LIFE UNDERGROUND.
At one in the morning the party broke up.
They were to reassemble at nine, to set out in a body on a visit of
inspection to the mines; and the programme was carried out, not indeed
with punctuality, which in Spain is an impossibility, but with no more
than an hour's delay. They set out for Riosa, in carriages, at ten; of
course a diminished party. They alighted at the outskirts of the town
and crossed it on foot, producing, as may be supposed, no small
excitement. The women crowded to the doors and windows, staring with
eager curiosity at this splendid procession of ladies and gentlemen,
arrayed in clothes such as they had never seen in their lives. Like
their husbands, brothers, and sons, these women were pale and
sickly-looking, their features pinched, their eyes dull, their hands and
feet stunted. The visitors also saw a few men suffering from constant
trembling.
"What is the matter? Why do those men tremble so?" asked Esperancita
anxiously.
"They have the palsy," said one of the clerks.
"What is the palsy?"
"They get it by working in the mines."
"Do many of them get it?"
"All of them," said the doctor, who had heard the question. "Mercurial
palsy attacks all who work in the mines."
"And why do they work there, then?" asked the girl, with much
simplicity.
"It is their mania!" said the doctor, with a peculiar smile.
"For my part I think the fresh air up here is much better to breathe
than the foul air down below."
"Why, of course. I would be anything rather than a miner."
They came out at length on a small open space, where some workmen were
busy erecting an artistic pedestal of marble.
"This is the pedestal for the statue of the Duke," said the manager of
the mines, in a loud voice.
"Ah, ah! They are going to put up a statue to you?" said one and
another, gathering round the great man. He shrugged his shoulders with a
deprecating gesture.
"I am sure I don't know. Some absurd notion that has been started in the
miners' wine-shops, I suppose."
"No, indeed, Senor Duque," exclaimed the manager, whose duty it had been
to start the idea which Llera had suggested to him at a hint from
Salabert himself. "No, indeed. The town of Riosa is anxious to erect a
monument of its gratitude and respect to a noble patron who, in the most
critical circumstances, did not hesitate to risk an enormous sum in the
purchase of a half-ruined undertaking, and so to save it from utter
disaster."
"What a beautiful thing it is to do good!" exclaimed Lola, in a voice
full of feeling; and her pretty eyes rested admiringly on Requena.
Every one complimented him; though many of those present knew the
meaning of this magnificent sacrifice. They looked at the work for a
minute or two, and then proceeded on their way. The mines were close to
the town, on the further side. Outwardly they looked like a manufactory
on a small scale, with a few tall chimneys vomiting black smoke. There
was nothing to betray their colossal value. The party went into the
buildings and over the premises where the subsidiary processes of the
works were carried on, and which included carpenters' sheds and forges,
the engineers' office and private room, &c. But what impressed them all
was the sad and sickly appearance of the operatives. They were all
broken with decrepitude, and the Condesa de Cotorraso could not help
saying:
"Only old men seem to be employed."
The manager smiled. "They are not old, though they look so, Senora."
"But they are all wrinkled, and their eyes are sunken and dim."
"There is not a man of forty among them. Those whom you see at work here
are too far gone to work underground. We employ them up here, but they
get less wages."
"And does it take long in the mines to reduce them to this condition?"
asked Ramon.
"Not long, not long," murmured the manager, and he went on: "Such as you
see them, they are always eager to get back to the mine again. The pay
for outside work is so small."
"What do they get?"
"A peseta a day; six reales at most."[F]
They next visited the smelting-houses. The Duke had gone on first with
the English engineer, whom he had engaged to report on the improvements
needed to make the works pay. In these sheds they saw huge furnaces,
piles of cinnabar and stores of mercury.
The furnaces consist of a retort in which the cinnabar is placed with
the combustibles for calcining it. From this retort earthenware
condensers rise, branching off into pipes communicating with each other.
In these pipes the vapours of mercury which rise from the furnace are
reduced by condensation to the liquid state; and the quicksilver is
precipitated and flows out by holes in the lower face of the pipes. But
as a large amount of sooty matter remains, containing particles of
metal, it is necessary to remove and clean the condensers one by one.
This is the work of boys, of from ten to fifteen, who, for seven or
eight hours at a time, breathe an atmosphere charged with mercurial
poison. They next visited the stores and the shed where the mineral is
weighed for sale. And everywhere the operatives wore the same appearance
of decrepitude.
The manager now proposed that they should inspect the hospital. Some
refused, but Lola, who never missed an opportunity of displaying her
benevolent sentiments, set the example, and most of the ladies followed
her, with a few of the men. The Duke excused himself, as he was busy
with the engineers, who were giving him their opinion on the state of
the furnaces.
The hospital was outside the precincts of the mines, near the
burial-ground--no doubt to accustom the inmates to the idea of death,
and also, perhaps, that if the mercurial vapours proved ineffectual to
kill them, those of the graveyard might finish the task. It was an old
building, tumble-down, damp, and gloomy. It was only sheer shame which
hindered the ladies from turning back from the threshold. The doctor,
who had undertaken to guide them, showed them into the different rooms,
and displayed the dreadful panorama of human suffering. Most of the poor
wretches were dressed, and sitting on their beds or on chairs. Their
drawn, corpse-like faces were objects of terror; their bodies shook with
incessant trembling, as though they were stricken with a common panic.
Fear and pity were painted on the fresh faces of their visitors; and the
doctor smiled his peculiar smile, looking at them boldly with his large,
black eyes.
"Not a pleasing picture, is it?" said he.
"Poor creatures! And are they all miners?"
"Yes, all. The atmosphere they live in, vitiated by mercurial vapours,
and the insufficient supply of fresh air, inevitably produce not only
this trembling from acute or chronic mercurial poisoning--which is the
most conspicuous result--but pulmonary catarrh of an aggravated type,
dysentery, tuberculosis, mercurial irritation of the stomach, and many
other diseases which either shorten their lives or render them incapable
of labour after a few years spent under ground."
"Poor things--poor creatures!" repeated his hearers.
The little party who had followed his guidance listened to him with
attention and sympathy. Never had they seen anything so terrible.
Labour--a penalty in itself--was here complicated with poisoning; and
with sincere emotion, full of the best intentions, they suggested means
of alleviating the misery of the sufferers. Some declared that a good
hospital ought to be erected; others suggested a shop, on charitable
principles, where the workmen could obtain good food at a cheap rate;
others urged that the children should not be employed at all; others
again that the labourers should be allowed to work for only a very
limited time.
The doctor smiled and shook his head.
"All this would be admirable, no doubt; I quite agree with you. But
then, as I can but tell you, it would not be a paying business."
They distributed some money among the sick, visited the chapel, where
again they left some money to procure a new robe for the Holy Infant,
and at last got out of the dismal place. To breathe the fresh air once
more was almost intoxicating, and they laughed and talked as they made
their way back to join the rest of the party.
The engineers were explaining to Salabert a new process of sublimation
which might be adopted, and by which not only would the production be
vastly increased, but the residue would be utilised. This was effected
by condensers formed of chambers of very thin brickwork in the lower
part of the funnel carrying off the vapour, and of wood and glass above.
A furnace to which these were fitted could be kept constantly going. The
Duke listened attentively, took notes, raised objections, mastered the
details of the business, and finally his keen nose scented enormous
profits.
As the ladies came up he gallantly postponed the discussion.
"Well, how are my sick getting on, ladies? The sun has shone on them
to-day," said he.
"Badly, Duke, very badly. The hospital leaves much to be desired."
And with one accord they complained of the defects of the building,
painting it in the blackest colours, and proposing improvements to make
it comfortable.
The Duke listened with smiling indifference and the half-ironical
attention we give to a coaxing child.
"Very well, very well; we will have it all seen to. But you will allow
me to set the business on its feet first--eh, Regnault?"
The superintendent bowed with an insinuating smile.
"And the men must work shorter hours," said the Condesa de Cebal.
"And they really must be better paid," added Lola.
"And they ought to have cottages built for them at Villalegre," said
another.
"Ha, ha, ha," shouted the Duke, with a burst of coarse laughter. "And
why not bring Gayarre and Tosti here to entertain them in the evening?
They must be dreadfully dull here, I should think, in the evenings!"
The ladies smiled timidly.
"But really, Duke, you should not make fun of it; it is a serious
matter," said the Condesa de Cebal.
"Serious! I believe you, Condesa. It has cost me three million dollars
already. Do you think three millions are not a serious matter?"
His fair advisers looked at each other, dazzled by the enormous sums
this man could handle.
"But do you not expect to get some interest on your millions?" asked
Lola, who flattered herself she knew something of business.
The Duke again roared with laughter.
"Oh no, Senora, of course not. I shall leave that in the road for the
first passer by. Interest indeed!" Then suddenly turning serious, he
went on: "Who the devil has been putting this nonsense into your heads?
I tell you, ladies, that what is lacking here--sadly lacking--is sound
morality. Make the workman soundly moral, and all the evils you have
seen will disappear. Let him give up drink, give up gambling, give up
wasting his wages, and all these effects of the mercury will disappear.
It is self-evident,"--and he appealed to some of the gentlemen who had
joined the group--"How can a man resist the effects of mining when his
body, instead of food, be it what it may, contains a gallon of bad
brandy? I am perfectly convinced that the majority of those on the sick
list are confirmed drunkards. Do you know, gentlemen, that in Riosa
thrift is a thing unknown--thrift, without which prosperity and comfort
are an impossibility?"
This was a maxim the Duke had frequently heard in the senate; he
reiterated it with much emphasis and conviction.
"But how do you expect thrift on two pesetas[G] a day?" the Condesa
ventured to demur.
"There is no difficulty at all," said the Duke. "Thrift is a matter of
principle, the principle of saving something out of to-day's enjoyment
to avoid the needs of to-morrow. Two pesetas to a workman are like two
thousand to you. Cannot you save something out of two thousand? Well, so
can he out of two. Say he has less, fifteen centimes, ten, five. The
point is to put something aside, and that, however little, is to the
good."
"Merciful Heaven!" the Condesa sighed, "What I do not understand is how
any one can live on two pesetas, much less save."
The engineers of the works invited the party to inspect the machine-room
and laboratory. There was here a remarkably fine microscope, which
attracted general attention. The doctor was the person who used it most,
devoting much of his time to investigations in histology. The manager
requested him to show the Duke's guests some of his preparations. First
he exhibited some diatoms--the ladies were charmed by their various
forms; he also showed them specimens of the animalcule which wrought
the destruction of the famous bridge at Milan; they could not cease
marvelling that so minute a creature should be able to demolish so huge
a structure.
"And think of the myriads of these creatures which must have laboured to
produce such an effect," said an engineer.
Quiroga, so the doctor was called, ended by showing them a drop of
water. One by one they all looked at the invisible world revealed by the
microscope.
"I see one animal larger than the others," said the Duke, as he applied
one of his prominent eyes to the tube of the instrument.
"And you will see all the others fly before him," said the doctor.
"Very true."
"That is a rotifer. He is the shark of the drop of water."
"Look yourself a minute, it seems to me that he is hiding behind
something that looks like seaweed."
"You may call it seaweed. Perhaps he is hiding to catch his prey."
"Yes, yes. Now he has rushed out on a much smaller creature. It is gone,
he must have eaten it."
And the Duke looked up, beaming with satisfaction at having seen this
strange microscopic tragedy.
Quiroga looked at him with his bold gaze, and said with that eternal
ironical smile of his:
"It is the same all the world over. In the drop of water as in the
ocean--everywhere the big fish swallow the small fry."
The Duke's smile faded away. He gave a side glance at the doctor, whose
mysterious countenance showed no change, and said abruptly:
"You must all be tired of science. Let us go to luncheon."
* * * * *
The crowning attraction of the expedition which had brought all this gay
company away from their luxurious homes to so comfortless and barren a
region, was a plan for breakfasting, or rather lunching, at the bottom
of the mine. When Clementina had mentioned this at one of her card
parties it gave rise to a perfect burst of enthusiasm.
"How very original! How odd! How delightful!" The ladies especially were
most eager about it.
By the Duke's advice, they all had provided themselves with elegant
waterproof cloaks and high boots, for water oozed into the mine in many
places, and made deep puddles. Only the evening before, however, several
had taken fright at the immediate prospect, and had given up the
expedition. The Duke had been obliged to order two meals, one in the
mine and one above ground. The braver party who persisted in their
purpose were not more than eight or ten. These had brought their
waterproofs and leggings.
The whole party now gathered round one of the mouths of the mine known
as San Gennaro's pit. Near this shaft there was a building used for
inspecting and weighing the ore, and there the ladies and gentlemen
changed their boots and put on their wrappers. On seeing them thus
prepared for the worst, almost all the ladies declared that they would
after all go down with their friends. A messenger was forthwith sent to
Villalegre for the rest of the waterproofs.
The cage, worked up and down by steam, had been prepared for the
reception of this elegant company. It had two floors, on each of which
eight persons could stand. It had been lined with baize, and a few brass
rings had been fitted to hold on by. The director, the Duke, and the
valiant ladies who had come prepared, went down first. Orders were given
to the engineer to send the lift down very slowly. It began to move, at
first rising a few inches, and then descending with a jerk; then,
suddenly, it seemed to be swallowed in the shaft. The women smothered a
cry and stood speechless and pale. The walls of the shaft were dark,
rough-hewn, and streaming with water; in each division of the cage a
miner with a palsied hand held up a lantern. All, excepting the manager
and the miners accustomed to the motion, had an uneasy feeling in the
stomach, and a vague apprehension which made them incapable of speech,
and they clenched their hands very tightly as they clung to the rings.
"The first gallery," said the manager, as they passed a black opening.
But no one made any remark. This suspension in the abyss, over the
unknown void, paralysed their tongues and almost their power of thought.
"The second gallery," said the manager again as they passed another
yawning hole. And thus he continued till they came to the ninth. There
they heard the sound of voices and saw that the gallery was lighted up.
"We shall take our luncheon here. But first we will go down to the
eleventh gallery to see the works."
When they had gone past the tenth, he shouted as loud as he could:
"Are the brakes on?"
And a voice from below replied:
"No!"
"Put them on at once," he called down.
"It cannot be done," was the answer.
"What, why? The brakes, I say; put on the brakes."
And with a very red face, almost convulsed with excitement, he still
shouted like a madman, while the cage slowly went down, down.
A cold chill fell on every heart. In the upper compartment some of the
women began to utter piercing shrieks. In the lower room a few screams
were heard and all clung tightly to the men's arms. Some fainted. It was
a moment of indescribable alarm. They all thought this was their dying
hour.
And still the manager kept shouting: "The brakes, put on the brakes."
And the voices below, more and more distinct, replying: "It cannot be
done."
When they firmly believed that they were rushing into the nether void
the cage quietly stopped. They heard a peal of loud laughter, and their
terrified eyes beheld, by the tremulous light of tallow candles, a party
of miners whose grinning faces suddenly assumed an expression of the
utmost alarm and dismay.
"What is all this? What is the meaning of this piece of foolery?" asked
the manager, jumping out of the lift in a rage and going up to them.
The men respectfully took off their hats and one of them with a
shame-faced smile stammered out:
"Begging your pardon, Senor, we thought it was a lot of the men, and we
wanted to give 'em a fright."
"Did not you know that we were coming down?" he angrily asked.
"We thought the gentlefolks were going to stop at number nine, where all
the fine doings are to be----"
"You thought, and you thought; you should not think such stupid things."
The Duke recovered the use of his tongue.
"But do you know, my good fellows, that you were playing a very rough
and ready joke on your fellow workmen! Making them fancy they were
rushing to their death!"
"Their death!" echoed the miner who had first spoken.
"No, Senor Duque," said the manager, "if they had not put the breaks on
we should only have been up to our waists in water."
"Is that all?"
"Would you have liked a bath in dirty water?"
"Well, of course it would not have been a pleasant dip. But to see you
in such a state of frenzy made us all think we were being killed
outright. What do you say, ladies?"
The ladies were relieving their minds by exclamations; some crying and
some laughing. Two who had fainted received every attention, their
temples were bathed with cold water, and the Condesa de Cotorraso's
salts were brought into requisition. At last they recovered their
senses, and the rest congratulated themselves on having escaped from
such fearful peril, for they could not bear to think that there had been
none. They looked forward to exciting the sympathy of their friends at
home by the narrative of this horrible adventure, and believed
themselves the heroines of a story in the style of Jules Verne.
The spectacle which presented itself to their eyes when they could bring
themselves to look at it, was not less grand than fantastic. Huge
vaulted arches diverged in every direction, lighted only by the pale
light of a few candles placed at wide intervals. To and fro in these
galleries, with incessant toil, a crowd of labourers were constantly
moving, their gigantic shadows dancing in the dim, flickering light.
Their shouts echoed to the accompaniment of creaking trolley-wheels, and
they seemed possessed with the idea of accomplishing some mysterious
task in a very short time. In some of the galleries the walls were lined
with crystals of native mercury, glittering as though they were covered
with silver. On the other side of these walls, dull regular blows might
be heard, and on going a few yards into the openings which had been
formed here and there, they could see at the end, in an illuminated
cavern, four or five pale, melancholy men hewing out the ore with their
pick-axes. Whenever they stopped to rest it could be seen that their
limbs shook with the palsy, characteristic of mercurial poisoning.
It would have been easy to fancy oneself translated to the world of
gnomes, and the scene of their mysterious labours. Man burrows in the
earth with incessant toil like the mole, tunnelling it in every
direction; but he poisons himself as he eats it away. The gods could get
rid of the human rat without the aid of the cat.
Suddenly Lola gave a piercing shriek, which made every one look round,
but she immediately burst out laughing. A driplet of water from the roof
had trickled down her back. Every one laughed at the accident, but the
mirth was not very genuine. At these depths every one was aware of a
vague uneasiness, even fear, which they strove to conceal. The cage
brought down another large party, but the third time it was almost
empty, for the rest of the company had preferred to be deposited in the
ninth gallery, feeling no particular interest in the mining operations.
Those who had come to the bottom were unfeignedly desirous of finding
themselves as soon as possible in more commodious quarters. They asked
the manager again and again whether they were safe, if there was no fear
of the vault falling in.
"Oh, no," said the manager with a smile. "Only private mines fall in.
This was a Government concern, and everything was done with lavish
security."
"I have been in mines where we have had to send a party of men down to
dig the miners out," said one of the engineers.
"How shocking!" exclaimed the ladies in chorus.
At last they got into the cage again and were carried up to number nine.
Here the scene was very different. It was a long time since this gallery
had been worked, and part of it had been enlarged to form a chamber,
which had been enclosed, boarded, and carpeted; it might have been a
room in a palace. The roof and walls were hung with waterproof cloth and
adorned with trophies of mining. A table was magnificently laid for
fifty or more, and the place was brilliantly illuminated by means of
lustres with hundreds of wax lights. In short every refinement of luxury
and elegance had been lavished here, so that it was difficult to
persuade oneself that this dining-room was in the depths of a mine,
three hundred metres below the surface of the earth.
The guests took their seats with a sense of excitement, a combination of
pleased admiration and vague alarm, which was written on their smiling
but pale faces. The servants in livery stood in a row as if they had
been at home in Madrid. As the first course was handed round, a band,
hidden away in an adjoining gallery of the mine, struck up a charming
waltz tune, and the sounds, softened by distance, had a delightful and
soothing effect.
The ladies, their eyes glistening, tremulous with excitement, repeated
again and again: "How original, how amusing, I am so glad I came, what a
delightful idea of Clementina's!"
Then they tried to be calm and talk of indifferent subjects; but no one
succeeded. The sense of so many tons of earth overhead weighed on their
consciousness through it all. Nay, with some of the men it was the same,
though some were perfectly calm.
Raimundo was, no doubt, the man who thought least of his immediate
surroundings; he was entirely absorbed in his moral predicament.
Clementina, in spite of her professions and promises, was carrying on a
hot flirtation with Escosura. They were placed side by side, exactly
opposite to where he sat. He could see them talking eagerly, and
laughing frequently; he saw him devoted, obsequious, lavish of
compliments and attentions; he saw her complacent, smiling, and
accepting his civilities with pleasure. And though from time to time she
bestowed on Raimundo a loving look in compensation, he could only regard
it as an alms--the crust bestowed on a beggar to save him from death.
What did he care whether he were on the face or in the centre of the
earth, or even if it should fall in and crush him like a fly.
Another person to whom this geographical question was a matter of
supreme indifference was Ramoncito, though from the opposite point of
view. Esperanza was most amiable to him, perhaps because she thought she
could thus the better endure the absence of Pepe Castro. The young
deputy, beside himself with joy, never stirred an inch further from her
side, or for a moment longer than appearances demanded. Triumphantly
happy, he cast occasional glances of condescending grace on the rest of
the company, and when his eyes fell on Calderon's financial face his
emotion was visible; he could hardly forbear from addressing him as
"Papa."
As the meal progressed, the superincumbent earth weighed less heavily
on their souls. Heady wines warmed their blood, and talk revived their
spirits. Every one had forgotten the mine as completely as if they had
been sitting in an ordinary handsome dining-room. Rafael Alcantara was
amusing himself by making Penalver drunk. Encouraged by the laughter of
his companions, who looked on, he did his utmost to befool the
philosopher, addressing him in a loud voice with extreme familiarity,
winking at his allies each time he made some blunder, taking base
advantage, in short, of the worthy gentleman's benevolent and
unsuspicious temper. He had taken upon himself to avenge the whole body
of illustrious pipe-colouring youth for the intellectual pre-eminence
for which the great thinker was noted.
When dessert was served Escosura rose to propose a toast. He was an
object of respect to the "Savages," partly from his corpulence and his
vehement temper, but chiefly by reason of his money. He considered
himself an orator. In a strong, ringing voice, he pronounced a panegyric
on the Duke, whom he repeatedly designated as "that financial genius."
He enlarged on labour, capital, and production; and went on to
politics--his strong point. From the depths of the quicksilver mine he
shot terrific darts at the Ministry, which had failed to give him a
portfolio at the last change of Cabinet.
Salabert replied with much hesitancy, thanking him with grovelling
self-abasement. "No merit of his own beyond industry and honesty had
raised him to the proud position he held (murmured applause). The
nation, the sovereign who had ennobled him, had ennobled a son of toil.
By struggling all his life against a tide of difficulties, he had
succeeded in collecting a handful of money. This money now enabled him
to maintain some thousands of workmen. This was his best reward
(applause). He begged to propose the health of the ladies, whose courage
had brought down to this subterranean hole, and who would leave behind
them, a fragrance of charity and joy, which would live for ever in the
hearts of the mining-folk."
At this instant, simultaneously with the pop of several champagne corks,
a tremendous detonation was heard, making the bravest turn pale.
"There is nothing to be alarmed at," said the manager. "They are
exploding the borings. It is always done at this hour."
It was in truth an impressive moment. The noise of each explosion,
multiplied and repeated by a thousand echoes, was enough to make the
stoutest heart quake with faint alarms. Every one was suddenly silenced,
listening for some seconds, with absorbed anxiety, to the rolling
thunders which shook the earth. The table quivered, and the glasses and
dishes rattled and tinkled.
At this moment, the doctor rose from his chair, and after steadily
eyeing the guests all round with his dark gaze, he raised his glass and
spoke:
"Our illustrious host, the Duke of Requena, has just told us, with a
modesty which does him credit, that the whole secret of his great
fortune lies in industry and honesty. He must permit me to doubt it. The
Duke de Requena represents something more than those vulgar qualities;
he represents force. Force! the sustaining factor of the Universe.
"Force is very unequally distributed among organic beings; some have a
larger and others a smaller share. And in the ceaseless struggle which
goes on among them, the weakest perish, the fittest and strongest
survive. Let us, then, adore in our Amphitryon the incarnation of Force.
Thanks to the force with which Nature has endowed him, he has been able
to subjugate and utilise the smaller share of thousands of individuals
who unconsciously serve his ends; thanks to that force, he has
accumulated his vast capital.
"As I look round on this distinguished company, I observe with pleasure
that all who compose it have also been endowed with a good proportion of
this force, either congenital or inherited, and I can but congratulate
them with all my heart. The only essential thing in the world we live
in, is to have been born fit for the struggle. We must crush if we
would escape being crushed. And, I may add, I also congratulate myself
on standing here face to face with so many chosen of the gods on whom
Providence has set the seal of happiness."
"Hear him, my dear!" whispered Pepa Frias to Clementina. "This is
Mephistopheles' toast, I think."
Clementina smiled faintly. In fact, the doctor's pale, refined face,
with the black hair brushed off his forehead, and, above all, his black
eyes, in spite of an assumption of innocence, were full of a bitter
irony not unworthy of Mephistopheles.
He went on:
"Slavery has existed in every age under one form or another. There have
always been men designated by fate to live in the refined atmosphere of
intellectual enjoyments, in the cultivation of the arts, in luxury and
splendour, and the pleasure to be derived from the society of
intelligent and educated persons; while others again are fated to
procure them the means of such an existence by rude and painful toil.
The pariahs laboured for the Brahmins, the helots for the Spartans, the
slaves for the Romans, the villeins for their feudal lords. And is it
not the same to this day? Of what avail are laws to abolish slavery? The
men who work in the depths of this mine, and inhale the poison which
kills them, are slaves, though not by law--by want of bread. The result
is the same. It is the law of Nature, and so no doubt a holy and
venerable law, that some must suffer for others to enjoy life. You,
ladies, are the descendants of the noble Roman ladies who sent their
slaves to these mines to procure them vermilion to beautify their faces,
and of the Arabs, who used it to decorate the minarets of their palaces
at Cordova and Seville. Ladies, I drink to you, my soul possessed by
admiration and respect, as the representatives of all that is choicest
on earth--Love, Beauty, and Pleasure."
Though the pledge was gallant enough, it seemed uncanny; some muttered
disapproval, and the hostile feeling against the young doctor visibly
increased. There were one or two who hinted, in an undertone, that this
low fellow was making game of them. Rafael Alcantara was eager to pick a
quarrel with him, but he read in the doctor's eyes that he would not
escape without some serious annoyance, and he preferred to pocket the
affront. The ladies regarded him with more benevolence. They thought him
"quite a character." The doctor's speech had certainly left an
unpleasant impression, which Fuentes failed to dissipate, though he
brought out his most original paradoxes.
"Ladies and gentlemen," said he, "I do not propose a toast because I am
not an orator. I hope that ere long this will be recognised as an
honourable distinction in Spain; that when such an individual goes by in
the street it will be said of him with respect: 'he is not an orator;'
as we already say: 'he wears no order of merit.'"
The ladies applauded and laughed at the joke. But whether from the
doctor's words, or whether they were again oppressed by vague fears,
they were all conscious of an uneasy feeling. Every one was cheered when
it was announced that the cage was ready to carry them up. Those who
remained to the last, heard, as they started, a distant chorus, which
came nearer as they rose, till it sounded close by them, and then
mysteriously died away below them without their having seen any one. The
effect was most whimsical. The words they heard were those of an
Andalucian boat song:
Up the river, and up the river,
Water will never run up to the town;
Down the river, and down the river,
All the world is bound to run down.
The engineer remarked in explanation:
"A party of miners, going down in the cage which serves as a
counterpoise to this one."
"I told you so, Condesa," exclaimed Salabert in a triumphant tone. "If
they are in spirits to sing, they cannot be so miserable as you fancy."
The lady was silent for a moment, then she said, with a melancholy
smile:
"It is not a very mirthful ditty, Duke."
This was going on in the upper compartment. In the lower division,
Escosura observed in a scornful tone to the chief engineer:
"Do you know that your young doctor was so rash as to give us a taste of
his materialistic views?"
"Materialistic! I do not know that he is a Materialist. What he prides
himself on being--and the miners worship him for it--is a Socialist."
"Worse and worse."
"To tell the truth," said Penalver, with a sigh, "it is impossible to
come up from the bottom of a mine without having caught a little of the
infection."
At nine in the evening, after dining at Villalegre, the party returned
to Madrid, by special train. They all set out well content with the
excursion. They hoped to amaze their friends by their account of the
underground banquet. The only unhappy person was Raimundo. The
alternations of joy and anguish which Clementina's flirtation occasioned
him had quite quenched his spirit. At last, seeing him so sad and
exhausted, his mistress was merciful. She made him sit by her in the
train, and without scandalising a party who were cured of all such
weakness, she talked to him all the evening, and finally dropped asleep
with her head on his shoulder.
Though a sleeping-car formed part of the train, it was not in favour.
Most of the travellers preferred remaining in the saloons. Towards
morning, however, sleep overcame them all, and they succumbed where they
sat, in a variety of attitudes, some of them by no means graceful.
Ramon Maldonado was on a pinnacle of triumph and happiness. Esperancita,
to judge by appearances, must certainly love him. He felt lifted above
the earth, not merely by the natural superiority of his soul, but by the
ecstasy of joy. His ugly little face was as radiant as a god's. Farewell
for ever to the struggles and obstacles which had hitherto embittered
his life. Free henceforth from the service of sorrow, as are the
immortals, he gloried in his apotheosis, majestically serene.
He, too, had seated himself next the idol of his heroic heart, and for
some hours sat talking to her in dulcet tones--of English cobs, and of
the great pitched battles which were being constantly fought in the
municipal council, and in which he bore an active part; till the
innocent child, soothed by the monotonous and insinuating discourse,
closed her eyes, with her head thrown back against the cushion.
Maldonado remained awake, wide awake, thinking of his happiness.
Rosy-fingered Aurora, stepping over the ridge of the distant Sierra, and
flying swiftly across the wide plain, peeped through the blinds of the
carriages, diffusing a dim and subdued light, and still he was hugging
himself in contentment.
Esperancita opened her eyes and smiled at him with a tender smile which
thrilled the deepest fibres of his lyric soul. At this instant a lark
began to sing. In Ramoncito the god was each moment growing more
distinct from the man; intoxicated with love and happiness he murmured
into the girl's ear, in a voice tremulous with emotion, a few incoherent
and ardent phrases, the expression of the divine madness. Esperanza shut
her eyes again--to hear that music better?
When he had exhausted all the superlatives in the dictionary to describe
his passion, the poetic young civilian thought to achieve the task of
conquest by showing the damsel, as in a vision, all the glories he could
shed upon her: "He was an only son, his parents had an income of a
hundred and ten thousand reales[H] a year; at the next ensuing elections
he intended to stand as candidate for Navalperal, where his family had
estates, and if only he had the support of the Government he was certain
to succeed. Then, as the Conservative party were greatly in need of new
blood, he believed he should soon get an appointment as under secretary,
and--who could tell?--by-and-by, at a change of Ministry, find himself
entrusted with a portfolio."
The girl still kept her eyes shut. Ramoncito, more and more excited,
when he had ended this catalogue of brilliant prospects, bent over her
and whispered in impassioned tones: "Do you love me, dearest, do you
love me?"
No answer.
"Tell me, do you love me?"
Esperancita, without opening her eyes, answered curtly:
"No."