riches. Human termites had never gnawed
away this part of the Scottish subsoil; nature herself had done it
all. But, we repeat, it could be compared to nothing but the celebrated
Mammoth caves, which, in an extent of more than twenty miles, contain
two hundred and twenty-six avenues, eleven lakes, seven rivers, eight
cataracts, thirty-two unfathomable wells, and fifty-seven domes, some
of which are more than four hundred and fifty feet in height. Like
these caves, New Aberfoyle was not the work of men, but the work of the
Creator.

Such was this new domain, of matchless wealth, the discovery of which
belonged entirely to the old overman. Ten years' sojourn in the deserted
mine, an uncommon pertinacity in research, perfect faith, sustained by
a marvelous mining instinct--all these qualities together led him to
succeed where so many others had failed. Why had the soundings made
under the direction of James Starr during the last years of the working
stopped just at that limit, on the very frontier of the new mine? That
was all chance, which takes great part in researches of this kind.

However that might be, there was, under the Scottish subsoil, what might
be called a subterranean county, which, to be habitable, needed only the
rays of the sun, or, for want of that, the light of a special planet.

Water had collected in various hollows, forming vast ponds, or rather
lakes larger than Loch Katrine, lying just above them. Of course the
waters of these lakes had no movement of currents or tides; no old
castle was reflected there; no birch or oak trees waved on their banks.
And yet these deep lakes, whose mirror-like surface was never ruffled by
a breeze, would not be without charm by the light of some electric star,
and, connected by a string of canals, would well complete the geography
of this strange domain.

Although unfit for any vegetable production, the place could be
inhabited by a whole population. And who knows but that in this steady
temperature, in the depths of the mines of Aberfoyle, as well as in
those of Newcastle, Alloa, or Cardiff--when their contents shall have
been exhausted--who knows but that the poorer classes of Great Britain
will some day find a refuge?

CHAPTER VIII. EXPLORING

AT Harry's call, James Starr, Madge, and Simon Ford entered through the
narrow orifice which put the Dochart pit in communication with the
new mine. They found themselves at the beginning of a tolerably wide
galle