'And they'll lag you if they see you. You said they would,' said Edward, not at all sure what lagging was, but sure that it was something dreadful. 'Write a letter and put it in his letter-box. They'll find it in the morning.' 'And leave you pinned by the hand all night? Likely--I _don't_ think,' said Gustus. 'I'd rather,' said Edward, bravely, but his voice was weak. 'I couldn't bear you to be lagged, Gustus. I do love you so.' 'None of that,' said Gustus, sternly. 'I'll leave you the lamp; I can find my way with matches. Keep up your pecker, and never say die.' 'I won't,' said Edward, bravely. 'Oh, Gustus!' * * * * * That was how it happened that Edward's father was roused from slumbers by violent shakings from an unknown hand, while an unknown voice uttered these surprising words:-- 'Edward is in the gold and silver and copper mine that we've found under your garden. Come and get him out.' When Edward's father was at last persuaded that Gustus was not a silly dream--and this took some time--he got up. He did not believe a word that Gustus said, even when Gustus added 'S'welp me!' which he did several times. But Edward's bed was empty--his clothes gone. Edward's father got the gardener from next door--with, at the suggestion of Gustus, a pick--the hole in the rockery was enlarged, and they all got in. And when they got to the place where Edward was, there, sure enough, was Edward, pinned by the hand between a piece of wood and a piece of rock. Neither the father nor the gardener noticed any metal. Edward had fainted. They got him out; a couple of strokes with the pick released his hand, but it was bruised and bleeding. They all turned to go, but they had not gone twenty yards before there was a crash and a loud report like thunder, and a slow rumbling, rattling noise very dreadful to hear. 'Get out of this quick, sir,' said the gardener; 'the roof's fell in; this part of the caves ain't safe.' Edward was very feverish and ill for several days, during which he told his father the whole story--of which his father did not believe a word. But he was kind to Gustus, because Gustus was evidently fond of Edward. When Edward was well enough to walk in the garden his father and he found that a good deal of the shrubbery had sunk, so that the trees looked as though they were growing in a pit. It spoiled the look of the garden, and Edward's father decided to move the trees to the other side. When this was done the first tree uprooted showed a dark hollow below it. The man is not born who will not examine and explore a dark hollow in his own grounds. So Edward's father explored.