DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11287#0034
DEE NEUENHEIMEE.
33
were in the same case as myself—shut out by the fall from
the pit shaft. They at least, lucky beggars, would have food
and light. Buoyed up with this hope, as I neared the end of
the drift, I ventured to shout to them. The echo of that call
rings in my ears to this day: like the voice of a mocking
demon it was hurled from one end of that gallery to the other
and I was never more thankful in my life than when it died
away and the death-like silence of my living tomb again took
its place.
No! I was alone, seven hundred yards down in the
interior of the earth, I was entombed alive. Alone ! How I
began to realize the depth of meaning in that word. If I
had only had a light how thankful I would have been; if I
could have seen a light but once an hour, I should have had
something to live for, something by which to mark the flight
of time. But no, enveloped in utter darkness there was
nothing to relieve my loneliness but the dull sounds which
reached me from the distant workings. How far away they
seemed! would they never reach me ? What would I not
have given to be free from these haunting fears ? to keep my
mind from dwelling on the fearful monotony of nry condition,
I had recourse to all kinds of curious contrivances. As far as
I remember now, lacing and unlacing my boots seems to have
formed my sole occupation. I unlaced my boots right down,
interchanged the laces, and slowly and carefully laced them
up again tying the knots as tightly as I could. Then after
an interval I would untie the knots and solemnly repeat the
process. Twenty, fifty, hundreds of times I did this till my
brain reeled and every bone in my body ached. At times,
worn out with exhaustion and faint with hunger I slept, but
never for long at a time, and always disturbed by dreams in
which all kinds of trifling events were fantastically interwoven
with the horrors of my situation.
And so the hours wore on ; dazed by the eternal darkness
I sat and waited listening with straining ears to the ever-
nearing sounds of pick and shovel till at length welcome lights
gleaned before me and I was carried half-dead to the shaft.
33
were in the same case as myself—shut out by the fall from
the pit shaft. They at least, lucky beggars, would have food
and light. Buoyed up with this hope, as I neared the end of
the drift, I ventured to shout to them. The echo of that call
rings in my ears to this day: like the voice of a mocking
demon it was hurled from one end of that gallery to the other
and I was never more thankful in my life than when it died
away and the death-like silence of my living tomb again took
its place.
No! I was alone, seven hundred yards down in the
interior of the earth, I was entombed alive. Alone ! How I
began to realize the depth of meaning in that word. If I
had only had a light how thankful I would have been; if I
could have seen a light but once an hour, I should have had
something to live for, something by which to mark the flight
of time. But no, enveloped in utter darkness there was
nothing to relieve my loneliness but the dull sounds which
reached me from the distant workings. How far away they
seemed! would they never reach me ? What would I not
have given to be free from these haunting fears ? to keep my
mind from dwelling on the fearful monotony of nry condition,
I had recourse to all kinds of curious contrivances. As far as
I remember now, lacing and unlacing my boots seems to have
formed my sole occupation. I unlaced my boots right down,
interchanged the laces, and slowly and carefully laced them
up again tying the knots as tightly as I could. Then after
an interval I would untie the knots and solemnly repeat the
process. Twenty, fifty, hundreds of times I did this till my
brain reeled and every bone in my body ached. At times,
worn out with exhaustion and faint with hunger I slept, but
never for long at a time, and always disturbed by dreams in
which all kinds of trifling events were fantastically interwoven
with the horrors of my situation.
And so the hours wore on ; dazed by the eternal darkness
I sat and waited listening with straining ears to the ever-
nearing sounds of pick and shovel till at length welcome lights
gleaned before me and I was carried half-dead to the shaft.