with cold, kindly invited us to go with him and he would put us near to a good fire that was burning there.  “How far is it?” we asked anxiously.  “Oh, only about half a mile,” said the collier.  So we went with him, and walked what seemed to be the longest half-mile we ever walked in all our lives, as we followed him along a fearfully rough road, partly on the tramlines of the Canonbie Collieries belonging to the Duke of Buccleuch, where two or three hundred men were employed.

We each handed him a silver coin as he landed us in front of a large open fire which was blazing furiously near the mouth of the pit, and, bidding us “good morning,” he placed a lighted lamp in front of his cap and disappeared down the shaft to the regions below.  He was rather late owing to his having slackened his pace to our own, which was naturally slower than his, since walking along colliery sidings at night was difficult for strangers.  We had taken of our boots to warm and ease our feet, when a man emerged from the darkness and asked us to put them on again, saying we should be more comfortable in the engine-house.  If we stayed there we should be sure to catch a cold, as a result of being roasted on one side and frozen on the other.  He kindly volunteered to accompany us there, so we thankfully accepted his invitation.  We had some difficulty in following him owing to the darkness and obstructions in the way, but we reached the engine-room in safety, round the inside of which was a wooden seat, or bench, and acting upon his instructions we lay down on this to sleep, with a promise that he would waken us when he went off duty at six o’clock in the morning.  We found it more comfortable here than on the windy pit bank, for there was an even and sleepy temperature.  We were soon embosomed in the arms of nature’s great refresher, notwithstanding the occasional working of the winding engines, sleeping as soundly on those wooden benches as ever we did on the best feather-bed we patronised on our journey.

(Distance walked thirty-nine miles.)

Thursday, October 12th.

We were roused at six o’clock a.m. by the engine-driver, who had taken good care of us while we slept, and as we had had nothing to eat since our lunch at Hawick the day before, except the fruit purchased from the toll-keeper there, which we had consumed long before reaching Langholm, we were frightfully hungry.  The engine-man told us there was a shop close by the colliery gate kept by a young man, where, if he happened to be in, we should be able to get some refreshments.  He accompanied us to the place, and, after knocking loudly at the shop door, we were delighted to see the head of the shopkeeper appear through the window above.  He was evidently well known to the engineer, who told him what we wanted, and he promised to “be down directly.”