CHAPTER EIGHT.
DOWN, DOWN, DOWN.
Before descending the mine Captain Dan led Oliver to the counting-house,where he bade him undress and put on miner's clothing.
"I'll need a biggish suit," observed Oliver.
"True," said Captain Dan; "we are obliged usually to give visitors oursmallest suits. You are an exception to the rule. Indeed, I'm not surethat I have a pair of trousers big enough for--ah yes, by the way, hereis a pair belonging to one of our captains who is unusually stout andtall; I dare say you'll be able to squeeze into 'em."
"All right," said Oliver, laughing, as he pulled on the red garments;"they are wide enough round the waist, at all events. Now for a hat."
"There," said the captain, handing him a white cotton skull-cap, "putthat on."
"Why, what's this for?" said Oliver.
"To keep _that_ from dirtying your head," replied the other, as hehanded his companion a thick felt hat, which was extremely dirty, on thefront especially, where the candle was wont to be fixed with wet clay."Now, then, attach these two candles to that button in your breast, andyou are complete.--Not a bad miner to look at," said Captain Dan with asmile of approval.
The captain was already equipped in underground costume, and the dirtydisreputable appearance he presented was, thought Oliver, a wonderfulcontrast to his sober and gentlemanly aspect on the evening of theirfirst meeting at his uncle's table.
"I'll strike a light after we get down a bit--so come along," saidCaptain Dan, leaving the office and leading the way.
On reaching the entrance to the shaft, Oliver Trembath looked down andobserved a small speck of bright light in the black depths.
"A man coming up--wait a bit," said the captain in explanation.
Presently a faint sound of slow footsteps was heard; they grew graduallymore distinct, and ere long the head and shoulders of a man emerged fromthe hole. Perspiration was trickling down his face, and painting him,streakily, with iron rust and mud. All his garments were soaking. Hesighed heavily on reaching the surface, and appeared to inhale the freshair with great satisfaction.
"Any more coming?"
"No, Captain Dan," replied the man, glancing with some curiosity at thetall stranger.
"Now, sir, we shall descend," said the captain, entering the shaft.
Oliver followed, and at once plunged out of bright sunshine into subduedlight. A descent of a few fathoms brought them to the bottom of thefirst ladder. It was a short one; most of the others, the captain toldhim, were long ones. The width of the shaft was about six feet by nine.It was nearly perpendicular, and the slope of the ladders correspondedwith its width--the head of each resting against one side of it, and thefoot against the other, thus forming a zigzag of ladders all the waydown.
At the foot of the first ladder the light was that of deep twilight.Here was a wooden platform, and a hole cut through it, out of whichprotruded the head of the second ladder. The Captain struck a light,and, applying it to one of the candles, affixed the same to the front ofOliver's hat. Arranging his own hat in a similar way, he continued thedescent, and, in a few minutes, both were beyond the region of daylight.When they had got a short way down, probably the distance of anordinary church-steeple's height below the surface, Oliver looked up andsaw the little opening far above him, shining brightly like a star. Afew steps more and it vanished from view; he felt that he had for thefirst time in his life reached the regions of eternal night.
The shaft varied in width here and there; in most places it was verynarrow--about six feet wide--but, what with cross-beams to support thesides, and prevent soft parts from falling in, and other obstructions,the space available for descent was often not more than enough to permitof a man squeezing past.
A damp smell pervaded the air, and there was a strange sense ofcontraction and confinement, so to speak, which had at first anunpleasant effect on Oliver. The silence, when both men paused at aladder-foot to trim candles or to rest a minute, was most profound, andthere came over the young doctor a sensation of being buried alive, andof having bid a final farewell to the upper earth, the free air, and thesunshine, as they went down, down, down to the depths below.
At last they reached a "level" or gallery, by which the ladder-shaftcommunicated with the pump-shaft.
Here Captain Dan paused and trimmed Oliver's candle, which he had thrustinadvertently against a beam, and broken in two.
"You have to mind your head here, sir," said the captain, with a quietsmile; "'tis a good place to learn humility."
Oliver could scarce help laughing aloud as he gazed at his guide, for,standing as he did with the candle close to his face, his cheeks, nose,chin, forehead, and part of the brim of his hat and shoulders werebrought into brilliant light, while the rest of him was lost in theprofound darkness of the level behind, and the flame of his candlerested above his head like the diadem of some aristocratic gnome.
"How far down have we come?" inquired Oliver.
"About eighty fathoms," said the captain; "we shall now go along thislevel and get into the pump-shaft, by which we can descend to thebottom. Take care of your feet and head as you go, for you'll be apt torun against the rocks that hang down, and the winzes are dangerous."
"And pray what are winzes?" asked Oliver as he stumbled along in thefootsteps of his guide, over uneven ground covered with debris.--"Ah!hallo! stop!"
"What's wrong?" said the captain, looking back, and holding up hiscandle to Oliver's face.
"Candle gone again, captain; I've run my head on that rock. Lucky forme that your mining hats are so thick and hard, for I gave it a buttthat might have done credit to an ox."
"I told you to mind your head," said Captain Dan, relighting the candle;"you had better carry it in your hand in the levels, it will light yourpath better. Look out now--here is a winze."
The captain pointed to a black yawning hole, about six or seven feet indiameter, which was bridged across by a single plank.
"How deep does it go?" asked the youth, holding up his candle andpeering in; "I can't see the bottom."
"I dare say not," said the captain, "for the bottom is ten fathoms down,at the next level."
"And are all the winzes bridged with a single plank in this way?"
"Why, no, some of 'em have two or three planks, but they're quite safeif you go steady."
"And, pray, how many such winzes are there in the mine?" asked Oliver.
"Couldn't say exactly, without thinkin' a bit," replied the captain;"but there are a great number of 'em--little short of a hundred, Ishould say--for we have a good many miles of levels in Botallack, whichpossesses an underground geography as carefully measured and mapped outas that of the surface."
"And what would happen," asked Oliver, with an expression ofhalf-simulated anxiety, "if you were to fall down a winze and break yourneck, and my candle were to get knocked or blown out, leaving me to findmy way out of a labyrinth of levels pierced with holes sixty feet deep?"
"Well, it's hard to say," replied Captain Dan with much simplicity.
"Go on," said Oliver, pursing his lips with a grim smile, as he followedhis leader across the narrow bridge.
Captain Dan continued his progress until he reached the pump-shaft, theproximity of which was audibly announced by the slow ascent and descentof a great wooden beam, which was styled the "pump-rod." Alongside, andalmost touching it, for space was valuable there, and had to beeconomised, was the iron pipe--nearly a foot in diameter--which conveyedthe water from the mine to the "Adit level."
The slow-heaving plunge, of about ten feet in extent, and the sough orsigh of the great beam, with the accompanying gurgle of water in thehuge pipe, were sounds that seemed horribly appropriate to thesubterranean scene. One could have imagined the mine to be a livinggiant in the last throes of death by drowning. But these were only onehalf of the peculiarities of the place. On the other side of the shaftan arrangement of beams and partially broken boards formed thetraversing "ways" or tube, up whic
h were drawn the kibbles--these lastbeing large iron buckets used for lifting ore to the surface.
In the present day, machinery being more perfect, the ancient kibble hasbeen to some extent supplanted by skips, or small trucks with wheels (insome cases iron boxes with guiding-rods), which are drawn up smoothly,and without much tear and wear; but in the rough times of which wewrite, the sturdy kibble used to go rattling up the shaft with deafeningnoise, dinting its thick sides, and travelling with a jovialfree-and-easy swing that must have added considerably to the debit sideof the account of working expenses. Between the pump-rod and thekibble-way there was just room for the ladders upon which Captain Dan,followed by Oliver, now stepped. This shaft was very wet, water droppedand spirted about in fine spray everywhere, and the rounds of theladders were wet and greasy with much-squeezed slime.
It would seem as though the kibbles had known that a stranger was aboutto descend and had waited for him, for no sooner did Oliver get on theladder than they began to move--the one to ascend full, and the other todescend empty.
"What's that?" exclaimed Oliver.
"It's only the kibbles," replied Captain Dan.
Before the captain could explain what kibbles were, these recklessbuckets met, with a bang, close to Oliver's cheek, and rebounded on thebeams that protected him from their fury. Naturally the young manshrank a little from a noise so loud and so near. He was at oncescraped down on the other side by the pump-rod! Drawing himselftogether as much as possible, and feeling for once the disadvantage ofbeing a large man, he followed his leader down, down, ever down, intothe profounder depths below.
All this time they had not met with a miner, or with any sign of humanlife--unless the pump and kibbles could be regarded as such--for theyhad been hitherto traversing the old levels and workings of the mine,but at last, during one of their pauses, they heard the faint sound ofchip, chip, chip, in the far distance.
"Miners?" inquired Oliver.
Captain Dan nodded, and said they would now leave the shaft and go towhere the men were at work. He cautioned his companion again to haveregard to his head, and to mind his feet. As they proceeded, he stoppedever and anon to point out some object of peculiar interest.
"There's a considerable space above and below you here, sir," said thecaptain, stopping suddenly in a level which was not more than three feetwide.
Oliver had been so intent on his feet, and mindful of the winzes, thathe had failed to observe the immense black opening overhead. Itextended so high above him, and so far forward and backward in thedirection of the level, that its boundaries were lost in an immensity ofprofoundly dark space. The rocky path was also lost to view, bothbefore and behind them, so that the glare of their lights on themetallic walls rendered the spot on which they stood a point ofbrilliancy in the midst of darkness. Only part of a great beam wasvisible here and there above them, as if suspended in the gloom torender its profundity more apparent.
This, Captain Dan explained, was the space that had once been occupiedby a rich lode of ore, all of which had been removed years ago, to thegreat commercial advantage of a past generation.
Soon after passing this the captain paused at a deep cutting in therock, and, looking sadly at it for a few minutes, said,--"It was herethat poor Trevool lost his life. He was a good lad, but careless, andused to go rattling along the levels with his light in his hat and histhoughts among the stars, instead of carrying the light in his hand andlooking to his feet. He fell down that winze and broke his back. Whenwe got him up to grass he was alive, but he never spoke another word,and died the same night."
"Poor fellow!" said Oliver; "I suppose your men have narrow escapessometimes."
"They have, sir, but it's most always owin' to carelessness. There wasa cousin of that very lad Trevool who was buried with a comrade by thefalling in of a shaft and came out alive. I was there at the time andhelped to dig him out."
Captain Dan here stopped, and, sticking his candle against the wet wallof the mine, sat down on a piece of rock, while our hero stood besidehim. "You see," said he, "we were sinking a shaft, or rather reopeningan old one, at the time, and Harvey, that was the man's name, was downworking with a comrade. They came to a soft bit o' ground, an' as theycut through it they boarded it up with timbers across to prevent itslipping, but they did the work hastily. After they had cut down somefathoms below it, the boarding gave way, and down the whole thing went,boards, timbers, stones, and rubbish, on their heads. We made sure theywere dead, but set to, nevertheless, to dig them out as fast aspossible--turning as many hands to the work as could get at it. At lastwe came on them, and both were alive, and not very much hurt! Thetimbers and planks had fallen over them in such a way as to keep thestones and rubbish off. I had a talk with old Harvey the other day onthis very subject. He told me that he was squeezed flat against theside of the shaft by the rubbish which buried him, and that he did notlose consciousness for a moment. A large stone had stuck right abovehis head, and this probably saved him. He heard us digging down to him,he said, and when we got close he sang out to hold on, as the shovel wastouching him. Sure enough this was the case, for the next shovelful ofrubbish that was lifted revealed the top of his head! We cleared theway to his mouth as carefully as we could, and then gave him a drop ofbrandy before going on with the work of excavation. His comrade wasfound in a stooping position, and was more severely bruised than oldHarvey, but both of them lived to tell the tale of their burial, and tothank God for their deliverance. Yes," continued the captain, detachinghis candle from the wall and resuming his walk, "we have narrow escapessometimes.--Look here, doctor, did you ever see a rock like that?"
Captain Dan pointed to a place in the side of the rocky wall which wasgrooved and cut as if with a huge gouge or chisel, and highly polished."It was never cut by man in that fashion; we found it as you see it, andthere's many of 'em in the mine. We call 'em slinking slides."
"The marks must have been caused when the rocks were in a state ofpartial fusion," observed Oliver, examining the place with muchcuriosity.
"I don't know as to that, sir," said the captain, moving on, "but therethey are, and some of 'em polished to that extent you could almost seeyour face in 'em."
On turning the corner of a jutting rock a light suddenly appeared,revealing a pair of large eyes and a double row of teeth, as it weregleaming out of the darkness. On drawing nearer, this was discovered tobe a miner, whose candle was at some little distance, and only shone onhim partially.
"Well, Jack, what's doing?" asked the captain.
The man cast a disconsolate look on a large mass of rock which lay inthe middle of the path at his feet. He had been only too successful inhis last blasting, and had detached a mass so large that he could notmove it.
"It's too hard for to break, Captain Dan."
"Better get it into the truck," said the captain.
"Can't lift it, sur," said the man, who grudged to go through thetedious process of boring it for a second blast.
"You must get it out o' that, Jack, at all events. It won't do to letit lie there," said the captain, passing on, and leaving the miner toget out of his difficulty as best he might.
A few minutes more and they came on a "pare" of men (in other words, aband of two or more men working together) who were "stopeing-in the backof the level," as they termed the process of cutting upwards into theroof.
"There's a fellow in a curious place!" said Oliver, peering up throughan irregular hole, in which a man was seen at work standing on a planksupported by a ladder. He was chiselling with great vigour at the rockover his head, and immediately beyond him another man stood on a planksupported by a beam of timber, and busily engaged in a similaroccupation. Both men were stripped to the waist, and panted at theirtoil. The little chamber or cavern in which they worked was brilliantlyilluminated by their two candles, and their athletic figures stood out,dark and picturesque, against the light glistering walls.
"A curious place, and a singular man!
" observed the captain; "thatfellow's family is not a small one.--Hallo! James Martin."
"Hallo! Captain Dan," replied the miner, looking down.
"How many children have you had?"
"How many child'n say 'ee?"
"Ay, how many?"
"I've had nineteen, sur, an' there's eight of 'em alive. Seven of 'emcame in three year an six months, sur--three doubles an' a single, butthem uns are all gone dead, sur."
"How old are you, Jim?"
"Forty-seven, sur."
"Your brother Tom is at work here, isn't he?"
"Iss, in the south level, drivin' the end."
"How many children has Tom had, Jim?"
"Seventeen, sur, an' seven of 'em's alive; but Tom's only thirty-eightyears old, sur." [See note 1.]
"Good-morning, Jim."
"Good-morning, Captain Dan," replied the sturdy miner, resuming hiswork.
"Good specimens of men these," said the captain, with a quiet smile, toOliver. "Of course I don't mean to say that all the miners hereaboutsare possessed of such large families--nevertheless there are, as I daresay you have observed, a good many children in and about St. Just!"
Proceeding onward they diverged into a branch level, where a number ofmen were working overhead; boring holes into the roof and burrowingupwards. They all drove onwards through flinty rock by the same slowand toilsome process that has already been described--namely, bychipping with the pick, driving holes with the borer, and blasting withgunpowder.
As the Captain and Oliver traversed this part of the mine they hadoccasionally to squeeze past small iron trucks which stood below holesin the sides of the level, down which ever and anon masses of ore anddebris came from the workings above with a hard crashing noise. The orewas rich with tin, but the metal was invisible to any but trained eyes.To Oliver Trembath the whole stuff appeared like wet rubbish.
Suddenly a low muffled report echoed through the cavernous place. Itwas followed by five or six similar reports in succession.
"They are blasting," said Captain Dan.
As he spoke, the thick muddy shoes and brick-dust legs of a man appearedcoming down the hole that had previously discharged ore. The manhimself followed his legs, and, alighting thereon, saluted Captain Danwith a free-and-easy "Good-morning." Another man followed him; from adifferent part of the surrounding darkness a third made his appearance,and others came trooping in, until upwards of a dozen of them werecollected in the narrow tunnel, each with his tallow candle in his handor hat, so that the place was lighted brilliantly. They were all cladin loose, patched, and ragged clothes. All were of a uniform rusty-redcolour, each with his broad bosom bared, and perspiration trickling downhis besmeared countenance.
Here, however, the uniformity of their appearance ended, for they wereof all sizes and characters. Some were robust and muscular; some werelean and wiry; some were just entering on manhood, with the ruddy hue ofhealth shining through the slime on their smooth faces; some were in theprime of life, pale from long working underground, but strong, andalmost as hard as the iron with which they chiselled the rocks. Otherswere growing old, and an occasional cough told that the "miners'complaint" had begun its fatal undermining of the long-enduring,too-long-tried human body. There were one or two whose ironconstitutions had resisted the evil influences of wet garments, bad air,and chills, and who, with much of the strength of manhood, and some ofthe colour of youth, were still plying their hammers in old age. Butthese were rare specimens of vigour and longevity; not many such are tobe found in Botallack mine. The miner's working life is a short one,and comparatively few of those who begin it live to a healthy old age.Little boys were there, too, diminutive but sturdy urchins, miniaturecopies of their seniors, though somewhat dirtier; proud as peacocksbecause of being permitted at so early an age to accompany their fathersor brothers underground, and their bosoms swelling with that sternCornish spirit of determination to face and overcome great difficulties,which has doubtless much to do with the excessive development of chestand shoulder for which Cornish miners, especially those of St. Just, arecelebrated. [See note 2.]
It turned out that the men had all arranged to fire their holes at thesame hour, and assemble in a lower level to take lunch, or, as they termit, "kroust," while the smoke should clear away. This rendered itimpossible for the captain to take his young companion further into theworkings at that part of the mine, so they contented themselves with achat with the men. These sat down in a row, and, each man unrolling aparcel containing a pasty or a thick lump of cake with currants in it,commenced the demolition thereof with as much zeal as had previouslybeen displayed in the demolition of the rock. This frugal fare waswashed down with water drawn from little flat barrels or canteens, whilethey commented lightly, grumblingly, or laughingly, according totemperament, on the poor condition of the lode at which they wrought.We have already said that in mining, as in other things, fortunefluctuates, and it was "hard times" with the men of Botallack at thatperiod.
Before they had proceeded far with their meal, one of the pale-faced menbegan to cough.
"Smoke's a-coming down," he said.
"We shall 'ave to move, then," observed another.
The pouring in of gunpowder smoke here set two or three more a-coughing,and obliged them all to rise and seek for purer--perhaps it were betterto say less impure--air in another part of the level, where the draughtkept the smoke away. Here, squatting down on heaps of wet rubbish, andsticking their candles against the damp walls, they continued theirmeal, and here the captain and Oliver left them, retraced their steps tothe foot of the shaft, and began the ascent to the surface, or, inmining parlance, began to "return to grass."
Up, up, up--the process now was reversed, and the labour increasedtenfold. Up they went on these nearly perpendicular and interminableladders, slowly, for they had a long journey before them; cautiously,for Oliver had a tendency to butt his head against beams, and knock hiscandle out of shape; carefully, for the rounds of the ladders were wetand slimy and a slip of foot or hand might in a moment have precipitatedthem into the black gulf below; and pantingly, for strength of limb andlung could not altogether defy the influence of such a prolonged andupright climb.
If Oliver Trembath felt, while descending, as though he should _never_reach the bottom, he felt far more powerfully as if reaching the topwere an event of the distant future--all the more that the muscles ofhis arms and legs, unused to the peculiar process, were beginning tofeel rather stiff. This feeling, however, soon passed away, and when hebegan to grow warm to the work, his strength seemed to return and toincrease with each step--a species of revival of vigour in the midst ofhard toil with which probably all strong men are acquainted.
Up they went, ladder after ladder, squeezing through narrow places,rubbing against wet rocks and beams, scraping against the boarding ofthe kibble-shaft, and being scraped by the pump-rods until both of themwere as wet and red and dirty as any miner below.
As he advanced, Oliver began to take note of the places he had passed onthe way down, and so much had he seen and thought during his sojournunderground, that, when he reached the level where he first came uponthe noisy kibbles, and made acquaintance with the labouring pump-rod, healmost hailed the spot as an old familiar landmark of other days!
A circumstance occurred just then which surprised him not a little, andtended to fix this locality still more deeply on his memory. While hewas standing in the level, waiting until the captain should relight andtrim his much and oft bruised candle, the kibbles began their noisymotion. This was nothing new now, but at the same time the shout ofdistant voices was heard, as if the gnomes held revelry in their drearyvaults. They drew gradually nearer, and Oliver could distinguishlaughter mingled with the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.
"Foolish lads!" ejaculated Captain Dan with a smile, and an expressionthat proved he took some interest in the folly, whatever it might be.
"What is it?" inquired Oliver.
"They are r
acing to the kibble. Look and you shall see," replied theother.
Just then a man who had outrun his comrades appeared at the place wherethe level joined the shaft, just opposite. Almost at the same momentthe kibble appeared flying upwards. The miner leaped upon it, caughtand clung to the chain as it passed, and shouted a defiant adieu to hisless fortunate comrades, who arrived just in time to witness himdisappear upwards in this rapid manner "to grass."
"That's the way the young ones risk their lives," said the captain,shaking his head remonstratively; "if that young fellow had missed thekibble he would have been dashed to pieces at the bottom of the shaft."
Again Captain Dan said "Foolish lads," and shook his head so gravelythat Oliver could not help regarding him with the respect due to asedate, fatherly sort of man; but Oliver was young and unsophisticated,and did not know at the time that the captain had himself been noted inhis youth as an extremely reckless and daring fellow, and that aconsiderable spice of the daring remained in him still!
Diverging to the right at this point Captain Dan led Oliver to an oldpart of the mine, where there were a couple of men opening up andextending one of the old levels. Their progress here was very differentfrom what it had been. Evidently the former miners had not thought itworth their while to open up a wide passage for themselves, and Oliverfound it necessary to twist his broad shoulders into all sorts ofpositions to get them through.
The first level they came to in this part was not more than three feethigh at the entrance.
"A man can't hold his head very high here, sir," said his guide.
"Truly no, it is scarce high enough for my legs to walk in without anybody above them," said Oliver. "However, lead the way, and I willfollow."
The captain stooped and made his way through a winding passage where theroof was so low in many places that they were obliged to bend quitedouble, and the back and neck of the young doctor began to feel thestrain very severely. There were, however, a few spots where the roofrose a little, affording temporary relief. Presently they came to theplace where the men were at work. The ground was very soft here; themen were cutting through _soft_ granite!--a condition of the stone whichOliver confessed he had never expected to see. Here the lights burnedvery badly.
"What can be the matter with it?" said Oliver, stopping for the thirdtime to trim the wick of his candle.
Captain Dan smiled as he said, "You asked me, last night, to take youinto one of the levels where the air was bad--now here you are, with theair so bad that the candle will hardly burn. It will be worse beforenight."
"But I feel no disagreeable sensation," said Oliver. "Possibly not,because you are not quite so sensitive as the flame of a candle, but ifyou remain here a few hours it will tell upon you. Here are the men--you can ask them."
The two men were resting when they approached. One was old, the othermiddle-aged. Both were hearty fellows, and communicative. The old one,especially, was ruddy in complexion and pretty strong.
"You look well for an old miner," said Oliver; "what may be your age?"
"About sixty, sur."
"Indeed! you are a notable exception to the rule. How comes it that youlook so fresh?"
"Can't say, sur," replied the old man with a peculiar smile; "few minerslive to my time of life, much less do they go underground. P'raps it'sbecause I neither drink nor smoke. Tom there, now," he added, pointingto his comrade with his thumb, "he ain't forty yit, but he's so pale asa ghost; though he is strong 'nuff."
"And do you neither drink nor smoke, Tom?" inquired Oliver.
"Well, sur, I both smokes and drinks, but I do take 'em in moderation,"said Tom.
"Are you married?" asked Oliver, turning again to the old man.
"Iss, got a wife at hum, an' had six child'n."
"Don't you find this bad air tell on your health?" he continued.
"Iss, sur. After six or seven hours I do feel my head like to split,an' my stummik as if it wor on fire; but what can us do? we must live,you knaw."
Bidding these men goodbye, the captain and Oliver went down to anotherlevel, and then along a series of low galleries, in some of which theyhad to advance on their hands and knees, and in one of them,particularly, the accumulation of rubbish was so great, and the roof solow, that they could only force a passage through by wriggling along atfull length like snakes. Beyond this they found a miner and a littleboy at work; and here Captain Dan pointed out to his companion that thelodes of copper and tin were rich. Glittering particles on the wallsand drops of water hanging from points and crevices, with the green,purple, and yellow colours around, combined to give the place abrilliant metallic aspect.
"You'd better break off a piece of ore here," said Captain Dan.
Oliver took a chisel and hammer from the miner, and applying them to therock, spent five minutes in belabouring it with scarcely any result.
"If it were not that I fear to miss the chisel and hit my knuckles," hesaid, "I think I could work more effectively."
As he spoke he struck with all his force, and brought down a largepiece, a chip of which he carried away as a memorial of his undergroundramble.
"The man is going to fire the hole," said Captain Dan; "you'd betterwait and see it."
The hole was sunk nearly two feet deep diagonally behind a large mass ofrock that projected from the side of the level. It was charged withgunpowder, and filled up with "tamping" or pounded granite, Then theminer lighted the fuse and hastened away, giving the usual signal,"Fire!" The others followed him to a safe distance, and awaited theresult. In a few minutes there was a loud report, a bright blindingflash, and a concussion of the air which extinguished two of thecandles. Immediately a crash followed, as the heavy mass of rock wastorn from its bed and hurled to the ground.
"That's the way we raise tin and copper," said Captain Dan; "now,doctor, we had better return, if you would not be left in darkness, forour candles are getting low."
"Did you ever travel underground in the dark?" inquired Oliver.
"Not often, but I have done it occasionally. Once, in particular, Iwent down the main shaft in the dark, and gave a miner an awful fright.I had to go down in haste at the time, and, not having a candle at hand,besides being well acquainted with the way, I hurried down in the dark.It so chanced that a man named Sampy had got his light put out whenabout to ascend the shaft, and, as he also was well acquainted with theway, he did not take the trouble to relight. There was a good deal ofnoise in consequence of the pump being at work. When I had got abouthalf-way down I put my foot on something that felt soft. Instantlythere was uttered a tremendous yell, and my legs at the same moment wereseized by something from below. My heart almost jumped out of my mouthat this, but as the yell was repeated it flashed across me I must havetrod on some one's fingers, so I lifted my foot at once, and then avoice, which I knew to be that of Sampy, began to wail and lamentmiserably.
"`Hope I haven't hurt 'ee, Sampy?' said I.
"`Aw dear! aw dear! aw, my dear!' was all that poor Sampy could reply.
"`Let us go up, my son,' said I, `and we'll strike a light.'
"So up we went to the next level, where I got hold of the poor lad'scandle and lighted it.
"`Aw, my dear!' said Sampy, looking at his fingers with a ruefulcountenance; `thee have scat 'em all in jowds.'"
"Pray," interrupted Oliver, "what may be the meaning of `scat 'em all injowds'?
"Broke 'em all in pieces," replied Captain Dan; "but he was wrong, forno bones were broken, and the fingers were all right again in the courseof a few days. Sampy got a tremendous fright, however, and he was neverknown to travel underground without a light after that."
Continuing to retrace their steps, Captain Dan and Oliver made for themain shaft. On the way they came to another of those immense emptyspaces where a large lode had been worked away, and nothing left in thedark narrow void but the short beams which had supported the workingstages of the men. Here Oliver, looking down through a hole at hisfeet, saw s
everal men far below him. They were at work on the "end" inthree successive tiers--above each other's heads.
"You've seen two of these men before," said Captain Dan.
"Have I?"
"Yes, they are local preachers. The last time you saw the upper one,"said Captain Dan with a smile, "you were seated in the Wesleyan chapel,and he was in the pulpit dressed like a gentleman, and preaching aseloquently as if he had been educated at college and trained for theministry."
"I should like very much to go down and visit them," said Oliver.
"'Tis a difficult descent. There are no ladders. Will your head standstepping from beam to beam, and can you lower yourself by a chain?"
"I'll try," said Oliver.
Without more words Captain Dan left the platform on which they had beenwalking, and, descending through a hole, led his companion by the mostrugged way he had yet attempted. Sometimes they slid on their heelsdown places that Oliver would not have dreamed of attempting without aguide; at other times they stepped from beam to beam, with unknowndepths below them.
"Have a care here, sir," said the captain, pausing before a very steepplace. "I will go first and wait for you."
So saying, he seized a piece of old rusty chain that was fastened intothe rock, and swung himself down. Then, looking up, he called to Oliverto follow.
The young doctor did so, and, having cautiously lowered himself a fewyards, he reached a beam, where he found the captain holding up hiscandle, and regarding him with some anxiety. Captain Dan appeared as ifsuspended in mid-air. Opposite to him, in the distance, the two "localpreachers" were hard at work with hammer and chisel, while far below, aminer could be seen coming along the next level, and pushing an irontruck full of ore before him.
A few more steps and slides, and then a short ascent, and Oliver stoodbeside the man who had preached the previous Sunday. He worked withanother miner, and was red, ragged, and half-clad, like all the rest,and the perspiration was pouring over his face, which was streaked withslime. Very unlike was he at that time to the gentlemanly youth who hadheld forth from the pulpit. Oliver had a long chat with him, and foundthat he aspired to enter the ministry, and had already passed somesevere examinations. He was self-taught, having procured the loan ofbooks from his minister and some friends who were interested in him.His language and manners were those of a gentleman, yet he had had noadvantages beyond his fellows.
"My friend there, sir, also hopes to enter the ministry," said theminer, pointing, as he spoke, to a gap between the boards on which hestood.
Oliver looked down, and there beheld a stalwart young man, about acouple of yards under his feet, wielding a hammer with tremendousvigour. His light linen coat was open, displaying his bared andmuscular bosom.
"What! is _he_ a local preacher also?"
"He is, sir," said the miner, with a smile.
Oliver immediately descended to the stage below, and had a chat withthis man also, after which he left them at their work, wondering verymuch at the intelligence and learning displayed by them; for heremembered that in their sermons they had, without notes, withouthesitation, and without a grammatical error, entered into the mostsubtle metaphysical reasoning (rather too much of it indeed!), and hadpreached with impassioned (perhaps too impassioned) eloquence, quotingpoets and prose writers, ancient and modern, with the facility of goodscholars--while they urged men and women to repent and flee to Christ,with all the fervour of men thoroughly in earnest. On the other hand,he knew that their opportunities for self-education were not great, andthat they had to toil in the meantime for daily bread, at the rate ofabout 3 pounds a month!
Following Captain Dan, Oliver soon reached the ladder-way.
While slowly and in silence ascending the ladders; they heard a sound ofmusic above them.
"Men coming down to work, singing," said the captain, as they stood on across-beam to listen.
The sounds at first were very faint and inexpressibly sweet. By degreesthey became more distinct, and Oliver could distinguish several voicessinging in harmony, keeping time to the slow measured tread of theirdescending steps. There seemed a novelty, and yet a strangefamiliarity, in the strains as they were wafted softly down upon hisear, until they drew near, and the star-like candles of the minersbecame visible. Their manly voices then poured forth in full strengththe glorious psalm-tune called "French," which is usually sung inScotland to the beautiful psalm beginning, "I to the hills will liftmine eyes."
The men stopped abruptly on encountering their captain and the stranger.Exchanging a few words with the former, they stood aside on the beamsto let them pass. A little boy came last. His small limbs were asactive as those of his more stalwart comrades, and he exhibited no signsof fatigue. His treble voice, too, was heard high and tuneful among theothers as they continued their descent and resumed the psalm. The sweetstrains retired gradually, and faded in the depths below as they hadfirst stolen on the senses from above; and the pleasant memory of themstill remained with the young doctor when he emerged from the minethrough the hole at the head of the shaft, and stood once more in theblessed sunshine!
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Note 1. Reader, allow us to remark that this is a fact. Indeed, we maysay here, once for all, that all the _important_ statements andincidents in this tale are facts, or founded on facts, with considerablemodification, but without intentional exaggeration.
Note 2. It has been stated to us recently by a volunteer officer, thatat battalion parade, when companies were equalised in numbers, thecompanies formed by the men of St. Just required about four paces morespace to stand upon than the other volunteers. No one who visits a St.Just miner at his underground toil will require to ask the reason why.
Deep Down, a Tale of the Cornish Mines Page 8