But at heart he felt depressed. He missed the former
animation, movement, and life in the well-worked pit.
He was, however, supported by one fixed idea. "No, no! the mine
is not exhausted!" he repeated.

And that man would have given serious offense who could have ventured
to express before Simon Ford any doubt that old Aberfoyle would
one day revive! He had never given up the hope of discovering
some new bed which would restore the mine to its past splendor.
Yes, he would willingly, had it been necessary, have resumed
the miner's pick, and with his still stout arms vigorously attacked
the rock. He went through the dark galleries, sometimes alone,
sometimes with his son, examining, searching for signs of coal,
only to return each day, wearied, but not in despair, to the cottage.

Madge, Simon's faithful companion, his "gude-wife," to use
the Scotch term, was a tall, strong, comely woman. Madge had no
wish to leave the Dochart pit any more than had her husband.
She shared all his hopes and regrets. She encouraged him,
she urged him on, and talked to him in a way which cheered the heart
of the old overman. "Aberfoyle is only asleep," she would say.
"You are right about that, Simon. This is but a rest,
it is not death!"


Madge, as well as the others, was perfectly satisfied to live
independent of the outer world, and was the center of the happiness
enjoyed by the little family in their dark cottage.

The engineer was eagerly expected. Simon Ford was standing at his door,