George Manville Fenn

“ He climbed on, the others following him; and he called to the dog again, but there was still no reply.
“Are you clear of the water?” he cried.
“Yes, sir, four foot above it,” said Hardock, who came last, “but it’s rising fast.”
“I say,” cried Gwyn, wildly, “is there a way out here?”
“Nay, sir, this is only a blind lead. What is it up where you are?”
“Like a flattened-out hole with the rock all covered with tiny crystals. There must be a way up to the surface here; don’t you feel how the wind comes by us?”
“Yes; my light flickers, but it burns dull,” said Joe. ”

“ Dinass, after running up the boat by the help of a couple of the men who had strolled down to see, was hurrying to pass the boys and wade out with an oar over his shoulder behind the line of corks, ready to splash and beat the water should there, by any chance, be a shoal of mullet within—no unlikely event, for these fish swam up with the tide to feed upon the scraps and odds and ends which came from the village down the little streamlet. And often enough their habit was, when enclosed, to play follow-my-leader, and leap the cork line and get out again to sea. ”

“ The men raised a frantic cheer of delight, which jarred terribly on the two boys in their anxious state, though all the same they could not help feeling satisfied at seeing Dinass prostrated and lying helpless with the miner’s foot upon his chest.
“Let him get up,” said Gwyn; “we’d sooner go alone than with him; but if you’ll come with us I should be glad.”
“I’d come with you, sir, or any on us would—”
“Ay, ay,” chorused the men.
“But we feel, as miners, that when a man’s got his dooty to do, he must do it. So Master Tom Dinass here must go by fair means or foul.” ”

“ It was a bright scene that summer’s evening, when the sea was empurpled by the reflections of the gorgeous western sky, the smoke from the smelting-house looking like a golden feather.
But neither Gwyn nor Joe had eyes for the beauties of Nature which surrounded the nook where their fathers had made their home, for the excitement of the seine drawing was gaining in intensity. ”

“ Joe was muttering in his sleep when Gwyn reached his side, but for a time his words were unintelligible. Then quite plainly he said,—
“Be good for you, father. The mine will give you something to do, and then you won’t have time to think so much of your old wounds.”
“And if he has got out safely and they never find us, this will be like a new wound for the poor old Major to think about,” mused Gwyn. “How dreadful it is, and how helpless we seem! It’s always the same; gallery after gallery, just alike, and that’s why it’s so puzzling. ”

“ Who are you?”
“Never you mind who I am,” growled Dinass, “I aren’t going to chuck away my life, and so I tell you.”
“Who wants you to chuck away your life? Go on down, like a man,” said the engineer.
“You go yourself; I’ll take care of the engines,” cried Dinass.
“That will do,” said Gwyn, quietly. “Let us have candles, please, quick.”
“Oh, you’re not going down alone, young gen’lemen,” said the man at the doorway who had spoken the most. “Some on us’ll go with you if he won’t, but the guv’nors made him second like to Master Hardock, and he ought to go, and he will, too, or we’ll make him.” ”

“ It was Gwyn’s turn to cry “Ah!” now, in the relief he felt; and for a few minutes he lay listening to the peculiar rustling noise beyond him, unable to stir. But he was brought to himself by a kick on the crown of his head, and began to back away from his companion’s feet as fast as he could, getting out at last to find Sam Hardock kneeling by the hole, lanthorn in hand, looking utterly despondent.
“It’s no good, my lad,” he said, with a groan. “What’s the use o’ punishing yourself in this way? You ought to know when you’re beat.” ”

“ To use a familiar expression, Joe’s heart felt as if it were in his mouth, and he trembled with apprehension, dreading lest the rope should come untwisted or the hemp give way, the result of either of these accidents being that Gwyn must fall headlong on to the sea-washed rocks below. Consequently, Joe’s eyes were constantly turning from the ascending figure to the rough pad over which the rope glided, and back again, while his heart kept on beating with a slow, heavy throb which was almost suffocating. ”

“ Joe started at once, for he felt, as if he must obey, but before they had gone a hundred yards the water had risen to Gwyn’s waist.
“Back again,” he said; “it gets deeper and deeper.”
“Then it’s all over with us, gen’lemen,” said Hardock. “Tom Dinass has got his revenge against us, and it’s time to begin saying our prayers.”
“Time to begin saying our prayers!” cried Gwyn, angrily. “I’ve been saying mine ever since we knew the worst. It’s time we began to work, and try our best to save our lives. Now, Joe, on again the other way, and take the first turning off to the left.” ”

“ Save yourself.”
“You get up,” cried Gwyn; and stooping down, he caught one of his companion’s arms, dragged at it with a heavy jerk, and found that he had miscalculated his strength, for he sank upon his knees, felt as if the lanthorn was gliding round him, and then subsided close by where Joe lay, while just then the dog gave a furious tug at the leash, freed itself, and dashed off into the darkness, barking apparently with delight. ”

“ There was no wonder felt now that those who had gone down first should have lost themselves.
“Wonder to me is, Mr Gwyn,” said Hardock one day, “that we any on us come up again alive.”
So they kept on exploring, and, well furnished with lights, the lads found the great hall with its pillars of quartz veined with tin, and strange passages going in different directions, far less horrible now. There was the gallery which dipped down too, one which they found their way to now from both ends. ”

“ I say, Gwyn, I believe I did that man an injustice.”
“What man an injustice?” said Gwyn, who was pretending to tie the dog’s long silky ears in a knot across his eyes.
“Tom Dinass.”
The dog bounded from where he stood on his hind-legs resting on his master’s knees, and burst into a furious fit of barking.
“Hark at him!” cried Gwyn. “Talk about dogs being intelligent animals? It’s wonderful. He never liked the fellow. Hi! Tom Dinass there. Did he break your legs, Grip?”
The dog barked furiously, and ended with a savage growl.
“Just like we are,” said Gwyn, “like some people, and hate others. ”

“ If you put your head over the edge of the rock there, it’s fit to blow you away, and it smells horribly. But can’t you get any farther up?”
“No, not a foot. Go up and try yourself.”
“No,” said Joe, slowly. “A bit ago I felt as if I could do anything to get out of this horrible place; but now I’m fagged, like Sam Hardock there, and don’t seem to mind much about it, except when I think of father.”
“Don’t talk like that,” cried Gwyn, passionately, “I can’t bear it. Here, we must do something; it’s so cowardly to lie down and die without trying to get out. ”

“ He said no more, but leaned his arm against the side and rested his head upon it.
“Oh, come, that won’t do, Sam,” cried Gwyn; “we must help one another.”
“Yes, sir, of course; but wouldn’t one of you two young gents like to take the lead? You, Mr Joe Jollivet—you haven’t had a turn, and you’ve got two lights.”
“What’s the use of me trying to lead?” said Joe, bitterly, “I feel as helpless as you do—just as if I could sit down and cry like a great girl.”
“Needn’t do that, Jolly,” said Gwyn, bitterly; “there’s salt water enough here. I’m sure it’s three inches deeper than it was. Hark!” ”

“ Up he went skilfully enough, but before he was at the top, Grip uttered a few sharp barks, raised his ears, became excited, and jumped at the monolith, to scramble up a few feet, drop, and, learning no wisdom from failure, scramble up again and again, and fall back.
Then, as he saw his master reach the top, he threw back his head, opened his jaws, and uttered a most doleful, long-drawn howl, as full of misery and disappointment as a dog could give vent to.
“Quiet, will you!” cried Gwyn, and the dog answered with a sharp bark, to which he added another dismal, long-drawn howl. ”

“ Some o’ the mines aren’t paying, and some on ’em’s not working at all. Ydoll’s in full fettle, and you want more men. Ask the guv’nors to take me on again, sir.”
“Yes, do, Gwyn,” said Joe. “It must be very hard for a man to want work, and find that no one will give him a job.”
“Hard, sir? That aren’t the word for it. Makes a man feel as if he’d like to jump off the cliff, so as to be out of his misery. Do ask ’em, sir, and I’ll never forget it. ”

“ Why, there must be eight or ten foot o’ water in the shaft.”
“Then are we lost?” cried Joe.
“A fellow’s never lost as long as he can make a fight for it,” said Gwyn, sharply. “Now, then, Sam, what’s to be done—go back?”
“Yes, sir, fast as we can, and make for the highest part of the mine.”
“Where is that?”
“The water will show us,” said Hardock. “I pray it may only be a bit of an underground pool burst to flood us; and they’ll pump and master it before it does us any harm.”
“No, no,” groaned Joe; “we’ve heard it beating overhead before, and the sea has burst in. We’re lost—we’re lost!” ”

“ I did think you had more pluck in you, Joe.”
“That’s what I thought about you, Ydoll.”
“So did I,” said Gwyn, frankly; “and all the time I’m as great a coward as you are. I say, though, doesn’t it show a fellow up when he gets into trouble? Can’t show me up in the dark, though, can it?”
“Oh, I don’t know; I only know I feel horribly miserable. Let’s go to sleep and forget it all.”
“Sha’n’t,” shouted Gwyn, making an effort over himself. “I won’t be such a jolly miserable coward, and you sha’n’t neither. We’ll do something.” ”

“ Here, I know—we must strike a light from the rock with the backs of our knives.”
“What for?” said Gwyn, bitterly. “Where are the tinder and matches?”
Joe uttered a sigh, and they both relapsed into silence once more.
“What are we to do?” said Joe, at last. “It is horrible, horrible to be in this black darkness. Say something, Ydoll—we can’t lie down here and die.”
“We can’t go on in the black darkness,” said Gwyn, bitterly. ”

“ Joe slept heavily, and the lad looked at him enviously.
“I couldn’t sleep so peaceably as that,” he said half aloud. “How can a fellow sleep when he doesn’t know but what his father may be dying close by from starvation and weakness. It seems too bad.”
Gwyn opened the lanthorn and found that the candle was half burned down, and for a moment he thought of setting up another in its place, for fear he should go to sleep and it should burn out.
“Be such a pity,” he said, “we don’t want light while we’re asleep; only to wake up here in this horrible place is enough to drive anybody mad.” ”

“ Grip! Grip!” shouted Gwyn; and then, after waiting, he made his companions’ hearts beat by crying back to them loudly, “I don’t care, there is a way out here.”
“Can’t be, sir.”
“But Grip has gone through.”
“Nay, sir, he’s wedged himself up, and he’s dead, as we shall soon be.”
“Oh, Joe, Joe!” roared Gwyn, passionately; “kick out behind at that miserable, croaking old woman. There is a way out, for I can feel the hot air rushing up by me.”
“Ah!” groaned Hardock, “it’s very well for you young gents up there; but I’m at the bottom, and the water’s creeping up after me. ”