he was strong and hardy, as well as brave and good.

Guided by his father, and impelled by his own inclinations,
he had early begun his education, and at an age when most lads

are little more than apprentices, he had managed to make himself
of some importance, a leader, in fact, among his fellows,

and few are very ignorant in a country which does all it can
to remove ignorance. Though, during the first years of his youth,

the pick was never out of Harry's hand, nevertheless the young
miner was not long in acquiring sufficient knowledge to raise

him into the upper class of the miners, and he would certainly
have succeeded his father as overman of the Dochart pit,

if the colliery had not been abandoned.
James Starr was still a good walker, yet he could not easily

have kept up with his guide, if the latter had not slackened
his pace. The young man, carrying the engineer's bag,

followed the left bank of the river for about a mile. Leaving its
winding course, they took a road under tall, dripping trees.

Wide fields lay on either side, around isolated farms.
In one field a herd of hornless cows were quietly grazing;

in another sheep with silky wool, like those in a child's
toy sheep fold.

The Yarrow shaft was situated four miles from Callander. Whilst walking,
James Starr could not but be struck with the change in the country.

He had not seen it since the day when the last ton of Aberfoyle coal had
been emptied into railway trucks to be sent to Glasgow. Agricultural life

had now taken the place of the more stirring, active, industrial life.
The contrast was all the greater because, during winter, field work is at

a standstill. But formerly, at whatever season, the mining population,
above and below ground, filled the scene with animation. Great wagons

of coal used to be passing night and day. The rails, with their
rotten sleepers, now disused, were then constantly ground by the weight

of wagons. Now stony roads took the place of the old mining tramways.
James Starr felt as if he was traversing a desert.

The engineer gazed about him with a saddened eye.
He stopped now and then to take breath. He listened.

The air was no longer filled with distant whistlings and the panting
of engines. None of those black vapors which the manufacturer

loves to see, hung in the horizon, mingling with the clouds.
No tall cylindrical or prismatic chimney vomited out smoke,

after being fed from the mine itself; no blast-pipe was puffing
out its white vapor. The ground,

formerly black with coal dust, had a bright look, to which James Starr's
eyes were not accustomed.

When the engineer stood still, Harry Ford stopped also.
The young miner waited in silence. He felt what was passing

in his companion's mind, and he shared his feelings; he, a child
of the mine, whose whole life had been passed in its depths.

"Yes, Harry, it is all changed," said Starr. "But at the rate we worked,
of course the treasures of coal would have been exhausted some day.

Do you regret that time?"
"I do regret it, Mr. Starr," answered Harry. "The work was hard,

but it was interesting, as are all struggles."
"No doubt, my lad. A continuous struggle against the dangers

of landslips, fires, inundations, explosions of firedamp, like claps
of thunder. One had to guard against all those perils! You say well!

It was a struggle, and consequently an exciting life."
"The miners of Alva have been more favored than the miners

of Aberfoyle, Mr. Starr!"
"Ay, Harry, so they have," replied the engineer.

"Indeed," cried the young man, "it's a pity that all the globe
was not made of coal; then there would have been enough to last

millions of years!"
"No doubt there would, Harry; it must be acknowledged,

however, that nature has shown more forethought by forming
our sphereprincipally of sandstone, limestone, and granite,

which fire cannot consume."
"Do you mean to say, Mr. Starr, that mankind would have ended

by burning their own globe?"
"Yes! The whole of it, my lad," answered the engineer.

"The earth would have passed to the last bit into the furnaces
of engines, machines, steamers, gas factories; certainly, that would

have been the end of our world one fine day!"
"There is no fear of that now, Mr. Starr. But yet, the mines will

be exhausted, no doubt, and more rapidly than the statistics make out!"
"That will happen, Harry; and in my opinion England is very

wrong in exchanging her fuel for the gold of other nations!
I know well," added the engineer, "that neither hydraulics nor

electricity has yet shown all they can do, and that some day
these two forces will be more completely

utilized. But no matter! Coal is of a very practical use,
and lends itself easily to the various wants of industry.

Unfortunately man cannot produce it at will. Though our external
forests grow incessantly under the influence of heat and water,

our subterranean forests will not be reproduced, and if they were,
the globe would never be in the state necessary to make

them into coal."
James Starr and his guide, whilst talking, had continued their walk

at a rapid pace. An hour after leaving Callander they reached
the Dochart pit.

The most indifferent person would have been touched at the appearance
this deserted spot presented. It was like the skeleton of something

that had formerly lived. A few wretched trees bordered a plain
where the ground was hidden under the black dust of the mineral fuel,

but no cinders nor even fragments of coal were to be seen.
All had been carried away and consumed long ago.

They walked into the shed which covered the opening of the Yarrow shaft,
whence ladders still gave access to the lower galleries of the pit.

The engineer bent over the opening. Formerly from this place could
be heard the powerful whistle of the air inhaled by the ventilators.

It was now a silent abyss. It was like being at the mouth of
some extinct volcano.

When the mine was being worked, ingenious machines were used in certain
shafts of the Aberfoyle colliery, which in this respect was very well off;

frames furnished with automatic lifts, working in wooden slides,
oscillating ladders, called "man-engines," which, by a simple movement,

permitted the miners to descend without danger.
But all these appliances had been carried away, after the cessation

of the works. In the Yarrow shaft there remained only a long succession
of ladders, separated at every fifty feet by narrow landings.

Thirty of these ladders placed thus end to end led the visitor
down into the lower gallery, a depth of fifteen hundred feet.

This was the only way of communication which existed between
the bottom of the Dochart pit and the open air. As to air,

that came in by the Yarrow shaft, from whence galleries communicated
with another shaft whose orifice opened at a higher level;

the warm air naturally escaped by this species of inverted siphon.
"I will follow you, my lad," said the engineer, signing to the young

man to precede him.
"As you please, Mr. Starr."

"Have you your lamp?"
"Yes, and I only wish it was still the safety lamp, which we formerly

had to use!"
"Sure enough," returned James Starr, "there is no fear of

fire-damp explosions now!"
Harry was provided with a simple oil lamp, the wick of which he lighted.