Many others as well as Maggot made money by the pilchards at that time. All round the coast of Cornwall millions of these little fish were taken, salted, and exported. No fewer than one thousand hogsheads were taken at St. Ives in the first three seine-nets cast into the sea. In Mounts Bay, Fowey Bay, Mevagissey, and other fishing grounds, immense quantities were caught, and the total catch of the county was little if at all short of thirty thousand hogsheads.
Among others, old Mr Donnithorne was so successful that his broken fortunes were almost re-established; and a small sum which our friend Oliver Trembath had ventured to invest in the fishing was more than quadrupled before the end of the year.
But this was not all. At the next Botallack account-dinner, Mr Cornish gladdened the hearts of the adventurers by telling them that the lodes which had been “promising2” for such a length of time had at last got the length of “performance,” and that he had now the pleasure of announcing a large dividend3, which he paid there and then.
A considerable share of this fell to old Mr Donnithorne, who, in the enthusiasm of the occasion, observed confidentially4 to Captain Dan that he was convinced “honesty was the best policy after all”—a sentiment which the captain heartily5 agreed with, although he failed to detect the precise connection between it and the old gentleman’s sudden influx6 of good fortune. But, then, the captain did not drink Botallack punch, while old Mr Donnithorne did, which may to some extent account for the difference in their powers of vision.
Captain Dan, however, possessed7 wonderful powers of vision in reference to the underground workings of Botallack, which were displayed to advantage—and to the great gratification of the shareholders8—when, at the request of Mr Cornish, he stood up and gave a detailed9 and graphic10 account of the prospects11 of the mine; telling them that the appearance of the lodes in several parts of the mine was very promising indeed, and that some ground was returning a rich harvest for the labour that had been bestowed12 on it; that in the 105, which was driving north by six men, they had taken down the copper14 for fourteen fathoms16 long, nearly the whole of which had turned out to be worth 100 pounds per fathom15; that a splice17 had been formed in the lode1 about two fathoms behind the present end, which had disordered it, but he was glad to say it was again improving, and was at that time about fifteen inches wide of rich copper, and, as far as he could judge, they were going through to the top part of the “bunch” of copper; that these facts, he thought, were very satisfactory, but that it was still more gratifying to know that the lode on the bottom of the 105 was far more valuable than that in the back; that in the “Crowns,” especially in the various levels under the sea, the lodes were not only “promising,” but performing great things, two men and a boy (he referred to Maggot, Trevarrow, and Zackey here) having broken an immense quantity of copper during the last quarter, which was paying splendidly.
At this point, Mr Grenfell, who sat on Mr Cornish’s right hand, exclaimed, “Hear! hear!” and a little bald-headed man, with a red nose and blue spectacles, near the foot of the table, echoed “Hear!” with genuine enthusiasm (for he had been bordering on bankruptcy18 for some months past), and swigged off a full glass of punch without winking19.
Thus encouraged, Captain Dan went on to remark that there were six men driving in Wheal Hazzard (which statement caused a “stranger” who chanced to be at the dinner to observe, in an undertone, that he was not aware they had horses or vehicles of any kind in the mines!), that one cross-cut was also being driven, and three winzes were sinking, and one rise—several of which were opening up tin of first-rate quality, while in the Narrow shaft20, Chicornish, Higher Mine, and Wheal Cock, a great deal to the same effect was being done—all of which we leave to the imagination of the reader, merely remarking that however incomprehensible these things may appear to him (or her), they created feelings of profound joy in the assembled guests, especially in the breast of the almost bankrupt one with the bald, red, and blue headpiece.
Mr Cornish afterwards congratulated the adventurers on the success of the mine, and the splendid prospects which were opening up to them—prospects which, he had no doubt, would be fully21 realised ere long. He referred also to the condition of the miners of the neighbourhood, and alluded22 to the fact that the neighbouring mines, Wheal Owles and Levant, were also in a flourishing condition; a matter, he said, for which they had reason to be profoundly thankful, for the distress23 in the district had been severe and prolonged. The manager’s voice deepened at this point, and he spoke24 with pathos25, for he had a kindly26 heart, and his thoughts were at the moment with many a poor miner, in whose little cottages the effects of gaunt poverty could be traced in scanty27 furniture, meagre fare, and careworn28 brows. He remembered, too, that only the week before he had seen poor blind John Batten carried to his grave, and had heard the sobs29 of the bereaved30 widow, as she attempted to tell him how the brave man had forgotten himself to the very last, when he put his wasted hand on her head, and said, “I’m goin’ to leave thee, Mary, for a time; but cheer up, dear lass, I’ll be with Jesus soon, an’ have my sight restored, and look wance more ’pon the faces of the dear boys, an’ ’pon your own sweet face too, dear lass, when we meet again in heaven.”
There was one of the miners and shareholders of Botallack who did not die, but who lived to enjoy the fruit of his labour and the sunshine of prosperity. James Penrose recovered—not only his health, but also, in some degree, his sight. One of his eyes had indeed been entirely32 destroyed by the explosion which had so nearly killed him, but the other was partially33 restored. A long period elapsed, however, ere he was able to go about. Then he found his circumstances so much improved that it was not necessary to resume work underground. Botallack, in which all his savings34 had been invested, continued steadily35 to improve, and from the income derived36 from this source alone he was enabled to live without labouring. But Penrose was not the man to sit down in idleness. Wesley never had a more earnest follower37 than this miner of St. Just. Thenceforth he devoted39 himself to preaching, teaching, and doing good as his hand found opportunity, and, being an active man as well as conscientious40, he laboured to the end of his days in the service of his Lord more energetically than he had ever toiled41 in the mines.
Penrose and David Trevarrow had always been staunch friends. After the accident to the former, they became more closely united than before. Trevarrow did not give up underground work; he possessed no shares in any of the mines, but, in common with the rest of the mining community, he benefited by the sunshine of prosperity that became so bright at that period, and found leisure, when above ground, to join his friend in his labours of love.
They both agreed to make an earnest effort to convince Maggot and John Cock of the error of their ways—with what amount of success it is not easy to state, for these worthies42 were made of stubborn metal, that required a furnace of unusually fierce heat to melt it. However, we are warranted in concluding that some good was done, from the fact that both of them gave up smuggling43, and, in various other ways, showed indication of an improved state of mind. Maggot especially gave a signal and unexpected proof of a softened44 spirit, when, one Sunday morning, as he was getting ready for chapel45, he said to his wife that it was “high time to send that little chucklehead the baby to Sunday school, for he was no better than a small heathen!” The “baby,” be it observed, was about six years old at the time when this speech was made, and his protégé the “chet” was a great-grandmother, with innumerable chets of her own. It is right to add that, in accordance with this opinion of his father, the baby was carried off to school that very morning by Zackey and Grace, the first having grown to be a strapping46 youth, and the other a lovely girl, for whose sake there were scores of young miners in St. Just who would gladly have walked ten miles on their bare knees, or dived head foremost into Wheal Hazzard shaft, or jumped over the cliffs into Zawn Buzzangein, or done any other insane act or desperate deed, if, by so doing, they could have caused one thrill of pleasure to pass through her dear little heart!
It is not necessary, we should think, to say that in the midst of so much sunshine Oliver Trembath and Rose Ellis thought it advisable to “make hay.” Old Mr Donnithorne and his excellent wife (of whose goodness and wisdom, by the way, he became more and more convinced every day of his life) saw no objection whatever to this hay-making—so the young couple were wed13 at the Wesleyan Chapel of St. Just—Charlie Tregarthen, of course, being groomsman—and the only vehicle in the town was hired to drive them over to Penberth Cove31 and bliss47!
As to George Augustus Clearemout, Esquire—that able managing director, despite his ducking at St. Just, continued to fill his chair and to fulfil his destiny in the airy little street in London, where, for many years, he represented Wheal Dooem, and “did” a too confiding48 public. In this work he was ably assisted by Secretary Jack49 Muddle50, who became quite celebrated51 as a clear expounder52 and explainer of veins53, lodes, ores, cross-cuts, shafts54, levels, winzes, minerals, metals, and mines—insomuch that he was regarded by many of the confiding public who frequented his office as a more thoroughly55 learned and scientific man than George Augustus himself. It is interesting, how ever, to have to record the curious fact that the too confiding public changed their opinion at last on this head, and came to regard Secretary Jack as a humbug56, and the managing director as a scoundrel. Unfortunately this change of opinion did not take place until the whole of the too confiding public (the T.C.P., as Clearemout styled them) had lost large sums of money, and a few of them become bankrupt. When affairs had reached this crisis, one of the T.C.P.—an irascible old gentleman, whose fiery57 nature seemed to have singed58 all the hair off his head, leaving it completely bald—went down to Cornwall in a passion to sift59 the thing for himself. There he found the Great Wheal Dooem pump-engine going full swing, day and night, under the superintendence of one man, while the vast works underground (on which depended the “enormous” dividends60 promised to and expected by the T.C.P.) were carried on by another man and a boy. On making this discovery the fiery old gentleman with the denuded61 head left Cornwall—still in a passion—and exploded in the face of a meeting of the members of the T.C.P., who immediately exploded in each other’s faces, and appointed an indignation committee to go and explode, with unexampled fury, in the faces of the managing director and Secretary Jack. But these knowing gentlemen, being aware that the explosion was coming, had wisely betaken themselves to the retirement62 and seclusion63 of the Continent.
Without troubling the reader with further particulars, we may say, in conclusion, that the result was the stoppage of Wheal Dooem mining operations, and the summary dismissal of the two men and the boy. At the present day the ruins of that great concern may be seen standing64 on the wild sea-cliffs of west Cornwall, solitary65, gaunt, and grey, with the iron “bob” of the pump-engine motionless and pointing up obliquely66 to the sky, as if the giant arm of the mine were upraised to protest for ever against the villainy and the too confiding folly67 that had left it standing there—a monument of wasted and misdirected energy—a caution to all speculators—a deserted68 mine—in the language of miners, a “knacked bal.”
There are many such “knacked bals” in Cornwall, with their iron “bobs”—horizontal, depressed69, or raised aloft, according to the attitude in which they expired—holding forth38 similar firm, silent, and perpetual protests and cautions. Many Wheal Dooems (which having accomplished70 their ends may now be termed Wheal Donems) are to be seen all over the country on gorse-clad hills and on bold headlands; but, alongside of these, may be seen their venerable ancestors, still alive and working; subject, indeed, at times, to fits of depression, when, as their indomitable and unconquerable managers will tell you, “the price of tin is low,” and subject also to seasons of revival71, when they are getting a “little better price for tin,” but still working on with untiring persistency72 whether the price of tin be high or low.
Chief among these, our chosen type, Botallack, may be seen bristling73 on the grey cliffs of the “far west” with the Atlantic winds and spray revelling74 amongst its machinery75, and the thunder of its stamps giving constant token that hundreds of stout-hearted, strong-limbed Cornishmen are still hewing76 out tin and copper from its gloomy depths, as they did in days gone by, and as they will, doubtless, continue to do in time to come—steadily, sternly, manfully doing their work of sinking and extending the mine deeper down under the sod and further out under the sea.
The End.
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1
lode
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| n.矿脉 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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dividend
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| n.红利，股息；回报，效益 | |
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confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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influx
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| n.流入，注入 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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shareholders
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| n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 ) | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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splice
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| v.接合，衔接；n.胶接处，粘接处 | |
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bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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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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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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careworn
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| adj.疲倦的，饱经忧患的 | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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bereaved
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| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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worthies
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| 应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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smuggling
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| n.走私 | |
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44
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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45
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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46
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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47
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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49
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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50
muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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51
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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expounder
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| 陈述者，说明者 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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humbug
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| n.花招，谎话，欺骗 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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singed
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| v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿] | |
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sift
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| v.筛撒，纷落，详察 | |
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dividends
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| 红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金 | |
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denuded
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| adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物 | |
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retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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revelling
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| v.作乐( revel的现在分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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hewing
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| v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的现在分词 )；砍成；劈出；开辟 | |
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