far behind that all he could see of his guide was the candle he
carried, shining like a pale yellow star in the pitchy darkness. At
last McIntosh went into one of the side galleries, and going up an
iron ladder fixed to the side of the wall, they came to a second
gallery thirty feet above the other, and branching off at right
angles.

This was where the wash was to be found, for, as Archie informed
Vandeloup, the main drives of a mine were always put down thirty or
forty feet below the wash, and then they could work up to the higher
levels, the reason of this being that the leads had a downward
tendency, and it was necessary for the main drive to be sunk below,
as before mentioned, in order to get the proper levels and judge the
gutters correctly. At the top of the ladder they found some empty
trucks which had delivered their burden into a kind of shoot,
through which it fell to the lower level, and there another truck
was waiting to take it to the main shaft, from whence it went up to
the puddlers.

Archie made Vandeloup get into one of these trucks, and though they
were all wet and covered with clay, he was glad to do so, and be
smoothly carried along, instead of stumbling over the rails and
splashing among the pools of water. Every now and then as they went
along there would be a gush of water from the dripping walls, which
was taken along in pipes to the main chamber, and from thence pumped
out of the mine by a powerful pump, worked by a beam engine, by
which means the mine was kept dry.

At last, after they had gone some considerable distance, they saw
the dim light of a candle, and heard the dull blows of a pick, then