and near one of the windows were a few
rude benches and seats. Of such of my
comrades as were up, four or five were
sprawling on these seats, two lying flat upon
the earthen floor playing at cards, and one
sat on a stool mending his boots. These
men all greeted me with a gruff welcome,
and pressed me to drink. Near the other
window were three barrels of beer, all in tap,
the keys of which were chained to a stout
leathern girdle, which encircled old Peg's
waist. Her seat—an old-fashioned arm-chair
—was handy to these barrels, of which she
was tapster. The opposite side and one end
of the building were fitted up from floor to
roof—which was low—in a manner similar to
the between-decks of an emigrant ship. In
each of the berths there lay one or two
of my mates—for this was their knock-
off Sunday—all drunk or asleep. Each man
lay with his head upon his kit (his bundle
of clothes); and, nestling with many of the
men were dogs and litters of puppies of
the bull or lurcher breed; for a navvie's
dog was, of course, either for fighting or
poaching.

The other end of the room served as the
kitchen. There was a rude dresser in one
corner, upon which and a ricketty table was
arranged a very miscellaneous set of plates
and dishes, in tin, wood, and earthenware,
each holding an equally ill-matched cup,
basin, or bowl. Against the wall were fixed
a double row of cupboards or lockers, one to
each man; these were the tommy-boxes, and
below them, suspended from stout nails and
hooks, were several large pots and pans.
Over the fireplace, which was nearly central,
there were also hung about a dozen guns. In
the other corner was a large copper, beneath
which a blazing fire was roaring: a volume
of savoury steam was escaping from beneath
the lid, and old Peg, muttering and spluttering
ever and anon, threw on more coals and
kept the copper boiling. Now, as I looked
at this copper, I noticed a riddle not
particularly hard to solve. Depending over
its side, were several strings, communicating
with the interior; and, to each of these, was
attached a piece of wood. Peg, muttering and
spluttering, was continually handling one or
more of these mysteries. I asked her the
meaning of them.

"Them!" said Peg, speaking in a broad
Lancashire dialect, and taking a stick in
her hand; "why, sith'ee lad—this bit o'
stick has four nicks in't—well it's Billy-
goat's dinner: he's abed yond. Now this,"
taking up another with six nicks, "is
that divil Redhead's, and this," seizing
a third with ten nicks, "is Happy Jack's.
Well, thee know'st, he's got a bit o' beef;
Redhead's nowt but taters—he's a gradely
brute is Redhead; an' Billygoat's got a pun
or so o' bacon an' a cabbage. Now thee sees
I've a matter o' twenty dinners or so to bile
every day, which I biles in nets; an if I didna'
fix 'em in this road (manner) I should'na
never tell where to find 'em, and then there'd
be sich a row as never yet was heerd on."
Shortly afterwards Red Whipper came in,
bringing with him a leveret. This was a
signal for Peg. His orders to her were, "Get
it ready, and put it in along o' the rest, and
look sharp, or thee's head may be broken."
He then took off his jacket and boots and
tumbled up into a berth.

In the course of the month of June, Frazer
took more work, and set on two or three
extra gangs of navvies. One of these built a
shanty nearly opposite to the one occupied
by my gang. These new-comers were chiefly
Irish, and they had not been there many
days before a row took place, which, while it
lasted, brought picks, spades, shovels, mawls,
beetle-cudgels, and every available weapon
into active service. The fight took place on
a Saturday evening, about two hours after
pay-time. It was our fortnightly payday;
and the men being well sprung with
drink, the affray was desperate. It lasted
for more than an hour; no interruption being
offered to the combatants. Indeed nothing
short of military interference could have
quelled such a disturbance. My gang
was victorious. But their triumph was
dearly purchased: five of our comrades were
shockingly hacked and disabled. More than
a dozen of the Irishmen were mangled, and
one was taken up for dead. The finale of
this war was the burning of the Paddies'
shanty. After this ejectment order was
restored.

Later in the summer occurred that terrible
disaster by which upwards of thirty men,
were buried alive by the in-falling of a mass
of earth. Fourteen were not rescued until
life was extinct, and the last body not
recovered until after a lapse of three weeks. Of
those who were rescued alive, all, with
the exception of one man, sustained more
or less of corporeal injury—fractures, contusions,
and bruises. This man, who owed
his rescue to having been at work beneath
some shelving planks when the earth fell in,
was taken out crazed, and died shortly after
a raving madman. The causes assigned for the
accident were conflicting; and, as is usual in
such cases, each party did their best to fix the
blame upon the other—the engineers upon
the contractors, these upon their sub-contractors,
and these again upon those beneath
them. I believe that the disaster was really
attributable to a foreman of bricklayers, who
madly, and against orders, drew away the
centering of some newly-turned arches;
the earth followed; and the doomed men
beneath—presuming the cause I have given
to be the right one—became the victims of a
drunken man's temerity.

The scene was terrible. Above yawned
an abyss, down which huge trees had been
carried, for it was woodland here above the
tunnel; the trunks of many had been snapped