he watched the slowly
approaching light, and when it came within a few yards of him he heard
the expected shout of "Gate!" He replied by a shout of "All right!" and
as the driver came level with him pulled the cord and the door opened.

"G'long, Smiler," the driver said, and the horse went forward. The man
leaned forward and raised his lamp to Jack's face.

"I thawt 'twasn't Jim Brown's voice. Who be'st thou?"

"Jack Simpson; I live along wi' Bill Haden."

"Ay, ay, I know'st, I knew thy father, a good sort he was too. Be'st thy
first day doon the pit?"

"Ay," Jack said.

"Foind it dark and lonesome, eh? Thou'lt get used to it soon."

"How often do the corves come along?" Jack asked as the man prepared to
run on after the waggons, the last of which had just passed.

"There be a set goes out every ten minutes, maybe, on this road, and
every twenty minutes on the other, two o' ours to one o' theirs;" and he
moved forward.

Jack let the door slam after him, went out and felt that it had shut
firmly, and then resumed his seat in his niche. He whistled for a bit,
and then his thoughts turned to the learning which he had determined
firmly to acquire.

"I wish I'd ha' took to it afore," he said to himself. "What a sight o'
time I ha' lost! I'll go over in my head all the lessons I can remember;
and them as I doant know, and that's the best part, I reckon I'll look
up when I get hoame. Every day what I learns fresh I'll go over down
here. I shall get it perfect then, and it will pass the time away
finely. I'll begin at oncet. Twice two is four;" and so Jack passed the
hours of his first day in the pit, recalling his lessons, reproaching
himself continually and bitterly with the time he had wasted, breaking
off every ten minutes from his rehearsals to open the door for the train
of corves going in empty and going out full, exchanging a few words each
time with the drivers, all of whom were good-naturedly anxious to cheer
up the new boy, who must, as they supposed, be feeling the loneliness of
his first day in the pit keenly. Such was by no means the case with
Jack, and he was quite taken by surprise when a driver said to him,
"This be the last train this shift."

"Why, it bean't nigh two o'clock, surely?" he said.

"It be," the driver said; "wants ten minutes, that's all."

Soon the miners began to come along.

"Hullo, Jack!" Bill Haden's voice said. "Be'st still here. Come along of
me. Why didst stop, lad? Thou