thrown out grew higher, they seem to
have built up the mouth of the mine with big blocks to keep the stones
from rolling in. I noticed that when I was being let down. The ferns
have taken root in the joints. Lower down, fifteen or twenty feet, the
hole seems to have been cut through the solid rock."

"Humph! you kept your eyes open, then?"

Crossing the wall where the lane ran along by the side of the Colonel's
property, they turned homeward, and in a few minutes Gwyn caught sight
of Joe Jollivet's cap gliding in and out among the furze bushes, as he
made his way in the direction of his own house, apparently not intending
to be seen. But a few hundred yards farther along the lane there was
some one who evidently did intend to be seen, in the shape of Sam
Hardock, who rose from where he was sitting on a grey-lichened block,
and touched his hat.

"That's a nice specimen you've got there, Master Pendarve," he said,
eyeing the block the boy carried.

"It's a very heavy one, Sam," replied Gwyn; and his father strode on,
but stopped short and turned back frowning, unable, in spite of his
annoyance, to restrain his curiosity.

"Here, you Hardock," he cried, tapping the block his son carried, with
his cane. "What is it? What stone do you call that?"

"Quartz, sir," said the man, examining the piece, "and a very fine
specimen."

"Eh? Good for breaking up to repair the roads with, eh?"

"No, sir; bad for that; soon go to powder. But it would be fine to
crush and smelt."

"Eh? What for?"

"What for, sir?" said the man with a laugh; "why, that bit o' stone's
half tin. I dunno where you got it, o' course; but if it came from the
spoil bank of that old mine, it just proves what I thought."

"Tin? Are you sure?"

"Sure, sir? Yes," said the man, laughing. "I ought to know tin when I
see it. If it comes out of the old Ydoll mine, you've only got to set
men at work to go down and blast it out, sir, and in a very short time
you'll be a rich man."

"Come along, Gwyn," said the Colonel, hastily; "it's time we got back.
Hang the fellow!" he muttered, "he has given me the mining fever, and
badly, too, I fear."

CHAPTER NINE.

DOCTOR JOE.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What a life! what a state of misery to be in!"

"Shall I turn the pillow over, father?" said Joe to Major Jollivet, who
was lying on the couch drawn before the window, so that he could have a
good view of the sea.

"No," shouted the Major, wh