ht road, so there's nothing for it but
for to go round by the workings, maybe for a mile, maybe three miles,
till it gets back into the main road again. So when the door is open the
ventilation is checked right round the workings; so mind doan't 'ee open
the door till the horse is close to it, and shut it directly it's past."

When the door closed behind his foster-father, and Jack Simpson remained
alone in the dense darkness, a feeling of utter loneliness and desertion
stole over him. The blackness was intense and absolute; a low confused
murmur, the reverberation of far-off noises in the pit, sounded in his
ears. He spoke, and his voice sounded muffled and dull.

"This be worse nor I looked for," the boy said to himself; "I suppose
I'll get used to it, but I doan't wonder that some young uns who ain't
strong as I be are badly frighted at first."

Presently the confused noise seemed to get louder, then a distinct
rumble was heard, and Jack felt with delight that a train of waggons was
approaching. Then he saw far along the gallery a light swinging, as the
man who bore it walked ahead of the horse. The water in the little pools
between the sleepers reflected it in a score of little lines of light.
Now he could hear the hollow splashing sound of the horses' hoofs, and
prepared to answer to the shout of "door" by pulling at the string
beside him. When the light came within twenty yards it changed its
direction; he heard the grating of the wheels against the points, and
saw that the waggons were going up the other road. There upon a siding
they came to a stop, and a minute or two later a number of full waggons
were brought down by another horse. A few words were exchanged by the
drivers, but Jack's ear, unaccustomed to the echoes of a mine, could not
catch what they said; then the first man hitched his horse on to the
full waggons, and started for the shaft, while the other with the
empties went up the road to the workings.

The incident, slight as it had been, had altogether dissipated the
feeling of uneasiness of which Jack had been conscious. Before, he had
seemed shut out from the world, as if within a living tomb, but the
sight of men engaged at their ordinary work close by him completely
restored the balance of his mind, and henceforth he never felt the
slightest discomfort at being alone in the dark.

A few minutes after the rumbling of the departing train of "tubs" had
died in his ear, he again heard it. Again