seven o'clock
We saw that to avoid the danger of causing him to slip farther down we must dig below him , bore a hole in the board , and push through a bar . But a few shovelfuls more were needed . The work jarred the shaft , and the child slipped twenty -- five feet deeper . At seven o'clock we were down to where he was again , though we could no longer bear him . We dug a little below , bored a bole , and the father slipped through a pickaxe handle , and fainted away as he felt the little one slide down again but rest on the handle . We tore off the boards , took the baby out , and drew him and his father to the surface . There were two doctors waiting for them , and the next day neither was much the worse for it . ''