, and would be very glad to give him any help and instruction in
his power. Elis had to sit down beside this man, who at once began,
over his tankard of Aehl, to describe with much minuteness the sort of
work which Elis would have to commence with.

"Elis remembered the old miner whom he had seen at Goethaborg, and,
strangely enough, found he was able to repeat nearly all that he had
told him.

"'Ay,' cried the Head-Captain. 'Where can you have learned all that?
It's most surprising! There can't be a doubt that you will be the
finest pickman in the mine in a very short time.'

"Ulla--going backwards and forwards amongst the guests and attending to
them--often nodded kindly to Elis, and told him to be sure and enjoy
himself. 'You're not a stranger now, you know,' she said, 'but one of
the household. You have nothing more to do with the treacherous sea the
rich mines of Falun are your home.'

"A heaven of bliss and rapture dawned upon Elis at these words of
Ulla's. It was evident that she liked to be near him; and Pehrson
Dahlsjoe watched his quiet earnestness of character with manifest
approval.

"But Elis's heart beat violently when he stood again by the reeking
hell-mouth, and went down the mine with the Captain, in his miner's
clothes, with the heavy, iron-shod Dalkarl shoes on his feet. Hot
vapours soon threatened to suffocate him; and then, presently, the
candles flickered in the cutting draughts of cold air that blew in the
lower levels. They went down deeper and deeper, on iron ladders at last
scarcely a foot wide; and Elis found that his sailor's adroitness at
climbing was not of the slightest service to him there.

"They got to the lowest depths of the mine at last, and the Captain
showed him what work he was to set about.

"Elis thought of Ulla. Like some bright angel he saw her hovering over
him, and he forgot all the terror of the abyss, and the hardness of the
toilsome labour.

"It was clear in all his thoughts that it was only if he devoted
himself with all the power of his mind, and with all the exertion which
his body would endure, to mining work here with Pehrson Dahlsjoe, that
there was any possibility of his fondest hopes being some day realized.
Wherefore it came about that he was as good at his work as the most
practised hand, in an incredibly short space of time.

"Staunch Pehrson Dahlsjoe got to like this good, industrious lad
better and better every day, and often told him plainly that