to stand
by his friend, dashed off from the unknown danger by which they were
beset.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

GWYN GIVES IT UP.

There came a dull sound out of the darkness, as if Joe had struck
against the wall of the mine; but he gave vent to no exclamation, and
Gwyn cried to him to stop.

"Where are you? Don't run off like that, Joe!--Joe! Where are you?"

"Here," said the lad, hoarsely. "What is it? What has hurt you?"

"Hurt me? I thought something had hurt you. What made you rush off?"

"You shouted. What was it?"

"Enough to make me shout. Where are you?"

Guided by their voices, the lads approached till they were close
together.

"Now what was it?" panted Joe, who was still trembling from the nervous
alarm and shock.

"Give me your hand."

Joe obeyed shrinkingly, and felt it passed along the skirt of his
companion's jacket.

"Feel it?"

"Yes, I feel something inside the lining. What is it--a box?"

"Yes, the matches. They got through the hole into the lining. Wait
till I get them out."

This was only achieved with the help of a knife.

"Ah!" ejaculated the boy, as he at last dragged out the box, struck a
match, and held it over his head to see where the candle-box had been
laid; and then by quick manipulation he managed to get a wick well
alight before the tiny deal splint was extinct.

In his excitement and delight, Joe clapped his hands as the candle was
forced into the empty socket, and the lanthorn door closed.

"Oh, what a beautiful thing light is!" he cried.

"And what a horrible thing darkness, at a time like this! There, one
feels better, and quite rested. Let's go on, and we may come to them at
any time now."

Joe said nothing, for fear of damping his companion's spirits; but he
knew that they were not rested--that they would soon be forced to stop;
and as he gazed right away before them, and tried to pierce the gloom
beyond the circle of light shed by the candle, the hopeless nature of
their quest forced itself upon him more and more.

But Gwyn's spirits seemed to be now unnaturally high, and as they went
on following the narrowed tunnels, and passing along such branches as
seemed to be the most likely from their size, he held up the lanthorn to
point out that the ore seemed to have been cut out for ten or twenty
feet above their heads in a slanting direction. In another place he
paused to look into a narrow passage that seemed to have been only just
commen