the hole to be too small for his broad shoulders to pass. At this
point, he afterwards admitted, he "felt rather curious," the whole
structure being very frail. However, with characteristic determination
he muttered to himself, "never mind, Joe, do it if you can," and down he
went through the hole, putting one arm down with his body, and holding
the other up and drawing it down after him, by which process he squeezed
his shoulders through at an angle. After reaching the bottom of the
well, a feeling of alarm seized him lest he should be unable to force
his way upwards through the hole. To settle this question at once he
ascended to it, forced himself through, and then, being easy in mind, he
redescended to the bottom and went to work with the hammer and wooden
pegs.

At first he had some difficulty in finding the holes in the great
cylinder, but after a dozen of them had been plugged it became easier,
as the water rushed in through the remaining holes with greater force.
While thus engaged his foot suddenly slipped. To save himself from
falling--he knew not whither--he let go the bag of pegs and the hammer--
the first of which went upwards and the latter down. To find the hammer
in total darkness among the brick-work at the bottom was hopeless,
therefore Joe signalled that he was coming up, and started for the top
after the bag, but failed to find it. In much perplexity he went to the
upper manhole and put up one of his hands.

To those who were inexperienced it was somewhat alarming to see the hand
of an apparently drowning man with the fingers wriggling violently, but
Rooney understood matters.

"Arrah, now," said he, giving the hand a friendly shake, "it's somethin'
you're wantin', sure. What a pity it is wan can't spake wid his
fingers!"

Presently the hand shut itself as if grasping something, and moved in a
distinct and steady manner.

"Och! It's a hammer he wants. He's gone an' lost it. Here you are,
boy--there's another."

The hand disappeared, transferred the implement to the left hand, and
reappeared, evidently asking for more.

"What now, boy?" muttered Rooney, with a perplexed look.

"Doubtless he wants more pegs," said the engineer of the works, coming
up at the moment.

"Sure, sur, that can't be it, for if he'd lost his pegs wouldn't they
have comed up an' floated?"

"They've caught somewhere, no doubt, among the timbers on the way up.
Anyhow, I had provided against such an acciden