e'd lived," said a third. "'Twould
ha' been a proud day for me to ha' seen him alongside o' thee, lad,
lighting his bit lamp, and ready to take up the life of an honest
miner."

In the group was Tom Evert, Paul's father, a brawny, muscular man, who
was considered one of the best miners in Raven Brook. Taking Derrick a
little to one side, he said,

"They tell me, lad, thou'rt to drive Bill Tooley's mule."

"I don't know anything about Bill Tooley's mule," answered Derrick. "I
only know that Mr. Jones said I was to drive a bumping-mule, and I
intend to do exactly what he tells me."

"Of course, lad, of course; but the bumping-mule he has in mind will be
Bill Tooley's, I doubt not, and I'd rather 'twould be another than you
had the job. Bill Tooley, with his feyther to back him, is certain to
take it out, some way or another, of the lad that steps into his place."

"I'm not afraid of Bill Tooley, as you ought to know, Mr. Evert," said
Derrick, somewhat boastfully, as he thought of the thrashing he had so
recently given the young man in question.

"Of course not, lad, of course not. I know you can lick him fast enough
in fair fight. My poor little Paul can bear ready witness to that, for
which I'm under obligations to you. It's not fair fighting I mean; for
when it comes to argyfying with them Tooleys, it's foul play you must
look out for; and what the young un lacks in pluck he makes up in
inflooence."

Derrick was about to ask what he meant, but was interrupted by a
movement of the miners towards the entrance. In another moment he found
himself rapidly descending the steep steps of the travelling-road, and
feeling that the attempt to keep pace with the long-limbed fellows ahead
of him must certainly result in his pitching headlong into the unknown
depth of blackness.

The travelling-road was a gigantic stairway, leading at a steep angle
directly down into the earth. It was high enough for a man to stand
upright in without hitting his head against the roof, and it was
provided with steps. They were cut or dug out of the rock, earth, or
coal down through which the road passed, and were very broad and very
high. The front edge of each was formed of a smooth round log. From the
roof and sides of the road dripped and trickled little streams of water
that made everything in it wet and soggy, and rendered the edges of the
steps particularly slippery.

The air in the road was chilly in comparison with that of the warm