Maggot’s home was a disordered one when he reached it, for his youngest baby, a fat little boy, had been seized with convulsions, and his wife and little daughter Grace, and son Zackey, and brother-in-law David Trevarrow, besides his next neighbour Mrs Penrose, with her sixteen children, were all in the room, doing their best by means of useless or hurtful applications, equally useless advice, and intolerable noise and confusion, to cure, if not to kill, the baby.
Maggot’s cottage was a poor one, his furniture was mean, and there was not much of it; nevertheless its inmates1 were proud of it, for they lived in comparative comfort there. Mrs Maggot was a kind-hearted, active woman, and her husband—despite his smuggling2 propensities—was an affectionate father. Usually the cottage was kept in a most orderly condition; but on the present occasion it was, as we have said, in a state of great confusion.
“Fetch me a bit of rag, Grace,” cried Mrs Maggot, just as her husband entered.
“Here’s a bit, old ’ooman,” said Maggot, handing her the linen3 cloth in which the jewels had been wrapped up, and which he had unconsciously retained in his hands on quitting Mr Donnithorne— “Run, my dear man,” he added, turning to John Cock, “an’ fetch the noo doctor.”
John darted4 away, and in a quarter of an hour returned with Oliver Trembath, who found that the baby had weathered the storm by the force of its own constitution, despite the adverse5 influences that were around it. He therefore contented6 himself with clearing the place of intruders, and prescribing some simple medicine.
“Are you going to work?” inquired Oliver of David Trevarrow, observing that the man was about to quit the cottage.
“Iss, sur—to Botallack.”
“Then I will accompany you. Captain Dan is going to show me over part of the mine to-day. Good-morning, Mrs Maggot, and remember my directions if this should happen to the little fellow again.”
Leaving the cottage the two proceeded through the town to the north end of it, accompanied by Maggot, who said he was going to the forge to do a bit of work, and who parted from them at the outskirts7 of the town.
“Times are bad with you at the mines just now, I find,” said Oliver as they walked along.
“Iss sur, they are,” replied Trevarrow, in the quiet tone that was peculiar8 to him; “but, thank God, we do manage to live, though there are some of us with a lot o’ child’n as finds it hard work. The Bal (The mine) ain’t so good as she once was.”
“I suppose that you have frequent changes of fortune?” said Oliver.
The miner admitted that this was the case, for that sometimes a man worked underground for several weeks without getting enough to keep his family, while at other times he might come on a bunch of copper9 or tin which would enable him to clear 50 pounds or more in a month.
“If report says truly,” observed Oliver, “you have hit upon a ‘keenly lode10,’ as you call it, not many days ago.”
“A do look very well now, sur,” replied the miner, “but wan11 can never tell. I did work for weeks in the level under the say without success, so I guv it up an went to Wheal Hazard, and on the back o’ the fifty-fathom level I did strike ’pon a small lode of tin ’bout so thick as my finger. It may get better, or it may take the bit in its teeth and disappear; we cannot tell.”
“Well, I wish you good luck,” said Oliver; “and here comes Captain Dan, so I’ll bid you good-morning.”
“Good-morning, sur,” said the stout-limbed and stout-hearted man, with a smile and a nod, as he turned off towards the moor-house to put on his mining garments.
Towards this house a number of men had been converging12 while Oliver and his companion approached it, and the former observed, that whatever colour the men might be on entering it, they invariably came out light red, like lobsters13 emerging from a boiling pot.
In Botallack mine a large quantity of iron is mingled14 with the tin ore. This colours everything in and around the mine, including men’s clothes, hands, and faces, with a light rusty-red. The streams, of course, are also coloured with it, and the various pits and ponds for collecting the fluid mud of tin ore seem as if filled with that nauseous compound known by the name of “Gregory’s Mixture.”
In the moor-house there were rows of pegs15 with red garments hung thereon to dry, and there were numerous broad-shouldered men dressing16 and undressing—in every stage of the process; while in a corner two or three were washing their bodies in a tank of water. These last were men who had been at work all night, and were cleansing17 themselves before putting on what we may term their home-going clothes.
The mining dress is a very simple, and often a very ragged18 affair. It consists of a flannel19 shirt, a pair of linen trousers, a short coat of the same, and a hat in the form of a stiff wide-awake, but made so thick as to serve the purpose of a helmet to guard the head from the rocks, etcetera. Clumsy ankle-boots complete the costume. As each man issued from the house, he went to a group of wooden chests which lay scattered20 about outside, and, opening his own, took from it a bag of powder, some blasting fuse, several iron tools, which he tied to a rope so as to be slung21 over his shoulder, a small wooden canteen of water, and a bunch of tallow candles. These last he fastened to a button on his breast, having previously22 affixed23 one of them to the front of his hat.
Thus accoutred, they proceeded to a small platform close at hand, with a square hole in it, out of which protruded24 the head of a ladder. This was the “ladder road.” Through the hole these red men descended25 one by one, chatting and laughing as they went, and disappeared, leaving the moor-house and all around it a place of solitude27.
Captain Dan now prepared to descend26 this ladder road with Oliver Trembath.
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1
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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2
smuggling
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| n.走私 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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7
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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8
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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9
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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10
lode
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| n.矿脉 | |
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11
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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12
converging
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| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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13
lobsters
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| 龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉 | |
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14
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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15
pegs
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| n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平 | |
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16
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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17
cleansing
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| n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词 | |
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18
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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21
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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22
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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23
affixed
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| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
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24
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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26
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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27
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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