to think it was
all over, for a heavy stupid faintness came over
me, and I battled against it with all my might;
but it was like—to me, there, in that darkness—
like a great bird coming nearer and nearer with
heavy shadowy wings; and, as I tried to drive it
off, it went back, but only to come again, till at
last the place seemed to fade away; for after
groping round and round the place such a many
times, I seemed to see and know every bit of it
as well as if I saw it with my eyes, till it faded
away, and all seemed to be gone.

Nex' thing as I remembers is a dull " thud-
thud-thudding" noise, and it woke me up so
that I sat holding my head, which ached as
though it would split, and trying to recollect
once more where I was; and I s'pose my poor
mind must have been a bit touched, for I could
make nothing out until I had crawled and felt
about a few times over, when once more it all
come back with a flash, and I remember thinking
how much better it would have been if I
had kept half stunned, for now I knew what, the
noise was, and I could hardly contain the hope,
which seemed to drive me almost mad. Would
they get to me before I was dead? Could I
help them? Would they give up in despair, and
leave me?

I lay listening to the " thud-thud-thud," till
all at once it stopped, and the stillness that
succeeded was so awful that I shrieked out,
for I thought they had given up digging. But
the dull distant sound roused me again, and
once more I lay listening and counting the spadefuls
that I knew were being laboriously and
slowly thrown out. Now I was crying weakly,
now foaming at the mouth, every now and then
the noise could not be heard; at last, when I
could just faintly hear the sound of voices and
tried to shout in reply, I found I couldn't do
more than whisper.

All at once the earth came caving in again,
and I was half buried. Weak as I was, it
took me long enough to get free, and to crawl
up and sit behind an upright post or two, and
it was well I did, for no sooner was I there than
the gravel caved in again, and I heard a shout;
saw a flash of light; and then was jammed
close into the corner, and must have been
suffocated but for the wood framing about me,
which kept the earth off. But as I set wedged
in, I could hear the sound of the shovels
and picks, and I knew how men would toil to
get out a brother-workman. And now, feeling
quite helpless and resigned, I tried my best to
pray for my life, or, if not, for mercy for what I
had done wrong.

"Ain't nobody here?" said a voice, as it
seemed to me in the dark, and I could not
speak to cry for help.

"Must be," said another voice. " Poor chap's
under them planks!" And then come that sound
of shovels again, and then a loud hurraying,
and I felt hands about me, and that I was being
carried, and something trickled into my mouth.
Then voices were buzzing about me more and
more, and I began to feel able to breathe, and I
heard some one say: " He's coming to;" and
then one spoke, and then another spoke, and I
knew I was being taken up the shaft; but all
was as it were in a dream, till I heard a
loud scream, and felt two arms round me,
and knowing that now I was saved indeed, I
iried to say—"Thank God!" but could only
think it.

After a bit I managed to speak, but I suppose
I said all sorts of foolish unconnected things,
till I asked the time, when the voice that