heaven and earth were passing away in the sudden sheer drop,
as the cage plunged down into the yawning hole, out of which came evil
smells and shadows cast from the flickering lamps upon the heads of the
miners. The rattling of the cage sent a shiver of fear through Robert,
and with that first sudden plunge he felt as if his heart were going to
leap out of his mouth. But by the time he reached the "bottom," he had
consoled and encouraged himself with the thought that these things were
all in the first day's experience of all miners.

That morning Robert Sinclair was initiated into the art of "drawing" by
his brother John. The road was fairly level, to push the loaded "tubs,"
thus leaving his father to be helped with the pick at the coal "face."
After an hour or two, Robert, though getting fairly well acquainted with
the work, was feeling tired. The strange damp smell, which had greeted
his nostrils when the cage began to descend with him that morning, was
still strong, though not so overpowering as it had been at first. The
subtle shifting shadows cast from his little lamp were becoming
familiar, and his nervousness was not now so pronounced, though he was
still easily startled if anything unusual took place. The sound of the
first shot in the pit nearly frightened him out of his wits, and he
listened nervously to every dull report with a strange uneasiness. About
one o'clock his father called to him.

"Dinna tak' that hutch oot the noo, Robert. Just let it staun', an' sit
doon an' tak' yir piece. Ye'll be hungry, an' John an' me will be out
the noo if we had this shot stemmed."

"A' richt," cheerfully replied the boy, withdrawing down to the end of
the road, where his clothes hung upon a tree, and taking his bread from
one of his pockets, he sat down tired and hungry to await his father and
John.

Geordie's "place" was being worked over the old workings of another mine
which had exhausted most of the coal of a lower seam many years
previously, except for the "stoops" or pillars, which had been left in.
This was supposed to be the barrier beyond which Rundell's lease did not
go. It would be too dangerous to work the upper seam with the ground
hollow underneath, so the "places" had all been stopped as they came up,
with the exception of Geordie Sinclair's. Sinclair was puzzled at this,
and he often wondered why his place had not been stopped with the
others. He was more uneasy, too, when he began to find large cracks