When his train reached Aberalaw, it was nearly midnight. As Andrew was walking home, a miner called Frank Davis ran up to him, crying: 'Doctor - you're wanted!'

'What's wrong?' shouted Andrew

'There's been an accident at the mine. A man is almost buried under the coal. It's Sam Bevan - one of your patients. Come quickly, Doctor.'

'I shall need my bag,' Andrew said. 'Run to my house and get it. I'll go straight to the mine.'

Andrew reached the mine in four minutes. The manager and three men were waiting for him.

'It's a terrible accident,' said the manager. 'Nobody has been killed, but one of the men is trapped. We can't move him! And there's a danger that more coal will fall.'

At that moment, Davis ran up to them with his bag. Without delay, the small party began to go slowly down into the deep and dangerous mine. The passage to the mine was so narrow that Andrew and the other four men had to creep forward on their hands and knees for nearly a kilometre. At last, they reached the scene of the accident.

'Here's the doctor. Get back, and give him room to move,' the manager ordered the three men who had been trying to get Bevan out.

They pulled themselves back, and Andrew crept forward.

Bevan tried to smile at Manson. 'Well, I'm giving you a good chance to test your skill!'

By the light of the manager's lamp, Andrew examined the trapped man. The whole of Bevan's body was free except for his left arm, which was buried under a heavy pile of coal and badly damaged. Andrew saw at once that the only way to free Bevan was to cut off his arm.

Bevan read Andrew's decision in his face. 'Go on, then, Doctor,' he said bravely. 'Cut it off - I can bear it. Just get me out of here as quickly as you can!'

'Don't worry, Sam.' Andrew said. 'I'm going to put you to sleep now. When you wake up, you will be in bed.'

Kneeling in a pool of water, Andrew took off his coat and placed it under Bevan's head. Then he opened his bag. But he was shocked to discover that the bottle that he needed was broken! He could not put Bevan to sleep. Andrew trembled. For perhaps 30 seconds, he could not decide what to do. Then he quickly pulled out another bottle and gave Bevan something to reduce the pain.

'Shut your eyes, Sam!' he said.

As the knife cut into him, Bevan gave a loud cry of pain. He cried out again. Then, when the knife touched the bone, he fainted.