"Noooo!" Mary said. "Not exactly all the time. Not up here... You see we came up this way 'cos Mackie was naughty and ran away... We don't know where Uncle Micah went. He was wanderin' and lonely... Can we go back now?... And what shall we call you?"

The stranger smiled. "Better call me Uncle... Just Uncle," he said. "Say! Suppose we could move those rocks that fell. It would be much quicker to get back that way, wouldn't it? Shall we go see?"

Dickie jumped up.

"'Course it would be quicker. Let's try it, but unless you've got some dynamite 'bout you I don't think we could get out. Jerry couldn't."

"We'll have a look, anyway. I'd like to see the place. Come on, Mary. I've got a torch... No, the horse will be O.K. We'll leave him. He won't go far and I can catch him later."

So they left the sunshine and set off into the darkness of the mine again with Macbeth trotting in the rear. They passed the still warm ashes of the fire and the pile of bracken and heather on which they had slept so comfortably. Then their new friend switched on the torch and turned into the heart of the mountain. It was very dark and the walls were damp and dripping as they trudged up the slope. They had been too sleepy last night to notice that many smaller galleries branched off each side of their path, and when they turned to the right at the top of the slope they knew by the echo of their voices that the roof was higher. Then Dickie stumbled and fell, and the torch showed he had tripped over half-buried railway lines.

"Gosh," he said. "Wish we could find one of the trucks and have a ride in it. I'd like to see all this railway system 'cos it seems as if there's lines everywhere.''

Mary was now firmly attached to the handsome stranger's free hand.

"I can see light ahead," she said. "It's somewhere here that Jerry found us."

Then they turned another corner and found themselves in a huge cave. Daylight was streaming in through an opening in the rock high up in front of them, and they could see, too, the entrance to several other galleries.

Mary looked up. She wasn't sure but she thought she heard "Uncle" say to himself, "Looks just the same" before he switched off the torch and pointed above their heads.

"D'you see those great wires coming in through the window? I reckon those are for cable cars. See where that cable runs? And look here. Buckets on an endless chain leading up to the gallery."

"Show me," Dickie demanded. "I want to see."