strong 'nuff."

"And do you neither drink nor smoke, Tom?" inquired Oliver.

"Well, sur, I both smokes and drinks, but I do take 'em in moderation,"
said Tom.

"Are you married?" asked Oliver, turning again to the old man.

"Iss, got a wife at hum, an' had six child'n."

"Don't you find this bad air tell on your health?" he continued.

"Iss, sur. After six or seven hours I do feel my head like to split,
an' my stummik as if it wor on fire; but what can us do? we must live,
you knaw."

Bidding these men goodbye, the captain and Oliver went down to another
level, and then along a series of low galleries, in some of which they
had to advance on their hands and knees, and in one of them,
particularly, the accumulation of rubbish was so great, and the roof so
low, that they could only force a passage through by wriggling along at
full length like snakes. Beyond this they found a miner and a little
boy at work; and here Captain Dan pointed out to his companion that the
lodes of copper and tin were rich. Glittering particles on the walls
and drops of water hanging from points and crevices, with the green,
purple, and yellow colours around, combined to give the place a
brilliant metallic aspect.

"You'd better break off a piece of ore here," said Captain Dan.

Oliver took a chisel and hammer from the miner, and applying them to the
rock, spent five minutes in belabouring it with scarcely any result.

"If it were not that I fear to miss the chisel and hit my knuckles," he
said, "I think I could work more effectively."

As he spoke he struck with all his force, and brought down a large
piece, a chip of which he carried away as a memorial of his underground
ramble.

"The man is going to fire the hole," said Captain Dan; "you'd better
wait and see it."

The hole was sunk nearly two feet deep diagonally behind a large mass of
rock that projected from the side of the level. It was charged with
gunpowder, and filled up with "tamping" or pounded granite, Then the
miner lighted the fuse and hastened away, giving the usual signal,
"Fire!" The others followed him to a safe distance, and awaited the
result. In a few minutes there was a loud report, a bright blinding
flash, and a concussion of the air which extinguished two of the
candles. Immediately a crash followed, as the heavy mass of rock was
torn from its bed and hurled to the ground.

"That's the way we raise tin and copper," said Captain Dan; "now,
doctor,