Facing Death The Hero of the Vaughan Pit. A Tale of the Coal Mines   By: George Alfred Henty (1832-1902)

FACING DEATH OR, THE HERO OF THE VAUGHAN PIT.

A TALE OF THE COAL MINES.

BY G. A. HENTY,

Author of "With Clive in India;" "In Freedom's Cause;" "By Sheer Pluck;" "Under Drake's Flag;" &c.

WITH EIGHT FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY GORDON BROWNE.

LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED;

NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 743 AND 745 BROADWAY

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE I. EVIL TIDINGS, 9 II. BULL DOG, 16 III. THE RESOLUTION, 31 IV. THE VAUGHAN PIT, 39 V. SETTING TO WORK, 49 VI. "THE OLD SHAFT," 54 VII. FRIENDSHIP, 64 VIII. PROGRESS, 74 IX. THE GREAT STRIKE, 80 X. HARD TIMES, 96 XI. THE ATTACK ON THE ENGINE HOUSE, 105 XII. AFTER THE STRIKE, 117 XIII. A HEAVY LOSS, 124 XIV. THE NIGHT SCHOOL, 134 XV. THE SEWING CLASS, 146 XVI. A NEW LIFE, 156 XVII. THE DOG FIGHT, 166 XVIII. STOKEBRIDGE FEAST, 173 XIX. THE GREAT RIOT, 183 XX. THE ARM OF THE LAW, 193 XXI. A KNOTTY QUESTION, 201 XXII. THE SOLUTION, 209 XXIII. THE EXPLOSION AT THE VAUGHAN, 222 XXIV. IN DEADLY PERIL, 235 XXV. THE IMPRISONED MINERS, 239 XXVI. A CRITICAL MOMENT, 253 XXVII. RESCUED, 259 XXVIII. CHANGES, 274 XXIX. THE NEW MANAGER, 283 XXX. RISEN, 289 XXXI. CONCLUSION, 298

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE BULLDOG FINDS A FRIEND, Frontispiece . IN THE OLD SHAFT CAN HE BE SAVED? 58 NELLY'S FIRST LESSON, 70 A LIFE OR DEATH STRUGGLE, 113 JACK IS VICTORIOUS, 170 THE NEW SCHOOLMISTRESS, 217 AFTER THE FIRST EXPLOSION THE SEARCH PARTY, 237 SAVED! 270

FACING DEATH:

OR, HOW STOKEBRIDGE WAS CIVILIZED.

CHAPTER I.

EVIL TIDINGS.

A row of brick built houses with slate roofs, at the edge of a large mining village in Staffordshire. The houses are dingy and colourless, and without relief of any kind. So are those in the next row, so in the street beyond, and throughout the whole village. There is a dreary monotony about the place; and if some giant could come and pick up all the rows of houses, and change their places one with another, it is a question whether the men, now away at work, would notice any difference whatever until they entered the houses standing in the place of those which they had left in the morning. There is a church, and a vicarage half hidden away in the trees in its pretty old fashioned garden; there are two or three small red bricked dissenting chapels, and the doctor's house, with a bright brass knocker and plate on the door. There are no other buildings above the common average of mining villages; and it needs not the high chimneys, and engine houses with winding gear, dotting the surrounding country, to notify the fact that Stokebridge is a mining village.