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diff --git a/21382.txt b/21382.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..006a47a --- /dev/null +++ b/21382.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1883 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Son Philip, by George Manville Fenn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Son Philip + +Author: George Manville Fenn + +Illustrator: Anonymous + +Release Date: May 8, 2007 [EBook #21382] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SON PHILIP *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Son Philip, by George Manville Fenn. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +Philip is the son of an old mine-owner. His father and mother would +have liked him to become something other than an overseer in their mine, +but it is what Philip wants to be. + +Some of the men are engaging in dangerous practices, and deeply resent +it when Philip pulls them up over them. One of them swears that he will +put his mark on Philip. + +Under Philip's guidance the mine begins to run well, but still some of +the men are resentful of not being allowed to smoke even though there is +gas in the mine. + +At this point there are a couple of those George Manville Fenn +situations, which find you wondering "how ever will Philip get out of +this?" + +And so the book ends, with Philip running a really successful mine, with +a good accident record. How does he do it? + +________________________________________________________________________ + +SON PHILIP, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +THEIR BOY. + +"Well, why not be a soldier?" + +Philip Hexton shook his head. + +"No, father. There's something very brave in a soldier's career; but I +should like to save life, not destroy it." + +"You would save life in times of trouble; fight for your country, and +that sort of thing." + +"No, father; I shall not be a soldier." + +"A sailor, then?" + +"I have not sufficient love of adventure, father." + +"Oh no, my boy, don't be a sailor," said Mrs Hexton piteously. "I have +had sufferings enough over your father's risks in the mine." + +"No, no, Phil; you must not be a sailor," said sturdy, grey-haired old +Hexton, laughing. "I should never get a wink of sleep if you did. +Every time the wind blew your mother would be waking me up to ask me if +I didn't think you were wrecked." + +"No, dear; I shall not be a sailor," said Philip Hexton; and leaving his +chair at the breakfast table he went round to his mother's side, sank +down on one knee, passed his arm around her, and drew her to his broad +breast. + +It was a pleasant sight to see the look of pride come into the mother's +face, as she laid one hand upon her son's shoulder, and pressed a few +loose strands of hair away from his thoughtful forehead, which wrinkled +slightly, and there was a look of anxiety in his face as he looked +tenderly at the loving woman. + +"That's right, Phil dear," she said; "don't choose any life that is full +of risks." + +"Don't try to make a milksop of him, mother," said Mr Hexton, laughing. +"Why, one would think Phil was ten years old, instead of twenty. I +say, my boy, had she aired your night-cap for you last night, and warmed +the bed?" + +"Well, I must confess to the warm bed, father," said the young man. "A +night-cap I never wear." + +"I thought so," said Mr Hexton, chuckling. "You must not stop at home, +Phil. She'll want you to have camomile tea three times a week." + +"You may joke as much as you like, Hexton," said his wife, bridling, +"but no one shall ever say that I put anybody into a damp bed; and as +for the camomile tea, many a time has it given you health when you have +been ailing." + +"Why, you don't think I ever took any of the stuff you left out for me, +do you?" + +"Of course, dear." + +"Never took a glass of it," said Old Hexton, chuckling. "Threw it all +out of the window." + +"Then it was a great shame," said Mrs Hexton angrily, "and a very bad +example to set to your son." + +"Never mind, Phil; don't you take it," chuckled Mr Hexton. Then +becoming serious he went on: "Well, there's no hurry, my boy; only now +that you are back from Germany, and can talk High Dutch and Low Dutch, +and French, and all the rest of it, why it is getting time to settle +what you are to do. I could allow you so much a year, and let you be a +gentleman, with nothing to do, if I liked; but I don't hold with a young +fellow going through life and being of no use--only a tailor's dummy to +wear fine clothes." + +"Oh no, father; I mean to take to a business life," said Philip Hexton +quickly. + +"Of course, my lad; and you'll do well in it. I began life in a pair of +ragged breeches that didn't fit me, shoving the corves of coal in a +mine; and now," he exclaimed proudly, "I'm partner as well as manager in +our pit. So what I say is, if I could do what I have done, beginning +life in a pair of ragged breeches that didn't fit me, why, what can my +boy do, as has had a first-class education, and can have money to back +him?" + +"My dear James," said Mrs Hexton, "I do wish you would not be so fond +of talking about those--those--" + +"Ragged breeches, mother?" said the old fellow, chuckling; "but I will. +That's her pride, Phil, my boy. Now she wears caps made of real lace, +she wants to forget how humble she used to be." + +"Nothing of the kind, James," said the pleasant lady tartly; "I'm not +ashamed of our humble beginnings, but I am ashamed to make vulgar +remarks." + +"That's a knock-down, Phil, my boy," said Mr Hexton. "There, I won't +mention them again, mother. But come, we are running away from our +subject. I'm heartily glad to see you back, Phil," he cried; and there +was a little moisture gathered in his eyes as he spoke; "and I thank God +to see that you have grown into so fine, healthy, and sturdy a fellow. +God bless you, my boy! God bless you!" + +He had left his seat at the foot of the table, and came round to stand +beside his son, patting his shoulder, and then taking and wringing his +hand. He half bent down, too, once, as if to kiss the broad sunburnt +forehead, but altered his mind directly, as he thought it would be weak, +and ended by going and sitting down once more. + +"There's plenty of time, of course," he said, "but somehow I shouldn't +dislike to have it settled. Have you ever thought about the matter, +Phil?" + +"Yes, father, deeply," said the young man, rising, and then standing +holding his mother's hand. "I like sport, and games, and a bit of +idleness sometimes, especially for a Continental trip." + +"Well, if you call that idleness, Phil," said the elder, rubbing his +legs, "give me the hardest day's work in the pit. Remember our climbing +up the Gummy Pass, mother, last year?" + +"Oh, don't talk about it, father," said the old lady. "But then we are +not so young as we used to be. Go on, Philip, my dear." + +She held on tightly by her son's hand as she spoke, and kept gazing up +at him with a wonderfully proud look. + +"Well, father, as I say, I like a bit of change." + +"Of course, my lad; all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." + +"But I think it is the duty of every young man--boy, if you like, +mother," he said, smiling. + +"Young man, Philip," she replied, "for I'm sure you've grown into a very +fine young man." + +"Ugly as possible," growled the father, with a twinkle in his eye. + +"I'm sure he's a much finer and handsomer young man than you were when I +married you, father!" said the old lady with spirit. + +"Oh, of course!" chuckled Mr Hexton; "he's lovely! Phil, boy, pray use +scented soap and plenty of pomatum." + +"Come, father, let's set aside joking for the time," said Philip +quietly. "I'm very glad to get home again, and to find my mother so +proud and happy to have me back--and you, too, sir." + +Mr Hexton nodded, and changed his position a little. + +"You want to know what I mean to settle to be, sir?" + +"Yes, my boy; I should like to know." + +"Well, father, I'll tell you, for I have thought of it long and deeply, +and I have studied chemistry a good deal for that end." + +"Bravo, Phil!" said Mr Hexton. "A doctor, mother; I thought as much." + +"No, sir, not a doctor; though I think a medical man's a grand +profession, and one only yet in its infancy. But I want to be of some +use, father, in my career. I want to save life as a medical man does. +You know the old saying, father?" + +"About getting the wrong pig by the ear, as I did?" + +"No, sir; about prevention being better than cure." + +"Yes, my boy; but what are you going to prevent instead of cure?" + +"I want to prevent so much loss of life in our coal-pits, father." + +"Oh, my boy, my boy," cried Mrs Hexton passionately; "don't say you +want to take up your father's life!" + +"Why not, mother dear?" said the young man firmly; "would it not be a +good and a useful life, to devote one's self to the better management of +our mines--to studying nature's forces, and the best way of fighting +them for the saving of life?" + +"But, my boy, my boy, think of the risks!" + +"I didn't spend hundreds on your education to have you take to a pit +life," growled Mr Hexton. + +"Oh, my boy, it is such a dangerous life. The hours of misery we pass +no one knows," cried Mrs Hexton, wringing her hands. + +"Mother," said the young man, "it is to endeavour to save mothers and +wives and children from suffering all these pains; for I would strive to +make our mines so safe that the men could win the coal almost without +risk. And as for education, father," he said proudly, as he turned to +the stern, grey, disappointed man, "is it not by knowledge that we are +able to battle with ignorance and prejudice? Don't regret what you have +given me, father." + +"But it seems all thrown away if you are going to be nothing better than +overseer of a mine." + +"Oh, no," said the young man smiling, "it will give me the means for +better understanding the task I have in hand; and if, mother, I can only +save four or five families from the terrible sufferings we know of, I +shall not have worked all in vain." + +"No, my boy, no," said Mrs Hexton mournfully. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, "knowing what I have of pit life, it has made me +wretched scores of times to read some terrible account of the long roll +of unfortunates burned, suffocated, or entombed, to die in agonies of +starvation and dread. Don't be disappointed, father, but let me make my +effort, and work with you." + +The elder seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then held out his hand. + +"No, Phil," he said, "I won't stand in your way. I'm disappointed +because I wanted you to be something better, but--" + +"Better, father! Could you find a better man than Davy, whom we bless +for his lamp?" + +"Which the reckless donkeys will open in a dangerous gallery," cried Mr +Hexton angrily. "No, my boy; Humphry Davy was a man indeed, and if you +turned out half as good, or a quarter, I should be proud of you." + +"That I shall never be, father," said the young man; "but I mean to +try." + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +DOWN IN THE PIT. + +"Don't tell me, lad; I hevn't worked in t'pit twenty year for nowt. +Think I don't know? Him and his newfangled ways are wuth that!" + +The great swarthy pitman snapped his fingers as he stood in the centre +of a group waiting for the return of the cage from the bowels of the +earth. + +All about them was dark and weird-looking, with the lights casting +strange shadows where the machinery stood around. There was a hissing +noise and a ruddy light from the engine-house, with the panting clank of +machinery; pistons worked up, and wheels spun round; while where the +group of miners stood there was a square, black-looking pit, surrounded +by a massive frame-work, supporting one big wheel, from which depended a +thin-looking wire-rope, which was rapidly running down. + +A few minutes after, and there was the ringing of a bell, the +clink-clank of machinery; the wheel spun round in the other direction, +and in due time the cage, as it was called, came to the surface; the +group of men stepped in, and the signal for descent was about to be +given, when one of the men exclaimed: + +"Here he cooms!" + +Philip Hexton strode up the next moment, nodded shortly to the men, +stepped into the crowded cage, and giving the signal, the stout +iron-framed contrivance began rapidly to descend, and the fresh comer, +who was still very new at these descents, felt that strange sensation as +the cage rushed down, just as if the whole of the internal organs had +burst out laughing at the fun they were going to have of trying to +frighten their owner's head. + +It is not a pleasant sensation, that of a descent into a coal-pit. +There is the rushing noise of the cage, the whirring of wheels, the +constant dripping and plashing sound of falling water, the thudding of +the pump, the stifling feeling of dank heat, the stuffy mist, and joined +to all the knowledge that if that slender thread of wire-rope should +happen to break, the cage would fall perhaps hundreds of feet, and its +occupants be killed. Then, he who descends knows that he is going into +a series of subterranean caves where the gas escapes, that the slightest +contact with a light will explode, burning, slaying, and destroying, and +leaving behind the choke-damp, which is even more deadly in its +insidious effects. + +Now Philip Hexton, in making up his mind to take to his father's life, +had readily prepared himself to run all risks, in the hope of soon +lessening them; but after three months' action as deputy +assistant-manager under his father, he had awakened to the fact that all +he had done had been to establish a general feeling of dislike amongst +the men, who, though they did not openly show it, opposed Philip Hexton +all the more by a stubborn, quiet resistance that he found it difficult +to overcome. + +It was something unusual for the manager's son to come down upon the +night shift; but, after mastering the various technicalities of the +place, the young deputy had set himself vigorously to work to try and +more rigorously enforce the rules of the mine, many of which, he soon +found, were terribly neglected by the men. + +Upon reaching the bottom, Philip saw the party go into a kind of office, +where each was supplied with a locked and lighted Davy-lamp, whose +little wick burned dimly through the wire gauze; and then, as they were +about to shoulder their sharp steel-pointed picks, he said aloud: + +"You'll need to be very careful to-night, my lads, for there's a good +deal of gas up in the new four-foot." + +The men did not answer, but went sulkily away, leaving Philip to take a +gauze lamp of a larger construction to go and spend a couple of hours +inspecting different parts of the mine, in company with one of the +oldest hands in the pit. + +"I wish I could get the men to believe a little more in me," he said, as +they went plashing along through the dark passages of the muddy pit, +past places where the black roof was supported by stays, some of which +were seamed and charred by explosions and fires in the mine. + +"Ay, lad, they're a bit obstnit," said the old miner; "they don't like +interference." + +"No," said Philip rather bitterly, "not even when I am working to save +their lives." + +"Nay, lad; but that's what they don't believe. Yo' mun go on wi' 'em +more gently. But what brought you down to-neet?" + +"There was a fall in the barometer, and a great want of pressure in the +atmosphere this evening," said Philip. "I could not rest without coming +to see that everything possible was done." + +"Ah," said the overman grimly, "that's what our lads weant believe in-- +your brometers, and pressures, and such like. They don't like to be +teached by one who they say's nobbut a boy." + +"Does it matter how many years old a person is," cried Philip sternly, +"if he can point out what is right? Look here," he said, as he stopped +short in a low-roofed and distant part of the mine, "do you see this?" + +He pointed to his Davy-lamp, inside of which the light kept burning +blue, and there was a series of little sputtering explosions. + +"Ay, I see it, lad; it's often so," said the overman coolly; "but the +ventilation's about reet, and it will soon carry that off. It's nowt to +do wi' no brometers." + +"Listen!" said Philip; and as the man impatiently stood still, there was +a low dull hissing noise plainly to be heard, where the gas was rushing +from the cracks and fissures of the shaley rock and gathering in the +long galleries of the mine. + +"Now," said Philip, "does not the barometer speak truly? When the air +is weighty and dense it keeps back the gas, when it is light the gas +forces its way out. What would be the consequences if I were to open +our lamp?" + +"There wouldn't be no consekences," said the overman with a grim laugh; +"there'd be a inquest, if they had pluck enough to come and hunt out +what of us was left." + +In spite of himself, Philip could not help a shudder, as he listened to +the cynical, callous manner in which his companion spoke of their +proximity to a dreadful death. Then, bidding him follow, he went on +along the gloomy maze towards where he could hear the rumble of trucks +laden with coal, the sound of the ringing picks, the echoing shouts of +the men, and the impatient snort of some pony, toiling with its load up +an incline. + +There was a quick sharp draught of air as they passed through a door +which was closed behind them by a boy, and, satisfied that the +ventilation was good, Philip Hexton and his companion went on. + +Meanwhile Ebenezer Parks, the big miner who had been complaining when +the young man came up, kept on with his remarks as, in company with his +party, he made his way to the four-foot seam, as it was called--a part +of the mine where the good coal was but a yard in thickness, and at +which they had to work in a stooping, sometimes in a lying, position. + +"She sings to-night, lad," said one of the men, as they stripped +themselves to their trousers, and then began to use their sharp-pointed +picks, their blackened skins soon beginning to glisten with perspiration +in the stifling heat. + +"Hey, she do," said Ebenezer, giving a careless glance at his sputtering +lamp. "There's part gas in pit to-neet." + +The dim sputtering lamps, and the warning hiss of the gas were forgotten +as the men worked on, showing wondrous skill in the handling of their +picks, and fetching out great lumps of coal with the greatest ease, in +spite of the awkward position in which they worked. + +This went on for a couple of hours, when Ebenezer threw down his pick, +seated himself with his back against a pillar of coal, one of those left +to support the roof, and took from his trousers pocket a steel +tobacco-box, a black short pipe, and a nail. + +"Who's going to hev a smoke?" he said. + +"I wouldn't let young master ketch you smoking," said one of the men. + +"He'd better not say owt to me," said the man fiercely. "I know what +I'm 'bout better than he can tell me;" and as he filled his pipe several +more laughed and filled theirs; while, looking like some black spirit of +mischief, the big miner took the gauze lamp from the roof where it hung. + +"Now then, lads, who wants a leet?" he said; and, taking the nail, he +proceeded to pick the lock of the Davy-lamp, or rather unfasten it with +the improvised key. + +There was a click as the little snap flew back; and then, placing his +pipe in his mouth, he proceeded to open the lamp. + +This was about as wise an act as for a man to strike a match over an +open barrel full of glistening grains of gunpowder--perhaps far worse. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +MAKING AN ENEMY. + +Even as the big miner had his hand upon the gauze cover of the Davy-lamp +there were tiny little explosions going on within, for in spite of the +great current of air that was kept up through the pit, a draught which +swept away the dangerous gas, there were places which its purifying +influence did not reach, places such as this new gallery in the +four-foot seam, where the vapour had been steadily increasing for hours +and collecting round the heads of the men. + +Familiarity breeds contempt. Often enough we know that the men who work +in gunpowder mills have to be searched to keep them from taking matches +with them when they enter the mill. + +Philip Hexton and his companion went on, the latter ready to grumble as +he grew weary of what he looked upon as unnecessary labour. "T'pit was +reet enew," he said to himself; and what need was there of "peeking and +poking about this how?" + +For the young inspector seemed never satisfied. He was always on the +look-out for danger; and as they went on and on through the black +galleries, where the iridescent tints of the shaley coal flecked with +iron pyrites glittered and flashed in the dim light, he kept pausing and +listening. + +"He won't stop at it long," said the overman to himself; "he's 'bout +scarred of it now. I niver see a lad so freckened at every sound." + +It was quite true. Philip Hexton was startled at every sound; but it +was from fear for others--not for self. So far from feeling the +ordinary coward's dread, he would have gone at once into the most +dangerous places to save another's life; but he was at times appalled at +the reckless ways of the men. + +In one gallery the roof, as the light glimmered upon it, was one +beautiful fret-work of ancient vegetation, being carved, as it were, +into knotted stems full of beautiful flutings. Huge ferny leaves could +be seen bending in graceful curves, and here and there, shining like +cuttings in jet, traces of the cone-like fruit borne by some of the +trees of that far-back age when the coal was deposited in bituminous +beds. + +These geological remains had a great interest for Philip Hexton, and he +promised himself plenty of amusement when his time of leisure came. At +present it was all work--extremely hard work, for, until he could +thoroughly master every technicality in the pit, he felt himself to be +at a great disadvantage with the men. + +"Yo' weant be so partic'lar when yo've been here a few year, Master +Hexton," said the overman, as they were making their way down a wide +gallery whose coal had been worked out long enough before, and across +which part of the mine they were passing to reach a distant portion +where the men were at work on the "new four-foot." + +"Indeed!" said Philip, smiling, "I think you'll find me twice as +strict." + +"Not yo'," chuckled the man; "I used to think the same when I was young; +but, bless thee, lad, a man's life would be a burden to him if he was +fancying the pit o' fire at every bit of gas. There'd be no coal-mining +at all, for the lads'd be too scarred to come down." + +"If I live and have my way," said Philip sternly, "the pit here shall be +so safe that work can go on in peace for every one, and every man shall +act as guardian of his fellow's safety." + +"Sounds very pratty, lad," said the overman, "but it weant wuck. Look +here, there's a bit o' gas in this corner." + +He held the lamp up close to the roof, and tiny explosions again began +inside the gauze. + +Then he lowered the lamp, and they ceased, showing how light the +explosive gas was, and how it floated about the roof. + +"Sithee," continued the overman, holding up the lamp again, so that +Philip could make out that there was a rift above their heads, where at +some time or other the roof had fallen; "that place has got part gas in +it, for the ventilation don't touch here; but that don't mean as the +whole mine's dangerous." + +"But the whole mine _is_ dangerous," said Philip hastily. "It's made +dangerous by the recklessness of the men. Stop, man, what are you going +to do?" + +He was too late, for, unperceived by him, the overman had unlocked the +lamp, and held it up open above their heads, when there was a blinding +flash, and an echoing report, and then a rumbling, distant, rushing +noise. + +"What do you think o' that, lad?" said the overman coolly, relocking his +lamp. + +"I think it was madness," said Philip excitedly. "You might have fired +the mine." + +"Nay, lad, there was no fear o' that I knowed well enew what I was +doing, and that bit o' gas was just as well away." + +The young deputy's heart beat fast, and he was about to speak angrily, +but he felt that it would be better to consult with his father to see if +a stop could not be put to such reckless ways. For he argued if an +overman would run such a risk as this, knowing that the detached portion +of gas might possibly communicate with a larger body, was it not likely +that the ordinary winners of the coal would, without the overman's +knowledge and experience, run even greater risks? + +"Yo'll get used to it all by and by," said the man condescendingly; "and +if yo'll take my bit of advice, yo'll let the men tak' care o' +theirsens." + +Philip Hexton must have walked in and out quite a couple of miles, +examining ventilating-doors, seeing that the boys who opened and shut +them for the corves to pass were doing their duty, and the like; and, +trifling as it may sound, a great deal depends in a coal-mine upon such +a thing as the opening and shutting of a door, for by means of these +doors the current of air that is sucked, as it were, through the +passages of the pit by the great furnace at the bottom of the shaft is +altered in its course, and turned down this or that passage, sweeping +out the foul air or gas, and making safe the pit. Hence, then, the +neglect of one boy may alter the whole ventilation of some part of a +mine, the purifying draught may be stopped from coursing through some +dangerous gallery where the gas comes singing out of the seams, a light +be taken inadvertently there, and ruin and death be the result. + +The young deputy was going on thinking to himself whether it would not +be possible to invent a process by which the dangerous gas of a mine +might be collected in great gasholders, and then burned within gauze +shades for the lighting up of the pit, when the distant +_chip_--_chip_--_chip_ ringing and echoing where the men were at work in +the new four-foot grew less persistent, and in place of becoming louder +as they drew nearer, gradually began to cease, as if first one man and +then another had thrown aside his took. + +"Hadn't we better turn down here now, Master Hexton?" said the overman. + +"No; I want to inspect the new four-foot," replied Philip. + +"My lad, thee needn't go theer to-neet," said the overman. "That's all +right, I warrant." + +"He has some reason for stopping me from going there," was Philip +Hexton's first thought. "The men have ceased working; something must be +wrong." + +"This is the gainest wayer," said the overman, turning sharply down a +passage, light in hand, of course thinking that his companion would +follow him, for he knew well enough what the stoppage meant, and he did +not want the young man to see the miners smoke. + +But Philip Hexton was made of different metal to what he expected, and, +careless of being left in the gloom of one of those weird passages, the +young man stood for a moment peering forward into the black darkness, +and, making out a faint glimmer of light, stretched out his hands and +began to make his way cautiously along by the shaley wall. + +It was terribly bad walking, the floor being uneven from the many falls +of coal from the roof. Here and there, too, were wooden supports which +had to be avoided; but after stumbling along cautiously for about fifty +yards, and avoiding the obstacles as if by a miracle, the distant glow +of light was sufficient, dim as it was, to show him the supports that +intervened, and fifty yards further he could walk quite fast, for there +were the Davy-lamps hanging here and there, each forming a faint star, +with a dull halo around. + +They seemed very near the ground till the young deputy remembered that +they were in the four-foot seam, and the next moment he was spared a +violent blow by one of his hands coming in contact with the roof. + +Philip Hexton's heart beat fast at the sight he saw; and for a moment he +felt as if he must turn and run for his life. + +But he did not. Bending down half-double, he ran towards the group of +men, gaining impetus each moment, till, stumbling over some of the newly +hewn-out coal, he was thrown, as it were, full against Ebenezer Parks, +his right fist catching the burly miner in the ear, just as he was, pipe +in mouth, about to open the lamp, and they fell heavily together, the +lamp fortunately being extinguished by the shock. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +AN UNPLEASANT THREAT. + +"You villain!" cried Philip excitedly, as he rose, and then seated +himself panting upon a lump of coal; "another moment, and you would all +have been lying scorched and dying where you now stand." + +"Villain, eh?" roared the great pitman, staggering up with his head +bleeding from a cut caused by his fall, "villain, am I, lad? Then I'll +be villain for some'at." + +As he spoke, beside himself with passion, he caught up his miner's pick, +and, but for the quick movement of the young man, would have dealt him +what might have been a deadly blow. + +"Nay, nay, Eben, lad," cried one of the men, closing with him, "howd +thee hand: we don't want murder here." But it was not until a couple +more of the miners had seized him by the arms and wrested away the short +sharp pick, that he ceased to struggle. + +Philip stood as well as the low roof would allow of the erect posture, +and looked on. + +"There lad, thou'st better goo," said one of the men; "and don't thee +coom interferin' agen." + +"Interfering!" cried Philip, with spirit, "recollect who I am, and that +I will not have such reckless acts in the mine." + +"Oh, it's thy mine, is it?" said the man in a provoking tone. "I didn't +know that. Say, Eben Parks, thee mustn't niver smoke a pipe in Master +Philip Hexton's mine." + +"Let me goo!" cried the big miner; "let me goo, I tell 'ee! I'll mak' +such a mark on him as he weant forget again." + +"Let him go!" cried Philip angrily, "and let him touch me if he dare; +and let him recollect that there is law in the land for men who commit +assaults, as well as for those who break the rules of the pit." + +"I'll put such a mark on him as he weant forget," cried the big miner, +after another ineffectual struggle to be free. + +"Why don't 'ee goo!" cried one of the men again. "Thee keeps makin' him +savage wi' staying." + +"Loose him, I tell you!" said Philip firmly; and they released the big +miner, who came at him like a bull; but as the young man did not flinch, +but gazed full in his eyes, the great fellow made what we call "an +offer" at him, and then let his arms fall to his side. + +"Sithee!" he exclaimed, pointing to his bleeding head, and speaking in a +low, hoarse voice, "thou'st made thy mark on me, and I don't rest till +I've made mine on thee. Now goo, while thee shoes are good; thou'st not +wanted here." + +Philip turned from him with an angry look of contempt, and addressed the +men: + +"You seem to forget, my lads, that under my father I'm inspector of this +mine." + +"Ay, and a nice pass too, for a set o' boys to be put over us, ordering +men about as if they was bairns," growled the big miner. + +"And that my orders here are to be strictly obeyed," continued Philip, +ignoring the great ruffian's presence. "Why did you men stand by and +see that fool--I can call him nothing else--I say, why did you, a set of +experienced men, stand by, and see that fellow deliberately break the +most important rule in the mine, and not interfere?" + +"S'pose men are going to wuck here through a night shift and not want a +pipe o' 'bacco?" said one of them fiercely. + +"I suppose that when you work for a company of proprietors, and receive +their money, you are going to obey their regulations, and are going to +avoid damaging their property, if you will not even take care not to +risk your own lives." + +"Bah! Stoof!" exclaimed one of the party. "Theer's no danger." + +"No danger!" cried Philip, pointing to the other lamps, "why, you see +for yourselves that the mine is terribly fiery to-night. Shame upon +you! Look how the gas keeps flashing inside the lamps. You know there +is danger. I told you there was danger before you came to work." + +"And how did you know?" cried Ebenezer Parks insolently. + +"By study, brute!" cried Philip passionately; "by making use of the +brains with which I have been blessed, and not going through life +willing to risk the lives of my fellow-men for the sake of a little +self-indulgence." + +"Don't see much self-indulgence, as thou calls it, in having a pipe o' +'bacco." + +"Ay! how wouldst thou like to wuck all neet on the neet shift?" cried +another. + +"Sithee," cried Ebenezer, spitting in his great black hands and +thrusting his head forward, "thou ca'st me a fool, lad." + +"Stand back!" cried Philip, so sternly that the great fellow flinched. +"You are worse than a pack of children," he continued. "Shame on you! +learn to give up your self-indulgence sooner than run such risks." + +"Ay, it's easy enew to talk," growled one of the men; "but don't you +think you are coming to lord it over us. S'pose we don't know when +she's safe and when she isn't?" + +"If I'm to judge from what I've seen to-night," cried Philip, "I'm sure +you do not know, and that you are not fit to be trusted. Because you +work in a seam and it is safe to-day, do you suppose it follows that it +will be safe to-morrow? I tell you men that you are always working on +the very edge of death through your own folly." + +"And I tell 'ee," cried Ebenezer Parks, "that thou knows nowt about it." + +"Silence, sir!" cried Philip, whose blood was up; and in a puzzled way, +as if he could not half understand it, the big miner shook his head, and +shrank back astonished that this boy, as he called him, should master +him as he did. + +For the big miner had yet to learn that knowledge is power--a power of +ten thousand times greater force than the stoutest muscles ever owned by +man. + +"I have never spoken to you before as I am speaking now," cried Philip. +"You force me to it, and I tell you that, while I have the management +here, the regulations shall be strictly carried out to the very letter; +there shall be no evasions--no more of these contemptible tricks. How +did you open that Davy-lamp, sir?" he cried, turning sharply upon +Ebenezer. + +There was no answer, and the big fellow actually shrank as Philip made a +sharp movement forward. + +But it was not to strike a blow, only to pick up something lying shining +amongst the pieces of coal. + +"Just as I thought," said the young man, holding out the nail; "a +contemptible pick-lock, to open the lamps that are locked up, by a wise +rule, for your safety; and you--you great mass of bone and muscle, you +call yourself a man! Shame upon you, shame!" + +Without another word, Philip picked up the extinct lamp just as the +overman came up in search of him, placed it under his arm, signed to the +new-comer to lead on, and followed, hot, flushed, and angry, along the +dark galleries, and out of the pit. + +"Yah!" growled Ebenezer Parks, breaking the silence that lasted some few +minutes after Philip's steps had died away; "he's nobbut a boy." + +"Nobbut a boy, eh?" said one of the men who had held him; "well, all I +can say is, as I hope my bairn'll grow up just like un." + +"He was man enew to tackle thee, Eben," said another. + +"Ay, he's a plucked un," said another. "I like the lad, that I do." + +"Like him!" growled Eben, glaring vindictively round at his companions. +"Man enew for me? Sithee: you know me, lads, and what I can do." + +There was no reply. + +"Yo' all know me, and what I can do, and do you think I'm going to let a +bit of a boy, wi' his pretence about his larning and studies, bunch me +and ca' me a fool and a brute when I know more about t'mine wi' one o' +my hands than he does wi' his whole body." + +Still there was no reply, the men taking up their picks and looking +uneasily at the speaker. + +"Tell 'ee what. I'm a man, I am, and a man o' my word. I said I'd put +my mark on him for this job; and I will. Yo' all hear me, don't 'ee? I +say I'll put my mark upon him." + +The big miner, with his fierce blackened face and rolling eyes, looked +vindictive enough then to be guilty of any atrocity as he seemed to be +seeking for an answer. + +"Yo' hear me? I say I'll put my mark upon him." + +"Not thou, lad," said one of his companions at last. + +"I tell 'ee I will. Never mind when or wheer. And now wheer's the man +as'll go and tell him what I say?" + +No one spoke, and soon after that was heard the regular metallic +_chip_--_chip_--_chip_ of the picks in the black wall of coal, Ebenezer +Parks muttering to himself the while, and thinking of how he could best +revenge himself upon "that boy." + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +'TWIXT FATHER AND SON. + +When her son went home, Mrs Hexton was sitting up very straight and +stern-looking in her chair, with a knitted stocking in one hand, a +worsted-threaded needle in the other, and a handkerchief tied over her +head to keep off the draught, for the new drawing-room was cold. + +Mr Hexton was seated in an easy-chair--at least, he was in the +easy-chair; but it is not fair to say that he was seated, for he was +filling up the chair just as if he had no bones, and making a rather +sonorous noise as he breathed. + +It was past one o'clock, and the servants had gone to bed at ten, soon +after which time Mr Hexton had proposed that they should follow, but +Mrs Hexton had declared her intention of sitting up for her son. + +"Why, what nonsense!" her husband had said. "Come along to bed." + +"You can go, dear," she replied quietly. "I should not be happy if I +did not see him safely back. And, besides, he will want a cup of tea +and a bit of toast." + +"And his face washed, and his feet put in warm water, while his mother +brushes his hair, and fusses over him," said Mr Hexton pettishly. "For +goodness' sake, don't go on petting and coddling the boy like that." + +Mrs Hexton said nothing--only rose from her chair, and placed the +tea-tray and the caddy ready, for they had been brought in the last +thing by one of the maids. Then she lifted the bright copper kettle out +of the fender and placed it on the hob, where it began to sing a song of +its own composition, and she ended by taking up three pairs of her son's +stockings to darn. + +There was not the slightest need for Mrs Hexton to perform such a duty +as this, but she had darned her husband's stockings when they were poor +people, and she could not easily give up her old habits when they were +comparatively rich. And now, as she ran the long, glistening needle in +and out amongst the worsted threads, her husband sat back in his chair +and said it was absurd; but all the same, as he watched her with +half-closed eyes, he thought what a good woman she was, and how happy it +made him to think that she was not in the slightest degree spoiled by +prosperity, while he fervently prayed that she might continue as she was +to the end. + +Then, as he sank back lower and lower, thinking how earnestly his son +had set about his task of reforming and improving the matters in the +mine, he began to recall the terrible accidents that had happened at +their pit, and at those in the neighbourhood. It would be a grand +thing, he thought, if Philip, with his fresh and earnest mind and his +knowledge, could do something to lessen the dangers of the pitman's +life; though he rather trembled for the result, knowing as he did how +hard it is to get over old prejudices. + +Then all became very misty and strange; and to his blurred eyesight it +seemed as if Mrs Hexton's grey stocking-covered hand got itself mixed +up with her head, and her head appeared to be mixed up with the copper +kettle on the hob, and then it was his wife who was singing like the +tea-kettle, and then all was blank till he started up wide awake, for +there was a noise at the door, and Mrs Hexton immediately began to make +the tea. + +"Have I been asleep, mother?" said Mr Hexton. "Hallo, Phil! back +again?" + +"Why, father--mother!" exclaimed the young man, "why haven't you both +gone to bed?" + +"I thought you'd find a cup of tea so refreshing," said the old lady +briskly; and, waiting till it had stood long enough, she poured out a +cup, placed a pair of slippers a little more in front of the fire, her +work in a basket, and ended by kissing her son and saying good-night. + +He followed her to the door, where she laughingly turned round and bade +Mr Hexton make haste up, kissed her son once more, and left him with +his father. + +"Nice to be you, Phil," said the latter. "Oh, she has left out two +cups! I'll have a cup of tea with you." + +This he took, and then, as father and son sat together, the latter was +the first to speak. + +"I've had rather a scene to-night, father," he said. + +"Scene! What! Not an accident?" said Mr Hexton, nearly upsetting his +tea in his excitement. + +"No, father, no accident; but the pit was so foul to-night that I +believe if I had not interfered the place would have fired." + +"They will do it, Phil; they will do it," said Mr Hexton, as soon as +his son had finished his narration. "I've tried all I know to stop it, +but they'll run any risk, especially if they've tried the same thing +before without accident." + +"Yes, I see that," said Philip. "It is so hard to make them see that +there is danger at one time that does not exist at another." + +"Exactly," said the elder seriously. "But I'm very sorry about that +fellow Parks. He's a spiteful and dangerous man. I don't like his +owing you a grudge." + +"I'm not afraid, father," said Philip. "I've right on my side. I +believe, too, that he is a great coward." + +"Maybe," said Mr Hexton thoughtfully; "but still I would much rather it +had not happened. Bother the fellows! it does seem hard; we are always +striving to give them the means of working in safety, and in return they +fly in your face." + +"We'll forgive them that, father," said the young man smiling, "but we +must have the rules of the mine strictly carried out." + +"I'll back you up, Phil, in anything in reason," said Mr Hexton; "but +look here: be careful--don't trust yourself in that fellow's way, my +boy. I'm afraid he's an ugly character, and there's no knowing to what +lengths spite will lead an ignorant man. What shall you do? Haul him +up before the bench for threatening language--have him bound over?" + +"No, father," said Philip quietly, as he sipped his tea. "I shall take +no further notice. I have shown the men to-night that I mean business, +that I am working for their good; and I have no doubt in the end that +they will learn to respect me as well as obey." + +"And I wanted to stop him from going down the pit," said Mr Hexton to +himself, as he sat watching his son. + +"It will be a long fight, father," cried Philip, rising and holding out +his hand. "Good-night!" he said with a smile; "we've declared war, but +I mean to win." + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +IN GREAT PERIL. + +There could be no doubt that Philip Hexton did mean to win the fight, +and there could also be no doubt that he was going the right way to work +to win it. The greater part of the men met his efforts for their good +in a surly, churlish way, as people will meet any one who tries to +interfere with their cherished notions; but there were others, few +though they were, who had the good sense and honesty to own that the +young deputy was right, and to join with him in trying to reform the +ways of the men in the pit. + +Ebenezer Parks went on with his work as usual, showing no disposition to +resume the quarrel; but Philip noticed one thing, and that was--the man +never would look him in the face. No sooner did the young deputy come +in sight than Parks bent over his work, or stooped to trim his lamp with +the wire that passed through it; he never once gazed frankly and openly +in Philip's eyes. + +Time wore on, and there could be no doubt about it, the mine regulations +were better kept, and hence there was less likelihood of an accident +occurring, though, of course, the utmost vigilance could not protect +those who worked from mishap. + +Philip, with his father's help, devised two or three alterations in the +ventilation of the mine, which also made it less fiery, as the pitmen +called it; but his great project was to have another shaft. + +"You see, father," he said, "we burrow into the ground like animals, but +we do not take their precautions. A fox or a rabbit always has a second +hole by which he can escape if there is anything wrong with the first. +Ours is without doubt a dangerous pit, and if anything happened to block +the shaft, the poor fellows down below would be entombed." + +"Yes, my boy," said Mr Hexton grimly; "but it doesn't cost the rabbits +or the foxes ten thousand pounds to make their second hole. It would +cost us that. We must be content with one." + +That question of a second shaft was always cropping up in Philip +Hexton's brain, for, said he to himself, it is a sin against four +hundred men to let them go down that place without providing them with +proper means of escape. But upon going into calculations he found that +the cost of a second shaft would approach the ten thousand pounds before +all was ready, and he knew that the proprietors would not listen to such +a proposition. What, then, was to be done? + +The answer came to him one evening like a flash of thought; and, +starting off, he made his way through the scrubby patch of woodland on +the hill-slope joining the colliery lands to the next property. + +It took him some time to find that of which he was in search, for the +neglected ground was overgrown with tangled brambles, hazels, and +pollards; and a stranger would have at once looked upon the wilderness +of a place as unturned ground. But Philip knew better. He was growing +weary of his search, however, when he made his discovery in a fashion +that he did not anticipate, for, just as he was forcing his way through +a tangled part of the wood, and parting the shady hazel stubbs that +arrested his progress, his feet seemed to drop suddenly from beneath +him, and he went down into semi-darkness, to hang clinging with the +energy of despair to the hazel boughs; while, had he had any doubt about +his position as he swung gently to and fro, he was taught by the +horrible echoing plash that came up from hundreds of feet below, as the +mass of crumbling earth and roots, upon which he had stepped, fell into +the water. + +For a few moments the horror of his position seemed to paralyse him, and +such a strange sense of terror mastered his faculties that he felt that +he must lose his hold and fall into the depths, to be drowned in a few +moments in the awful pit. For this was the place of which he had been +in search--the shaft of the old colliery, that had not been worked for +quite a hundred years; a place almost forgotten, but of whose existence +he was sure, for in the plan of their own mine he had found allusions to +it and some former manager had made notes of the risks that might be +encountered if any of the galleries were driven far enough to tap either +of those belonging to the ancient mine, which would contain water enough +to flood their own. + +The elastic hazel boughs had bent down and down until Philip Hexton's +head was five or six feet below the crumbling edge of the mine shaft; +and as he endeavoured to obtain more hold for his feet, he only seemed +to kick the earth and stones away, causing them to fall and send up a +repetition of that horrible echoing plash. Below him, as he glanced +down once, all was terrible darkness, though even in his horror he +noticed that the sides of the old shaft were covered with beautiful +ferns. Above him was a tangle of crossing and interweaving branches, +twigs, and brambles, and if, as might take place at any moment, the +boughs by which he held should break, there was no hope for him. He +knew that he must die, and probably his fate would never become known. + +He hung there swinging to and fro for some moments, making not the +slightest effort, till the horribly paralysing shock had somewhat passed +away. Then, as his nerves began to resume their wonted tone, he tried +to think. + +All depended upon his being perfectly cool, and calling up all his +strength of mind he made his plans. + +If he struggled vigorously he knew that the chances were that he would +tear the rotten moss-grown stubb up by the roots; if he swung about too +much the branches would give way at their intersection with the low +stem; if he should force his feet into the crumbling sides he would only +kick down more stones and soil, and undermine the hazel roots. + +It was indeed a position of awful peril--one in which, though such a +proceeding would have been folly, most people would have exhausted +themselves by shrieking for help where there was not a soul within +hearing. + +To and fro, with a gentle pendulum-like swing, as he let himself hang to +the full extent of his muscles, swayed Philip Hexton; and then, with the +greater part of his horror mastered by enforced coolness, he made his +first effort for life. + +There was no other plan open to him but to draw himself up hand over +hand with as little effort as possible; and this he began to do. + +There were plenty more hazel boughs above his head if he could reach +them, and each of these, if added to those he grasped, would strengthen +his position, for they came from other roots; and very cautiously he +made his first effort, drawing himself steadily up till his chin reached +his hands, and then, after waiting a moment, loosening his hold with one +hand, and with a lightning-like rapidity getting a fresh grasp. + +In spite of his efforts to change his position cautiously, the hazel +boughs swayed to and fro in a most ominous fashion, and he could hear +the loosened earth and stones falling below him in a shower. + +It was enough to unnerve him, but he strove on, knowing now that it was +a question of moments, and that if he could not grasp the boughs of +another stubb the one from which he was banging must give way, and be +precipitated with him into the abyss. + +The splashing below was horrible, and it seemed to be multiplied to a +vast extent by the echoes, till the noise came up like a strange hissing +roar. + +But there was not a moment to lose; and though the suggestion of his own +fall nearly unnerved him he kept up the struggle hand over hand, but +with the knowledge that he seemed to get no higher, for all he did was +to turn the hazel boughs into powerful levers strong enough to begin +tearing the stubb up by the roots. + +One by one he could hear them crack on the side farthest away, and the +great bush came slowly bodily over towards him, bringing bough after +bough within his reach; and these he seized, forcing those he before +clung to down beneath him into the pit. + +But still he seemed to get no higher, and--horror of horrors! he could +now see the roots of the hazel coming over towards him. + +_Crack_, _crack_, in a dull heavy way, they kept being torn asunder, and +it soon became evident that the bush was only held now by one of its +stoutest roots. The soft earth showered down upon the panting man, and +his muscles quivered under the tension to which they were exposed; but +now he was able to rest his arms to some extent by clinging to the +branches below him with his legs. + +Was there no hope? Such a short distance to climb if the hazel stubb +would only hold; but he dare now hardly move, for the slightest +vibration brought down more earth, and, moment by moment, be expected to +hear the final crack, and then to feel the rush of the air as he was +hurried down into the black depths below. + +It was very horrible, and so great was the strain upon his mind as well +as muscles that for a moment he found himself thinking whether it would +not be a relief to loosen his hold and fall into oblivion. + +"When I have made my last effort!" something seemed to whisper to him, +and with it came the thought that if he were merely clinging to the +hazel stems over the side of a road by some woody bank, he would feel +none of this paralysing fear. The task to win to safety would seem easy +then. Why should it not now? + +It was the triumph of mind over cowardice and ignorant fear; and rousing +his energies, while there was yet time, he looked about for the means of +safety. + +Yes; there it was. He was no nearer the top than when he first made his +attempt at escape. All he had done was to tear the hazel up by the +roots, but it had bent down with it the bough of another stubb, a stout, +tough-looking bough, belonging evidently to a hazel growing farther from +the edge of the shaft. Could he reach that he might better his +position, but the long, tough, thorny brambles that hung down swaying +about were in his way, unless he could make use of them as ropes. + +It was for life, and regardless of their cruel thorns he seized two in +one of his hands and made a snatch higher towards the root of the stubb. + +Another: clinging with his knees to the branches. + +Another: and he had hold of the crumbling, mossy wood, some of which +fell with a quantity of earth. + +Another quick, sharp, despairing effort, and--joy! he had seized the +fresh stout branch that had been bent down by the loosened stubb. + +Another effort, and he would have been on the edge of the shaft, when +there was a sharp tug behind, and he felt himself arrested by the +brambles that had twisted round one of his legs--a slight tug, but +enough to stop him in his perilous position. The tangle of hazel boughs +to which his legs were clinging came away with a fierce rush, an +avalanche of earth fell, and Philip Hexton was once more swinging to and +fro over the awful pit, listening with closed eyes to the rustle and +rush of the great rooted-up hazel, as it fell into the pit. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +A JOURNEY UNDERGROUND. + +Plash! + +One horrible, echoing, weird sound that seemed as if it would never +cease to reverberate against the sides of the pit-shaft, and then a +silence so terrible that Philip Hexton felt as if all was over. + +He unclosed his eyes for a last look towards heaven, and the blue sky +was above him; the great hazel stubb had made a clearance; a feeling of +hope once more filled his breast. He had hold of a stout, tough bough, +and he had only to relieve himself of the clinging bramble to be able to +climb up into safety. + +But he was weak and exhausted now, and it took a greater effort than he +expected before he sank down upon his knees amongst the mossy growth and +thanked God for his escape. + +A young and healthy man soon recovers from a shock, and before long +Philip Hexton was on his way back to his home, with the exultant feeling +upon him that the risk he had run was for the benefit of his fellows, +for he could see now the way to provide, at a very moderate cost, a +second shaft to their own pit. + +There it was already made. It was only a question of acquiring some +fifty or a hundred acres of worthless land with the old pit workings, +and the ridding of those workings from water. They had galleries in +their own mine that he knew nearly reached those of the old, and to +drive from one to the other was the simplest of things. + +The very next day, provided with the old map of the mine, which he had +been studying half the night, he descended the shaft with one of the +shifts of men, and, providing himself with a lamp, he set off alone to +explore some of the old workings which had been given up in consequence +of the dread that at any time the ancient mine might be tapped and their +own pit flooded by the enormous gathering of water. + +It was a long and dreary journey, one which no one saw him undertake, +for the men went off at once to their work; and after going down two or +three of the long black passages Philip felt a strange sense of +hesitation about going farther. + +It was not, he told himself, that he was afraid of journeying alone +there in the dark; and, armed as he was with one of the best of the +Davy-lamps, he had no fear of gas; the choke-damp there was no occasion +to mind, as that followed an explosion; but all the same he felt such a +hesitation as he had never, even on his first descent, felt before. + +"I must be shaken by my adventure," he said to himself laughing; and he +considered for a moment or two whether he should go back and get one of +the overmen for a companion. + +He gave up the idea, though, directly, and went on, forcing himself to +master the nervous sensation and to do his duty like a man. + +There were miles of galleries in the pit, and it was no light task to +make a way through mud and water between the crumbling walls. Here and +there great patches of the roof had tumbled down, and in places he found +that the masses of coal that had been left as pillars had been taken +away, and the ceiling of the pit had come down bodily, so that he had to +sit down and study his map to find a way round to the part he wanted to +reach. + +It was strangely depressing work; but Philip Hexton had a big spirit, +the strength of mind that has enabled Englishmen to make their nation +what it is; and hence no sooner was he stopped by a fall of rock in one +place, than he sought out and found a way round to the other side. + +Sometimes a clear dry part would enable him to get along pretty quickly, +but generally it was very slow travelling; often, where the seam of coal +hewn-out had been a thin one, it was in a position bent double. + +And now, as he exerted himself, he felt less of the feeling of dread. +Once only did it come very strongly, and that was when, after getting by +a very narrow, crumbling part of the workings, he heard a heavy fall of +rock behind, and he crept cautiously back, feeling sure that the passage +by which he had come was stopped up, and that he might be left there to +starve, buried alive, without a prospect of being saved. + +A reference to his map reassured him, and he went on. But now a fresh +doubt assailed him. Suppose his lamp should go out: how would it be +possible to get back? + +If he had been ready to give way to them there were hundreds of such +fear-engendered thoughts ready to oppress him; but he fought against +them steadily, and was the master as he plodded on, with his faintly +marked shadow, distorted and broken as it fell upon the walls, forming +his only companion in his quest. + +"Poor mother!" he thought once; "how alarmed she would be if she could +see me now!" + +"But it must be done," he added, half aloud. "Ours is notoriously a +fiery mine. Ah! it is foul here." + +For the lamp began to sputter and burn dimly within the gauze for a few +minutes, till he reached a more open place, thinking--"If I can get this +task done, I shall have made the mine comparatively safe, and who knows +but the old workings may not prove, with our modern appliances, well +worthy of carrying on?" + +He was so elated by these thoughts that the remainder of his dark +subterranean journey seemed not one-half as difficult; and at last he +seated himself on a block of stone fallen from the roof to consult his +map. + +"Let me see," he said, half aloud, as, with the map spread upon his +knees, he held his lamp so that the dim light might the better fall upon +the canvas-backed paper; "I must be about here; and if so, according to +this plan the old mine workings might be reached through this gallery, +or this, or this." + +He ran his finger along the different lines drawn in red ink, and was +studiously considering how it would be best to proceed if he could win +his father, and, through him, the other proprietors, to his plans, when +all at once he started up, listening attentively, for it seemed to him +that he could hear a sound as of some one working with pick or bar away +ahead of the place where he was seated, and not back in the yielding +seams of the pit. + +_Tap_, _tap_, _tap_! Yes, there it was plainly enough, and from a part +of the pit where there could be no working going on. + +What could it be? Nobody would be in that end of the mine. It was +completely deserted. He did not believe anyone had been in that part of +the great maze for months; there was nothing to bring a pitman there. + +"Now if I were a superstitious fellow," said Philip to himself, "and +ready to believe in ghosts and goblins, I should run back and spread the +news that this part of the pit is haunted by the restless spirit of some +poor pitman who lost his life here years ago, and comes back to work. +But I don't believe in that sort of story, and I'm going to see what it +means." + +All the same he felt very much startled; for it seemed so unaccountable +for anyone to be there. The men would be in the regular seams. There +was nothing to bring them here; and as they toiled at piece-work, they +would not lift a pick except to hew out coal. No overman would be here +without his knowledge; and try how he would to find some reason for the +sound, he was still at fault. The only possibility was that, in some +peculiar way the echo of a hewer's pick ran along the silent galleries, +to be reverberated from this distant wall. + +"Impossible!" he said, doubling up his map and replacing it in his +breast, as he rose and took up his lamp. + +"It is impossible!" he said again, as _tap_, _tap_, _tap_, the regular +stroke as of a pick was heard, and with no small feeling of trepidation +he went to search out the cause of the unusual sound. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +PARKS'S MARK. + +Before he had gone far he became aware that the noise came from the old +gallery that he had marked down as being the most likely to lead nearest +to the workings of the ancient pit, and, after carefully peering down +it, he held his lamp above his head to gaze in farther. But he could +see nothing; and suddenly the noise ceased. + +With a quick motion Philip thrust the tall, thin lamp inside his flannel +mine-coat and buttoned it up, for the thought suddenly struck him that +if anyone was at work there he would be sure to have a light. + +It turned out as he expected, for there, upon a ledge of rock about +fifty yards ahead, stood a Davy-lamp, shedding its soft dull rays +around, so that some fell upon a wall of coal, which glistened in the +light as if it had been newly cut. + +"It is very strange," thought Philip. "Why should anyone be at work +here? It is dangerous, too. The old mine full of water must be close +behind." + +"Well," he said, "Davy-lamps are not at all ghost-like things, so let us +see what it all means;" and going cautiously forward, with his own lamp +hidden, he crept near enough to see that there was a heavy iron bar +lying upon the flooring of the wide chamber, for the gallery had been +opened out here, and beside it a heap of newly-chipped coal, the result +of an effort evidently being made to bore through into the ancient pit. + +"Why, it is treachery!" exclaimed Philip mentally. "Someone is trying +to flood--Ah!" + +A tremendous blow fell upon his head, and he dropped to the ground, +motionless, stunned as it were in body; but with every faculty of his +mind quickened, and, with his eyes half-closed, he saw a dark figure +stride across him, a short iron bar in his hand, pick up the lamp and +hold it down. + +"Yes, I ar'n't made no mistake, Muster Hex'on. I said I'd mak' my mark +on yo, and yo've got it this time. How came he here?" + +The man stood in a listening attitude for a few moments, and then, +apparently satisfied, raised his bar to strike again. + +"That first un seems to hev done it," he said with a coarse laugh. +"Spying, that's what he was about. Now I'll give them a job." + +He set down the lamp once more upon the ledge, picked up the big bar, +and began to drive it heavily in the hole he had made in the coal, the +great bar going in quite three feet at each stroke, while Philip lay +watching him, paralysed still in body, but seeing all that took place. + +At the end of half-a-dozen strokes the bar seemed to go through farther, +and as the great miner drew it back a little stream of dirty water came +trickling through, and Parks stood watching it intently. + +"I knowed it wur theer," he muttered; "but it'll never make no head if I +don't open it a bit more." + +He hesitated for a moment, and then, raising the bar once more, drove it +through with all his force. + +The effect was very different to what he had anticipated, for he must +have dislodged a goodly-sized piece of coal on the other side, and as he +snatched back the bar there was a fierce rush of water in a spurt as big +as a man's arm, whose flash Philip Hexton just saw, and then the lamp +was extinguished. + +The noise was so great--such a fierce, hissing roar--that the cry +uttered by Ebenezer Parks was half drowned; while, in less time than it +takes to tell it, the young deputy felt a sudden shock as a rush of cold +water bathed his face and head, acting so magically that he rose +quickly, and, with the water rising above his ankles, began to feel his +way along the stony wall, as fast as he could, in the direction in which +he had come. + +The confusion from the blow was rapidly passing away, cleared as it was +by a great horror--that of being overtaken and drowned in the flooding +mine, and, sometimes striking himself heavily, but always making +progress, he waded on. + +Still it was slow work, for the water seemed to hinder him, and he had +reached a curve where the gallery took a fresh direction when there was +a fiercer roar behind, one which betokened that the water was forcing +for itself a greater way; and so it proved, for in a very few moments +the rushing icy stream was above his knees. + +It was very horrible there in the darkness, listening to the gurgling +rush of the water, ever increasing in violence; but forgetting self for +the moment, Philip wondered where his assailant could be, and then, +hearing nothing, he began to think of the men in the pit, and whether +they would have time to escape. + +All depended, he knew, upon whether the wall of coal between the two +mines stood firm where Ebenezer's bar had not struck, and hoping this +would be so, but despairing of his own life now, he waded on, the water +being far above his knees. + +"I shall never find my way in the dark," he groaned, with a chilly +feeling of horror creeping over him, and placing his hands above his +throbbing breast as if to check the beating of his heart, he uttered a +cry of joy, for they came in contact with the lamp. + +It was, of course, extinct as he tore it from his breast, but he had +matches in his pocket far above where the water had yet reached. + +It was a risk, but he must chance the gas. The air caused by the +rushing water might have swept it away, and trembling so that he could +hardly perform the office, he drew key and matches from his pockets, +nearly, in his agitation, dropping the lamp in the rushing stream that +swept against his legs. + +He saved it, though, and struck a match, which went out directly, and +another and another shared its fate. The next burned brightly, though, +and no explosion following, he lit the lamp, trimmed the wick, dropped +the match in the water, where it went out with a faint hiss; and then, +closing the gauze, he held the feeble Davy above his head. + +It was a star of hope, though, to him; and so it must have been to +Ebenezer Parks; for as the rays shone out, there came from far behind a +wild, despairing yell, and then, as Philip turned towards it, there was +a fierce hissing rush, the stream doubled in volume, he was swept +against the wall, and it was only by hurrying with it that he was able +to keep his feet. + +Twice over he essayed to turn, but the effort was vain. It was +impossible to battle with it. All he could do was to hold his lamp up +so as to guide him from striking against the wall, and go with the +rushing stream, that now increased so in depth that he felt that before +long he might be compelled to swim. + +The hours or more that he passed in that flood of rushing waters seemed +afterwards like some terrible confused dream to the young man, for it +was long enough before he found himself in a part where the galleries +took an upward inclination, and he gained a place where, faint and +exhausted, he could rest with the water only about to his knees, and +draw out the map, by whose help he at length made out where he was. + +Even then he had a long and arduous trial before he managed to wade to +the foot of the shaft late at night, to find lights burning and the +pumping-engine at its fullest speed, but unable to arrest the steady +rise of the water, which, by the next day, had completely drowned the +workings, though its progress was sufficiently slow to enable the men to +save their lives before it came upon them in the lower seams. + +A fortnight elapsed before the pit was once more drained, during which +time Philip had been seriously ill, suffering greatly from the shock. + +His first inquiry was for Ebenezer Parks, whose body, however, was not +found for some time, where it had been forced into a cranny by the +stream; and in strange corroboration of the tale Philip Hexton had to +tell, his great muscular hand still grasped the big iron bar, round +which the muscles were as tense as steel. + +Poor wretch! In the gratification of his miserable malice he had done +much mischief and had lost his life; but he had hastened Philip Hexton's +plan of utilising the shaft of the old mine, which his villainous act +had drained, and the result before long was that the old pit property +was purchased for a mere song, the galleries fully opened out, and the +mine, over which Philip became overseer-in-chief, was acknowledged with +its double shaft to be the best-ventilated and safest in the land. + +The best proof of which was that for the next ten years there was not a +single serious accident; and, as Mrs Hexton declared to her friends, +all through the thoughtfulness of her brave boy. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Son Philip, by George Manville Fenn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SON PHILIP *** + +***** This file should be named 21382.txt or 21382.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/3/8/21382/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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