part, he would hear only a tap-tapping, no louder than that of a
woodpecker, for the sound would come from a great distance off
through
the solid mountain rock.
The work was hard at best, for it is very warm underground; but it was
not particularly unpleasant, and some of the miners, when they wanted
to
earn a little more money for a particular purpose, would stop behind
the rest, and work all night. But you could not tell night from day
down
there, except from feeling tired and sleepy; for no light of the sun
ever came into those gloomy regions. Some who had thus remained
behind
during the night, although certain there were none of their
companions
at work, would declare the next morning that they heard, every time
they
halted for a moment to take breath, a tap-tapping all about them, as if
the mountain were then more full of miners than ever it was during
the
day; and some in consequence would never stay over night, for all
knew
those were the sounds of the goblins. They worked only at night, for
the
Madhuri Noah
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