growing up in a strange family who
took care of her. He never spoke to her. When he entered in the evening
he silently placed his money on the table, let his head drop in his
hands, and remained sitting in this attitude. When she called him to sit
down at table, he rose and obeyed, otherwise he would have remained as
he was till the morning, as motionless as a log. When he happened to
remain in the mine for the night, his sister was not anxious about it;
she knew that he had taken with him a large chunk of bread and a handful
of salt; as for water, there was no lack of that in the mine! She knew
also that in a corner of the sepulchral vault, where he worked like a
mole from morning to night, there was a can of oil, and that he could
re-light his lamp whenever it went out.

Ivan stooped down, looked for his pickaxe, found it, and sat down to
break pieces from a block of ore which projected from the wall. This
ferruginous earth was as hard to break as stone. Ivan worked slowly,
sparing his strength because he could not do otherwise; care had been
taken to show him a place where the rock was not so hard as elsewhere.
Fragments of yellowish earth fell on the ground, and the rays of the
little lamp lit up the particles of copper which glittered here and
there in the pieces of rock. After two hours' work the pickaxe fell from
the old man's hand. Feeling quite exhausted, he squatted down on the
ground, cut himself a large slice of bread, sprinkled it plentifully
with salt, and began to munch the soft part of it with the remnants of
his teeth.

There was in one corner a wheelbarrow light enough for the old man to
push it. After having rested, he filled it with ore, and crawled,
pushing the barrow in front of him, through the narrow passage which led
to the main gallery. At the end of the passage a point of yellow light
was visible. This proceeded from the main gallery where a large number
of miners worked, and the yellow light was that cast by their lamps.
Several times the old man sank exhausted on his stomach on the ground;
then after resting a minute or two to recover strength, he began to
crawl on again, pushing his load in front of him. The point of light
grew larger from moment to moment and soon became a broad luminous disk
against which the outline of a miner stood out in sharp relief. A few
minutes more and the wheelbarrow issued from the passage, pushed by the
old man, who sank as he did so on the ground.

"Stop a