ks, or pulling a wire that will break bottles of acid
and some kinds of salts."
"Well, if Tom Dinass did that," said Vores, sharply, "I hope he blew
himself up as well; but it's all a crank of yours, old man. Tom Dinass
never did that. Let the poor fellow alone where he lies, somewhere at
the bottom of the mine."
"Ah, you'll see," said Hardock--"You give my dooty to your fathers,
young gentlemen, and tell them I'd be glad to see them if they'd look in
on me. I'd come up to them, as in dooty bound, but my legs won't go. I
s'pose it's rheumatiz. I want to hear what they'll say."
"Do you think the mine can be pumped dry again, Sam?" said Gwyn,
suddenly, "so as to get to work once more?"
"Do I think I could dive down among the breakers with a ginger-beer cork
and a bit o' wire, and stop up the hole? No, I don't, sir. That mine--
the richest nearly in all Cornwall--is dead, and killed by one man out
o' spite."
Vores caught Gwyn's eye, gave him a peculiar look, and tapped his
forehead; but Hardock caught the movement.
"Oh no, I arn't, Harry Vores. I'm no more cracked than you are; but I
won't quarrel, for you and your wife have been very good to me, and you
did a brave thing when you come down that hole and got us out."
"Yah!" cried Vores, "such stuff. Why, anyone would have done it. You
would for me. There, I don't mean you're mad--only that you've got that
crook in your mind about Tom Dinass. Well, it's a blessing the poor
fellow had neither wife nor child to break their hearts about him."
CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.
THE GENERAL WIND-UP.
The days wore on, and the Colonel and Major shook their heads at Sam
Hardock when he made his accusation as to the cause of the catastrophe;
while the captain went about afterward in an aggrieved way, for he could
get no one to believe in his ideas. The Colonel and his partner took
the advice of an expert, and in a short time it was announced that no
effort would be made to pump the mine dry, a few hours' trial by way of
test proving that the water could not be lowered an inch.
The work-people were all liberally paid off, and began to disperse,
finding work at different mines; and after several consultations, the
Colonel and his old brother officer being quite of the same mind, an
interview was held with a well-known auctioneer, and the whole of the
machinery was announced for sale.
Just about this period, without saying anything at home, Gwyn and Joe,
who
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