ned her back
upon the Reverend Gabriel, and took her place at her father's side,
where she met the amused glance of Dr. Brownlee, who had overhead both
remarks.

"They signal the cage, and run the car on it," answered Mr. Everett. "We
don't let but one man ring for the engineer. He has to stay near one of
the stations, where he can hear; and when the miners want him, they go
to the station and pound their signal on one of the water-pipes, for him
to repeat. We had a green hand, though, that tried to improve on our
plan, a few years ago. He attempted to catch the cage on the fly, as it
went up past him; and he actually aimed the car at it, and ran it down."

"Did he hit it?" asked Charlie.

"Hardly," returned Mr. Everett, laughing. "The cage was too quick for
him, and went on up; and both the car and the man fell clear to the
bottom of the shaft."

"Oh-h!" And Marjorie's eyes grew round with horror. "I should think
'twould have hurt him awfully."

"Well, yes, Marjorie; I should have thought it would," said Howard,
mimicking her tone, while the others joined in the laugh at her expense.

Then they went on to the end of the cross-cut, and, turning at a sharp
angle, they came into the drift, the long gallery running through the
vein. For some distance, the drift, like the cross-cut, was lined with
timbers, then the lining ceased, as they neared the end of the drift,
where the miners were hard at work, drilling for fresh blasts, or
tearing out the ore loosened by the last explosion, and loading it into
the little car which stood ready to be run down the track to the
station. Seven feet above, so that the roof of the lower level formed
the flooring of the next, was another short gallery, where the men were
busy stoping, digging out the ore from the upper tier. Dingy and grimy
as they were, it was fascinating to watch them, burrowing, like so many
moles, in the depths of the earth. The visitors lingered to look at them
until they were frightened away by the preparations for a blast; then
they slowly made their way back to the station, pausing a moment to
watch a loaded car, as it rolled from the rails to the polished steel
flooring, and swung around the corner into position, to wait for the
cage. Mr. Everett looked at his watch.

"I'm sorry to hurry you," he said; "but I think we ought to be going;
don't you, Somers? It's change day; and at three the cages will be
full."

"Change day!" remarked Charlie to his cousin,