hem, would turn out to have nothing but good in
them; and I won't say a word more for fear I should say something that
mightn't be to her mind.'

They all burst into a loud laugh.

'Hear the parson!' they cried. 'He believes in the witch! Ha! ha!'

'He's afraid of her!'

'And says all she does is good!'

'He wants to make friends with her, that she may help him to find the
silver ore.'

'Give me my own eyes and a good divining rod before all the witches in
the world! And so I'd advise you too, Master Curdie; that is, when
your eyes have grown to be worth anything, and you have learned to cut
the hazel fork.'

Thus they all mocked and jeered at him, but he did his best to keep his
temper and go quietly on with his work. He got as close to his father
as he could, however, for that helped him to bear it. As soon as they
were tired of laughing and mocking, Curdie was friendly with them, and
long before their midday meal all between them was as it had been.

But when the evening came, Peter and Curdie felt that they would rather
walk home together without other company, and therefore lingered behind
when the rest of the men left the mine.

CHAPTER 6

The Emerald

Father and son had seated themselves on a projecting piece of rock at a
corner where three galleries met--the one they had come along from
their work, one to the right leading out of the mountain, and the other
to the left leading far into a portion of it which had been long
disused. Since the inundation caused by the goblins, it had indeed
been rendered impassable by the settlement of a quantity of the water,
forming a small but very deep lake, in a part where there was a
considerable descent.

They had just risen and were turning to the right, when a gleam caught
their eyes, and made them look along the whole gallery. Far up they
saw a pale green light, whence issuing they could not tell, about
halfway between floor and roof of the passage. They saw nothing but
the light, which was like a large star, with a point of darker colour
yet brighter radiance in the heart of it, whence the rest of the light
shot out in rays that faded toward the ends until they vanished. It
shed hardly any light around it, although in itself it was so bright as
to sting the eyes that beheld it. Wonderful stories had from ages gone
been current in the mines about certain magic gems which gave out light
of themselves, and this light looked just like what might b