t it must concern the superintendent, since he had been
the last man to go down. He spoke a few quick words to his assistant,
and in a moment more a little crowd had gathered at the mouth of the
shaft, just as the bell sounded again, three strokes.

Standing once more on the cross-head, Mr. Everett and Charlie could feel
the man's excitement in the very motion of their tiny platform, as,
obedient to the engine, it rose a little, then stopped, then rose again,
as if feeling its way over an uncertain course. So they went on till the
four-hundred level was below them; then the engine quickened its action.
Little by little the tiny dot above them broadened, and turned to a wide
disk of blue sky; and their lamps dwindled to a pale yellow before the
clear light of day, as the cross-head, with its living freight, slowly
came up into the bright air, amid the shouts of the men who stood
waiting to receive it.

"Father said Joe was badly rattled," Ned told Charlie, that night, on
their way to a choir rehearsal. "He was sure 'twas all up with you, and
came near losing his head, so he couldn't run the engine, or answer a
signal."

"I didn't suppose 'twas as bad as that," returned Charlie. "I didn't
much like your father's having to walk round on that beam, or whatever
you call it, but I thought the rest was good fun."

"I told father that I didn't believe you knew enough to be scared," said
Ned, with masculine frankness. "He was talking, all dinner-time, about
the way you kept cool and didn't make a fuss. Father was frightened,
himself; he's never been in such a fix before, with all he's had to do
with mines, and he says he's going to hurry now, to get that cage put in
before they get into any more scrapes. But I just wish I'd been down
there with you," he added enviously. "It's ever so much more fun than
'tis to go straight down, without any hitches."

"I'll wait till I've tried both, before I make up my mind," responded
Charlie, as they reached the door of the chapel, and turned to wait for
Howard and Grant to overtake them.

CHAPTER V.

THE MEETING IN THE WATERS.

Three weeks had passed since Charlie's unsuccessful attempt to explore
the inside of a mine, and now the last of March had come. Already the
boy had begun to feel as much at home with his cousins and in the mining
camp, as if he had always lived in Blue Creek. Had the change from his
old surroundings been less abrupt and marked, he might have had
occa