father had
come for him, and he would have to be three more, to earn his tenpence a
day. It was Saturday, no wonder that he was sleepy, and, in spite of
his fears of ghosts and hobgoblins, that he dropped asleep. He had been
dreaming of the black creature he had been told of. He thought he saw
him creeping, creeping towards him. He felt a heavy blow on his head.
He shrieked out, he thought that it was the long expected monster come
to carry him off. It was only Bill Hagger, the putter, with his corve,
or basket of coals. An oath came with the blow, and further abuse.
Poor little Dick dared not complain. He would only cry and pull open
his door, and shut it again directly Bill was through.

Bill Hagger was black enough, all covered with coal-dust; but still it
was better to have a cuff from him than to be carried off by the big
creature, he did not know where, still deeper down into the earth. So
he dried the tears which were dropping from his eyes and forming black
mud on his cheeks, and tried to keep awake till the next putter and his
loaded corve should come by, or Bill Hagger should return with his empty
one.

Bill had not far to go to reach the crane, where the corve would be
hoisted on the rolley, or wagon, to be dragged by a pony along the
rolley-way to the foot of the shaft. Dick wished that Bill had farther
to go, because he was pretty certain to give him a cuff or kick in
passing, just to remind him to look out sharp the next time. There was
another thing he wished, that it was time for "kenner," when his father
would come and take him home to his mother. What "kenner" means, we
shall know by-and-by.

I said that there were miles and miles of these rolley or main-tramways.
This one was two miles straight, right away from the shaft. As the air
in mines gets foul and close, and does not move, it is necessary to send
currents of wind into all the passages to blow it away. The first thing
is to get the wind to come down the shaft, and then to make it move
along certain passages and so up by another shaft. Only a small
quantity of wind can come down, and if that was let wander about at
pleasure, it would do no good. So these traps or doors are used to stop
it from going along some passages, and to make it go along others, till
the bad air is blown out of them. To help this, a large furnace is
placed at the bottom of the second shaft, called the up-cast shaft,
because the foul air is cast up it.