"I have known it for these fifty years," he began, in a half-choking voice.

"I found it out as a mere lad, when I went down into the old mine one day for sport, with some schoolmates.

The vein lies in the lowest part of the old workings, at a depth that we think nothing of nowadays, though it was too deep for the old masters of the pit.

I remember, as though it was yesterday, how my heart leaped within me when my torch shone upon it, and how I fled away, lest my school-fellows should see it also.

I came back the next day alone, to certify my great discovery.