n' all these forests were covered
in mud an' sand. That's how it is you never find anything but shale or
slate (which is mud-rock) or sandstone above a coal seam. What's more,
when pullin' down slate, you'll often find sea-shells, like mussels
an' clams. Ain't that so?"

"I won't argue with you about the Flood, Otto, for that's a long
story. But you're dead right in saying that all coal seams are
overlaid with rocks which have been laid down by water, and that
fossil shells are found in the overlying layers. But go ahead and tell
us what you saw."

"When the Flood came," the old man resumed, "the elves an' dryads what
used to live in the coal-trees were swallowed up in the water. They
weren't drowned, because spirits can't die--at least, that was what
Dad told me. They couldn't go away from their trees, because the trees
were still standin' there, though all covered in mud or sand. So they
had to change their ways for a new life, first under the water, an'
when the waters o' the Flood dried up, under the ground. The elves,
who were the men-spirits o' the forest, became knockers; the dryads,
who were the women-spirits o' the trees, became the sprites o' the gas
damps.

"In the old days, folks used to be able to see these spirits o' the
forests. They used to build temples to 'em, an' have regular festivals
in the woods, always leavin' some food for 'em to eat. Dad told me
never to forget that the only way to keep on the good side o' the
spirits below ground was to keep out o' the mine on the first day o'
spring an' the last day o' summer, an' every time I took anything to
eat below ground, to leave a bite behind.

"I've always done it. In all the years I've been minin', I've never
gone down the shaft on March 21st or September 20th, an' I never will.
An', every time I've taken my dinner-pail to the face where I was
workin', I've put a bit o' bread aside for the knockers. You can
believe it or not, as you like, but when I got back to the place, on
my next shift, the bread was gone."

"Probably rats," commented Clem, in an aside to Anton.

[Illustration: KNOCKERS.

_After a Vignette by Bottrell._]

[Illustration: GATHON, GOBLIN OF THE MINES.

_Fragment of a Composition by Phiz._]

[Illustration: DWARFS IN THE MINE.

The Other Mythical Personages are the King of the Metals and the
Keeper of the Treasures of the Earth.

_From a German Engraving after Froebom._]

The old miner paid no heed to the inte