t to Loch Leven, and where they had
understood that there was a coach, which went to Loch Leven twice a day.
The place was very quiet and still, and was in the midst of a green and
pretty country, with small groups of stone cottages here and there.
There were also several pretty tall chimneys scattered about the fields,
with a sort of platform, and some wheels and machinery near each of
them. These were the mouths of coal pits. The wheels and machinery were
for hoisting up the coal.

In the yard of the station they found the Loch Leven coach. It was in
the form of a very short omnibus. The coachman said that he had just
come in from Loch Leven, and that he was going to set out on his return
at eight. It was now about seven, so that Mr. George and the boys had an
hour to walk about, and see what was to be seen.

It was a pleasant summer evening, and they enjoyed the rambles that they
took very much indeed. They walked through several of the little
hamlets, and saw the women sitting at the doors of their cottages, with
their young children in their arms, while the older ones were running
about, here and there, at play. They went to some of the coal pits, and
saw the immense iron levers, driven by steam, that were slowly moving to
and fro, hard at work pumping up water from the bottom of the mine. They
took quite a walk, too, along the turnpike road, and saw a post-chaise
drive swiftly by, with a footman behind, and a postilion in livery on
one of the horses.

At last, when the hour of eight began to draw nigh, they all went back
to a little inn near the station, where the coachman had said that he
would call for them. When the coach came Mr. George got in, and the two
boys mounted on the top, and took their places on a high seat behind
that of the driver. They had a very pleasant ride. The country was
beautiful, and the horses trotted so fast over the smooth, hard road,
that a continued succession of most enchanting pictures of rural scenery
was presented to the eyes of the boys, as they rode along. The distance
was not far from ten miles, but both the boys wished that it had been
twenty.

At length they came in sight of a large village bordered by groves of
trees, lying in the midst of a gentle depression of the ground, and in a
few minutes more they began to get glimpses of the water. The village
was Kinross, and the water was Loch Leven. Presently, in going over a
gentle elevation of land, a large portion of the su