l, a dead uncle, however good he was, can't be
expected to come between a man and the joy of a live sweetheart, who has
said "Yes" to him.

II

Then came a night of stars, and once again Amos Gregory was shook up to
his heels by somebody running in hot haste with news just as the farmer
was about to go to bed. And once more it was his nephew, Ernest, who
brought the tale.

"I've found a wondrous pit in the rough ground beyond Four Acre Field," he
said. "I came upon it this afternoon, rabbiting, and but for the blessing
of God, should have falled in, for the top's worn away and some big stones
have fallen in. 'Tis just off the path in that clitter of stone beside the
stile."

The young man was panting and so excited that his words tripped each
other; but his uncle didn't see for the minute why he should be, and spoke
according.

"My father always thought there was a shaft hole there," answered Amos,
"and very likely there may be, and time have worn it to the light, for
Vitifer Mine used to run out into a lot of passages that be deserted now,
and there's the famous adit in Smallcumbe Goyle, half a mile away, to the
west, long deserted now; and when I was a child, me and my brothers often
played in the mouth of it. The place was blocked years ago by a fall from
the roof. But why for you want to run to me with this story at such an
hour, Ernest, I can't well say. Us ought to be abed, and Sarah will soon
larn you to keep better hours, I reckon. You're a lot too excitable and I
could wish it altered."

But the man's nephew explained. "That ain't all, Uncle Amos," he went on,
"for I found Uncle Joe's hat alongside the place! There it lies still and
little the worse--blue jay feather and all. But I dursn't touch it for
fear of the law, and seeing it just after I'd found the hole, filled me
with fear and terror. Because it looks cruel as if Uncle had pretty near
got home that fatal night, and coming across by the field path in the
dark, got in the rough and went down the pit."

Well, Amos had reached for his boots you may be sure before Ernest was to
the end of his tale, and in five minutes he'd put on his coat and gone out
with Ernest to see the spot.

Their eyes soon got used to the starlight, and by the time they reached
the field called Four Acre, Amos was seeing pretty clear. In one corner
where a field path ran from a stile down the side, was a stony hillock
dotted with blackthorns and briars and all overgrown