the top of the shaft, so that any miner having gold concealed upon
him could not throw it away and pick it up afterwards, but had to go
right into the searching room from the cage, and could not possibly
hide a particle without being found out by the searchers. The other
room was the sleeping apartment of such miners as stayed on the
premises, for the majority of the men went home to their families
when their work was done.

There were three shifts of men on the Pactolus during the twenty-
four hours, and each shift worked eight hours at a time--the first
going on at midnight and knocking off at eight in the morning, the
second commencing at eight and ending at four in the afternoon, and
the third starting at four and lasting until midnight again, when
the first shift of men began anew.

Consequently, when M. Vandeloup awoke next morning at six o'clock
the first shift were not yet up, and some of the miners who had to
go on at eight were sleeping heavily in their beds. The sleeping
places were berths, ranging along two sides of the room, and divided
into upper and lower compartments like those on shipboard.

Gaston having roused himself naturally wanted to see where he was,
so rubbing his eyes and yawning he leaned on his elbow and took a
leisurely survey of his position.

He saw a rather large room lighted at regular intervals by three
square windows, and as these were uncurtained, the cold, searching
light of daybreak was slowly stealing through them into the
apartment, and all the dusky objects therein were gradually
revealing themselves in the still light. He could hear the heavy,