"And what came of it?" asked Frank.
"Of the going down? This. An accident took place in the pit that same morning—through fire-damp, I think; and many of them never came up again alive."
"How dreadful! But that could not have been the fault of the Seven Whistlers?" debated Frank.
"My second and only other experience was at Trennach," continued Dr. Raynor, passing over Frank's comment. "About six years ago, some of the miners professed to have heard these sounds. That same day, as they were descending one of the shafts after dinner, an accident occurred to the machinery——"
"And did damage," interrupted Frank, with increasing interest.
"Yes. Three of the men fell to the bottom of the mine, and were killed; and several others were injured more or less badly. I attended them. You ask me if I place faith in the superstition, Frank. No: I do not. I am sufficiently enlightened not to do so. But the experiences that I have told you of are facts. I look upon them as mere coincidences."
A pause. Frank was going on with his work.
"Are the sounds all fancy, Uncle Hugh?"
"Oh no. The sounds are real enough."
"What do they proceed from? What causes them?"