ed miner, and it was his duty to charge the holes,
place and light the fuses, which were timed to burn for several
minutes, jump into the skip and give the signal for hoisting. In all
of this work he was of course assisted by Peveril, and when their task
was completed the two men were lifted to the surface as quickly as
possible.

After our young friend had been engaged in this delicate business some
two weeks, and had become thoroughly familiar with its details, he was
disagreeably surprised one day, upon descending with his freight of
explosives, to find Mike Connell awaiting him at the bottom of the
shaft. The Irishman seemed equally annoyed at seeing him, but the
purpose for which they were there must be accomplished, and so, glad
as each would have been for a more congenial companion, they set
doggedly to work.

When Connell, in a spirit of bravado, handled the sticks of dynamite
with criminal recklessness, and finally managed to drop one of them
close beside Peveril, the latter sharply commanded him to be more
careful.

"Afraid, are you?" sneered the other.

"Yes, I am afraid to work with a man who knows so little of his
business as you appear to," answered Peveril.

"Go to the top then, and lave me to finish the job alone. Lord knows,
I don't want no dealings with a coward."

"It makes no difference what you want or do not want," answered the
younger man steadily, though with a hot flush mounting to his cheeks.
"I was sent here for a certain duty, and intend to stay until I have
performed it."

"And I've a great mind to do what I ought to have done the first day
you struck Red Jacket, and that is to punch your head."

"You shall have a chance to try it when we get to the surface."

"Where you think you'll find friends to protect you. No, by ----, I'll
do it now!"

With this the Irishman sprang forward with clinched fists, but the
other, being on guard, caught him so deft a blow under the chin that
he dropped like a log. Then, with the full exercise of his strength,
the young Oxonian picked his enemy up and dropped him into the skip.
After doing which he proceeded to complete arrangements for the blast.

He worked with nervous haste, and did not see that his enemy had so
far recovered as to be watching him with an expression of deadly hate
over the side of the great iron bucket. But it was so, and, just as
Peveril had lighted the several fuses, Connell gave the signal to
hoist.

The movement of th