summer's morning in which the outside world was rejoicing, and Derrick
shivered as he first encountered its penetrating dampness. Of course the
darkness was intense, but at first it was partially dispelled by the
lights of the half-dozen miners in whose company he had entered the
road. As they gradually left him behind, their twinkling lights grew
fainter and fainter, until at last they vanished entirely, and Derrick
found himself stumbling alone down the apparently interminable stairway.

While yet in company with the miners, he had passed through one door
made of heavy planks, that completely closed the road, and now he came
to another. Through its chinks and cracks there was a rush of air from
outside inward that hummed and whistled like a small gale. It took all
of Derrick's strength to pull this door open, and it closed behind him
with a crash that reverberated in long, hollow echoes down the black
depths before him.

Some distance below he was startled by a heavy booming sound from above,
which was followed by a tremendous clattering, mingled with shouts and
cries. In the first of these sounds he recognized the closing of the
door through which he had recently passed, but he could not account for
the others.

They were continued, and grew louder and louder as they approached,
until at length they were close at hand, and he saw lights and a
confused mass of struggling forms directly above him. Stepping to one
side, Derrick flattened himself against the wall to let them pass; but
just as the miner who came first reached that point, he tossed the end
of a rope into the boy's hands, saying, "Here, lad, lead this mule down
the rest of the way, will ye? I'm in a powerful hurry myself."

[Illustration: "HERE, LAD, LEAD THIS MULE DOWN THE REST OF THE WAY, WILL YE?"]

In another instant he had gone, leaping with immense strides down the
precipitous steps, and Derrick found himself staring into the comical
face of a large mule which, with his fore-feet on one step and his hind
ones on that above, looked as though he were about to stand on his head.

"Go on, can't yer!" called out an impatient voice from behind the mule.
"Do ye think I can hang onto this 'ere blessed tail all day? A mule's no
feather-weight, let me tell yer."

Then Derrick realized that another man held the mule by the tail, and
was exerting all his strength to prevent him from going down too fast.
Accepting the situation, he started ahead, encouragin