No, I haven't," said Derrick, flushing hotly. "I don't believe in
swearing, and if I can't drive a mule without it I won't drive him at
all."

"Then I reckon you'll hunt some other business putty quick," answered
the miner with a coarse laugh in which the others joined. "Mules won't
work without they hears the peculiar langwidge they's most fond of."

"Well," said Derrick, "we'll see." And leaving the store with his
purchases he started homeward. On the way he stopped to deliver Mr.
Guffy's message to Paul Evert, and to tell his friend the great news
that on the following day he was to begin the life of a miner.

"I wish I was going with you," said Paul.

"I wish you were, Polly," answered Derrick. "Perhaps there will be a
chance for you down there before long, and by that time I will have
learned all the ropes, and can tell you what's what."

Although Derrick had lived much among collieries, he had never been
allowed to go down into a mine. His parents had kept him as much as
possible from associating with the rough mine lads of the village. Thus,
until he went into the breaker to earn his own living, he had held but
slight intercourse with them. His friend Paul, being the son of a miner,
knew far more of underground life than he, and often smiled at his
ignorance of many of the commonest mine terms.

Derrick was a peculiar boy in one respect. He disliked to ask questions,
and would rather spend time and patience in finding out things for
himself, if it were possible for him to do so. What he thus learned he
never forgot.

He was thoroughly familiar with the surface workings of a colliery, and
could explain the construction of the great pumps that kept the mine
free from water, the huge, swiftly revolving fan that drew all foul air
from it, or any of its other machinery. His father's profession had long
seemed to him a most desirable one, and he spent much of his spare time
in studying such engineering books as still remained in the house. He
loved to pore over his father's tracings and maps of the old workings.
With these he had become so well acquainted that he believed he could
locate on the surface the exact spots beneath which ran the gangways,
headings, and breasts of the abandoned portions of the mine.

By means of these old maps he had also discovered on the mountain side,
more than a mile away, the mouth of a drift leading into a vein worked
out and abandoned more than twenty years before. This discove