Chapter 2 Chapter 2 on the way

When James Starr read the second letter, which was the reverse of the first, his racing thoughts stopped suddenly. "What does that mean?" he wondered. James Starr picked up the half-torn envelope again.Same as that letter.The envelope was postmarked by the Aberfoyle Post Office.The letter was therefore sent from the same location in Stirlingshire.The letter wasn't written by the old miner—obviously.But it is also evident that the author of the second letter knew the foreman's secret, since he expressly withdrew the invitation of the engineer to Yale Mine. Is the first notification really meaningless now?Was someone trying to stop James Starr from going, whether it worked or not?To be more precise, could it be maliciously obstructing Simon Ford's plan?

That's what James Starr came up with after some serious thinking.This contradiction between the two letters only aroused in him a stronger desire to go to the Dochart coal bunker.Besides, if only one of these is a hoax, it's best to check it out.But it seemed to James Starr that the first letter should be believed more than the second—that is, an invitation from someone like Simon Ford rather than this notification from his anonymous opponents. "Indeed, since someone is trying to influence my decision," he thought, "this announcement from Simon Ford must be extremely important! Tomorrow, I will attend the appointment at the appointed place and at the agreed time!"

That night, James Starr had his traveling supplies prepared for him.As he might be absent for several days, he wrote a letter giving advance notice to Sir W. Elphiston, President of the "Royal Society", of his inability to attend the next meeting of the Society.He also turned down two or three things he might have been asked to do during the week.Then, after having ordered the servants to have a traveling bag ready, he went to bed, more excited than the event might have brought him. Next day, at five o'clock, James Starr sprang out of bed, dressed warmly—for it was raining cold—and left his house at Cannon Gate for a steamboat at Granton Wharf, which would Up the Lake Worth River, you can reach Stirling in 3 hours.

For possibly the first time, James Starr passed without looking back at Holy Cross, the palace of Scotland's ancient ruler.He didn't look at the guards in front of the palace tunnel in ancient Scottish dress, green cloth petticoats, plaid kerchiefs, and long-haired goatskin bags hanging from their laps.Though he, like all the true descendants of the old Caledonian Canal, was a great admirer of Walter Scott, the engineer, as he had never forgotten to do before, did not even look at the room where Waverly was staying. The inn where the tailor had sent him the famous plaid suit, so naively admired by Widow Frohart.Nor did he salute the little square, where the Hillmen had risked hitting Flora Mark Ivo after the pretender had won.He looked at the jail clock, which had stretched its broken face into the middle of the street, just to make sure he never missed the sailing time.And it must be admitted that, at the corner of Nergol, he did not take his eyes off the house of John the Great Reformer, Knox, and he was the only man Mary Stuart could not seduce with a smile.However, after walking from High Street to People's Street, which is so delicately described in the novel "The Abbess", he rushed towards the magnificent bridge connecting the three hills of Edinburgh on Long Street.

In a few minutes James Starr was at the Main Line railway station, which in half an hour took him to Newport, a pretty fishing village a mile from Lane, the port of Edinburgh.The rising tide then flooded the dark, rocky beach again.The gratings were bathed in the foremost waves, a sort of chain-supported breakwater.On the left, one of the ships plying between Edinburgh and Stirling on the River Worth is moored at Granton Wharf. At this time, the chimney of the "Prince de Galles" spewed black smoke, and the boiler on the ship made a dull sound.As the bell rang, "Dangdi" only struck a few times, and the late passengers ran quickly.Among those were merchants, peasants, and ministers, the latter easily recognizable by their shorts, long coats, and thin white harnesses round their necks.

James Starr was not the last on board.He jumped lightly onto the deck of the Prince de Galles.Not one of the passengers thought of taking shelter in the saloon of the steamer, in spite of the heavy rain.All remained in place, wrapped in their traveling clothes, a few drinking gin or whiskey from their bottles to keep warm from time to time—"body dressing," as they called it.At the last bell the cables were let go, and the Prince de Galles shifted to get out of the small anchorage which sheltered her from the waves of the North Sea. Firth of Worth, the name given to the bay dug between the Pfeiffer coast to the north and the Linlierg, Edinburgh and Haddington coasts to the south.It forms the little harbor of the Worth, a river of no importance, like the deep and swift Thames or the Merseyside, which descends from the western slopes of Ben Romney to drop into the sea at Kincardine.

The road from Granton Pier to the end of this bay is not long, and if you don't need to stop at different piers on both sides of the river, you don't have to make many detours.Cities, villages, and cottages unfold among the groves in the fertile fields on the banks of the Voss.James Starr hid under the wide gangplank projecting from between the drum-shaped columns, and made no attempt to see anything through the landscape streaked with wispy rain.What he was more concerned about was whether he had attracted the special attention of a certain passenger.Indeed, the anonymous author of the second letter may have been on this boat.However, engineers were unable to spot any suspicious glances on the spot.

When the "Prince de Galles" left Granton Pier, it was heading towards the narrow channel sandwiched between the two ends of South-Queen's Ferry and North-Queen's Ferry. From the channel further forward, the River Worth forms A lake that can pass hundreds of tons of ships.During the brief clearing of the rainy day, the snow-covered summit of Grampian Peak was revealed in the distant clouds and mists. Soon the steamboat was away from the countryside of Abdur, the island of Colm, on top of which were the remains of a 12th century monastery, the ruins of Pemburg Castle, followed by Donebri Sow, where the son-in-law of Murray the Regent was killed, and then the fortified isle of Kavi.The steamboat passed the strait of Queen's Ferry, leaving Rosyth Castle to its left, where a branch of the Stuarts, who were related to Cromwell's mother, had formerly lived, passed Behind Castle Black, always fortified by a clause of the Treaty of Confederation, he sailed along the docks of Charleston's Little Harbor from which the lime for Lord Alger's riding stables was shipped.Finally, the bell of the "Prince de Galles" reminded everyone of the arrival of the dock at Crombie Point.

At that time, the weather was extremely bad, and the rain, under the blow of the strong wind, was smashed into mist by the roaring wind that swept like a tornado. James Starr was a little worried.Will Simon Ford's son come as promised?He knew from experience that miners, accustomed to the stillness of the coal mines, were not as ready to face such troublesome surroundings as workers and peasants.It was four miles from Callander to the Dochart Coal Bunker to the Yale Mine.In a way, that was why the old foreman's son was late.Still, what the engineer thought more about was that the date set in the first letter was revoked by the second letter—to be honest, this was his biggest worry.

At any rate, if Harry Ford came to meet the train when it came to Callander, James Starr resolved to go alone to the Dochart Coal Bunker, or even directly to the country side of Aberfoyle if necessary.There he was sure to hear from Simon Ford, and he would find out where the old foreman was living. At this time, the "Prince de Galles" rolled up another huge wave driven by the blades.There was nothing to be seen on either side of the river, neither Crombie's country, Torreben Torre, New Mill, Caledon, Cork Farm, or the salt pond on the right bank.The little port of Bowness, Grange Mouth, dug at the mouth of the Creed Canal, was lost in the damp mist.The ruins of the ancient town of Carlos and its Cistercian Abbey, where the steamboat made a stopover, Kincardine and its building sites, Elt Castle with its 13th-century square bell tower, Clackmaran and its The castle built by Robert the Bruce could not even be seen through the slanting rain.

The "Prince de Galles" docked at Alloa Quay and disembarked a few passengers.James Starr's heart tightened when he thought of approaching this small town after 10 years away, which is an important coal mining base that raised many laborers.His imagination carried him here underground, where the pickaxes of the miners still yielded great profits, and these mines of Alloah, nearly adjacent to those of Aberfoyle, continued to add wealth to the county, yet, Those seams adjacent to it have been hollowed out for many years without a single worker. After leaving Alloa, the steamer entered the depths of the many bends formed by the Voss for a distance of 19 miles.The boat sailed quickly between the big trees on both banks.At one point, after a short drive, the ruins of Campus Kinney Abbey, built in the 12th century, are revealed.Then came the castle of Stirling and the royal town that bears that name, where the River Worth was crossed by two bridges, and the free-masted ships could not go any further. As soon as the "Prince de Galles" landed, the engineer jumped onto the pier lightly. Five minutes later, he arrived at Stirling railway station.An hour later, he got off the car at Kaland, a large village on the left bank of Taishi. There, a young man waited opposite the railway station, and he immediately greeted the engineer. He is Harry, the son of Simon Ford.

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