A Warning

Bill Trew worked on the night shift in an old coal mine called Park Deep. Day and night 180 miners worked underground there, more than 600 feet down. They all took their share of night work, but Bill always worked at night. He said he preferred it.

One day he came home as usual at half past seven in the morning. He had his "supper", as he called it, and went to bed. An unusual dream troubled his sleep. Afterwards, the only thing he remembered about it was—a throbbing blue light.

Bill got up in the afternoon as usual. It was a strange getting up—because he could still see the blue light in front of his eyes. As the evening grew darker, the light grew stronger. Bill got ready for the night shift. But by 8 o'clock the blue light was so bright that he could hardly see anything else. He and his wife were very puzzled. Bill had never been sick before.

"Don't go to work," Mrs. Trew said. "If it isn't better by tomorrow, I'll have to send for the doctor." Bill didn't go to work. He sat in an armchair, awake but with closed eyes. Even then the blueness was like a living thing. It surrounded him, silent, throbbing. The family went to bed but Bill wasn't tired: he stayed in his armchair.

At 11 o'clock a long, loud explosion shook the ground. Bill opened his eyes and jumped to his feet. The blue light was gone! He rushed outside. Someone shouted, "Gas! Gas in Park Deep! Oh pity the night shift!"

The gas explosion killed 179 men in Park Deep. The mine was destroyed forever. The bodies remain to this day in their deep grave. And Bill Trew has never stopped wondering. The blue light: why did it make him the only man unfit for work that night?