y had been able to distinguish the
microscopic speck which was agitating the minds of foreman and
superintendent. Into one mine they descended, two passengers at a time,
standing on the edge of a huge ore-bucket, which was gently lowered down
the shaft. It was a treat to see the gnomelike figure of Mr. Fetherbee
poking about among the rocky ribs of Mother Earth, closely attended by
the flickering lights and weird shadows cast by the tallow-dip with
which he had prudently provided himself early in the day. Emerging into
the light of heaven they all rested for a while, sprawling there upon
the sun-baked hillside, looking down into a quiet wooded valley full of
brooding sunshine and heavenly shadows, while their ears were filled
with the din of the ore-bucket, restored to its legitimate function,
rattling up the shaft and sending its contents crashing down into the
dump.

There was but one moment of the day when Mr. Fetherbee's spirit quailed.
His kind friends, anxious that he should miss no feature of "local
coloring" had thoughtfully conducted him to the very worst of the
miner's boarding-houses, where they all cheerfully partook of strange
and direful viands for his sake. Mr. Fetherbee, shrewdly suspecting the
true state of the case, had unflinchingly devoured everything that was
set before him, topping off his gastronomic martyrdom with a section of
apricot pie, of a peculiar consistency and a really poignant flavor.
Just as he had swallowed the last mouthful, the proprietor of "The Jolly
Delvers" came up, and Mr. Fetherbee, in the first flush of victory,
remarked: "Well, sir! That _is_ a pie, and no mistake!" Upon which the
host, charmed with this spontaneous tribute, hastened to set before his
guest another slice. And then it was that Mr. Fetherbee, but now so
unflinching, so imperturbable, laid down his weapons and struck his
colors. He eyed the pie, he eyed his delighted fellow-sufferers, and
then, in a voice grown suddenly plaintive, he said: "Don't tempt me,
sir! It would be against my doctor's orders!"

But even the memory of his discomfiture could not long check the flow of
Mr. Fetherbee's spirits, and ten minutes later the valiant little
trencher-man was climbing with cheerful alacrity into the wagon, which
had been, in the interim, subjected to a judicious application of ropes
and wires.

"Think she's quite seaworthy?" he asked, as the structure groaned and
"gave" under his light weight.

"Guess she'll w