For a number of days the mine was neglected; and during that period it filled with water, and that was another good reason why it could not be sold; and jokes were cracked at our expense by friends, who lounged in the store purchasing trifling articles, in regard to our speculation, as they termed it.  We took all in good part, until one day a man made an application to us for something to eat.  We supplied his wants, and upon inquiry found that he was willing and anxious to go to work at a cheap rate.  I proposed, partly in jest, and partly in earnest, that he should be employed baling out and cleaning out our mine.  Fred assented, when we showed the man what we wanted done, and left him at work, not expecting that he would make much headway; but in this we were disappointed, for our employe made such diligent use of his time, that in the course of the afternoon the mine was free of water and dirt, and Mike announced that he could commence digging in the morning if he had a few “shores” and boards to prop up the places where excavations had been going on.  These we readily granted, and began to take an interest in our claim that we had not felt before.

“Mike,” I said, at supper time, addressing our new acquaintance, “we will give you one quarter of the gold which you find, and board you into the bargain, but we will not pay you wages.”

Mike thought of the proposition for a moment, and announced his intention of accepting it without restriction, and at daylight the next morning he was at work many feet below the surface of the earth, picking away the dirt, and examining it carefully, as though he expected to find a nugget in every gravel stone that he met with.  Once or twice in the course of the day, we walked over to the spot and lent a helping hand, for the purpose of freeing the place of water, and when night arrived, we had no need to ask questions in regard to the luck of Mike.  His face proclaimed that he had found nothing; but I think that he was more disappointed on our account than on his own.

“No luck to-day, Mike?” said I.

“Divil a ha’penny of goold have I found sir; but there’s no telling what may come on yet.  I don’t despair.”

Neither did we; although we had but few hopes of ever getting our money back.  The next morning Mike was promptly at his post, and we did not hear from him until about two o’clock; I was dozing on a lounge, Fred was asleep on the counter, and Mr. Critchet was mending stockings,—­about the first work that he attempted to do,—­when Mike rushed frantically into the store, threw himself upon his knees, and began talking, laughing, and crying at the same moment.

“Glory to God and all the saints!” he exclaimed, after he had recovered his breath, and then he began to laugh frantically, swaying his body back and forth, as though it was an impossibility to keep still.

“It’s my opinion,” said Fred, without rising from his recumbent position, “that you are a little out of your head, or else you have been drinking.”