n a leaf, "Gone in search of you. Wait till
we return," and tore it out to place it close to the candle where the
light could shine on the white scrap of paper.

Then on they went again, with the experienced miners talking to one
another in whispers, as with wondering eyes they took note of the value
of the traces they kept on seeing in the rugged walls of the main
gallery they traversed--tokens hardly heeded by the two boys in their
anxiety to gain tidings of their fathers.

"It's going to be a grand place, my son," whispered Vores; "and only to
think of it, for such a mine to have lain untouched ever since the time
of our great-great-gaffers--great-great-great-great, ever so many
great-gaffers, and nobody thinking it worth trying."

"Ay, but there must have been some reason," said the other.

"Bah! Old women's tales about goblin sprites and things that live
underground. We never saw anything uglier than ourselves, though, did
we, all the years we worked in mines?"

"Nay, I never did," said the man who walked beside Vores; "but still
there's no knowing what may be, my lad, and it seems better to hold
one's tongue when one's going along in the dark in just such a place as
strange things might be living in."

Hardock stopped where another branch went off at a sharp angle, his
experienced eyes accustomed to mines and dense darkness, making them
plain directly; and here another shout was sent volleying down between
the wet gleaming walls, to echo and vibrate in a way which sounded
awful; but when the men shouted again the echoes died away into
whispers, and then rose again more wildly, but only to die finally into
silence.

Without waiting for an order, Hardock lit and fixed another candle
against the glittering wall of the mine passage, the Colonel wrote on a
slip of paper, and this too was placed where it must be seen; but the
Colonel hesitated as if about to alter the wording.

"No," he said, "I dare not tell them to make for the sumph, they might
lose their way. You feel sure that you can bring us back by here,
Hardock?"

The man was silent for a few moments, and then he spoke in a husky
voice.

"No, sir," he said, "I can't say I am. I think I can, but I thought so
this morning. The place is all a puzzle of confusion, and it's so big.
Next time we come down I'll have a pail of paint and a brush, and paint
arrows pointing to the foot of the shaft at every turn. But I'll try my
best."

"Ay, we'll al