in; in the centre of this shelter is an open space, perhaps a yard square, and similar in appearance to a trap-door in a roof.  Here we wait a few moments, while the Captain of the Mine and the Agent of the Mining Company,—­who has joined our party at the last moment, to afford us the undivided services of the Captain as guide,—­are engaged in some mysterious process of moulding; an odor, not attar of rose, nor yet Frangipanni, salutes our nostrils; then our companions approach.  Both the Colonel and the Agent are “lit up,”—­in fact, all-luminous with the radiance of tallow “dips”; one of these, stuck in a lump of soft clay, adheres to the front of each hat, and in their hands they have others.

We also are to wear a starry flame on our brows; and, not content with this, are invested with several short unlighted candles, which are to dangle gracefully by their wicks from a buttonhole of our becoming blouses.  Thus our costume is complete; and I doubt if Buckingham sported the diamond tags of Anne of Austria with more satisfaction than do we our novel and odorous decoration:  we dub ourselves the Light Guard on the instant.

In the delay before starting, we observe several miners descend through the black and most suggestive trap-door, each bearing a tin can in his mouth, as a good dog carries a basket at the bidding of his master.

The flame of the candle, bright in the density of the pit’s darkness, as its bearer descends step by step with the rapidity which custom has made easy, becomes in a few seconds like the tiniest glow-worm:  one can follow the spark only; the man disappears within the moment.

I cannot describe, nor, indeed, convey the least idea of this peculiar effect.  We feel our hearts tremble at the thought that whither that light has gone we must follow.  For the first time I realize that we are about to go into the earth,—­that we shall presently crawl like insects, burrow like underground vermin, beneath the surface, man’s proper place.  But such thoughts are not for long indulgence.

“Now let us descend!” says the Colonel.

Grasping the round of the ladder where it rose slightly above the floor, the Captain, our guide, with that air of assurance which practice bestows, swings himself from sight.  To him succeeds the Colonel.  Next comes my own turn.  This is not the first time my feet have tried ladder-bars; in the country-spent vacations of my school-days, how many times have I alertly scaled the highest leading to granaries, to barn-lofts, to bird-houses, to all quasi-inaccessible places, whither my daring ignorance—­reckless, because unconscious of danger—­had tempted me!  But mounting a clean, strong, wide ladder, in the full flood of day, light below, above, around, promising you security by its very fulness of effulgence, is a far different thing from groping your way, step by step, down a slimy, muddy frame which hangs in a straight line from the very start.  I shake off a first tremor, draw a full breath, and with fortitude follow my leader carefully.  As I look above, after fairly getting committed, I can behold Mon Amie’s feet, whose arched in-steps cling round each bar with a pretty dependence that is in the highest degree appealing.  Above her I hear the deep voice of the Agent.