One day my brother and I who had
been sent to work in the salt mines, mistook a turning and wandered on
and on for several miles, finally losing our way. We had food and water
with us, or we would have perished, and, as it was, we nearly died
before we finally found our way out of an abandoned opening.
"We came out in the midst of a terrible snowstorm, and wandered about
almost frozen. At last we were found by a serf who, in his sled, took us
to his poor cottage. There we were warmed and fed back to life.
"We knew we would be searched for, as naturally, our absence would lead
to the suspicion that we had tried to escape. So as soon as we were
able, we started back to the town where we were quartered. The serf
wanted to take us in his sled, but we knew he might be suspected of
having tried to aid us to get away, and he might be arrested. So we went
alone.
"As might have been expected, we became lost again, and wandered about
for several days. But we had enough food to keep us alive. And it was
during this wandering that I came upon the platinum mine. It was down in
a valley, in the midst of a country densely wooded and very desolate.
There was an outcropping of the ore, and rather idly I put some of it in
my pockets. Then we wandered on, and finally after awful suffering in
terrific storms, were found by a searching party and brought back to the
barracks.
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