them talking in the
guttural German language, as if--so Dotty thought--they had something in
their throats which they could not swallow.

After walking a long distance on a level road, and seeing nothing which
looked like a hill, they came to the coal mines. Such a dirty spot!
There were men standing about with faces as black as night, and out of
the blackness gleamed the whites of their eyes like bits of white paper
surrounded by pools of ink.

Dotty stood still and gazed.

"Horace," she whispered, "my conscience tells me they are niggroes."

"Then, dear, your conscience has made a mistake; they are white men when
they are clean."

Mr. Clifford went up to one of the men, and asked if himself and the
little people, might have an inside view of the mine. The man smiled a
black and white smile, which Dotty thought was horrible, and said,--

"O, yes, sir; come on."

There was a large platform lying over the top like a trap-door, and
through this platform was drawn a large rope. Grace and Cassy both
screamed as they stood upon the planks, and caught Mr. Clifford by the
arms.

Dotty was not afraid; she liked the excitement. The men said it was as
safe as going down cellar, and she believed them.

But she was not exactly prepared for the strange, wild, dizzy sensation
in her head when they began to sink down, down into the earth. It was
delightful. "It seemed like being swung very high in the air," she said,
"only it was just as _different_, too, as it could be."

The men had live torches in their caps, which startled the dark mine
with gleams of light and strange black shadows.

"I don't feel as if I was in this world," cried Dotty, with a sensation
of awe, and catching Grace by the arm to make sure she was near some one
who had warm flesh and blood. After this emotion had passed, she went
around by herself, and explored the mine carefully, telling no one what
she was seeking. There was the blackest of coal and the darkest of earth
in abundance; but Dotty Dimple did not find a gold ring, nor anything
which looked more like it than two blind mules. These poor animals lived
in the mines, and hauled coal. They had once possessed as good eyes as
mules need ask for; but, living where there was nothing but darkness to
be seen, and no sunlight to see it by, pray what did they need of
eyesight?

"Cassy," said Grace, "don't you remember, when we were children, we used
to say we meant some time to live together and keep