it. Once more Curdie and Lina were prisoners to-
gether in the dark.

For a few moments Lina lay panting hard. It is
breathless work, leaping and roaring both at once,
to scatter thousands of people. Then she jumped
up and began snuffing about all over the place. Curdie
now saw what he had never seen before--two faint
spots of light cast from her eyes upon the ground.
He got out his tinder-box--a miner is never without
one--and lit a small piece of candle he had, just for
a moment--for he must not waste it.

The light showed him they were in a vault with no
other opening than the door. It was very old and had
plainly been used as a dump. A pile of rubbish
sloped from the door to the opposite wall. Down
in the angle between this back wall and the rubbish
heap Lina was scratching with all her eighteen great,
strong claws.

"Aha!" said Curdie, watching her. "If only they
will leave us long enough to ourselves!" He turned
to the door to see if it had an inside fastening so that
he could keep them from opening it. It had none, but
with a blow or two of his pickaxe, he smashed the
lock so that they could not turn the key in it on the
outside, and that did just as well. Then he put out
his candle and went back to Lina.

She had now reached the rock of the floor.
Presently she looked into his face and whined, as

-65-