tity for every possible want of the party. The
quarry-face consisted of an almost perpendicular cliff of grey limestone
springing out of the soil at a distance of only some fifty feet from the
margin of the stream; it was about thirty-five feet in height, and fully
one hundred and fifty feet long, and of course of unknown depth, though
a very hasty examination of the top showed that it extended fully fifty
feet back from the face. Captain Blyth and Nicholls landed here,
provided with the powder and such tools as they needed, and instructed
by the engineer--who promised to rejoin them, as soon as he had
inspected the coal outcrop--began at once to lay bare the stone at the
top of the cliff. The rest of the party then proceeded in the raft to
the "mine," as they already began to term it, which they found about a
quarter of a mile further on. The outcrop proved, as Henderson had
asserted, to be a genuine coal, and of very fair quality, too, with a
prospect of its improving as it was worked down into; and, most
important and fortunate for the discoverers, it, like the stone, was
situate close to the river bank, near enough in fact to permit of its
being loaded direct on the deck of the raft by means of a long wooden
shoot. The doctor and young Manners willingly undertook to "get" such
coal as might be required--not a very large quantity in all
probability--and, stripping to the waist, at once set to work, whilst
Gaunt, who by this time had learned to manage the raft single-handed,
made his way back in that singular-looking craft to the quarry.

On rejoining the skipper and Nicholls, the engineer found that the two
men had worked to such excellent purpose that they had already laid bare
an area of some forty feet of stone, and disclosed a small fissure which
Gaunt thought would serve admirably to receive a blasting charge, which
he at once proceeded to prepare. This operation was soon accomplished,
the fuse--a chemical preparation "made up" by Henderson the night
before--was lighted, and the trio hastily retreated to a place of
safety. A minute later a faint _boom_ was heard, followed by a
tremendous crash and the rattle of falling fragments; and, hurrying back
to the spot, the workers found that, by a lucky accident, the charge had
been so placed as to dislodge and hurl down on to the bank beneath
upwards of twenty tons of stone. After this there was no further
difficulty, for the layers happened to so run that a ver