'About three feet,' I said. 'Maybe a little more.'
'It'll be the fifth or sixth blow, then?'
'Yes,' I said.
'Today's Friday. That makes it Sunday night or Monday morning if you do two blastings a day. Can you do two?'
'Yes, I can do two,' I told him.
'Good. Then I'll arrange for the Arisaig to take you and Dave off on Monday night.' He brought out a cigarette case and we sat smoking for a moment in silence. He leaned over the edge of the platform and shone his lamp down into the pit between the rock runways of the carriage. The dull surface of the tin in the hole reflected back the light. 'Pryce,' he said, 'will letting the sea into the Mermaid prevent us ever working that lode?'
'What's the next level?' I asked.
'Undersea level?'
'Yes.'
'It'd be the two hundred level. That's nearly five hundred feet below us.'