found themselves at the end of the drive, where a miner was working
at the wash. The wash wherein the gold is found was exceedingly well
defined, and represented a stratified appearance, being sandwiched
in between a bed of white pipe-clay and a top layer of brownish
earth, interspersed with gravel. Every blow of the pick sent forth
showers of sparks in all directions, and as fast as the wash was
broken down the runner filled up the trollies with it. After asking
the miner about the character of the wash, and testing some himself
in a shovel, Archie left the gallery, and going back to the shoot,
they descended again to the main drive, and visited several other
faces of wash, the journey in each instance being exactly the same
in all respects. Each face had a man working at it, sometimes two,
and a runner who loaded the trucks, and ran them along to the
shoots. In spite of the ventilation, Vandeloup felt as if he was in
a Turkish bath, and the heat was in some places very great. At the
end of one of the drives McIntosh called Vandeloup, and on going
towards him the young man found him seated on a truck with the plan
of the mine before him, as he wanted to show him all the
ramifications of the workings.

The plan looked more like a map of a city than anything else, with
the main drive doing duty as the principal street, and all the
little galleries, branching off in endless confusion, looked like
the lanes and alleys of a populous town.

'It's like the catacombs in Rome,' said Vandeloup to McIntosh, after
he had contemplated the plan for some time; 'one could easily get
lost here.'

'He micht,' returned McIntosh, cautiously, 'if he didna ken a' aboot