Dwarfs in the Mine.
The Other Mythical Personages are the King of the Metals and the Keeper of the Treasures of the Earth.
From a German Engraving after Froebom.
The old miner paid no heed to the interruption, if, indeed, he heard it.
"That way, I always knew that the knockers were on my side, an' I've been willin' to hole coal in mines that folks said weren't safe. What's more, in forty years o' work, I've never lost a day's time from an accident of any kind. I know I'm safe, because of what happened to me when I was still a kid.
"One day—I don't know just why, maybe the air was worse'n usual—after I'd been lookin' after the door for the bigger part o' the shift, I dropped right off asleep. Half-dreamin', I heard a loaded car come roarin' down, but I didn't wake up until it was so close as to be too late.
"I scrambled up on my feet an' was just makin' a wild jump forward to the door, when I felt a little fist—it seemed about the size of a baby's, but was strong an' hard—hit me right in the chest. It pushed me back into the corner, out o' the way o' the car, an' held me there.
"At the same minute, an' just in the nick o' time, the door swung open.
"Rubbin' my eyes—they was so gritty wi' coal that I could hardly look out o' them—I saw what looked like a little man made o' coal standin' back against the door an' holdin' it open for the car to pass through. His face was sort o' pale, like a whitewashed wall in the dark, an' his eyes were red, like sparks. I thought he had a pointed hat an' long pointed shoes, but I was so scared that I couldn't be rightly sure. I could just see his whitish face movin' up an' down, like he was noddin' his head. Then the door slammed shut, the hand suddenly lifted off my chest an' I didn't see nothin' more. I tell you, I kept awake after that."
"You must have opened the door unconsciously, while half-asleep, and dreamed about seeing the goblin," was Clem's comment.