Читать книгу In the Wake of fortune - Ivan Dexter - Страница 7

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It has already been stated that when Edward Trenoweth took charge of the mine he at once introduced an improved system of working. By deeper sinking he felt justified in believing that he would be able to follow the rich lode further seawards with perfect safety.

In years gone by drives had been put in westward as far as it was deemed prudent, but a large portion of the lode which was the richest in the mine had to be left unworked through fear of the sea breaking through.

When, therefore, Trenoweth put the western shaft down a hundred feet and made a survey, he calculated that he could drive a long distance under the Cove without fear of a burst. This he set to work to do with energy, and his enterprise was soon rewarded.

He bared a considerable portion of the lode and the returns it gave were richer than the oldest miner in the Wheal Merlin could remember.

In fact, it almost seemed as if fortune were about to smile once again upon the Trenoweth family, and Edward felt proud to think that ere long he would be in a position to offer Inez a home worthy of the girl he idolized.

It should be said that these two young people, growing up together, had come to love each other, and the villagers regarded it as a matter of course that some day they would marry. The choice for either Edward or Inez in such a place as St. Columb's Cove, was, it is almost needless to say, extremely limited, and to some extent this fact may account for the mutual affection which had grown up between them.

As the lode turned out so well Edward put as many men to work as could do so conveniently, and the drives were soon considerably extended. As the upper workings approached the sea they were abandoned and all the operations were confined to the lowest level.

Month after month successful work was expended on this drive, and it so well rewarded the owner that the almost extinct hamlet of St. Columb began to prosper.

A mild sort of boom had set in, and it only needed a few colonial "syndicators" and speculators to have established a fleeting city in the venerable place.

In 1869 the prosperity of the mine was at its height, and the Trenoweth family were considered to be on the high road to wealth.

In November of that year Edward made a survey of the lower western drive, and he calculated that it extended fully one hundred yards under the Cove.

His intention was to continue the workings to the outer edge of the Cove and then discontinue.

Prudence dictated to him that once the open ocean was reached it would not be safe to drive, although the level might be far below the sea bottom. He knew the Cove sufficiently to understand that the ceaseless beating of the Atlantic rollers on the iron-bound coast could not fail, after ages of effort, to honeycomb the cliffs.

In places where soft strata existed fissures would thus be worn to a great depth, and to drive in such a place would be to invite disaster.

Inside the Cove the case was, of course, different. Sheltered from the fury and force of the eroding waves the weight of the water above the drive was the main point to be considered.

At least that was the view which Edward Trenoweth took, and it was one which would be shared by most experts.

As Christmas time approached Trenoweth decided to celebrate the merry festival in a way worthy of his name.

He had reason to bless the fast dying year, for wealth and happiness had placed their benediction on him since the previous Christmas.

Inez Jasper promised to be his wife, and the Wheal Merlin had given up some of its buried treasure to him.

He was happy and he desired that the good villagers should share his joy in some measure.

On the 20th of December Morris Jones, the underground boss—as the position is colonially termed—met Edward near the main shaft, and spoke to him——

"There is a good deal of water coming up from the bottom of the west drive, sir, near the end."

"From the bottom?" Edward queried in surprise.

"Yes, sir."

"I will go down and have a look at it. You must have struck a spring, surely?"

"It is a spring of salt water, then, sir," Jones replied.

Without further conversation the two men went below, and thence along the western drive.

About four feet from the face Trenoweth sure enough saw a small spring of water bubbling up from the floor of the drive. With the aid of the flickering lights he made a careful examination of the drive in the vicinity, but there was nothing to cause alarm. The roof of the drive was remarkably dry, and it was there that Edward looked for danger.

The men working at the face seemed a bit uneasy at first, but after Trenoweth's examination and his emphatic statement that there was no danger to be apprehended they were reassured.

As he turned to go back Edward stooped to examine the strange, bubbling spray.

It did not seem to be increasing in flow and the force was not considerable, so, concluding that it was only the outlet of a small natural cistern he went back again to the surface.

About noon on the 23rd of December the Trenoweths saw Jones coming to the house, where he had been during the morning assisting in the preparations for the Christmas festivities.

Inez Jasper was with him, and Edward looked the picture of radiant happiness as he came out to meet the foreman.

"What's the matter now, Morris?" he asked.

"Well, sir, the men in the west are beginning to get afeared. They say there is danger ahead. The night shift told me this morning that they heard queer noises, and that fool, Jack Pengelly, swears he saw strange figures standing at the entrance of the west drive and pointing down it."

"Of course," laughed Trenoweth, "we mustn't blame the poor fellow for that. Such superstition has been born in him. But if you think there is any danger," he continued, anxiously, "we must bring the men up at once."

"I don't know what to make of it, sir," replied Jones. "Sometimes I think there is no danger, and then again I don't feel sure of it. That spring is still running, and stronger than before—but it is not that I am afraid of it. There is occasionally a queer ring in the face of the drive near the lode and if left alone for a few minutes small pieces scale off without apparent cause. It is also getting much wetter; and, in fact, the whole face is weeping," (mining term for oozing).

"I will go back with you and see for myself," answered Trenoweth, curtly.

He went back into the house and acquainted Inez of his intention.

She made a slight demur at first, but finding he was resolved she poutingly asked him not to be long. She returned his kiss, and he rejoined Jones.

"What danger do you think there could be, Jones, in the position the drive now is?" he asked as they walked towards the shaft.

"I cannot say, Sir, unless there is some fissure in the Cove," was the reply.

"If that were so the water would most likely come from the top and not from the floor of the drive. We must be fully one hundred and fifty yards from the ocean, and from the soundings taken in the Cove our drive is more than one hundred feet below the basin," Trenoweth answered.

"Yes, sir; but you know this is a treacherous place, and one cannot say what may happen. Everything may be right and safe, but the men seem anxious, and I would like them to see you and have your opinion," Jones replied.

"They will not have long to wait for that, at any rate," laughed Trenoweth, who was in excellent spirits. "But," glancing down at his holiday clothes, "I must change these."

He went over to the engine-house and in a few minutes returned attired in the orthodox miner's costume, and then the two men went below.

Making their way to the end of the drive Trenoweth found the party of miners were grouped idly about, waiting for him.

They were looking keenly at the face of the drive, which since Trenoweth's visit of a couple of days previously had undergone quite a change.

At that time it was remarkably dry and hard, but now the water was exuding from it and carrying down large flakes of the soft rock.

The spring which had broken out on the floor of the drive was still there, but the flow of water from it was much stronger. It bubbled up fully six inches from an aperture above two inches in diameter and threw quite a stream into the drive.

As Trenoweth stood close to the face of the drive for a few minutes silently watching it he almost started as a queer sound fell upon his ears.

He could have sworn that it came from the opposite side of the face to where he stood, and the noise filled him with a certain indefinable alarm.

He could not say why he was thus startled, nor could he quite make out the character of the sound. It was like the sigh of a slumbering Titan or the fateful warning of a spectral guardian.

At least that was the feeling which possessed even the somewhat sceptical Trenoweth as he stood in that queer spot a hundred feet below the bed of the ocean.

"You heard that sound, sir?" asked Jones in a whisper, as he stood behind Edward.

"Yes; and I really don't like it," answered Trenoweth, with a forced laugh.

"It has been heard several times since eight o'clock last night, and the men were almost too scared to work," Jones spoke.

The reader, unaccustomed to mining below ground, will scarcely understand how an unusual sound will affect miners.

There are certain noises well known to such workers, and they are readily understood. When, however, the prevailing silence is broken by strange sounds the attention of the earth delver is at once fixed and in many instances mines have actually been abandoned from such causes. Burrowing deep into the mysterious bowels of the earth the imagination is given full play, and weird fancies are built up on slender foundations.

The western drive of the Wheal Merlin however, afforded indications of danger to the experienced eyes which could not be overlooked outside the uncouth sound.

The weeping face and the falling flakes unmistakably showed that water was near and that a softer stratum was being encountered. Possibly there was a small and harmless accumulation of water behind the face, but it was just as likely there might be a huge reservoir which a stroke of the pick might tap, bringing death and destruction with it. The small burst in the floor of the drive seemed to be a warning outpost of the main body of the enemy ahead.

At least this was the view the intelligent and cautious owner of the mine took of the situation, and he was not long in forming his conclusion.

"The men had better cease work Jones, until after the holidays. If there is anything wrong here," he said, pointing to the face, "it will have time to develop. Above all things we must not risk life."

He stopped abruptly, for the strange sound again smote his ears, and this time it rose louder and more menacingly than before.

"Yes; tell the men to gather up their tools and leave everything secure for the holidays. They can get to the surface as soon as they like after."

"Bring all the hands over with you," he concluded to Jones, "over to the house as soon as they are paid, so that we can wish each other a merry Christmas."

Jones gave his orders to the grateful men accordingly, and then he accompanied Trenoweth to the shaft and saw him into the cage.

"Now, don't forget, Jones!" Edward shouted as the cage began to ascend, and he saw his foreman turn back to the gang on the western drive.

The cage had just reached the surface and Trenoweth was in the act of stepping off, when suddenly a rushing, roaring noise sounded in his ears and the next instant he was precipitated head foremost out of the cage on to a heap of mullock close by.

Like a flash of lightning the heavy cage shot up to the poppet-heads, smashing them to pieces, and then it fell back into the shaft.

Struggling, half-stunned, to his feet, Trenoweth was conscious of a booming sound in his ears, and as he looked stupidly at the wreck he saw people wildly hurrying towards the shaft.

Something terrible had happened, and as the engine-driver reached his side he cried, in a voice quivering with horror——

"By Heavens, sir, there's been a burst, and the mine is flooded!"