Chapter 10 - Page 2

prosperity of the mine enabled the company
to offer for labor, they deserted the open air for an underground life,
and took up their abode in the mines.

The miners' houses, built of brick, soon grew up in a picturesque fashion;
some on the banks of Loch Malcolm, others under the arches which seemed
made to resist the weight that pressed upon them, like the piers
of a bridge. So was founded Coal Town, situated under the eastern
point of Loch Katrine, to the north of the county of Stirling. It was
a regular settlement on the banks of Loch Malcolm. A chapel,
dedicated to St. Giles, overlooked it from the top of a huge rock,
whose foot was laved by the waters of the subterranean sea.

When this underground town was lighted up by the bright rays
thrown from the discs, hung from the pillars and arches,
its aspect was so strange, so fantastic, that it justified
the praise of the guide-books, and visitors flocked to see it.

It is needless to say that the inhabitants of Coal Town were
proud of their place. They rarely left their laboring village--
in that imitating Simon Ford, who never wished to go out again.
The old overman maintained that it always rained "up there,"
and, considering the climate of the United Kingdom,
it must be acknowledged that he was not far wrong.
All the families in New Aberfoyle prospered well, having in
three years obtained a certain com-petency which they could
never have hoped to attain on the surface of the county.
Dozens of babies, who were born at the time when the works
were resumed, had never yet breathed the outer air.

This made Jack Ryan remark, "It's eighteen months since they were weaned,
and they have not yet seen daylight!"

It may be mentioned here, that one of the first to run at the engineer's
call was Jack Ryan. The merry fellow had

thought it his duty to return to his old trade.
But though Melrose farm had lost singer and piper it must
not be thought that Jack Ryan sung no more. On the contrary,
the sonorous echoes of New Aberfoyle exerted their strong lungs
to answer him.

Jack Ryan took up his abode in Simon Ford's new cottage. They offered him
a room, which he accepted without ceremony, in his frank and hearty way.
Old Madge loved him for his fine character and good nature.
She in some degree shared his ideas on the subject of the fantastic
beings who were supposed to haunt the mine, and the two, when alone,
told each other stories wild enough to make one shudder--stories well
worthy of enriching the hyperborean mythology.

Jack thus became the life of the cottage. He was, besides being
a jovial companion, a good workman. Six months after the works
had begun, he was made head of a gang of hewers.

"That was