midnight
resumed the first speaker . `` Why did n't somebody show him the way ? '' `` Because nobody knowed it , '' answered one of the four miners whose services Richard had retained , and who justly imagined that the fisherman 's remark had been a reflection on his own profession . `` I 'd ha ' gone down Dunloppel with him at midnight , or any other mine as can be called such ; but this is different . '' `` Ay , ay , that 's so , '' said a second miner . `` We know no more of this place than you fishermen . There may be as much water in it as in the sea , for aught we can tell . ''