To work went Maggot and Trevarrow and Zackey on their new pitch next day like true Britons. Indeed, we question whether true Britons of the ancient time ever did go to work with half the energy or perseverance2 of the men of the present day. Those men of old were mere3 grubbers on the surface. They knew nothing of deep levels under the ocean. However, to do them justice, they made wonderfully extensive tunnels in mother earth, with implements4 much inferior to those now in use.
But, be that as it may, our trio went to work “with a will.” Maggot was keen to get up as much of the rich mineral as possible during the month—knowing that he would not get the place next month on such good terms. Trevarrow, besides having no objections to make money when he could for its own sake, was anxious to have a little to spare to James Penrose, whose large family found it pinching work to subsist5 on the poor fellow’s allowance from the club. As to Zackey, he was ready for anything where Uncle Davy was leader. So these three resolved to work night and day. Maggot took his turn in the daytime and slept at night; Trevarrow slept in the daytime and worked at night; while the boy worked as long as he could at whatever time suited him best.
As they advanced on the lode6 it became larger and richer, and in a day or two it assumed such proportions as to throw the fortunate workers into a state of great excitement, and they tore out and blasted away the precious mineral like Titans.
One day, about kroust-time, having fired two holes, they came out of the “end” in which they wrought7 and sat down to lunch while the smoke was clearing away.
“’Tes a brave lode,” said Maggot.
“It is,” responded Trevarrow, taking a long draught8 of water from the canteen.
“What shall us do?” said Maggot; “go to grass to slaip, or slaip in the bal?”
“In the bal, if you do like it,” said Trevarrow.
So it was agreed that the men should sleep in the mine on boards, or on any dry part of the level, in order to save the time and energy lost in ascending10 and descending11 the long ladders, and thus make the most of their opportunity. It was further resolved that Zackey should be sent up for dry clothes, and bring them their meals regularly. Trevarrow did not forget to have his Bible brought to him, for he was too serious a man to shut his eyes to the danger of a sudden run of good fortune, and thought that the best way to guard against evil would be to devote nearly all his short periods of leisure time to the reading of “the Word.”
You may be sure that Maggot afterwards laughed at him for this, but he did not concern himself much about it at the time, because he was usually too hungry to talk at meal-times, and too sleepy to do so after work was over.
They were still busily discussing the matter of remaining in the mine all night, when they heard the kibble descending the shaft12, near the bottom of which they sat, and next moment a man came to the ground with considerable violence.
“Why, Frankey, is that thee, booy?” said Maggot, starting up to assist him.
“Aw dear, iss; I’m gone dead a’most! aw dear! aw dear!”
“Why, whatever brought ’ee here?” said Trevarrow.
“The kibble, sure,” replied the man, exhibiting his knuckles13, which were cut and bleeding a good deal. “I did come by the chain, anyhow.”
This was indeed true. Frankey, as his mates called him, was at that time the “lander” in charge of the kibbles at the surface. It was his duty to receive each kibble as it was drawn14 up to the mouth of the shaft full of ore, empty it, and send it down again. Several coils of chain passing round the large drum of a great horse-windlass, called by the miners a “whim,” was the means by which the kibbles were hoisted15 and lowered. The chain was so arranged that one kibble was lowered by it while the other was being drawn up. Frankey had emptied one of the kibbles, and had given the signal to the boy attending the horse to “lower away,” when he inadvertently stepped into the shaft. With ready presence of mind the man caught the chain and clung to it, but the boy, being prevented by a pile of rubbish from seeing what had occurred, eased him down, supposing him to be the kibble!
This “easing down” a great number of fathoms16 was by no means an easy process, as those know well who have seen a pair of kibbles go banging up and down a shaft. It was all that poor Frankey could do to keep his head from being smashed against rocks and beams; but, by energetic use of arms and legs, he did so, and reached the bottom of the shaft without further damage than a little skin rubbed off his knees and elbows, and a few cuts on his hands. The man thought so little of it, indeed, that he at once returned to grass by the ladder-way, to the unutterable surprise and no little consternation17 of the boy who had “eased him down.”
The air at the “end” of the level in which Maggot and Trevarrow worked was very bad, and, for some time past, men had been engaged in sinking a winze from the level above to connect the two, and send in a supply of fresh air by creating a new channel of circulation. This winze was almost completed, but one of the men employed at it had suddenly become unwell that day, and no other had been appointed to the work. As it was a matter of great importance to have fresh air, now that they had resolved to remain day and night in the mine for some time, Maggot and Trevarrow determined18 to complete the work, believing that one or two shots would do it. Accordingly, they mounted to the level above, and were lowered one at a time to the bottom of the unfinished winze by a windlass, which was turned by the man whose comrade had become unwell.
For nearly two hours they laboured diligently19, scarce taking time to wipe the perspiration20 from their heated brows. At the end of that time the hole was sufficiently21 deep to blast, so Maggot called out,—“Zackey, my son, fetch the fuse and powder.” The boy was quickly lowered with these materials, and then drawn up.
Meanwhile Maggot proceeded to charge the hole, and his comrade sat down to rest. He put in the powder and tamping23, and asked the other to hand him the tamping-bar.
“Zackey has forgot it,” said Trevarrow, looking round.
“It don’t matter; hand me the borer.”
“No, I won’t,” said Trevarrow decidedly, as he grasped the iron tool in question. “Ho! Zackey booy, throw down the tampin’-bar.”
This was done, and the operation of filling the hole continued, while Trevarrow commented somewhat severely24 on his companion’s recklessness.
“That’s just how the most o’ the reckless men in the bal do get blaw’d up,” he said; “they’re always picking away at the holes, and tamping with iron tools; why, thee might as well put a lighted match down the muzzle25 of a loaded gun as tamp22 with an iron borer.”
“Come, now,” said Maggot, looking up from his work with a leer, “it warn’t that as made old Kimber nearly blow hisself up last week.”
“No, but it was carelessness, anyhow,” retorted Trevarrow; “and lucky for him that he was a smart man, else he’d bin26 gone dead by this time.”
Maggot soon completed the filling of the hole, and then perpetrated as reckless a deed as any of his mining comrades had ever been guilty of. Trevarrow was preparing to ascend9 by the windlass, intending to leave his comrade to light the fuse and come up after him. Meanwhile Maggot found that the fuse was too long. He discovered this after it was fixed27 in the hole, and, unobserved by his companion, proceeded to cut it by means of an iron tool and a flat stone. Fire was struck at the last blow by the meeting of the iron and the stone, and the fuse ignited. To extinguish it was impossible; to cut it in the same way, without striking fire, was equally so. Of course there was plenty of time to ascend by the windlass, but only one at a time could do so. The men knew this, and looked at each other with terrible meaning in their eyes as they rushed at the bucket, and shouted to the man above to haul them up. He attempted to do so, but in vain. He had not strength to haul up two at once. One could escape, both could not, and to delay would be death to both. In this extremity28 David Trevarrow looked at his comrade, and said calmly,—“Escape, my brother; a minute more and I shall be in heaven.”
He stepped back while he spoke—the bucket went rapidly upwards29, and Trevarrow, sitting down in the bottom of the shaft, covered his eyes with a piece of rock and awaited the issue.
The rumbling30 explosion immediately followed, and the shaft was filled with smoke and flame and hurling31 stones. One of these latter, shooting upwards, struck and cut the ascending miner on his forehead as he looked down to observe the fate of his self-sacrificing comrade!
Maggot was saved, but he was of too bold and kindly32 a nature to remain for a moment inactive after the explosion was over. At once he descended33, and, groping about among the débris, soon found his friend—alive, and almost unhurt! A mass of rock had arched him over—or, rather, the hand of God, as if by miracle, had delivered the Christian34 miner.
After he was got up in safety to the level above they asked him why he had been so ready to give up his life to save his friend.
“Why,” said David quietly, “I did think upon his wife and the child’n, and little Grace seemed to say to me, ‘Take care o’ faither’—besides, there are none to weep if I was taken away, so the Lord gave me grace to do it.”
That night there were glad and grateful hearts in Maggot’s cottage—and never in this world was a more flat and emphatic35 contradiction given to any statement, than that which was given to David Trevarrow’s assertion—“There are none to weep if I was taken away.”
(A short but beautiful account of the above incident will be found in a little volume of poems, entitled Lays from the Mine, the Moor36, and the Mountain, written by John Harris, a Cornish miner.)
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1
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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subsist
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| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
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lode
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| n.矿脉 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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tamp
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| v.捣实，砸实 | |
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tamping
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| n.填塞物，捣紧v.捣固( tamp的现在分词 )；填充；（用炮泥）封炮眼口；夯实 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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