MY TERMINAL MORAINE

By Frank E. Stockton

Copyright, 1892, by P. F. Collier

A man's birth is generally considered the most important event of hisexistence, but I truly think that what I am about to relate was moreimportant to me than my entrance into this world; because, had not thesethings happened, I am of the opinion that my life would have been of novalue to me and my birth a misfortune. 

My father, Joshua Cuthbert, died soon after I came to my majority, leaving me what he had considered a comfortable property. This consistedof a large house and some forty acres of land, nearly the whole of whichlay upon a bluff, which upon three sides descended to a little valley, through which ran a gentle stream. I had no brothers or sisters. Mymother died when I was a boy, and I, Walter Cuthbert, was left the solerepresentative of my immediate family. 

My estate had been a comfortable one to my father, because his incomefrom the practice of his profession as a physician enabled him to keepit up and provide satisfactorily for himself and me. I had no professionand but a very small income, the result of a few investments my fatherhad made. Left to myself, I felt no inducement to take up any professionor business. My wants were simple, and for a few years I lived withoutexperiencing any inconvenience from the economies which I was obligedto practice. My books, my dog, my gun and my rod made life pass verypleasantly to me, and the subject of an increase of income neverdisturbed my mind. 

But as time passed on the paternal home began to present an air ofneglect and even dilapidation, which occasionally attracted my attentionand caused, as I incidentally discovered, a great deal of unfavorablecomment among my neighbors, who thought that I should go to work andat least earn money enough to put the house and grounds in a conditionwhich should not be unworthy the memory of the good Dr. Cuthbert. Infact, I began to be looked upon as a shiftless young man; and, now andthen, I found a person old enough and bold enough to tell me so. 

But, instead of endeavoring to find some suitable occupation by which Imight better my condition and improve my estate, I fell in love, which, in the opinion of my neighbors, was the very worst thing that could havehappened to me at this time. I lived in a thrifty region, and for a manwho could not support himself to think of taking upon him the support ofa wife, especially such a wife as Agnes Havelot would be, was consideredmore than folly and looked upon as a crime. Everybody knew that I was inlove with Miss Havelot, for I went to court her as boldly as I went tofish or shoot. There was a good deal of talk about it, and this finallycame to the ears of Mr. Havelot, my lady's father, who, thereupon, promptly ordered her to have no more to do with me. 

The Havelot estate, which adjoined mine, was a very large one, containing hundreds and hundreds of acres; and the Havelots were rich, rich enough to frighten any poor young man of marrying intent. But Idid not appreciate the fact that I was a poor young man. I had nevertroubled my head about money as it regarded myself, and I now did nottrouble my head about it as it regarded Agnes. I loved her, I hoped sheloved me, and all other considerations were thrown aside. Mr. Havelot, however, was a man of a different way of thinking. 

It was a little time before I became convinced that the decision ofAgnes's father, that there should be no communication between that deargirl and myself, really meant anything. I had never been subjected torestrictions, and I did not understand how people of spirit could submitto them; but I was made to understand it when Mr. Havelot, finding mewandering about his grounds, very forcibly assured me that if I shouldmake my appearance there again, or if he discovered any attempt on mypart to communicate with his daughter in any way, he would send her fromhome. He concluded the very brief interview by stating that if I had anyreal regard for his daughter's happiness I would cease attentions whichwould meet with the most decided disapprobation from her only survivingparent and which would result in exiling her from home, I begged for onemore interview with Miss Havelot, and if it had been granted I shouldhave assured her of the state of my affections, no matter if there werereasons to suppose that I would never see her again; but her father verysternly forbade anything of the kind, and I went away crushed. 

It was a very hard case, for if I played the part of a bold lover andtried to see Agnes without regard to the wicked orders of her father, I should certainly be discovered; and then it would be not only myself, but the poor girl, who would suffer. So I determined that I would submitto the Havelot decree. No matter if I never saw her again, never heardthe sound of her voice, it would be better to have her near me, to haveher breathe the same air, cast up her eyes at the same sky, listen tothe same birds, that I breathed, looked at and listened to, than to haveher far away, probably in Kentucky, where I knew she had relatives, and where the grass was blue and the sky probably green, or at anyrate would appear so to her if in the least degree she felt as I did inregard to the ties of home and the affinities between the sexes. 

I now found myself in a most doleful and even desperate condition ofmind. There was nothing in the world which I could have for which Icared. Hunting, fishing, and the rambles through woods and fieldsthat had once been so delightful to me now became tasks which I seldomundertook. The only occupation in which I felt the slightest interestwas that of sitting in a tower of my house with a telescope, endeavoringto see my Agnes on some portion of her father's grounds; but, although Idiligently directed my glass at the slightest stretch of lawn or bitof path which I could discern through openings in the foliage, I nevercaught sight of her. I knew, however, by means of daily questionsaddressed to my cook, whose daughter was a servant in the Havelothouse, that Agnes was yet at home. For that reason I remained at home. Otherwise, I should have become a wanderer. 

About a month after I had fallen into this most unhappy state an oldfriend came to see me. We had been school-fellows, but he differed fromme in almost every respect. He was full of ambition and energy, and, although he was but a few years older than myself, he had already madea name in the world. He was a geologist, earnest and enthusiastic in hisstudies and his investigations. He told me frankly that the object ofhis visit was twofold. In the first place, he wanted to see me, and, secondly, he wanted to make some geological examinations on my grounds, which were situated, as he informed me, upon a terminal moraine, a formation which he had not yet had an opportunity of practicallyinvestigating. 

I had not known that I lived on a moraine, and now that I knew it, I didnot care. But Tom Burton glowed with high spirits and lively zeal as hetold me how the great bluff on which my house stood, together with theother hills and wooded terraces which stretched away from it along theside of the valley, had been formed by the minute fragments of rock andsoil, which, during ages and ages, had been gradually pushed down fromthe mountains by a great glacier which once occupied the country to thenortheast of my house. "Why, Walter, my boy, " he cried, "if I had notread it all in the books I should have known for myself, as soon asI came here, that there had once been a glacier up there, and as itgradually moved to the southwest it had made this country what it is. Have you a stream down there in that dell which I see lies at rightangles with the valley and opens into it?"

"No, " said I; "I wish there were one. The only stream we have flowsalong the valley and not on my property. "

Without waiting for me Tom ran down into my dell, pushed his way throughthe underbrush to its upper end, and before long came back flushed withheat and enthusiasm. 

"Well, sir, " he said, "that dell was once the bed of a glacial stream, and you may as well clear it out and plant corn there if you want to, for there never will be another stream flowing through it until there isanother glacier out in the country beyond. And now I want you to letme dig about here. I want to find out what sort of stuff the glacierbrought down from the mountains. I will hire a man and will promise youto fill up all the holes I make. "

I had no objection to my friend's digging as much as he pleased, andfor three days he busied himself in getting samples of the soil of myestate. Sometimes I went out and looked at him, and gradually a littleof his earnest ardor infused itself into me, and with some show ofinterest I looked into the holes he had made and glanced over themineral specimens he showed me. 

"Well, Walter, " said he, when he took leave of me, "I am very sorry thatI did not discover that the glacier had raked out the bed of a gold minefrom the mountains up there and brought it down to you, or at any rate, some valuable iron ore. But I am obliged to say it did not do anythingof the sort. But I can tell you one thing it brought you, and, althoughit is not of any great commercial value, I should think you could makegood use of it here on your place. You have one of the finest depositsof gravel on this bluff that I have met with, and if you were to takeout a lot of it and spread it over your driveways and paths, it wouldmake it a great deal pleasanter for you to go about here in bad weatherand would wonderfully improve your property. Good roads always givean idea of thrift and prosperity. " And then he went away with avalise nearly full of mineral specimens which he assured me were veryinteresting. 

My interest in geological formations died away as soon as Tom Burton haddeparted, but what he said about making gravel roads giving the place anair of thrift and prosperity had its effect upon my mind. It struckme that it would be a very good thing if people in the neighborhood, especially the Havelots, were to perceive on my place some evidencesof thrift and prosperity. Most palpable evidences of unthrift andinpecuniosity had cut me off from Agnes, and why might it not be thatsome signs of improved circumstances would remove, to a degree at least, the restrictions which had been placed between us? This was but a verylittle thing upon which to build hopes; but ever since men and womenhave loved they have built grand hopes upon very slight foundations. Idetermined to put my roadways in order. 

My efforts in this direction were really evidence of anything butthriftiness, for I could not in the least afford to make my drivesand walks resemble the smooth and beautiful roads which wound over theHavelot estate, although to do this was my intention, and I set aboutthe work without loss of time. I took up this occupation with so muchearnestness that it seriously interfered with my observations from thetower. 

I hired two men and set them to work to dig a gravel-pit. They madeexcavations at several places, and very soon found what they declaredto be a very fine quality of road-gravel. I ordered them to dig onuntil they had taken out what they believed to be enough to cover allmy roads. When this had been done, I would have it properly spread androlled. As this promised to be a very good job, the men went to work infine spirits and evidently made up their minds that the improvements Idesired would require a vast deal of gravel. 

When they had dug a hole so deep that it became difficult to throw upthe gravel from the bottom, I suggested that they should dig at someother place. But to this they objected, declaring that the gravel wasgetting better and better, and it would be well to go on down as long asthe quality continued to be so good. So, at last, they put a ladder intothe pit, one man carrying the gravel up in a hod, while the otherdug it; and when they had gone down so deep that this was no longerpracticable, they rigged up a derrick and windlass and drew up thegravel in a bucket. 

Had I been of a more practical turn of mind I might have perceived thatthis method of working made the job a very long and, consequently, tothe laborers, a profitable one; but no such idea entered into my head, and not noticing whether they were bringing up sand or gravel I allowedthem to proceed. 

One morning I went out to the spot where the excavation was being madeand found that the men had built a fire on the ground near the openingof the pit, and that one of them was bending over it warming himself. As the month was July this naturally surprised me, and I inquired thereason for so strange a performance. 

"Upon my soul, " said the man, who was rubbing his hands over the blaze, "I do not wonder you are surprised, but it's so cold down at the bottomof that pit that me fingers is almost frosted; and we haven't struck anywather neither, which couldn't be expected, of course, a-diggin' downinto the hill like this. "

I looked into the hole and found it was very deep. "I think it would bebetter to stop digging here, " said I, "and try some other place. "

"I wouldn't do that just now, " said the other man, who was preparing togo down in the bucket; "to be sure, it's a good deal more like a wellthan a gravel-pit, but it's bigger at the top than at the bottom, andthere's no danger of its cavin' in, and now that we've got everythingrigged up all right, it would be a pity to make a change yet awhile. "

So I let them go on; but the next day when I went out again I found thatthey had come to the conclusion that it was time to give up digging inthat hole. They both declared that it almost froze their feet to standon the ground where they worked at the bottom of the excavation. Theslow business of drawing up the gravel by means of a bucket and windlasswas, therefore, reluctantly given up. The men now went to work to digoutward from this pit toward the edge of the bluff which overlookedmy little dell, and gradually made a wide trench, which they deepeneduntil--and I am afraid to say how long they worked before this wasdone--they could walk to the original pit from the level of the dell. They then deepened the inner end of the trench, wheeling out the gravelin barrows, until they had made an inclined pathway from the dell to thebottom of the pit. The wheeling now became difficult, and the men soondeclared that they were sure that they had quite gravel enough. 

When they made this announcement, and I had gone into some financialcalculations, I found that I would be obliged to put an end to myoperations, at least for the present, for my available funds were gone, or would be when I had paid what I owed for the work. The men werevery much disappointed by the sudden ending of this good job, but theydeparted, and I was left to gaze upon a vast amount of gravel, of which, for the present at least, I could not afford to make the slightest use. 

The mental despondency which had been somewhat lightened during myexcavating operations now returned, and I became rather more gloomy anddowncast than before. My cook declared that it was of no use to preparemeals which I never ate, and suggested that it would save money if Idischarged her. As I had not paid her anything for a long time, I didnot see how this would benefit me. 

Wandering about one day with my hat pulled down over my eyes and myhands thrust deep into my pockets, I strolled into the dell and stoodbefore the wide trench which led to the pit in which I had foolishlysunk the money which should have supported me for months. I entered thisdismal passage and walked slowly and carefully down the incline until Ireached the bottom of the original pit, where I had never been before. I stood here looking up and around me and wondering how men could bringthemselves to dig down into such dreary depths simply for the sake ofa few dollars a week, when I involuntarily began to stamp my feet. Theywere very cold, although I had not been there more than a minute. Iwondered at this and took up some of the loose gravel in my hand. It wasquite dry, but it chilled my fingers. I did not understand it, and I didnot try to, but walked up the trench and around into the dell, thinkingof Agnes. 

I was very fond of milk, which, indeed, was almost the only food I nowcared for, and I was consequently much disappointed at my noonday mealwhen I found that the milk had soured and was not fit to drink. 

"You see, sir, " said Susan, "ice is very scarce and dear, and we can notafford to buy much of it. There was no f reezin' weather last winter, and the price has gone up as high as the thermometer, sir, and so, between the two of 'em, I can't keep things from spoilin'. "

The idea now came to me that if Susan would take the milk, and anythingelse she wished to keep cool in this hot weather, to the bottom of thegravel-pit, she would find the temperature there cold enough to preservethem without ice, and I told her so. 

The next morning Susan came to me with a pleased countenance and said, "I put the butter and the milk in that pit last night, and the butter'sjust as hard and the milk's as sweet as if it had been kept in anice-house. But the place is as cold as an ice-house, sir, and unless Iam mistaken, there's ice in it. Anyway, what do you call that?" And shetook from a little basket a piece of grayish ice as large as my fist. "When I found it was so cold down there, sir, " she said, "I thoughtI would dig a little myself and see what made it so; and I took afire-shovel and hatchet, and, when I had scraped away some of thegravel, I came to something hard and chopped off this piece of it, whichis real ice, sir, or I know nothing about it. Perhaps there used to bean ice-house there, and you might get some of it if you dug, thoughwhy anybody should put it down so deep and then cover it up, I'm sure Idon't know. But as long as there's any there, I think we should get itout, even if there's only a little of it; for I can not take everythingdown to that pit, and we might as well have it in the refrigerator. "

This seemed to me like very good sense, and if I had had a man I shouldhave ordered him to go down to the pit and dig up any lumps of icehe might find and bring them to the house. But I had no man, and Itherefore became impressed with the opinion that if I did not want todrink sour milk for the rest of the summer, it might be a good thing forme to go down there and dig out some of the ice myself. So with pickaxeand shovel I went to the bottom of the pit and set myself to work. 

A few inches below the surface I found that my shovel struck somethinghard, and, clearing away the gravel from this for two or three squarefeet, I looked down upon a solid mass of ice. It was dirty and begrimed, but it was truly ice. With my pick I detached some large pieces of it. These, with some discomfort, I carried out into the dell where Susanmight come with her basket and get them. 

For several days Susan and I took out ice from the pit, and then Ithought that perhaps Tom Burton might feel some interest in this frozendeposit in my terminal moraine, and so I wrote to him about it. He didnot answer my letter, but instead arrived himself the next afternoon. 

"Ice at the bottom of a gravel-pit, " said he, "is a thing I never heardof. Will you lend me a spade and a pickaxe?"

When Tom came out of that pit--it was too cold a place for me to go withhim and watch his proceedings--I saw him come running toward the house. 

"Walter, " he shouted, "we must hire all the men we can find and dig, dig, dig. If I am not mistaken something has happened on your place thatis wonderful almost beyond belief. But we must not stop to talk. We mustdig, dig, dig; dig all day and dig all night. Don't think of the cost. I'll attend to that. I'll get the money. What we must do is to find menand set them to work. "

"What's the matter?" said I. "What has happened?"

"I haven't time to talk about it now; besides I don't want to, for fearthat I should find that I am mistaken. But get on your hat, my dearfellow, and let's go over to the town for men. "

The next day there were eight men working under the direction of myfriend Burton, and although they did not work at night as he wishedthem to do, they labored steadfastly for ten days or more before Tom wasready to announce what it was he had hoped to discover, and whether ornot he had found it. For a day or two I watched the workmen from time totime, but after that I kept away, preferring to await the result ofmy friend's operations. He evidently expected to find something worthhaving, and whether he was successful or not, it suited me better toknow the truth all at once and not by degrees. 

On the morning of the eleventh day Tom came into the room where I wasreading and sat down near me. His face was pale, his eyes glittering. "Old friend, " said he, and as he spoke I noticed that his voice wasa little husky, although it was plain enough that his emotion was notoccasioned by bad fortune--"my good old friend, I have found out whatmade the bottom of your gravel-pit so uncomfortably cold. You need notdoubt what I am going to tell you, for my excavations have been completeand thorough enough to make me sure of what I say. Don't you rememberthat I told you that ages ago there was a vast glacier in the countrywhich stretches from here to the mountains? Well, sir, the foot of thatglacier must have reached further this way than is generally supposed. At any rate a portion of it did extend in this direction as far as thisbit of the world which is now yours. This end or spur of the glacier, nearly a quarter of a mile in width, I should say, and pushing before ita portion of the terminal moraine on which you live, came slowly towardthe valley until suddenly it detached itself from the main glacier anddisappeared from sight. That is to say, my boy"--and as he spoke Tomsprang to his feet, too excited to sit any longer--"it descended tothe bowels of the earth, at least for a considerable distance in thatdirection, Now you want to know how this happened. Well, I'll tell you. In this part of the country there are scattered about here and theregreat caves. Geologists know one or two of them, and it is certain thatthere are others undiscovered. Well, sir, your glacier spur discoveredone of them, and when it had lain over the top of it for an age or two, and had grown bigger and bigger, and heavier and heavier, it at lastburst through the rock roof of the cave, snapping itself from therest of the glacier and falling in one vast mass to the bottom of thesubterranean abyss. Walter, it is there now. The rest of the glaciercame steadily down; the moraines were forced before it; they coveredup this glacier spur, this broken fragment, and by the time the climatechanged and the average of temperature rose above that of the glacialperiod, this vast sunken mass of ice was packed away below the surfaceof the earth, out of the reach of the action of friction, or heat, ormoisture, or anything else which might destroy it. And through all thelong procession of centuries that broken end of the glacier has beenlying in your terminal moraine. It is there now. It is yours, WalterCuthbert. It is an ice-mine. It is wealth, and so far as I can make out, it is nearly all upon your land. To you is the possession, but to me isthe glory of the discovery. A bit of the glacial period kept in a cavefor us! It is too wonderful to believe! Walter, have you any brandy?"

It may well be supposed that by this time I was thoroughly awakened tothe importance and the amazing character of my friend's discovery, andI hurried with him to the scene of operations. There he explainedeverything and showed me how, by digging away a portion of the face ofthe bluff, he had found that this vast fragment of the glacier, which had been so miraculously preserved, ended in an irregularlyperpendicular wall, which extended downward he knew not how far, and theedge of it on its upper side had been touched by my workmen in diggingtheir pit. "It was the gradual melting of the upper end of thisglacier, " said Tom, "probably more elevated than the lower end, thatmade your dell. I wondered why the depression did not extend further uptoward the spot where the foot of the glacier was supposed to have been. This end of the fragment, being sunk in deeper and afterward covered upmore completely, probably never melted at all. "

"It is amazing--astounding, " said I; "but what of it, now that we havefound it?"

"What of it?" cried Tom, and his whole form trembled as he spoke. "Youhave here a source of wealth, of opulence which shall endure for therest of your days. Here at your very door, where it can be taken out andtransported with the least possible trouble, is ice enough to supply thetown, the county, yes, I might say, the State, for hundreds of years. No, sir, I can not go in to supper. I can not eat. I leave to you thebusiness and practical part of this affair. I go to report upon itsscientific features. "

"Agnes, " exclaimed, as I walked to the house with my hands clasped andmy eyes raised to the sky, "the glacial period has given thee to me!"

This did not immediately follow, although I went that very night toMr. Havelot and declared to him that I was now rich enough to marry hisdaughter. He laughed at me in a manner which was very annoying, and madecertain remarks which indicated that he thought it probable that it wasnot the roof of the cave, but my mind, which had given way under theinfluence of undue pressure. 

The contemptuous manner in which I had been received aroused within me avery unusual state of mind. While talking to Mr. Havelot I heard notfar away in some part of the house a voice singing. It was the voiceof Agnes, and I believed she sang so that I could hear her. But as hersweet tones reached my ear there came to me at the same time the harsh, contemptuous words of her father. I left the house determined to crushthat man to the earth beneath a superincumbent mass of ice--or theevidence of the results of the ownership of such a mass--which wouldmake him groan and weep as he apologized to me for his scornful anddisrespectful utterances and at the same time offered me the hand of hisdaughter. 

When the discovery of the ice-mine, as it grew to be called, becamegenerally known, my grounds were crowded by sightseers, and reportersof newspapers were more plentiful than squirrels. But the latter werereferred to Burton, who would gladly talk to them as long as they couldafford to listen, and I felt myself at last compelled to shut my gatesto the first. 

I had offers of capital to develop this novel source of wealth, and Iaccepted enough of this assistance to enable me to begin operations on amoderate scale. It was considered wise not to uncover any portion of theglacier spur, but to construct an inclined shaft down to its wall-likeend and from this tunnel into the great mass. Immediately the leadingice company of the neighboring town contracted with me for all the ice Icould furnish, and the flood-gates of affluence began slowly to rise. 

The earliest, and certainly one of the greatest, benefits which cameto me from this bequest from the unhistoric past was the new energy andvigor with which my mind and body were now infused. My old, carelessmethod of life and my recent melancholy, despairing mood were gone, andI now began to employ myself upon the main object of my life with anenergy and enthusiasm almost equal to that of my friend, Tom Burton. This present object of my life was to prepare my home for Agnes. 

The great piles of gravel which my men had dug from the well-like pitwere spread upon the roadways and rolled smooth and hard; my lawn wasmowed; my flower-beds and borders put in order; useless bushes andundergrowth cut out and cleared away; my outbuildings were repairedand the grounds around my house rapidly assumed their old appearance ofneatness and beauty. 

Ice was very scarce that summer, and, as the wagons wound away from theopening of the shaft which led down to the glacier, carrying their loadsto the nearest railway station, so money came to me; not in large sumsat first, for preparations had not yet been perfected for taking out theice in great quantities, but enough to enable me to go on with my workas rapidly as I could plan it. I set about renovating and brighteningand newly furnishing my house. Whatever I thought that Agnes wouldlike I bought and put into it. I tried to put myself in her place as Iselected the paper-hangings and the materials with which to cover thefurniture. 

Sometimes, while thus employed selecting ornaments or useful articlesfor my house, and using as far as was possible the taste and judgmentof another instead of my own, the idea came to me that perhaps Agnes hadnever heard of my miraculous good fortune. Certainly her father wouldnot be likely to inform her, and perhaps she still thought of me, if shethought at all, as the poor young man from whom she had been obliged topart because he was poor. 

But whether she knew that I was growing rich, or whether she thought Iwas becoming poorer and poorer, I thought only of the day when I couldgo to her father and tell him that I was able to take his daughter andplace her in a home as beautiful as that in which she now lived, andmaintain her with all the comforts and luxuries which he could give her. 

One day I asked my faithful cook, who also acted as my housekeeper andgeneral supervisor, to assist me in making out a list of china which Iintended to purchase. 

"Are you thinking of buying china, sir?" she asked. "We have now quiteas much as we really need. "

"Oh, yes, " said I, "I shall get complete sets of everything that can berequired for a properly furnished household. "

Susan gave a little sigh. "You are spendin' a lot of money, sir, andsome of it for things that a single gentleman would be likely not tocare very much about; and if you was to take it into your head to traveland stay away for a year or two, there's a good many things you'vebought that would look shabby when you come back, no matter how carefulI might be in dustin' 'em and keepin' 'em covered. "

"But I have no idea of traveling, " said I. "There's no place so pleasantas this to me. "

Susan was silent for a few moments, and then she said: "I know very wellwhy you are doing all this, and I feel it my bounden duty to say to youthat there's a chance of its bein' no use. I do not speak without goodreason, and I would not do it if I didn't think that it might maketrouble lighter to you when it comes. "

"What are you talking about, Susan; what do you mean?"

"Well, sir, this is what I mean: It was only last night that my daughterJane was in Mr. Havelot's dining-room after dinner was over, and Mr. Havelot and a friend of his were sitting there, smoking their cigars anddrinking their coffee. She went in and come out again as she was busytakin' away the dishes, and they paid no attention to her, but went ontalkin' without knowing, most likely, she was there. Mr. Have-lot andthe gentleman were talkin' about you, and Jane she heard Mr. Havelot sayas plain as anything, and she said she couldn't be mistaken, that evenif your nonsensical ice-mine proved to be worth anything, he wouldnever let his daughter marry an ice-man. He spoke most disrespectful ofice-men, sir, and said that it would make him sick to have a son-in-lawwhose business it was to sell ice to butchers, and hotels, andgrog-shops, and pork-packers, and all that sort of people, and that hewould as soon have his daughter marry the man who supplied a hotel withsausages as the one who supplied it with ice to keep those sausages fromspoiling. You see, sir, Mr. Havelot lives on his property as his fatherdid before him, and he is a very proud man, with a heart as hard andcold as that ice down under your land; and it's borne in on me verystrong, sir, that it would be a bad thing for you to keep on thinkin'that you are gettin' this house all ready to bring Miss Havelot to whenyou have married her. For if Mr. Havelot keeps on livin', which there'severy chance of his doin', it may be many a weary year before you getMiss Agnes, if you ever get her. And havin' said that, sir, I say nomore, and I would not have said this much if I hadn't felt it my boundenduty to your father's son to warn him that most likely he was workin'for what he might never get, and so keep him from breakin' his heartwhen he found out the truth all of a sudden. "

With that Susan left me, without offering any assistance in making out alist of china. This was a terrible story; but, after all, it was foundedonly upon servants' gossip. In this country, even proud, rich men likeMr. Havelot did not have such absurd ideas regarding the source ofwealth. Money is money, and whether it is derived from the ordinaryproducts of the earth, from which came much of Mr. Havelot's revenue, or from an extraordinary project such as my glacier spur, it truly couldnot matter so far as concerned the standing in society of its possessor. What utter absurdity was this which Susan had told me! If I were to goto Mr. Havelot and tell him that I would not marry his daughter becausehe supplied brewers and bakers with the products of his fields, would henot consider me an idiot? I determined to pay no attention to the idletale. But alas! determinations of that sort are often of little avail. Idid pay attention to it, and my spirits drooped. 

The tunnel into the glacier spur had now attained considerable length, and the ice in the interior was found to be of a much finer quality thanthat first met with, which was of a grayish hue and somewhat inclined tocrumble. When the workmen reached a grade of ice as good as they couldexpect, they began to enlarge the tunnel into a chamber, and from thisthey proposed to extend tunnels in various directions after the fashionof a coal-mine. The ice was hauled out on sledges through the tunnel andthen carried up a wooden railway to the mouth of the shaft. 

It was comparatively easy to walk down the shaft and enter the tunnel, and when it happened that the men were not at work I allowed visitorsto go down and view this wonderful ice-cavern. The walls of the chamberappeared semi-transparent, and the light of the candles or lanterns gavethe whole scene a weird and beautiful aspect. It was almost possibleto imagine one's self surrounded by limpid waters, which might at anymoment rush upon him and ingulf him. 

Every day or two Tom Burton came with a party of scientific visitors, and had I chosen to stop the work of taking out ice, admitted the publicand charged a price for admission, I might have made almost as muchmoney as I at that time derived from the sale of the ice. But such amethod of profit was repugnant to me. 

For several days after Susan's communication to me I worked on in myvarious operations, endeavoring to banish from my mind the idle nonsenseshe had spoken of; but one of its effects upon me was to make me feelthat I ought not to allow hopes so important to rest upon uncertainties. So I determined that as soon as my house and grounds should be in acondition with which I should for the time be satisfied, I would goboldly to Mr. Havelot, and, casting out of my recollection everythingthat Susan had said, invite him to visit me and see for himself theresults of the discovery of which he had spoken with such derisivecontempt. This would be a straightforward and business-like answer tohis foolish objections to me, and I believed that in his heart the oldgentleman would properly appreciate my action. 

About this time there came to my place Aaron Boyce, an elderly farmer ofthe neighborhood, and, finding me outside, he seized the opportunity tohave a chat with me. 

"I tell you what it is, Mr. Cuthbert, " said he, "the people in thisneighborhood hasn't give you credit for what's in you. The way youhave fixed up this place, and the short time you have took to do it, isenough to show us now what sort of a man you are; and I tell you, sir, we're proud of you for a neighbor. I don't believe there's anothergentleman in this county of your age that could have done what you havedone in so short a time. I expect now you will be thinking of gettingmarried and startin' housekeepin' in a regular fashion. That comes justas natural as to set hens in the spring. By the way, have you heard thatold Mr. Havelot's thinkin' of goin' abroad? I didn't believe he wouldever do that again, because he's gettin' pretty well on in years, butold men will do queer things as well as young ones. "

"Going abroad!" I cried. "Does he intend to take his daughter withhim?"

Mr. Aaron Boyce smiled grimly. He was a great old gossip, and he hadalready obtained the information he wanted. "Yes, " he said, "I've heardit was on her account he's going. She's been kind of weakly lately, theytell me, and hasn't took to her food, and the doctors has said that whatshe wants is a sea voyage and a change to foreign parts. "

Going abroad! Foreign parts! This was more terrible than anything I hadimagined. I would go to Mr. Havelot that very evening, the only timewhich I would be certain to find him at home, and talk to him in a waywhich would be sure to bring him to his senses, if he had any. And ifI should find that he had no sense of propriety or justice, no sense ofhis duty to his fellow-man and to his offspring, then I would begin abold fight for Agnes, a fight which I would not give up until, with herown lips, she told me that it would be useless. I would follow her toKentucky, to Europe, to the uttermost ends of the earth. I could do itnow. The frozen deposits in my terminal moraine would furnish me withthe means. I walked away and left the old farmer standing grinning. Nodoubt my improvements and renovations had been the subject of gossipin the neighborhood, and he had come over to see if he could find outanything definite in regard to the object of them. He had succeeded, buthe had done more: he had nerved me to instantly begin the conquest ofAgnes, whether by diplomacy or war. 

I was so anxious to begin this conquest that I could scarcely wait forthe evening to come. At the noon hour, when the ice-works were deserted, I walked down the shaft and into the ice-chamber to see what had beendone since my last visit. I decided to insist that operations upon alarger scale should be immediately begun, in order that I might haveplenty of money with which to carry on my contemplated campaign. Whetherit was one of peace or war, I should want all the money I could get. 

I took with me a lantern and went around the chamber, which was nowtwenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, examining the new inroads whichhad been made upon its walls. There was a tunnel commenced opposite theone by which the chamber was entered, but it had not been opened morethan a dozen feet, and it seemed to me that the men had not been workingwith any very great energy. I wanted to see a continuous stream ofice-blocks from that chamber to the mouth of the shaft. 

While grumbling thus I heard behind me a sudden noise like thunder andthe crashing of walls, and, turning quickly, I saw that a portion ofthe roof of the chamber had fallen in. Nor had it ceased to fall. AsI gazed, several great masses of ice came down from above and piledthemselves upon that which had already fallen. 

Startled and frightened, I sprang toward the opening of the entrancetunnel; but, alas! I found that that was the point where the roof hadgiven way, and between me and the outer world was a wall of solid icethrough which it would be as impossible for me to break as if it were abarrier of rock. With the quick instinct which comes to men in danger Iglanced about to see if the workmen had left their tools; but there werenone. 

They had been taken outside. Then I stood and gazed stupidly at themass of fallen ice, which, even as I looked upon it, was cracking andsnapping, pressed down by the weight above it, and forming itself intoan impervious barrier without crevice or open seam. 

Then I madly shouted. But of what avail were shouts down there in thedepths of the earth? I soon ceased this useless expenditure of strength, and, with my lantern in my hand, began to walk around the chamber, throwing the light upon the walls and the roof. I became impressed withthe fear that the whole cavity might cave in at once and bury me herein a tomb of ice. But I saw no cracks, nor any sign of further disaster. But why think of anything more? Was not this enough? For, before thatice-barrier could be cleared away, would I not freeze to death?

I now continued to walk, not because I expected to find anything or doanything, but simply to keep myself warm by action. As long as I couldmove about I believed that there was no immediate danger of succumbingto the intense cold; for, when a young man, traveling in Switzerland, Ihad been in the cave of a glacier, and it was not cold enough to preventsome old women from sitting there to play the zither for the sake ofa few coppers from visitors. I could not expect to be able to continuewalking until I should be rescued, and if I sat down, or by chance sleptfrom exhaustion, I must perish. 

The more I thought of it, the more sure I became that in any case I mustperish, A man in a block of ice could have no chance of life. And Agnes!Oh, Heavens! what demon of the ice had leagued with old Havelot to shutme up in this frozen prison? For a long time I continued to walk, beatmy body with my arms and stamp my feet. The instinct of life was strongwithin me. I would live as long as I could, and think of Agnes. When Ishould be frozen I could not think of her. 

Sometimes I stopped and listened. I was sure I could hear noises, but Icould not tell whether they were above me or not. In the centre of theice-barrier, about four feet from the ground, was a vast block of thefrozen substance which was unusually clear and seemed to have nothing onthe other side of it; for through it I could see flickers of light, asthough people were going about with lanterns. It was quite certain thatthe accident had been discovered; for, had not the thundering noise beenheard by persons outside, the workmen would have seen what hadhappened as soon as they came into the tunnel to begin their afternoonoperations. 

At first I wondered why they did not set to work with a will and cutaway this barrier and let me out. But there suddenly came to my minda reason for this lack of energy which was more chilling than theglistening walls around me: Why should they suppose that I was in theice-chamber? I was not in the habit of coming here very often, but I wasin the habit of wandering off by myself at all hours of the day. Thisthought made me feel that I might as well lie down on the floor of thisawful cave and die at once. The workmen might think it unsafe to mineany further in this part of the glacier, and begin operations at someother point. I did sit down for a moment, and then I rose involuntarilyand began my weary round. Suddenly I thought of looking at my watch. It was nearly five o'clock. I had been more than four hours in thatdreadful place, and I did not believe that I could continue to exercisemy limbs very much longer. The lights I had seen had ceased. It wasquite plain that the workmen had no idea that any one was imprisoned inthe cave. 

But soon after I had come to this conclusion I saw through the clearblock of ice a speck of light, and it became stronger and stronger, until I believed it to be close to the other side of the block. There itremained stationary; but there seemed to be other points of light whichmoved about in a strange way, and near it. Now I stood by the blockwatching. When my feet became very cold, I stamped them; but there Istood fascinated, for what I saw was truly surprising. A large coal offire appeared on the other side of the block; then it suddenly vanishedand was succeeded by another coal. This disappeared, and another tookits place, each one seeming to come nearer and nearer to me. Again andagain did these coals appear. They reached the centre of the block; theyapproached my side of it. At last one was so near to me that I thoughtit was about to break through, but it vanished. Then there came a fewquick thuds and the end of a piece of iron protruded from the block. This was withdrawn, and through the aperture there came a voice whichsaid: "Mr. Cuthbert, are you in there?" It was the voice of Agnes!

Weak and cold as I was, fire and energy rushed through me at thesewords. "Yes, " I exclaimed, my mouth to the hole; "Agnes, is that you?"

"Wait a minute, " came from the other side of the aperture. "I must makeit bigger. I must keep it from closing up. "

Again came the coals of fire, running backward and forward through thelong hole in the block of ice. I could see now what they were. They wereirons used by plumbers for melting solder and that sort of thing, and Agnes was probably heating them in a little furnace outside, andwithdrawing them as fast as they cooled. It was not long before theaperture was very much enlarged; and then there came grating throughit a long tin tube nearly two inches in diameter, which almost, but notquite, reached my side of the block. 

Now came again the voice of Agnes: "Oh, Mr. Cuthbert, are you trulythere? Are you crushed? Are you wounded? Are you nearly frozen? Are youstarved? Tell me quickly if you are yet safe. "

Had I stood in a palace padded with the softest silk and filled withspicy odors from a thousand rose gardens, I could not have been bettersatisfied with my surroundings than I was at that moment. Agnes was nottwo feet away! She was telling me that she cared for me! In a very fewwords I assured her that I was uninjured. Then I was on the point oftelling her I loved her, for I believed that not a moment should be lostin making this avowal. I could not die without her knowing that. But theappearance of a mass of paper at the other end of the tube preventedthe expression of my sentiments. This was slowly pushed on until Icould reach it. Then there came the words: "Mr. Cuthbert, these aresandwiches. Eat them immediately and walk about while you are doing it. You must keep yourself warm until the men get to you. "

Obedient to the slightest wish of this dear creature, I went twicearound the cave, devouring the sandwiches as I walked. They were themost delicious food that I had ever tasted. They were given to me byAgnes. I came back to the opening. I could not immediately begin myavowal. I must ask a question first. "Can they get to me?" I inquired. "Is anybody trying to do that? Are they working there by you? I do nothear them at all. "

"Oh, no, " she answered; "they are not working here. They are on top ofthe bluff, trying to dig down to you. They were afraid to meddle withthe ice here for fear that more of it might come down and crush youand the men, too. Oh, there has been a dreadful excitement since it wasfound that you were in there!"

"How could they know I was here?" I asked. 

"It was your old Susan who first thought of it. She saw you walkingtoward the shaft about noon, and then she remembered that she had notseen you again; and when they came into the tunnel here they found oneof the lanterns gone and the big stick you generally carry lying wherethe lantern had been. Then it was known that you must be inside. Oh, then there was an awful time! The foreman of the ice-men examinedeverything, and said they must dig down to you from above. He put hismen to work; but they could do very little, for they had hardly anyspades. Then they sent into town for help and over to the new park forthe Italians working there. From the way these men set to work you mighthave thought that they would dig away the whole bluff in about fiveminutes; but they didn't. Nobody seemed to know what to do, or how toget to work; and the hole they made when they did begin was filled upwith men almost as fast as they even threw out the stones and gravel. Idon't believe anything would have been done properly if your friend, Mr. Burton, hadn't happened to come with two scientific gentlemen, and sincethat he has been directing everything. You can't think what a splendidfellow he is! I fairly adored him when I saw him giving his orders andmaking everybody skip around in the right way. "

"Tom is a very good man, " said I; "but it is his business to direct thatsort of work, and it is not surprising that he knows how to do it. But, Agnes, they may never get down to me, and we do not know that this roofmay not cave in upon me at any moment; and before this or anything elsehappens I want to tell you--"

"Mr. Cuthbert, " said Agnes, "is there plenty of oil in your lantern? Itwould be dreadful if it were to go out and leave you there in the dark. I thought of that and brought you a little bottle of kerosene so thatyou can fill it. I am going to push the bottle through now, if youplease. " And with this a large phial, cork end foremost, came slowlythrough the tube, propelled by one of the soldering irons. Then cameAgnes's voice: "Please fill your lantern immediately, because if it goesout you can not find it in the dark; and then walk several times aroundthe cave, for you have been standing still too long already. "

I obeyed these injunctions, but in two or three minutes was again at theend of the tube. "Agnes, " said I, "how did you happen to come here? Didyou contrive in your own mind this method of communicating with me?"

"Oh, yes; I did, " she said. "Everybody said that this mass of ice mustnot be meddled with, but I knew very well it would not hurt it to make ahole through it. "

"But how did you happen to be here?" I asked. 

"Oh, I ran over as soon as I heard of the accident. Everybody ran here. The whole neighborhood is on top of the bluff; but nobody wanted to comeinto the tunnel, because they were afraid that more of it might fall in. So I was able to work here all by myself, and I am very glad of it. I saw the soldering iron and the little furnace outside of your housewhere the plumbers had been using them, and I brought them here myself. Then I thought that a simple hole through the ice might soon freeze upagain, and if you were alive inside I could not do anything to help you;and so I ran home and got my diploma case, that had had one end meltedout of it, and I brought that to stick in the hole. I'm so glad that itis long enough, or almost. "

"Oh, Agnes, " I cried, "you thought of all this for me?"

"Why, of course, Mr. Cuthbert, " she answered, before I had a chance tosay anything more. "You were in great danger of perishing before the mengot to you, and nobody seemed to think of any way to give you immediaterelief. And don't you think that a collegiate education is a good thingfor girls--at least, that it was for me?"

"Agnes, " I exclaimed, "please let me speak. I want to tell you, I musttell you--"

But the voice of Agnes was clearer than mine and it overpowered mywords. "Mr. Cuthbert, " she said, "we can not both speak through thistube at the same time in opposite directions. I have here a bottle ofwater for you, but I am very much afraid it will not go through thediploma case. "

"Oh, I don't want any water, " I said. "I can eat ice if I am thirsty. What I want is to tell you-"

"Mr. Cuthbert, " said she, "you must not eat that ice. Water that wasfrozen countless ages ago may be very different from the water of moderntimes, and might not agree with you. Don't touch it, please. I am goingto push the bottle through if I can. I tried to think of everything thatyou might need and brought them all at once; because, if I couldnot keep the hole open, I wanted to get them to you without losing aminute. "

Now the bottle came slowly through. It was a small beer-bottle, I think, and several times I was afraid it was going to stick fast and cut offcommunication between me and the outer world--that is to say, between meand Agnes. But at last the cork and the neck appeared, and I pulled itthrough. I did not drink any of it, but immediately applied my mouth tothe tube. 

"Agnes, " I said, "my dear Agnes, really you must not prevent me fromspeaking. I can not delay another minute. This is an awful position forme to be in, and as you don't seem to realize--"

"But I do realize, Mr. Cuthbert, that if you don't walk about you willcertainly freeze before you can be rescued. Between every two or threewords you want to take at least one turn around that place. How dreadfulit would be if you were suddenly to become benumbed and stiff! Everybodyis thinking of that. The best diggers that Mr. Burton had were threecolored men; but after they had gone down nothing like as deep asa well, they came up frightened and said they would not dig anothershovelful for the whole world. Perhaps you don't know it, but there's astory about the neighborhood that the negro hell is under your property. You know many of the colored people expect to be everlastingly punishedwith ice and not with fire--"

"Agnes, " I interrupted, "I am punished with ice and fire both. Pleaselet me tell you--"

"I was going on to say, Mr. Cuthbert, " she interrupted, "that when theItalians heard why the colored men had come out of the hole they wouldnot go in either, for they are just as afraid of everlasting ice as thenegroes are, and were sure that if the bottom came out of that hole theywould fall into a frozen lower world. So there was nothing to do but tosend for paupers, and they are working now. You know paupers have to dowhat they are told without regard to their beliefs. They got a dozen ofthem from the poor-house. Somebody said they just threw them into thehole. Now I must stop talking, for it is time for you to walk aroundagain. Would you like another sandwich?"

"Agnes, " said I, endeavoring to speak calmly, "all I want is to be ableto tell you--"

"And when you walk, Mr. Cuthbert, you had better keep around the edgeof the chamber, for there is no knowing when they may come through. Mr. Burton and the foreman of the ice-men measured the bluff so that theysay the hole they are making is exactly over the middle of the chamberyou are in, and if you walk around the edge the pieces may not fall onyou. "

"If you don't listen to me, Agnes, " I said, "I'll go and sit anywhere, everywhere, where death may come to me quickest. Your coldness is worsethan the coldness of the cave. I can not bear it. "

"But, Mr. Cuthbert, " said Agnes, speaking, I thought, with someagitation, "I have been listening to you, and what more can you possiblyhave to say? If there is anything you want, let me know. I will run andget it for you. "

"There is no need that you should go away to get what I want, " I said. "It is there with you. It is you. "

"Mr. Cuthbert, " said Agnes, in a very low voice, but so distinctly thatI could hear every word, "don't you think it would be better for you togive your whole mind to keeping yourself warm and strong? For if you letyourself get benumbed you may sink down and freeze. "

"Agnes, " I said, "I will not move from this little hole until I havetold you that I love you, that I have no reason to care for life orrescue unless you return my love, unless you are willing to be mine. Speak quickly to me, Agnes, because I may not be rescued and may neverknow whether my love for you is returned or not. "

At this moment there was a tremendous crash behind me, and, turning, I saw a mass of broken ice upon the floor of the cave, with a cloudof dust and smaller fragments still falling. And then with a greatscratching and scraping, and a howl loud enough to waken the echoes ofall the lower regions, down came a red-headed, drunken shoemaker. I cannot say that he was drunk at that moment, but I knew the man the momentI saw his carroty poll, and it was drink which had sent him to thepoorhouse. 

But the sprawling and howling cobbler did not reach the floor. A ropehad been fastened around his waist to prevent a fall in case the bottomof the pit should suddenly give way, and he hung dangling in midair with white face and distended eyes, cursing and swearing andvociferously entreating to be pulled up. But before he received anyanswer from above, or I could speak to him, there came through the holein the roof of the cave a shower of stones and gravel, and with them afrantic Italian, his legs and arms outspread, his face wild with terror. 

Just as he appeared in view he grasped the rope of the cobbler, and, though in a moment he came down heavily upon the floor of the chamber, this broke his fall, and he did not appear to be hurt. Instantly hecrouched low and almost upon all fours, and began to run around thechamber, keeping close to the walls and screaming, I suppose to hissaints, to preserve him from the torments of the frozen damned. 

In the midst of this hubbub came the voice of Agnes through the hole:"Oh, Mr. Cuthbert, what has happened? Are you alive?"

I was so disappointed by the appearance of these wretched interlopersat the moment it was about to be decided whether my life--should it lastfor years, or but for a few minutes--was to be black or bright, and Iwas so shaken and startled by the manner of their entry upon the scene, that I could not immediately shape the words necessary to inform Agneswhat had happened. But, collecting my faculties, I was about to speak, when suddenly, with the force of the hind leg of a mule, I was pushedaway from the aperture, and the demoniac Italian clapped his greatmouth to the end of the tube and roared through it a volume of oathsand supplications. I attempted to thrust aside the wretched being, butI might as well have tried to move the ice barrier itself. He hadperceived that some one outside was talking to me, and in his frenzy hewas imploring that some one should let him out. 

While still endeavoring to move the man, I was seized by the arm, andturning, beheld the pallid face of the shoemaker. They had let him downso that he reached the floor. He tried to fall on his knees before me, but the rope was so short that he was able to go only part of the waydown, and presented a most ludicrous appearance, with his toes scrapingthe icy floor and his arms thrown out as if he were paddling like atadpole. "Oh, have mercy upon me, sir, " he said, "and help me get outof this dreadful place. If you go to the hole and call up it's you, theywill pull me up; but if they get you out first they will never think ofme. I am a poor pauper, sir, but I never did nothin' to be packed in icebefore I am dead. "

Noticing that the Italian had left the end of the aperture in the blockof ice, and that he was now shouting up the open shaft, I ran to thechannel of communication which my Agnes had opened for me, and calledthrough it; but the dear girl had gone. 

The end of a ladder now appeared at the opening in the roof, and thiswas let down until it reached the floor. I started toward it, but beforeI had gone half the distance the frightened shoemaker and the maniacItalian sprang upon it, and, with shrieks and oaths, began a maddeningfight for possession of the ladder. They might quickly have gone up oneafter the other, but each had no thought but to be first; and as oneseized the rounds he was pulled away by the other, until I feared theladder would be torn to pieces. The shoemaker finally pushed his way upa little distance, when the Italian sprang upon his back, endeavoringto climb over him; and so on they went up the shaft, fighting, swearing, kicking, scratching, shaking and wrenching the ladder, which had beentied to another one in order to increase its length, so that it was indanger of breaking, and tearing at each other in a fashion which made itwonderful that they did not both tumble headlong downward. They wenton up, so completely filling the shaft with their struggling forms andtheir wild cries that I could not see or hear anything, and was afraid, in fact, to look up toward the outer air. 

As I was afterward informed, the Italian, who had slipped into the holeby accident, ran away like a frightened hare the moment he got hisfeet on firm ground, and the shoemaker sat down and swooned. By thisperformance he obtained from a benovolent bystander a drink of whiskey, the first he had had since he was committed to the poorhouse. 

But a voice soon came down the shaft calling to me. I recognized it asthat of Tom Burton, and replied that I was safe, and that I was comingup the ladder. But in my attempt to climb, I found that I was unableto do so. Chilled and stiffened by the cold and weakened by fatigue andexcitement, I believe I never should have been able to leave thatice chamber if my faithful friend had not come down the ladder andvigorously assisted me to reach the outer air. 

Seated on the ground, my back against a great oak tree, I was quicklysurrounded by a crowd of my neighbors, the workmen and the people whohad been drawn to the spot by the news of the strange accident, to gazeat me as if I were some unknown being excavated from the bowels of theearth, I was sipping some brandy and water which Burton had handed me, when Aaron Boyce pushed himself in front of me. 

"Well, sir, " he said, "I am mighty glad you got out of that scrape. I'mbound to say I didn't expect you would. I have been sure all along thatit wasn't right to meddle with things that go agin Nature, and I haven'tany doubt that you'll see that for yourself and fill up all them tunnelsand shafts you've made. The ice that comes on ponds and rivers was goodenough for our forefathers, and it ought to be good enough for us. Andas for this cold stuff you find in your gravel-pit, I don't believe it'sice at all; and if it is, like as not it's made of some sort of pizenstuff that freezes easier than water. For everybody knows that waterdon't freeze in a well, and if it don't do that, why should it do it inany kind of a hole in the ground? So perhaps it's just as well that youdid git shut up there, sir, and find out for yourself what a dangerousthing it is to fool with Nature and try to git ice from the bottom ofthe ground instead of the top of the water. "

This speech made me angry, for I knew that old Boyce was a man who wasalways glad to get hold of anything which had gone wrong and try to makeit worse; but I was too weak to answer him. 

This, however, would not have been necessary, for Tom Burton turned uponhim. "Idiot, " said he, "if that is your way of thinking you might aswell say that if a well caves in you should never again dig for water, or that nobody should have a cellar under his house for fear that thehouse should fall into it. There's no more danger of the ice beneath usever giving way again than there is that this bluff should crumble underour feet. That break in the roof of the ice tunnel was caused bymy digging away the face of the bluff very near that spot. The hightemperature of the outer air weakened the ice, and it fell. But downhere, under this ground and secure from the influences of the heat ofthe outer air, the mass of ice is more solid than rock. We will builda brick arch over the place where the accident happened, and then therewill not be a safer mine on this continent than this ice-mine will be. "

This was a wise and diplomatic speech from Burton, and it proved to beof great service to me; for the men who had been taking out ice had beena good deal frightened by the fall of the tunnel, and when it was provedthat what Burton had said in regard to the cause of the weakening of theice was entirely correct, they became willing to go to work again. 

I now began to feel stronger and better, and, rising to my feet, Iglanced here and there into the crowd, hoping to catch a sight of Agnes, But I was not very much surprised at not seeing her, because she wouldnaturally shrink from forcing herself into the midst of this motleycompany; but I felt that I must go and look for her without the loss ofa minute, for if she should return to her father's house I might not beable to see her again. 

On the outskirts of the crowd I met Susan, who was almost overpoweredwith joy at seeing me safe again. I shook her by the hand, but, withoutreplying to her warm-hearted protestations of thankfulness and delight, I asked her if she had seen Miss Havelot. 

"Miss Agnes!" she exclaimed. "Why, no sir; I expect she's at home; andif she did come here with the rest of the neighbors I didn't see her;for when I found out what had happened, sir, I was so weak that I satdown in the kitchen all of a lump, and have just had strength enough tocome out. "

"Oh, I know she was here, " I cried; "I am sure of that, and I do hopeshe's not gone home again. "

"Know she was here!" exclaimed Susan. "Why, how on earth could you knowthat?"

I did not reply that it was not on the earth but under it, that I becameaware of the fact, but hurried toward the Havelot house, hoping toovertake Agnes if she had gone that way. But I did not see her, andsuddenly a startling idea struck me, and I turned and ran home as fastas I could go. When I reached my grounds I went directly to the mouthof the shaft. There was nobody there, for the crowd was collected intoa solid mass on the top of the bluff, listening to a lecture from TomBurton, who deemed it well to promote the growth of interest and healthyopinion in regard to his wonderful discovery and my valuable possession. I hurried down the shaft, and near the end of it, just before it joinedthe ice tunnel, I beheld Agnes sitting upon the wooden track. She wasnot unconscious, for as I approached she slightly turned her head. Isprang toward her; I kneeled beside her; I took her in my arms. "Oh, Agnes, dearest Agnes, " I cried, "what is the matter? What has happenedto you? Has a piece of ice fallen upon you? Have you slipped and hurtyourself?"

She turned her beautiful eyes up toward me and for a moment did notspeak. Then she said: "And they got you out? And you are in your rightmind?"

"Right mind!" I exclaimed. "I have never been out of my mind. What areyou thinking of?"

"Oh, you must have been, " she said, "when you screamed at me in thathorrible way. I was so frightened that I fell back, and I must havefainted. "

Tremulous as I was with love and anxiety, I could not help laughing. "Oh, my dear Agnes, I did not scream at you. That was a crazed Italianwho fell through the hole that they dug. " Then I told her what hadhappened. 

She heaved a gentle sigh. "I am so glad to hear that, " she said. "Therewas one thing that I was thinking about just before you came and whichgave me a little bit of comfort; the words and yells I heard weredreadfully oniony, and somehow or other I could not connect that sort ofthing with you. "

It now struck me that during this conversation I had been holdingmy dear girl in my arms, and she had not shown the slightest sign ofresistance or disapprobation. This made my heart beat high. 

"Oh, Agnes, " I said, "I truly believe you love me or you would not havebeen here, you would not have done for me all that you did. Why did younot answer me when I spoke to you through that wall of ice, through thehole your dear love had made in it? Why, when I was in such a terriblesituation, not knowing whether I was to die or live, did you not comfortmy heart with one sweet word?"

"Oh, Walter, " she answered, "it wasn't at all necessary for you to sayall that you did say, for I had suspected it before, and as soon as youbegan to call me Agnes I knew, of course, how you felt about it. And, besides, it really was necessary that you should move about to keepyourself from freezing. But the great reason for my not encouraging youto go on talking in that way was that I was afraid people might comeinto the tunnel, and as, of course, you would not know that they werethere, you would go on making love to me through my diploma case, andyou know I should have perished with shame if I had had to stand therewith that old Mr. Boyce, and I don't know who else, listening to yourwords, which were very sweet to me, Walter, but which would have soundedawfully funny to them. "

When she said that my words had been sweet to her I dropped theconsideration of all other subjects. 

When, about ten minutes afterward, we came out of the shaft we were metby Susan. 

"Bless my soul and body, Mr. Cuthbert!" she exclaimed. "Did you findthat young lady down there in the centre of the earth? It seems to me asif everything that you want comes to you out of the ground. But I havebeen looking for you to tell you that Mr. Havelot has been here afterhis daughter, and I'm sure if he had known where she was, he would havebeen scared out of his wits. "

"Father here!" exclaimed Agnes. "Where is he now?"

"I think he has gone home, miss. Indeed I'm sure of it; for my daughterJennie, who was over here the same as all the other people in thecounty, I truly believe told him--and I was proud she had the spiritto speak up that way to him--that your heart was almost broke when youheard about Mr. Cuthbert being shut up in the ice, and that most likelyyou was in your own room a-cryin' your eyes out. When he heard that hestood lookin' all around the place, and he asked me if he might goin the house; and when I told him he was most welcome, he went in. Ioffered to show him about, which he said was no use, that he had beenthere often enough; and he went everywhere, I truly believe, except inthe garret and the cellar. And after he got through with that he wentout to the barn and then walked home. "

"I must go to him immediately, " said Agnes. 

"But not alone, " said I. And together we walked through the woods, overthe little field and across the Havelot lawn to the house. We were toldthat the old gentleman was in his library, and together we entered theroom. Mr. Havelot was sitting by a table on which were lying severalopen volumes of an encyclopedia. When he turned and saw us, he closedhis book, pushed back his chair and took off his spectacles. "Upon myword, sir, " he cried; "and so the first thing you do after they pull youout of the earth is to come here and break my commands. "

"I came on the invitation of your daughter, sir. "

"And what right has she to invite you, I'd like to know?"

"She has every right, for to her I owe my existence. "

"What rabid nonsense!" exclaimed the old gentleman. "People don't owetheir existence to the silly creatures they fall in love with. "

"I assure you I am correct, sir. " And then I related to him what hisdaughter had done, and how through her angelic agency my rescuers hadfound me a living being instead of a frozen corpse. 

"Stuff!" said Mr. Havelot. "People can live in a temperature ofthirty-two degrees above zero all winter. Out in Minnesota they thinkthat's hot. And you gave him victuals and drink through your diplomacase! Well, miss, I told you that if you tried to roast chestnuts inthat diploma case the bottom would come out. "

"But you see, father, " said Agnes, earnestly, "the reason I did thatwas because when I roasted them in anything shallow they popped into thefire, but they could not jump out of the diploma case. "

"Well, something else seems to have jumped out of it, " said the oldgentleman, "and something with which I am not satisfied. I have beenlooking over these books, sir, and have read the articles on ice, glaciers and caves, and I find no record of anything in the wholehistory of the world which in the least resembles the cock-and-bullstory I am told about the butt-end of a glacier which tumbled into acave in your ground, and has been lying there through all the geologicalages, and the eras of formation, and periods of animate existence downto the days of Noah, and Moses, and Methuselah, and Rameses II, andAlexander the Great, and Martin Luther, and John Wesley, to this day, for you to dig out and sell to the Williamstown Ice Co. "

"But that's what happened, sir, " said I. 

"And besides, father, " added Agnes, "the gold and silver that peopletake out of mines may have been in the ground as long as that ice hasbeen. "

"Bosh!" said Mr. Havelot. "The cases are not at all similar. It issimply impossible that a piece of a glacier should have fallen into acave and been preserved in that way. The temperature of caves is alwaysabove the freezing-point, and that ice would have melted a million yearsbefore you were born. "

"But, father, " said Agnes, "the temperature of caves filled with icemust be very much lower than that of common caves. "

"And apart from that, " I added, "the ice is still there, sir. "

"That doesn't make the slightest difference, " he replied. "It's againstall reason and commonsense that such a thing could have happened. Evenif there ever was a glacier in this part of the country and if the lowerportion of it did stick out over an immense hole in the ground, thatprotruding end would never have broken off and tumbled in. Glaciers aretoo thick and massive for that. "

"But the glacier is there, sir, " said I, "in spite of your ownreasoning. "

"And then again, " continued the old gentleman, "if there had been a caveand a projecting spur the ice would have gradually melted and drippedinto the cave, and we would have had a lake and not an ice-mine. It isan absurdity. "

"But it's there, notwithstanding, " said I. 

"And you can not subvert facts, you know, father, " added Agnes. 

"Confound facts!" he cried. "I base my arguments on sober, cool-headedreason; and there's nothing that can withstand reason. The thing'simpossible and, therefore, it has never happened. I went over to yourplace, sir, when I heard of the accident, for the misfortunes of myneighbors interest me, no matter what may be my opinion of them, and when I found that you had been extricated from your ridiculouspredicament, I went through your house, and I was pleased to find itin as good or better condition than I had known it in the days ofyour respected father. I was glad to see the improvement in yourcircumstances; but when I am told, sir, that your apparent prosperityrests upon such an absurdity as a glacier in a gravel hill, I can butsmile with contempt, sir. "

I was getting a little tired of this. "But the glacier is there, sir, "I said, "and I am taking out ice every day, and have reason to believethat I can continue to take it out for the rest of my life. With suchfacts as these before me, I am bound to say, sir, that I don't care inthe least about reason. "

"And I am here, father, " said Agnes, coming close to me, "and here Iwant to continue for the rest of my days. "

The old gentleman looked at her. "And, I suppose, " he said, "that you, too, don't in the least care about reason?"

"Not a bit, " said Agnes. 

"Well, " said Mr. Havelot, rising, "I have done all I can to make youtwo listen to reason, and I can do no more. I despair of making sensiblehuman beings of you, and so you might as well go on acting like a coupleof ninny-hammers. "

"Do ninny-hammers marry and settle on the property adjoining yours, sir?" I asked. 

"Yes, I suppose they do, " he said. "And when the aboriginal ice-house, or whatever the ridiculous thing is that they have discovered, givesout, I suppose that they can come to a reasonable man and ask him for alittle money to buy bread and butter. "

Two years have passed, and Agnes and the glacier are still mine; greatblocks of ice now flow in almost a continuous stream from the mine tothe railroad station, and in a smaller but quite as continuous streaman income flows in upon Agnes and me; and from one of the experimentalexcavations made by Tom Burton on the bluff comes a stream of ice-coldwater running in a sparkling brook a-down my dell. On fine morningsbefore I am up, I am credibly informed that Aaron Boyce may generally befound, in season and out of season, endeavoring to catch the trout withwhich I am trying to stock that ice-cold stream. The diploma case, which I caused to be carefully removed from the ice-barrier which hadimprisoned me, now hangs in my study and holds our marriage certificate. 

Near the line-fence which separates his property from mine, Mr. Havelothas sunk a wide shaft. "If the glacier spur under your land was aquarter of a mile wide, " he says to me, "it was probably at least a halfa mile long; and if that were the case, the upper end of it extends intomy place, and I may be able to strike it. " He has a good deal of money, this worthy Mr. Havelot, but he would be very glad to increase hisriches, whether they are based upon sound reason or ridiculous facts. Asfor Agnes and myself, no facts or any reason could make us happier thanour ardent love and our frigid fortune.