ITH bated breath our three friends watched the instruments in the doctor's office during the last mile of the digging. Car-load after carload of matter was removed; and as the two boring-screws approached each other the sounds made by the New York screw could be distinctly heard through the telephone on the Australian side of the tube.

Finally the two tubes came so close together that the doctor stopped the New York instrument, and continued the work on the Australian side only. The speed of revolution was also gradually slackened, until it seemed to the excited watchers as though the auger were not moving at all; but when it did finally scoop up the last bucketful of matter, and the Australian tube touched the New York tube with a shock that set them both