THE NEW MANAGER.
The next day preparations for pumping out the Vaughan commenced; but it
took weeks to get rid of the water which had flowed in in five minutes.
Then the work of clearing the mine and bringing up the bodies commenced.
This was a sad business. A number of coffins, equal to that of the men
known to be below at the time of the explosion, were in readiness in a
shed near the pit mouth. These were sent down, and the bodies as they
were found were placed in them to be carried above. In scarcely any
instances could the dead be identified by the relatives, six weeks in
the water having changed them beyond all recognition; only by the
clothes could a clue be obtained. Then the funerals began. A great grave
a hundred feet long by twelve wide had been dug in the churchyard, and
in this the coffins were laid two deep.
Some days ten, some fifteen, some twenty bodies were laid there, and at
each funeral the whole village attended. Who could know whether those
dearest to them were not among the shapeless forms each day consigned
to their last resting-place?
At last the tale was complete; the last of the victims of the great
explosion at the Vaughan was laid to rest, the blinds were drawn up, and
save that the whole of the people seemed to be in mourning, Stokebridge
assumed its usual aspect.
Upon the day before the renewal of regular work, Jack Simpson,
accompanied by Mr. Brook appeared upon the ground, and signified that
none were to descend until he had spoken to them. He had already won
their respect by his indefatigable attention to the work of clearing the
mine, and by the care he had evinced for the recovery of the bodies.
Few, however, of the hands had spoken to him since his accession to his
new dignity; now they had time to observe him, and all wondered at the
change which had been wrought in his appearance. Clothes do not make a
man, but they greatly alter his appearance, and there was not one but
felt that Jack looked every inch a gentleman. When he began to speak
their wonder increased. Except to Mr. Dodgson, Harry, Nelly Hardy, and
some of his young comrades, Jack had always spoken in the dialect of the
place, and the surprise of the colliers when he spoke in perfect English
without a trace of accent or dialect was great indeed.
Standing up in the gig in which he had driven up with Mr. Brook he spoke
in a loud, clear voice heard easily throughout the yard.
"My friends," he said, "my position here is a new and difficult one, so
difficult that did I not feel sure that you would help me to make it as
easy as possible I should shrink from undertaking it. I am a very young
man. I have grown up among you, and of you, and now in a strange way,
due in a great measure to the kindness of your employers, and in a small
degree to my own exertions to improve myself, I have come to be put over
you. Now it is only by your helping me that I can maintain this position
here. You will find in me a true friend. I know your difficulties and
your wants, and I will do all in my power to render your lives
comfortable. Those among you who were my friends from boyhood can
believe this, the rest of you will find it to be so. Any of you who are
in trouble or in difficulty will, if you come to me, obtain advice and
assistance. But while I will try to be your friend, and will do all in
my power for your welfare, it is absolutely necessary that you should
treat me with the respect due to Mr. Brook's manager. Without proper
discipline proper work is impossible. A captain must be captain of his
own ship though many of his men know the work as well as he does. And I
am glad to be able to tell you that Mr. Brook has given me full power to
make such regulations and to carry out such improvements as may be
conducive to your comfort and welfare. He wants, and I want, the Vaughan
to be a model mine and Stokebridge a model village, and we will do all
in our power to carry out our wishes. We hope that no dispute will ever
again arise here on the question of wages. There was one occasion when
the miners of the Vaughan were led away by strangers and paid dearly for
it. We hope that such a thing will never occur again. Mr. Brook expects
a fair return, and no more than a fair return, for the capital he has
sunk in the mine. When times are good you will share his prosperity,
when times are bad you, like he, must submit to sacrifices. If disputes
arise elsewhere, they need not affect us here, for you may be sure that
your wages will never be below those paid elsewhere. And now I have said
my say. Let us conclude by trusting that we shall be as warm friends as
ever although our relations towards each other are necessarily changed."
Three rousing cheers greeted the conclusion of Jack's speech, after
which he drove off with Mr. Brook. As the men gathered round the top of
the shaft, an old miner exclaimed: "Dang it all, I ha' it now. I was
wondering all the time he was speaking where I had heard his voice
before. I know now. As sure as I'm a living man it was Jack Simpson as
beat us back from that there engine-house when we were going to stop the
pumps in the strike."
Now that the clue was given a dozen others of those who had been present
agreed with the speaker. The event was now an old one, and all
bitterness had passed. Had it been known at the time, or within a few
months afterwards, Jack's life would probably have paid the penalty,
but now the predominant feeling was one of admiration. Those who had,
during the last few weeks, wearily watched the pumping out of the
Vaughan, felt how fatal would have been the delay had it occurred when
the strike ended and they were penniless and without resources, and no
feeling of ill-will remained.
"He be a game 'un; to think o' that boy standing alone agin' us a', and
not a soul as much as suspected it! Did'st know o't, Bill Haden?"
"Noa," Bill said, "never so much as dream't o't, but now I thinks it
over, it be loikely enoo'. I often thought what wonderful luck it were
as he gave me that 'ere bottle o' old Tom, and made me as drunk as a
loord joost at th' roight time, and I ha' thought it were curious too,
seeing as never before or since has he giv'd me a bottle o' liquor, but
now it all comes natural enough. Well, to be sure, and to think that lad
should ha' done all that by hisself, and ne'er a soul the wiser! You may
be sure the gaffer didn't know no more than we, or he'd a done summat
for the lad at the time. He offered rewards, too, for the finding out
who 't were as had done it, and to think 'twas my Jack! Well, well, he
be a good plucked un too, they didn't ca' him Bull-dog for nowt, for it
would ha' gone hard wi' him had 't been found out. I'm main proud o'
that lad."
And so the discovery that Jack had so wished to avoid, when it was at
last made, added much to the respect with which he was held in the
Vaughan pit. If when a boy he would dare to carry out such a scheme as
this, it was clear that as a man he was not to be trifled with. The
reputation which he had gained by his courage in descending into the
mine, in his battle with Tom Walker, and by the clear-headedness and
quickness of decision which had saved the lives of the survivors of the
explosion, was immensely increased; and any who had before felt sore at
the thought of so young a hand being placed above them in command of the
pit, felt that in all that constitutes a man, in energy, courage, and
ability, Jack Simpson was worthy the post of manager of the Vaughan
mine.
Bill Haden was astonished upon his return home that night to find that
his wife had all along known that it was Jack who had defended the
Vaughan, and was inclined to feel greatly aggrieved at having been kept
in the dark.
"Did ye think as I wasn't to be trusted not to split on my own lad?" he
exclaimed indignantly.
"We knew well enough that thou mightest be trusted when thou wer't
sober, Bill," his wife said gently; "but as about four nights a week at
that time thou wast drunk, and might ha' blabbed it out, and had known
nowt in the morning o' what thou'dst said, Jack and I were of a mind
that less said soonest mended."
"May be you were right," Bill Haden said after a pause; "a man has got a
loose tongue when he's in drink, and I should never ha' forgiven myself
had I harmed t' lad."