Part 49 (1/2)

”Bah! he is of no use now. Hah! You have candles ready, I see. How many will the skep take?”

”Six on us, sir,” said Vores.

”Follow me, then, some of you,” said the Colonel. ”Hardock, you're f.a.gged out, and had better stay.”

”What! and leave them boys down there lost, sir?” cried Hardock, sharply. ”Not me.”

”Then head a second party; I'll go on with five.”

”Right you are, sir,” said Hardock. ”Down with you, then; and we'll soon be after you. Will someone give me a tin o' water?”

Two men started up to supply his wants, as the Colonel and his party stepped into the skep to stand closely packed--too closely for Grip to find footing; and as the great bucket descended, the dog threw up his muzzle and uttered a dismal howl.

”Quickly as you can,” shouted the Colonel, as the skep went down; but the engineer shook his head.

”Nay,” he said to the remaining men present; ”none o' that, my lads: slow and steady's my motter for this job. One reg'lar rate and no other.”

In due time the other skep came to the surface, and Hardock, with a lump of bread in his hand and a fresh supply of candles and matches, stepped in, to be followed by five more, ready to dare anything in the search for the two lads; but once more poor Grip was left behind howling dismally, while Tom Dina.s.s nursed his leg and glared at him with an evil eye.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

DOWN IN THE DEPTHS.

”You lead with the lanthorn, Hardock,” said the Colonel, as the man and his companions stepped out of the second skep and had to wade knee-deep for a few yards from the bottom of the shaft, the road lying low beneath the high, cavernous entrance to the mine, at one side of which a tiny stream of clear water was trickling. There the bottom began to rise at the same rate as the roof grew lower; and soon they were, if not on dry land, walking over a floor of damp, slimy rock.

”Keep straight on, sir?” said the captain.

”Yes, right on. They would not have entered the side gallery, or we should have met them as we came out.”

The first side gallery, a turning off to the left, was reached, and, but for the fact that the Colonel's party had strayed into that part by accident, it would have been pa.s.sed unseen, as it was by the boys and Dina.s.s, for the entrance was so like the rock on either side, and it turned off at such an acute angle, that it might have been pa.s.sed a hundred times without its existence being known.

The men were very silent, but they kept on raising their lanthorns and glancing at the roof and sides as they tramped on behind the Colonel.

”There's good stuff here,” whispered Vores to his nearest companion.

”Yes, I've been noticing,” was the reply. ”It's a fine mine, and there's ore enough to keep any number of us going without travelling far.”

”Yes,” said Vores. ”Worked as they used to do it in the old days, when they only got out the richest stuff.”

Just then Hardock stopped, and, upon the others closing up, they found themselves at an opening on the right--one which struck right back, and, like the other, almost invisible to anyone pa.s.sing with a dim light.

”Shall we give a good shout here, sir?” said Hardock.

”Yes,” was the reply; and the men hailed as with one voice, sending a volume of sound rolling and echoing down the pa.s.sage of the main road and along its tributary.

Then all stood silent, listening to the echoes which died away in the distance, making some of the experienced miners, accustomed as they were to such underground journeys, s.h.i.+ver and look strange.

”Vasty place, mate,” whispered Vores to Hardock, after they had all hailed again and listened vainly for a reply.

”Vasty?” said Hardock. ”Ay! The gashly place is like a great net, and seems to have no end.”