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twg_000012580300 | "he is a vile old creature. I have heard all about your meeting with him this forenoon, and only wish I had been there to see it." "Listen to that now, Captain Dan," cried Mr Donnithorne, as the individual addressed entered the room; "my wife calls me--me, a staid, sober man of fifty-five--calls me a vile old creature.... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580301 | not too bad? really one gets no credit nowadays for devoting oneself entirely to one's better half; but I forget: allow me to introduce you to my nephew, Oliver Trembath, just come from one of the Northern Universities to fight the smugglers of St. Just--of which more anon. Oliver, Captain Hoskin of Botallack, better k... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580302 | down and let's have a bit of supper." With hospitable urgency Mr Donnithorne and his good dame pressed their guests to do justice to the fare set before them, and, during the course of the meal, the former kept up a running fire of question, comment, and reply on every conceivable subject, so that his auditors required... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580303 | more than eat and listen. After supper, however, and when tumblers and glasses were being put down, he gave the others an opportunity of leading the conversation. "Now, Oliver," he said, "fill your glass and let us hear your adventures. What will you have--brandy, gin, or rum? My friend, Captain Dan here, is one of tho... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580304 | drink anything stronger than ginger-beer. Of course you won't join _him_." "Thank you," said Oliver. "If you will allow me, I will join your good lady in a glass of wine. Permit me, Aunt Mary, to fill--" "No, I thank you, Oliver," said Mrs Donnithorne good-humouredly but firmly, "I side with Captain Dan; but I'll be gl... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580305 | fill your own." "Ha!" exclaimed Mr Donnithorne, "Molly's sure to side with the opponent of her lawful lord, no matter who or what he be. Fill your own glass, boy, with what you like--cold water, an it please you--and let us drink the good old Cornish toast, `Fish, tin, and copper,' our three staples, Oliver--the bone, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580306 | the county." "Fish, tin, and copper," echoed Captain Dan. "In good sooth," continued Mr Donnithorne, "I have often thought of turning teetotaller myself, but feared to do so lest my wife should take to drinking, just out of opposition. However, let that pass--and now, Oliver, open thy mouth, lad, and relate those surpr... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580307 | a hint." "Indeed, uncle, I do not say they are very surprising, although, doubtless, somewhat new to one who has been bred, if not born, in comparatively quiet regions of the earth." Here Oliver related circumstantially to his wondering auditors the events which befell him after the time when he left his uncle in the l... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580308 | occasional exclamation--until he reached the part when he knocked down the man who had rescued him from the waves, when Mr Donnithorne interrupted him with an uncontrollable burst. "Ha!" shouted the old gentleman; "what! knocked down the man who saved your life, nephew? Fie, fie! But you have not told us his name yet. ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580309 | him Jim, as I have said; and I think that he once referred to himself as Jim Cuttance, or something like that." "What say you, boy?" exclaimed Mr Donnithorne, pushing back his chair and gazing at his nephew in amazement. "Hast fought side by side with Jim Cuttance, and then knocked him down?" "Indeed I have," said Oliv... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580310 | sure whether his uncle regarded him as a hero or a fool. The roar of laughter which his answer drew from Captain Dan and his uncle did not tend to enlighten him much. "Oh! Oliver, Oliver," said the old gentleman, on recovering some degree of composure, "you should have lived in the days of good King Arthur, and been on... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580311 | of the Knights of the Round Table. Knocked down Jim Cuttance! What think'ee, Captain Dan?" "I think," said the captain, still chuckling quietly, "that the less our friend says about the matter the better for himself." "Why so?" inquired Oliver quickly. "Because," replied his uncle, with some return of gravity, "you hav... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580312 | ever lived, to fight his Majesty's coastguard--that's all. What say you, Molly--shall we convict Oliver on his own confession?" The good lady thus appealed to admitted that it was a serious matter, but urged that as Oliver did the thing in ignorance and out of gratitude, he ought to be forgiven. "_I_ think he ought to ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580313 | knocked down Jim Cuttance," said Captain Dan. "Is he then so notorious?" asked Oliver. "Why, he is the most daring smuggler on the coast," replied Captain Dan, "and has given the preventive men more trouble than all the others put together. In fact, he is a man who deserves to be hanged, and will probably come to his p... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580314 | ere long, if not shot in a brawl beforehand." "I fear he stands some chance of it now," said Mr Donnithorne, with a sigh, "for he has been talking of erecting a battery near his den at Prussia Cove, and openly defying the Government men." "You seem to differ from Captain Dan, uncle, in reference to this man," said Oliv... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580315 | with a smile. "Truly, I do, for although I condemn smuggling,--ahem!" (the old gentleman cast a peculiar glance at the captain), "I don't like to see a sturdy man hanged or shot--and Jim Cuttance is a stout fellow. I question much whether you could find his match, Captain Dan, amongst all your men?" "That I could, easi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580316 | with a quiet smile. "Pardon me, captain," said Oliver, "my uncle has not yet informed me on the point. May I ask what corps you belong to?" "To a sturdy corps of tough lads," answered the captain, with another of his quiet smiles--"men who have smelt powder, most of 'em, since they were little boys--live on the battlef... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580317 | say, almost night and day--spring more mines in a year than all the soldiers in the world put together--and shorten their lives by the stern labour they undergo; but they burn powder to raise, not to waste, metal. Their uniform is red, too, though not quite so red, nor yet so elegant, as that of the men in his Majesty'... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580318 | service. I am one of the underground captains, sir, of Botallack mine." Captain Dan's colour heightened a very little, and the tones of his voice became a little more powerful as he concluded this reply; but there was no other indication that the enthusiastic soul of one of the "captains" of the most celebrated mine in... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580319 | felt, however, the contact with a kindred spirit, and, expressing much interest in the mines, proceeded to ask many questions of the captain, who, nothing loath, answered all his queries, and explained to him that he was one of the "captains," or "agents," whose duty it was to superintend the men and the works below th... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580320 | "underground;" while those who super-intended the works above ground were styled "grass, or surface captains." He also made an appointment to conduct the young doctor underground, and go over the mine with him at an early date. While the party in old Mr Donnithorne's dwelling were thus enjoying themselves, a great stor... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580321 | each other in character, were taking place--the one quiet, and apparently unimportant, the other tremendous and fatal--both bearing on and seriously influencing the subjects of our tale. CHAPTER FOUR. AT WORK UNDER THE SEA. Chip, chip, chip--down in the dusky mine! Oh, but the rock at which the miner chipped was hard, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580322 | sat was hard, and the muscles with which he toiled were hard from prolonged labour; and the lot of the man seemed hard, as he sat there in the hot, heavy atmosphere, hour after hour, from morn till eve, with the sweat pouring down his brow and over his naked shoulders, toiling and moiling with hammer and chisel. But st... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580323 | David Trevarrow did not think his lot peculiarly hard. His workshop was a low narrow tunnel deep down under the surface of the earth--ay, and deep under the bottom of the sea! His daily sun was a tallow candle, which rose regularly at seven in the morning and set at three in the afternoon. His atmosphere was sadly defi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580324 | life-giving oxygen, and much vitiated by gunpowder smoke. His working costume consisted only of a pair of linen trousers; his colour from top to toe was red as brick-dust, owing to the iron ore around him; his food was a slice of bread, with, perchance, when he was unusually luxurious, the addition of a Cornish pasty; ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580325 | water. To an inexperienced eye the man's work would have appeared not only hard but hopeless, for although his hammer was heavy, his arm strong, and his chisel sharp and tempered well, each blow produced an apparently insignificant effect on the flinty rock. Frequently a spark of fire was all that resulted from a blow,... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580326 | a series of little chips fly off, although the man was of herculean mould, and worked "with a will," as was evident from the kind of gasp or stern expulsion of the breath with which each blow was accompanied. Unaided human strength he knew could not achieve much in such a process, so he directed his energies chiefly to... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580327 | boring of blast-holes, and left it to the mighty power of gunpowder to do the hard work of rending the rich ore from the bowels of the unwilling earth. Yes, the work was very hard, probably the hardest that human muscles are ever called on to perform in this toiling world; but again we say that David Trevarrow did not | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580328 | think so, for he had been born to the work and bred to it, and was blissfully ignorant of work of a lighter kind, so that, although his brows frowned at the obstinate rock, his compressed lips smiled, for his thoughts were pleasant and far away. The unfettered mind was above ground roaming in fields of light, basking i... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580329 | and holding converse with the birds, as he sat there chip, chip, chipping, down in the dusky mine. Stopping at last, the miner wiped his brow, and, rising, stood for a few moments silently regarding the result of his day's work. "Now, David," said he to himself, "the question is, what shall us do-- shall us keep on, or... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580330 | us knack?" He paused, as if unable to answer the question. After a time he muttered, "Keep on; it don't look promisin', sure 'nuff, an' it's poor pay; but it won't do to give in yet." Poor pay it was indeed, for the man's earnings during the past month had been barely ten shillings. But David Trevarrow had neither wife... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580331 | child, nor mother to support, so he could afford to toil for poor pay, and, being of a remarkably hopeful and cheery disposition, he returned home that afternoon resolved to persevere in his unproductive toil, in the hope that at last he should discover a good "bunch of copper," or a "keenly lode of tin." David was wha... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580332 | and the world styled unfortunate. In early manhood he had been a somewhat wild and reckless fellow--a noted wrestler, and an adept in all manly sports and games. But a disappointment in love had taught him very bitterly that life is not all sunshine; and this, coupled with a physical injury which was the result of his ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580333 | his spirit so much that his comrades believed him to be a "lost man." The injury referred to was the bursting of a blood-vessel in the lungs. It was, and still is, the custom of the youthful miners of Cornwall to test their strength by racing up the almost interminable ladders by which the mines are reached. This treme... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580334 | after a day of severe toil affected them of course very severely, and in some cases seriously. Many an able-bodied man has by this means brought himself to a premature end. Among others, David Trevarrow excelled and suffered. No one could beat him in running up the ladders; but one day, on reaching the surface, blood i... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580335 | and thenceforth his racing and wrestling days were ended, and his spirit was broken. A long illness succeeded. Then he began to mend. Slowly and by degrees his strength returned, but not his joyous spirit. Still it was some comfort to feel able for work again, and he "went underground" with some degree of his old vigou... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580336 | the light heart or light step of former days; but bad fortune seemed to follow him everywhere. When others among his comrades were fortunate in finding copper or tin, David was most unaccountably unsuccessful. Accidents, too, from falls and explosions, laid him up more than once, and he not only acquired the character ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580337 | but despite a naturally sanguine temperament, he began himself to believe that he was one of the unluckiest fellows in the world. About this time the followers of that noble Christian, John Wesley, began to make an impression on Cornwall, and to exert an influence which created a mighty change in the hearts and manners... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580338 | blessed effects of which are abundantly evident at the present day--to the rejoicing of every Christian soul. One of those ministers of our Lord happened to meet with David Trevarrow, and was the means of opening his eyes to many great and previously unknown truths. Among others, he convinced him that "God's ways are n... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580339 | often, though not always, leads His people by thorny paths that they know not of, but does it in love and with His own glory in their happiness as the end in view; that the Lord Jesus Christ must be to a man "the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely," else He is to him nothing at all, and | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580340 | that he could be convinced of all these truths only by the Holy Spirit. It were vain to attempt to tell all that this good man said to the unhappy miner, but certain it is that from that time forth David became himself again--and yet not himself. The desire to wrestle and fight and race returned in a new form. | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580341 | He began to wrestle with principalities and powers, to fight the good fight of faith, and to run the race set before him in the gospel. The old hearty smile and laugh and cheery disposition also returned, and the hopeful spirit, and so much of the old robust health and strength, that it seemed as if none of the evil | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580342 | effects of the ruptured blood-vessel remained. So David Trevarrow went, as of old, daily to the mine. It is true that riches did not flow in upon him any faster than before, but he did not mind that much, for he had discovered another mine, in which he toiled at nights after the day's toil was over, and whence he | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580343 | extracted treasure of greater value than copper or tin, or even gold--treasure which he scattered in a Sabbath school with liberal hand, and found himself all the richer for his prodigality. Occasionally, after prolonged labour in confined and bad air, a faint trace of the old complaint showed itself when he reached th... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580344 | not now depressed by that circumstance as he used to be. He was past his prime at the period of which we write, and a confirmed bachelor. To return from this digression: David Trevarrow made up his mind, as we have said, to "go on," and, being a man of resolute purpose, he went on; seized his hammer and chisel, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580345 | and continued perseveringly to smite the flinty rock, surrounded by thick darkness, which was not dispelled but only rendered visible by the feeble light of the tallow candle that flared at his side. Over his head rolled the billows of the Atlantic; the whistling wind howled among the wild cliffs of the Cornish coast, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580346 | deep silence of the miner's place of midnight toil. Heaven's artillery was rending the sky, and causing the hearts of men to beat slow with awe. The great boulders ground the pebbles into sand as they crashed to and fro above him, but he heard them not--or if he did, the sound reached him as a deep-toned mysterious mur... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580347 | being in one of the low levels, with many fathoms of solid rock between him and the bottom of the superincumbent sea, he was beyond the reach of such disturbing influences, tremendous though they were. The miner was making a final effort at his unproductive piece of rock, and had prolonged his toil far into the night. ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580348 | he wrought almost without a moment's respite, save for the purpose, now and then, of trimming his candle. When his right arm grew tired, he passed the hammer swiftly to his left hand, and, turning the borer with his right, continued to work with renewed vigour. At last he paused, and looking over his shoulder called ou... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580349 | died away in a hollow echo through the retiring galleries of the mine, but there was no reply. "Zackey, booy, are 'ee slaipin'?" he repeated. A small reddish-coloured bundle, which lay in a recess close at hand, uncoiled itself like a hedgehog, and, yawning vociferously, sat up, revealing the fact that the bundle was a... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580350 | asked the boy in a sleepy tone. "Iss did I," said the man; "fetch me the powder an' fuse, my son." The lad rose, and, fetching out of a dark corner the articles required, assisted in charging the hole which his uncle had just finished boring. This was the last hole which the man intended to blast that night. For | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580351 | weeks past he had laboured day after day--sometimes, as on the present occasion, at night--and had removed many tons of rock, without procuring either tin or copper sufficient to repay him for his toil, so that he resolved to give it up and remove to a more hopeful part of the mine, or betake himself to another mine al... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580352 | had now bored his last hole, and was about to blast it. Applying his candle to the end of the fuse, he hastened along the level to a sufficient distance to afford security, warning his nephew as he passed. Zackey leaped up, and, scrambling over the debris with which the bottom of the level was covered, made good his re... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580353 | About a minute they waited in expectancy. Suddenly there was a bright blinding flash, which lit up the rugged sides of the mine, and revealed its cavernous ramifications and black depths. This was accompanied by a dull smothered report and a crash of falling rock, together with a shower of debris. Instantly the whole p... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580354 | booy," exclaimed the miner; "we was too near. It have knacked us in the dark." "So't have, uncle; I'll go an' search for the box." "Do, my son," said David. In those days lucifer matches had not been invented, and light had to be struck by means of flint, steel, and tinder. The process was tedious compared with the rap... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580355 | action of congreves and vestas in the present day. The man chipped away for full three minutes before he succeeded in relighting his candle. This done, the rock was examined. "Bad still, Uncle David?" inquired the boy. "Iss, Zackey Maggot, so we'll knack'n, and try the higher mine to-morrow." Having come to this conclu... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580356 | of rock which he held in his brawny hands, and, picking up his implements, said, "Get the tools, booy, and lev us go to grass." Zackey, who had been in the mine all day, and was tired, tied his tools at each end of a rope, so that they might be slung over his shoulder and leave his hands free. | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580357 | Trevarrow treated his in the same way, and, removing his candle from the wall, fixed it on the front of his hat by the simple process of sticking thereto the lump of clay to which it was attached. Zackey having fixed his candle in the same manner, both of them put on their red-stained flannel shirts and linen coats, an... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580358 | traversed the level until they reached the bottom of the ladder-shaft. Here they paused for a few moments before commencing the long wearisome ascent of almost perpendicular ladders by which the miners descended to their work or returned "to grass," as they termed the act of returning to the surface. It cost them more ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580359 | climbing before they reached the upper part of the shaft and became aware that a storm was raging in the regions above. On emerging from the mouth of the shaft or "ladder road," man and boy were in a profuse perspiration, and the sharp gale warned them to hasten to the moor-house at full speed. Moor-houses were little ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580360 | which miners were wont to change their wet underground garments for dry clothes. Some of these used to be at a considerable distance from the shafts, and the men were often injured while going to them from the mine, by being exposed in an overheated state to cutting winds. Many a stout able-bodied miner has had a chill... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580361 | in this way which has resulted in premature death. Moor-houses have now been replaced by large drying-houses, near the mouths of shafts, where every convenience is provided for the men drying their wet garments and washing their persons on coming to the surface. Having changed their clothes, uncle and nephew hastened t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580362 | of Maggot, the blacksmith. This man, who has already been introduced to the reader, was brother-in-law to David, and father to Zackey. When David Trevarrow entered his brother-in-law's cottage, and told him of his bad fortune, and of his resolution to try his luck next day in the higher mine, little did he imagine that... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580363 | to be the first step in a succession of causes which were destined to result, at no very distant period, in great changes of fortune to some of his friends in St. Just, as well as to many others in the county. CHAPTER FIVE. DESCRIBES A WRECK AND SOME OF ITS CONSEQUENCES. While the miner had been pursuing his toilsome | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580364 | work in the solitude and silence of the level under the sea, as already described, a noble ship was leaping over the Atlantic waves--homeward bound--to Old England. She was an East-Indiaman, under close-reefed sails, and although she bent low before the gale so that the waves almost curled over her lee bulwarks, she ro... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580365 | was a good ship, stout of plank and sound of timber, with sails and cordage to match. Naturally, in such a storm, those on board were anxious, for they knew that they were drawing near to land, and that "dear Old England" had an ugly seaboard in these parts--a coast not to be too closely hugged in what the captain | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580366 | styled "dirty weather, with a whole gale from the west'ard," so a good lookout was kept. Sharp eyes were in the foretop looking out for the guiding rays of the Long-ships lighthouse, which illumine that part of our rocky shores to warn the mariner of danger and direct him to a safe harbour. The captain stood on the "fo... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580367 | stern gaze and compressed lip. The chart had been consulted, the bearings correctly noted, calculations made, and leeway allowed for. Everything in fact that could be done by a commander who knew his duty had been done for the safety of the ship--so would the captain have said probably, had he lived to be questioned as... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580368 | his vessel. But everything had _not_ been done. The lead, strange to say, had not been hove. It was ready to heave, but the order was delayed. Unaccountable fatality! The only safe guide that remained to the good ship on that wild night was held in abeyance. It was deemed unnecessary to heave it yet, or it was troubles... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580369 | they would wait till nearer the land. No one now can tell the reasons that influenced the captain, but _the lead was not used_. Owing to similar delay or neglect, hundreds upon hundreds of ships have been lost, and thousands of human lives have been sacrificed! The ship passed like a dark phantom over the very head of ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580370 | who was at work many fathoms below the bottom of the sea. "Land, ho!" came suddenly in a fierce, quick shout from the mast-head. "Starboard! starboard--hard!" cried the captain, as the roar of breakers ahead rose above the yelling of the storm. Before the order was obeyed or another word spoken the ship struck, and a s... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580371 | followed, as the foremast went by the board with a fearful crash. The waves burst over the stern, sweeping the decks fore and aft. Wave after wave lifted the great ship as though it had been a child's toy, and dashed her down upon the rocks. Her bottom was stove in, her planks and timbers were riven like matchwood. Far | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580372 | down below man was destroying the flinty rock, while overhead the rock was destroying the handiwork of man! But the destruction in the one case was slow, in the other swift. A desperate but futile effort was made by the crew to get out the boats, and the passengers, many of whom were women and children, rushed frantica... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580373 | cabin to the deck, and clung to anything they could lay hold of, until strength failed, and the waves tore them away. One man there was in the midst of all the terror-stricken crew who retained his self-possession in that dread hour. He was a tall, stern old man with silver locks--an Indian merchant, one who had spent ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580374 | and manhood in the wealthy land collecting gold--"making a fortune," he was wont to say--and who was returning to his fatherland to spend it. He was a thinking and calculating man, and in the anticipation of some such catastrophe as had actually overtaken him, he had secured some of his most costly jewels in a linen be... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580375 | others were rushing to the boats, the old man secured round his waist, and then sprang on deck, to be swept, with a dozen of his fellow-passengers, into the sea by the next wave that struck the doomed vessel. There was no one on that rugged coast to lend a helping hand. Lifeboats did not then, as now, nestle in | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580376 | little nooks on every part of our dangerous coasts. No eye was there to see nor ear to hear, when, twenty minutes after she struck, the East-Indiaman went to pieces, and those of her crew and passengers who had retained their hold of her uttered their last despairing cry, and their souls returned to God who gave them. ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580377 | a solemn thought that man may with such awful suddenness, and so unexpectedly, be summoned into the presence of his Maker. Thrice happy they who, when their hearts grow chill and their grasps relax as the last plank is rending, can say, "Neither death, nor life, nor any other creature, is able to separate us from the l... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580378 | which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The scene we have described was soon over, and the rich cargo of the East-Indiaman was cast upon the sea and strewn upon the shore, affording much work for many days to the coastguard, and greatly exciting the people of the district--most of whom appeared to entertain an earnest beli... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580379 | that everything cast by storms upon their coast ought to be considered public property. Portions of the wreck had the name "Trident" painted on them, and letters found in several chests which were washed ashore proved that the ship had sailed from Calcutta, and was bound for the port of London. One little boy alone esc... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580380 | found in a crevice of the cliffs the following day, with just enough vitality left to give a few details of the wreck. Although all possible care was bestowed on him, he died before night. Thus sudden and complete was the end of as fine a ship as ever spread her canvas to the breeze. At night she had been | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580381 | full of life--full of wealth; in the morning she was gone--only a few bales and casks and broken spars to represent the wealth, and stiffened corpses to tell of the life departed. So she came and went, and in a short time all remnants of her were carried away. One morning, a few weeks after the night of the storm, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580382 | Maggot the smith turned himself in his bed at an early hour, and, feeling disinclined to slumber, got up to look at the state of the weather. The sun was just rising, and there was an inviting look about the morning which induced the man to dress hastily and go out. Maggot was a powerfully-built man, rough in his outer | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580383 | aspect as well as in his inner man, but by no means what is usually termed a bad man, although, morally speaking, he could not claim to be considered a good one. In fact, he was a hearty, jolly, reckless fisherman, with warm feelings, enthusiastic temperament, and no principle; a man who, though very ready to do a kind... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580384 | had no particular objection to do one that was decidedly objectionable when it suited his purpose or served his present interest. He was regarded by his comrades as one of the greatest madcaps in the district. Old Maggot was, as we have said, a blacksmith to trade, but he had also been bred a miner, and was something o... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580385 | fisherman as well, besides being (like most of his companions) an inveterate smuggler. He could turn his hand to almost anything, and was "everything by turns, but nothing long." Sauntering down to Priests Cove, on the south of Cape Cornwall, with his hands in his pockets and his sou'-wester stuck carelessly on his sha... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580386 | comrade, whom he hailed by the name of John Cock. This man was also a fisherman, _et cetera_, and the bosom friend and admirer of Maggot. "Where bound to this mornin', Jack?" inquired Maggot. "To fish," replied John. "I go with 'ee, booy," said Maggot. This was the extent of the conversation at that time. They were not... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580387 | walked side by side in silence to the beach, where they launched their little boat and rowed out to sea. Presently John Cock looked over his shoulder and exclaimed--"Maggot, I see summat." "Do 'ee?" "Iss do I." "What do un look like?" "Like a dead corp." "Aw, my dear," said Maggot, "lev us keep away. It can do no good | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580388 | to we." Acting on this opinion the men rowed past the object that was floating on the sea, and soon after began to fish; but they had not fished long when the dead body, drifted probably by some cross-current, appeared close to them again. Seeing this they changed their position, but ere long the body again appeared. "... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580389 | "there's somethin' in its pockets." As the same idea had occurred to John Cock, the men resolved to examine the body, so they rowed up to it and found it to be that of an elderly man, much decomposed, and nearly naked. A very short examination sufficed to show that the pockets of such garments as were still upon it | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580390 | were empty, and the men were about to let it go again, when Maggot exclaimed-- "Hold fast, Jack, I see somethin' tied round the waist of he; a sort o' belt it do seem." The belt was quickly removed and the body released, when it sank with a heavy plunge, but ere long reappeared on the surface. The fishermen rowed | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580391 | a considerable distance away from it, and then shipped their oars and examined the belt, which was made of linen. Maggot sliced it up as he would have ripped up a fish, and laid bare, to the astonished gaze of himself and his friend, a number of glittering gems of various colours, neatly and firmly embedded in cotton, ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580392 | variety of rings and small brooches set with precious stones. "Now, I tell 'ee," said Maggot, "'tis like as this here will make our fortin', or else git we into trouble." "Why, whatever shud we git into trouble 'bout it for?" said John Cock. "'Tis like as not they ain't real--only painted glass, scarce wuth the trouble... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580393 | "Hould thy tongue, thee g'eat chucklehead," replied Maggot; "a man wouldn't go for to tie such stuff round his waist to drown hisself with, I do know, if they worn't real. Lev us car' 'em to Maister Donnithorne." John Cock replied with a nod, and the two men, packing up the jewels, pulled in-shore as fast as possible. ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580394 | boat beyond the reach of the surf, they hastened to St. Just, and requested a private audience of Mr Donnithorne. [See note .] That excellent gentleman was not unaccustomed to give private audiences to fishermen, and, as has been already hinted at the beginning of this tale, was reported to have private dealings with t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580395 | He received the two men, however, with the hearty air of a man who knows that the suspicions entertained of him by the calumnious world are false. "Well, Maggot," said Mr Donnithorne, "what is your business with me? You are not wont to be astir so early, if all be true that is reported of 'ee." "Plaise, sur," said Magg... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580396 | with a glance at Rose Ellis, who sat sewing near the window, "I'm come to talk 'bout private matters--if--" "Leave us, Rose dear, for a little," said the old gentleman. As soon as she was out of the room Maggot locked the door, a proceeding which surprised Mr Donnithorne not a little, but his surprise was much greater ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580397 | man drew a small parcel from the breast of his rough coat, and, unrolling it, displayed the glittering jewels of which he had so unexpectedly become possessed. "Where got you these?" inquired Mr Donnithorne, turning them over carefully. "Got 'em in the say--catched 'em, sure 'nough," said Maggot. "Not with a baited hoo... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580398 | my son, let's hear all about it." Maggot explained how he had obtained the jewels, and then asked what they were worth. "I can't tell that," said Mr Donnithorne, shaking his head gravely. "Some of them are undoubtedly of value; the others, for all I know, may not be worth much." "Come now, sur," said Maggot, with a con... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012580399 | "it's not the fust time we have done a bit o' business. I 'spose I cud claim salvage on 'em?" "I don't know that," said the old gentleman; "you cannot tell whom they belonged to, and I suspect Government would claim them, if--But, by the way, I suppose you found no letters--nothing in the shape of writing on the body?" | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
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