hard. But that doesn't matter in the least ; I
am come to see Cornwall as it is. I don't want
any special weather for me, you know. On the
contrary, I should prefer seeing everything
under the same aspect us that in which it is
generally known to the inhabitants. Among
other things, I expect to see the Land's End,
and the Lizard, and Michael's Mount, and
Kainance Cove, and the Logan Rock, and
Restormel Castle, and the Church of St. Neots,
and the China Clay Works, and the pilchard
fishery, and the deepest mine in the county.
And, moreover, though they don't quite like
putting it down in the book, I expect to see
you, my dear boy, at your natural work—
reaping the fruits of the storm, and heading the
wreckers of Treslisick."

O! think of me, as I stood battling with the
gale on the heights of the Lizard, and drenched
to the skin on the beach at Kainance. Think of
me, not as a wrecker, but as nearly wrecked,
through the clumsiness of Swilsbury, on that
dreary midnight voyage, when they would
persist in going across the bay, to be present at
the " tucking" of the pilchards. Think of me
during the whole of that time, facing the wind
and rain by sea and land; plunging through
Atlantic waves, driving over barren heaths, and
swampy tracks, and all to see things which I had
seen a dozen times before in bright and pleasant
weather. And last of all, think of me when I
found myself one fatal day down three hundred
fathom deep in the earth, and reflected that I
had to climb that distance again before I could
rejoin my wife and children!

In the whole of that highly objectionable list,
which Littermere and Swilsbury had drawn
up of places to " do," the item which was the
most offensive was certainly that of " mines."
Perhaps my objections to the pilchard project
had been almost equally strong, but still I can
look back upon that excursion with comparative
complacency. Indeed, there was not wanting
one moment in that miserable night, when I
might almost be said to be carried away by a
kind of vindictive joy—a feeling highly
reprehensible, no doubt, but still hugely pleasing at
the time—and that was when Swilsbury
succumbed to the mutability of things, and paid an
unwilling tribute to the shrine of Neptune. I
confess that when I saw the convulsions of that
stubborn frame, there vibrated within me a
chord of savage delight. But in the matter of
the mines, I can find no palliative whatever.

I have by nature a well-grounded antipathy
to mines of all kinds. The fact is, that we
have never, as a family, been well treated by
them. The Pendraggles, in their generations,
have, like all Cornishmen, made their little
ventures in these speculations, and the result has
always been the same: namely, to cramp the
Pendraggle income, and diminish the Pendraggle
property. Now, Swilsbury, who was always
making odd acquaintances about the place,
had fallen in, the day before, with a mining
captain, a Captain Dick, and had settled
the matter there and then; so that, when
we got to the mouth of the mine, there
was the captain waiting to receive us. He
was a sinewy-looking little man, of wiry
frame, who seemed to have sweated himself
down to attenuation point, by repeated descents
into the dark pit before us. I was glad to find,
however, when we came up to him, that he was
not at all disposed to look upon our proposal as
a light and trifling matter.

"Now then, gentlemen," he said, " have
you quite made up your minds to go down the
mine? Remember, I'm going down to inspect
the mine thoroughly, so, if you go, you must
consent to be down rather longer, perhaps, than
you may find pleasant. It isn't altogether easy
work, gentlemen, going through our mine; you
won't be always able to walk upright, you
know," looking hard at the long legs of Littermere;
"and it's also very hot down there, and
very wet," glancing on to Swilsbury, and then
to me. " If, however, you do go, you must
promise to obey my directions, but I warn you that
you've got some work before you, and that
you'd better not take it in hand unless you feel
confident you will be able to carry it through."

I fancied I saw here a kind of last chance of
escape, so I nodded my head gravely, in
corroboration of all the difficulties that Captain Dick
had stated.

But I might have continued nodding to this
very day, for any good which that motion
produced in the hardened hearts of Littermere
and Swilsbury. Of course they felt
quite equal to it—what did Captain Dick take
them for? Did he suppose they were made of
gingerbread? Certainly they were ready to go,
and ready to go at once. And Swilsbury made
one step towards the ladders, as though with the
intention of showing us the way.

"No, no!" said the little captain, running on
ahead and stopping him; " you mustn't start
like that. The first thing to do is to put on
proper dresses, and then you must allow me to
go first."

The proper dresses turned out to be regular
mining dresses. The captain showed us into a
room, where we arrayed ourselves in those
hateful garments—everything was changed, even
to our boots; and, in this last respect, a nice
change it was, for the boots that fell to my share
were so large and heavy that when once I had
set them in motion they seemed to walk me off
in any direction they pleased. To crown all, we
were furnished with miners' hats, thick enough
to fend off any stray rocks that might come
tumbling about our heads, and on the top of each of
these was fixed a lighted candle, to enable us
to grope our way down in the dark abysses.

"And now," said Captain Dick, surveying us
all three with great complacency, " if you will
follow me, gentlemen, we will begin the descent."

What a descent that was! down, down,
ladder after ladder, into the very bowels of the
earth, our candles just sufficing to render the
thick darkness visible. Down into a hot, clammy,
stifling atmosphere, fit only for the lungs of
salamanders.