as much water in it as in the sea, for
aught we can tell."

"It's my belief they're more afraid of the Dead Hand than the water,"
observed a voice from the crowd, the great majority of which was
composed of fisher folk.

No reply was given to this; perhaps because the speaker, an old cripple,
the Thersites of the village, was beneath notice, perhaps because the
remark was unanswerable. The miners were bold enough against material
enemies, but they were superstitious to a man.

"If Solomon Coe were alive," continued the same voice, "he wouldn't ha'
feared nothin'."

"That's the first word, old man, as ever I heard you speak in his
favor," said a miner, contemptuously; "and you've waited for that till
he's dead."

"Still, he would ha' gone, and you durstn't," observed the old fellow,
cunningly, "and that's the p'int."

These allusions to the Dead Hand and to the missing Solomon were not of
a nature to inspire courage in those to whom it was already lacking, and
a silence again ensued. There was less light, for a torch or two had
gone out, and the mine looked blacker than ever.

"Well, who's a-going down?" croaked the old cripple. "The gentleman came
from your inn, Jonathan, and it's your place, I should think, to look
after him."

"Certainly not," answered the inn-keeper, hastily. "These men here were
hired for this very service."

"That's true," said the first miner. "But what's the use of talking when
the gentleman has got the ladder with him?"

"There's more ladders in the world than one," observed the cripple.
"Here's my grandson, John; he and half a dozen of these young fellows
would fetch Farmer Gray's in less than no time. Come, lads--be off with
ye."

This suggestion was highly applauded, except by the miner who had so
injudiciously compromised himself, and was carried out at once.

When the ladder arrived the three other miners, ashamed of deserting
their comrade, volunteered to descend with him. The excitement among the
spectators was great, indeed, when these four men disappeared in the
levels of Wheal Danes, as Richard had done before them. The light of
their combined torches lingered a little in their rear; the sound of
their voices, as they halloed to one another or to the missing man, was
heard for several minutes. But darkness and silence swallowed _them_ up
also, and the watchers gazed on one another aghast.

It is not an easy thing, even for those accustomed to underground labor,
to se