It was delightful.

"It seemed like being swung very high in the air," she said, "only it was just as _different_, too, as it could be." The men had live torches in their caps, which startled the dark mine with gleams of light and strange black shadows.
"I don't feel as if I was in this world," cried Dotty, with a sensation of awe, and catching Grace by the arm to make sure she was near some one who had warm flesh and blood.

After this emotion had passed, she went around by herself, and explored the mine carefully, telling no one what she was seeking.

There was the blackest of coal and the darkest of earth in abundance; but Dotty Dimple did not find a gold ring, nor anything which looked more like it than two blind mules.

These poor animals lived in the mines, and hauled coal.