"Does anybody work in there?"
"Oh, bless ye, no! They robbed the pillars tin years ago an' more; I doubt an ye could get through it at all now. It's one o' the oldest places in the valley, I'm thinkin'. D'ye mind the old openin' ye can see in the side-hill when ye're goin' up by Tom Ballard's to the Dunmore road?"
"Yes, that's where Uncle Billy worked when he was a miner."
"Did he, thin! Well, that's where they wint in. It's a long way from here though, I'm thinkin'."
"Awful strong wind goin' in there, ain't they?"
"Yes, I must block it up again, or it'll take all our air away."
"What'll your miner do to-morrow when he finds this place?"
"Oh, he'll have to get another chamber, I guess."
The man was fastening up the opening again with pieces of slate and coal, and plastering it over with loose wet dirt.
"Well," said Ralph, "I'll have to go now. Jasper's gettin' in a hurry.
Don't you hear 'im?"