it would make a tremendous spluttering; but it don't at first. After
it has had time to cool a little, then it sets the water to bubbling."
They had now returned to the gaffer's room,
which they found so full of the fumes of the acid that Lawrence
immediately began to cough.
"You see," said the gaffer, "the gold has
disappeared. The acid has eaten it. Come with me now, and I 'll show
you something that happened while you were in the cutting-room."
Locking the door behind them, he took his
visitors once more to the cave, which they found full of smoke and
steam and stifling heat. There he showed them the astonishing spectacle
of what seemed a cluster of icicles, some a yard in length, hanging
from the grate under the big furnace.
"One of our melting-pots burst. It was nearly
full of metal, which ran down into the fire. Some of it came through
the grate, but the most of it rushed out through the teaze-hole in a
perfect lava flood, which came near setting us on fire."
"That must have been a serious loss," said
Lawrence.
"Yes. To say nothing of the pot, the glass in
it was worth about a hundred and fifty dollars."
"Well," said the Doctor, "we began with the
cave, and we may as well end with it." And, taking leave of the gaffer,
he departed with his nephew, who, he promised, should come in a few days
for the inkstand and cups.
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