tray, which was
fastened to the rope, and then it was lowered gradually down. Eagerly
those above watched it as it descended--down--down, till it became a
mere speck below. Then it suddenly disappeared.

"Stop," Mr. Hardinge, who was directing the operations, said.

"There are six more fathoms yet, sir--nigh seven--before it gets to the
hundred-and-twenty fathom mark."

"Draw up carefully, lads. What can have put the light out forty feet
from the bottom of the shaft? Choke-damp, I suppose; but it's very
singular."

When the candle came up to the surface there was a cry of astonishment;
the tray and the candle were wet! The whole of those present were
astounded, and Mr. Hardinge at once determined to descend himself and
verify this extraordinary occurrence. There was no fear of an explosion
now. Taking a miner's lamp, he took his seat in a sling, and was lowered
down. Just before the rope had run out to the point at which the light
was extinguished he gave the signal to stop by jerking a thin rope which
he held in his hands.

There was a pause, and in a minute or two came two jerks, the signal to
haul up.

"It is so," he said, when he gained the surface; "there are forty feet
of water in the shaft, but where it came from is more than I can tell."

Much astonished at this singular occurrence, the group of mining
engineers walked back to breakfast at Stokebridge, where the population
were greatly excited at the news that the pit was flooded. To the miners
it was a subject of the greatest surprise, while the friends of those in
the pit received the news as the death-blow of their last hopes. It was
now impossible that any one could be alive in the pit.

At ten o'clock the mining authorities went again to discuss the curious
phenomenon. All agreed that it was out of the question that so large a
quantity of water had accumulated in any old workings, for the plan of
the pit had been repeatedly inspected by them all. Some inclined to the
belief that there must have been some immense natural cavern above the
workings, and that when the fire in the pit burned away the pillars left
to support the roof, this must have fallen in, and let the water in the
cavern into the mine; others pointed out that there was no example
whatever of a cavern of such dimensions as this must have been, being
found in the coal formation, and pointed to the worked-out Logan pit,
which was known to be full of water, as the probable source of sup