The compartments were not like those above, all small squares, and the same size, but some were very large, and some very small; some were long, and some were square; but I found that they were made upon a regular plan. For instance, there was one very large compartment nearly in the middle at the top of the lower tray, that was evidently six times as big as the small compartments; while below and beside it were many more that were four times as big as the small ones; others being only twice as big. I naturally examined the large compartment first, and found it full of little thin slips of metal nearly an inch long, at the end of each of which, and beautifully formed, was the letter _e_. There was no doubt about it, and it was evident that there were more _e's_ than anything else. Then under it I found the compartment full of _h's_, and away to the left, _n's_ and _m's_; _t's_, _d's_, _u's_, _o's_, _a's_, and _r's_ were in other large compartments, and it gradually dawned upon my mind that these letters were placed where they would be handiest for use, and that there was the largest number of those that would be most frequently required. My surmise was quite right, and with this idea as the key, I soon found out that little-used _x_ and _z_ were in very small numbers, in the most out-of-the-way parts of the tray, just as were the double letters _ae_ and _oe_, etc. One compartment close under my hand, and very full, puzzled me the most, for the pieces of metal therein were short, and had no letters on the end; and at last, after trying in vain to understand their meaning, I determined to ask the dark man next time he passed, and went on trying to master my task with the strange clicking noise made by the men going on all round. I hardly dared glance about, but in the casual glimpses I stole, I began to understand now that the men about me were picking up, letter by letter, the types, to form words, and arranging them in little curiously shaped tools they held in their hands. I had been busily learning my letters for about half an hour, when the big, fat-headed boy came up to me. "Now then!" he said, in a bullying tone that was a very good imitation of the overseer's, "done that page?" "No!" I said. "You ain't?" "No; I did not know how." "Oh, you'll catch it, just, when Mr Grimstone knows. You ain't coming here to do just as you like; and I tell you what it is--" "Well, what is it, boy?" said a quiet, stern voice, and my heart, gave a joyful thump as I saw the dark man come up. "Please, he ain't dis'd this here pie." "No; he did not know how. I set him to learn the case." "But Mr Grimstone said he was to--" "Jem Smith, do you know you are a fool?" said the dark man quietly. "I dessay I am, Mr Hallett, but Mr Grimstone said as this boy was to--" "And if you don't go about your business I shall box your ears." "No, you--"