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For the French, a hero must have not only courage but also savoir-faire. A 45-year-old mine foreman named Andre Martinet last week showed plenty of both.

An underground veteran of 18 years in the pits, Martinet was trapped some 220 ft. below the surface when a limestone mine deep inside Mont Rivel suddenly shook, loosing tons of rocks into the shafts. With him were eight fellow workers, most of them younger. "At first we did not dare move," recalled Joseph Cattenoz, 31. "But then Andre was with us, and he took over." From the first moments of a marathon drama that lasted for more than a week, the short, balding, beak-nosed Martinet was the indispensable man. With him in the lead, the men explored the "room" in which they were trapped: a 144-ft.-long by 15-ft.-high chamber that was cold and damp, its floor under water. There was no food; yet, thanks largely to Martinet, the miners resisted panic, began tapping with their picks on the cavern wall.

Piped Wine. The situation seemed hopeless, but 32 hours later, a small exploratory rescue drill broke through the roof of their cavern and a tiny microphone was lowered. Chosen as spokesman, Martinet introduced everybody all around, suggested that the main rescue shaft be drilled from another--and more difficult--angle to lessen the danger of falling rock. "We are a little hungry, a little cold and very thirsty," he called to the rescuers above. Down came some red wine in a hose. Later, specially baked, rodlike loaves of bread were lowered into the tiny opening.

On the surface, someone suggested using explosives to enter from the side. Up came a roar from Martinet: "You are going to send the whole works down on our heads! Spare us any further emotions." As the drills advanced at the excruciatingly slow rate of 7 ft. an hour, drill bits broke. Martinet never complained, calmed fellow victims and rescuers alike, asked for playing cards with which the men passed their time playing belote, a sort of French bridge. When Martinet's 18-year-old daughter Janine asked in a midnight conversation from the drill site, "Papa, how are you?", he lectured: "Should not a girl of your age be home at this hour of the day? Go home and keep your mother company. She should rest and not worry. Our morale is like iron."

Survivors Emerge. The drilling proceeded even more cautiously as it neared the chamber; it took 13 hours to tunnel the last 12 ft. When the breakthrough came, Martinet issued appropriate congratulations. "Voild!" he shouted wryly. "For eight days we have been talking to each other. I would very much like to lay eyes on you." Yet he gallantly insisted on being the last to come out.

At sundown one day last week, as thousands watched, grimy, bearded Andre Martinet emerged at the surface, ending eight days and seven hours of anguish. "I waited and hoped, but above all I prayed," said Martinet. Safe at last, he immediately volunteered to go down once again to try to find five other men trapped in different passages, but at week's end rescue efforts for them were abandoned. Next, vowed Martinet, he was going to apply for a new job--above ground.

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