on, my father stopped from time to time to hold his light
against the wall, for us to see where the lead ore glistened, and
promised to be thick when he was disposed to work in another direction.

We could hear the water trickling still along a channel which had been
cut on one side of the gallery, and every here and there great drops
gathered on the wood-work that propped the roof, and fell with a plash
making Bigley whisper to me:

"Suppose the sea was to break in."

He spoke as I say in a whisper, but it was heard by my father, who
answered quietly:

"We should have to go down much lower before we were on a level with the
sea at high-water mark, my lads. If anything were likely to do us any
harm, it would be the brook."

He stopped soon after, for we had reached the end of the gallery, giving
way while a workman wheeled by us a barrowful of ore, similar to a heap
which two others were hewing and picking out of the wall.

"Well, my lads, what's it like?" said my father.

"Cleaner and richer and better, I should say, master," said one of the
men. "It's a wonder, but I'm thinking you'll have to put more power on
there to pump. Farther we goes, the worse the water gets."

"I've been thinking so myself," said my father quietly. "It sha'n't
stop you, my lads, I'll see to that."

My father picked up a specimen of the ore, and placed it in his pocket;
the men resumed their picking and hewing, and we two lads inspected the
lode and the walls of the mine, and then, after looking at it up, down,
and in every direction, to try and find something more interesting than
the square passage with its dripping walls and patches of black mineral
that glistened in a dull manner when the light was moved, we ended by
staring at my father.

"Well," he said smiling; "had enough?"

"Is there no more to see than this?" I said in a disappointed tone.

"There is another gallery below here, and two above, but they are just
the same. Shall we go and see them?"

"If Bigley likes," I said rather gruffly.

"No, I don't think I want to see any more," he replied.

My father laughed, and went on in front with one candle while I followed
with the other, till we reached the foot of the shaft.

"Silver mine sounds better than it looks, eh, my lads!" he said.

We neither of us answered, for it seemed like damping his enterprise.
But he did not heed our silence, for he began to climb slowly up the
ladders, and as he reached the firs