Then he gave the signal to let out again noting how thick with damp the
atmosphere was becoming, and having difficulty with his light.
Lower and lower they swung and dropped down into the old shaft and as
the rope creaked and crazed above them it lilted:
"Choose, choose, wha' you'll tak',
Wha' you'll tak', wha' you'll tak',
Choose, choose wha' you'll tak',
A laddie or a lassie."
And the memory of the old lilt brought back other scenes again and he
found himself guiding the chair from the shaft side steering it off with
his hand at every rhythmic beat of the child song.
Soon they reached the bottom of the shaft, for it was not very deep, and
found a mass of debris, almost choking up the roadways on either side of
the bottom. But they got out of their chair and soon began to "redd"
away the stones though they found very great difficulty in getting the
lamps to burn. Occasionally, as they worked, little pieces came tumbling
from the side of the shaft, telling its own tale, and as soon as Robert
got a decent sized kind of opening made through the rocks which blocked
the roadway he sent up the other man to bring down more help and to get
others started to repair the old shaft by putting in stays and batons to
preserve the sides and so prevent them from caving in altogether.
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