Part 1 (1/2)
The Underground City
by Jules Verne
CHAPTER I CONTRADICTORY LETTERS
To Mr F R Starr, Engineer, 30 Canongate, Edinburgh
IF Mr James Starr will come to-morrow to the Aberfoyle coal-mines, Dochart pit, Yarrow shaft, a co nature will be made to him
”Mr James Starr will be awaited for, the whole day, at the Callander station, by Harry Ford, son of the old overman Simon Ford”
”He is requested to keep this invitation secret”
Such was the letter which James Starr received by the first post, on the 3rd Dece the Aberfoyle postineer's curiosity was excited to the highest pitch It never occurred to hiht not be a hoax For many years he had known Simon Ford, one of the former foremen of the Aberfoyle mines, of which he, Jaer, or, as he would be terlish coal-ly-constituted hed no ed to an old Edinburgh fauished ineers who are gradually devouring the carboniferous subsoil of the United Kingdom, as much at Cardiff and Newcastle, as in the southern counties of Scotland However, it was more particularly in the depths of the mysterious mines of Aberfoyle, which border on the Alloa , that the nareater part of his existence had been passed Besides this, Jaed to the Scottish Antiquarian Society, of which he had been st the most active h Review frequently published clever articles signed by him
He was in fact one of those practical h rank in the old capital of Scotland, which not only from a physical but also from a moral point of vieell deserves the nalish have given to their vast extent of coal-nificant name They very justly call them the ”Black Indies,”
and these Indies have contributed perhaps evenwealth of the United Kingdoned by professional men for the exhaustion of coal-mines was far distant and there was no dread of scarcity There were still extensive mines to be worked in the two Americas The manu-factories, appropriated to so as works, &c, were not likely to fail for want of thethe last few years, that certain beds had been exhausted even to their sround with their useless shafts and forsaken galleries This was exactly the case with the pits of Aberfoyle
Ten years before, the last butty had raised the last ton of coal froines, trucks which run on rails along the galleries, subterranean tramways, frames to support the shaft, pipes--in short, all that constituted the ht up froe fantastically-shaped ans of life have been taken, and only the skeleton re wooden ladders, down the Yarrow shaft--the only one which now gave access to the lower galleries of the Dochart pit Above ground, the sheds, for the outside works, still marked the spot where the shaft of that pit had been sunk, it being now abandoned, as were the other pits, of which the whole constituted the mines of Aberfoyle
It was a sad day, when for the last time the workmen quitted the ineer, James Starr, had collected the hundreds of workeous population of the mine Overmen, brakemen, putters, wastemen, barrowmen, masons, smiths, carpenters, outside and inside laborers, woreat yard of the Dochart pit, formerly heaped with coal froenerations in the mine of old Aberfoyle; they were now driven to seek the means of subsistence elsewhere, and they waited sadly to bid farewell to the engineer
Jaht, at the door of the vast shed in which he had for so many years superintended the powerful machines of the shaft
Simon Ford, the foree, and other ers and overseers, surrounded him James Starr took off his hat The miners, cap in hand, kept a profound silence This farewell scene was of a touching character, not wanting in grandeur
”My friends,” said the engineer, ”the time has come for us to separate
The Aberfoyle mines, which for so many years have united us in a common work, are now exhausted All our researches have not led to the discovery of a new vein, and the last block of coal has just been extracted from the Dochart pit” And in confirmation of his words, James Starr pointed to a lump of coal which had been kept at the bottom of a basket
”This piece of coal, my friends,” resumed James Starr, ”is like the last drop of blood which has flowed through the veins of the ment of coal is kept, which was extracted a hundred and fifty years ago fros of Aberfoyle Between these two pieces, how enerations of workmen have succeeded each other in our pits! Now, it is over! The last words which your engineer will address to you are a farewell You have lived in this mine, which your hands have emptied The work has been hard, but not without profit for you Our great family must disperse, and it is not probable that the future will ever again unite the scattered ether for a long time, and that it will be the duty of the miners of Aberfoyle to help each other Your old ether, they ain We shall keep our eye on you, and wherever you go, our recommendations shall follow you Farewell then, , Ja the horny hand of the oldest miner, whose eyes were dim with tears Then the overmen of the different pits came forward to shake hands with hi, ”Farewell, James Starr, our master and our friend!”
This fareould leave a lasting remembrance in all these honest hearts Slowly and sadly the population quitted the yard The black soil of the roads leading to the Dochart pit resounded for the last time to the tread oflife which had till then filled the Aberfoyle mines
One man alone remained by James Starr This was the overman, Simon Ford
Near hie, who for some years already had been employed down below
James Starr and Simon Ford knew and esteeineer