"Quite an idea!" laughed Tommy.

The boys proceeded along the gangway, walking between the rails of the
tramway by means of which the coal was delivered at the bottom of the
shaft. The experience was a novel one to them. The dark walls of the
passage, the echoes which came from the counter gangways, the
monotonous dripping of water, as it seeped through seams and crevices
in the rock, all gave a weird and uncanny expression to the place.

After walking for some distance the boys came to a level which showed
several inches of water.

"We can't wade through that!" Tommy declared.

"Well," Sandy suggested, "if we go back a little ways, we can follow a
cross heading and get into the mine by another way."

The boys followed this plan, and, after winding about several
half-loaded cars which had been left on the tramway, found themselves
in a large chamber from which numerous benches were cut.

"Where does all this gas come from?" asked Tommy stopping short and
putting a hand to his nose.

"There must be a blower somewhere," Sandy explained.

"What's a blower?" demanded Tommy. "What does it look like, and does
it always smell like this?"