of dirt above, and a small avalanche of loose stones came down with a run, right upon him as he stood in an angle of the paddock. Caught by the feet, and held fast by the stones which poured upon him until they almost covered his head, he must have perished, had not one of his mates providentially returned, having noticed the fall of the stuff. With great care they succeeded in extricating him, no bones broken, but the life nearly crushed out of him. He is slowly recovering.
The other case is even more extraordinary. Near the shafts of deep-sinking claims there are usually heaps of dry tailings which have been hauled up from below. Some times a shaft is deserted, its mouth covered with thick wooden slabs. In this case a heap of tailings had accumulated on the top of the slabs, and a miner, finding it a nice dry place, built his one-roomed hut thereon, using the stones as its floor, over which he laid some loose boards. Returned from the work of the afternoon shift, he was busy with his frying-pan, preparing supper, when suddenly he felt the floor beneath him collapse; the slabs had given way, and the mass of tailings upon them poured down the shaft. He was sucked down with them, the shaft being completely filled up. The accident was seen, and men flocked to the rescue. Apparently there was no hope for the unfortunate man, but miners never lose a chance of helping their mates and, like sailors, are full of resource. All that evening, and well into the night, they worked in relays, hauling up the dry stones, and at last, some fifty feet below, came upon an entrance to a drive, and there found the man, who had been shot into it, bruised, but little injured, sufficient air penetrating through the loose stones to
