s returned
by the window.

CHAPTER XXXIX

THE UNDERGROUND WORLD

The three commissioners for the first fortnight had little to say;
their report was meagre of incident. Behrend came morning and evening
to dine and sup with them in the little village inn; the rest of the
day and of the night he spent continuously underground. When they
asked him what he was doing, he said, shortly, that everything was
going on well.

Things might be going well, but there was nothing visible to the
commissioners. And, moreover, there was _one_ very suspicious
circumstance which struck Spitzhase especially, and this was that
Behrend spent his time in his _own colliery_. It was there that all
the expensive machines had been set up and all the chemical stuffs had
been taken. Not a single thing had been done to the company's mine;
not a bit of rubbish had been cleared away, not one of the entrances
had been opened; in fact, a fortnight had slipped away, and no work
had been undertaken. It was undoubtedly true that the machines were
always at work, and cart-loads of clay and stones were perpetually
being wheeled away.

The whole thing was incomprehensible, and Behrend would not give the
slightest explanation.

At the beginning of the following week Spitzhase lost all patience.

"Sir," he said to Ivan, with suppressed irritation, "you promised
that in a fortnight the conflagration in our mine would be
extinguished. The time is up, and I have not seen that anything has
been even attempted."

"That is very probable," returned Ivan, quietly.

"Do you maintain still that everything is progressing satisfactorily?"

"I do."

"Can I see for myself what has been done?"

"Where you are standing it would be impossible for you to judge."

"Well, let me go where I can see something."

"Do you really wish to go below? It is not a pleasant place."

"Where you go, so can I; for my part, I don't care if it was hell
itself."

"It is not unlike what hell must be."

"Well, I am resolved to pay it a visit. I want to make the
acquaintance of the devil; perhaps I could make an arrangement with
him to supply us with coal."

"You may come on one condition: if you accompany me you must
understand that I cannot let you stand gaping about. There is not room
in the place for more than two people, and they must both work."

"I am not afraid of work. I am the devil for work."

"Very good, then, come along," said Ivan; "and if the other ge