Part 9 (1/2)
”In width and in depth, too, Mr Starr!” returned Simon Ford
”That we shall know later”
”And I can answer for it! Trust to the instinct of an old miner! It has never deceived ineer, se fro which will last for centuries!”
”Centuries!” exclaimed Simon Ford; ”I believe you, sir! A thousand years and more will pass before the last bit of coal is taken out of our new rant it!” returned Starr ”As to the quality of the coal which crops out of these walls?”
”Superb! Mr Starr, superb!” answered Ford; ”just look at it yourself!”
And so saying, with his pick he struck off a fragment of the black rock
”Look! look!” he repeated, holding it close to his la! We have here fat coal, rich in bituminous matter; and see how it comes in pieces, alo this sea competition with Swansea and Cardiff! Well, stokers will quarrel for it still, and if it costs little to extract it from the mine, it will not sell at a less price outside”
”Indeed,” said Madge, who had taken the frag it with the air of a connoisseur; ”that's good quality of coal Carry it hoe! I want this first piece of coal to burn under our kettle”
”Well said, wife!” answered the old overman, ”and you shall see that I am not mistaken”
”Mr Starr,” asked Harry, ”have you any idea of the probable direction of this long passage which we have been following since our entrance into the new ineer; ”with a co; but without a compass I as, when there is no sun by which to calculate his position”
”No doubt, Mr Starr,” replied Ford; ”but pray don't compare our position with that of the sailor, who has everywhere and always an abyss under his feet! We are on fir”
”I won't tease you, then, old Simon,” answered James Starr ”Far be it from me even in jest to depreciate the New Aberfoyle , and that is that we don't knohere we are”
”We are in the subsoil of the county of Stirling, Mr Starr,” replied Simon Ford; ”and that I assert as if--”
”Listen!” said Harry, interrupting the oldHis ears, which were very sharp, had caught a dull sound, like a distantit the sound, in which though it was so feeble, the successive CRESCENDO and DIMINUENDO could be distinctly heard
All four stood for so a word All at once Simon Ford exclai on the rails of New Aberfoyle?”
”Father,” replied Harry, ”it sounds toon the sea shore”
”We can't be under the sea though!” cried the old overineer, ”but it is not impossible that we should be under Loch Katrine”
”The roof cannot have much thickness just here, if the noise of the water is perceptible”
”Very little indeed,” answered Jae”
”You ht, Mr Starr,” said Harry