"Oh, we'll get out!" declared Ned, who was something of an optimist.
"You've been in salt mines before, haven't you, Mr. Petrofsky?"
"Yes, I was condemned to one once, but it was not in this part of the
country, and it was not an abandoned one. I imagine this was only an
isolated mine, and that there are no others near it, so when they
abandoned it, after all the salt was taken out, most people forgot about
it. I remember once a party of prisoners were lost in a large salt mine,
and were missed for several days."
"What happened to them?" asked Tom.
"I don't like to talk about it," replied the Russian with a shudder.
"Bless my soul! Was it as bad as that?" asked Mr. Damon.
"It was," replied the exile. "But now let's see if we can find our way
back, and start afresh. I'll be more careful next time, and watch the
turns more closely."
But he did not get the chance. They could not find the tunnel whence
they had started. Turn after turn they took, down passage after passage
sometimes in such small ones that they almost had to crawl.
But it was of no use. They could not find their way back to the starting
place, and they could not find the opening of the mine. They had used
two of the slow burning candles and they had only half a dozen or so
left. When these were gone--
But they did not like to think of that, and stumbled on and on.
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