"Tell Mr Trethick I am here."
"Come in, Rumsey," cried Geoffrey's hearty voice. "You're in time for
breakfast, man. You are just right. Uncle Paul's as bilious as--as
himself."
Madge was forgotten for the moment, and the doctor shook hands warmly
with the young man and with Uncle Paul, as a chair was placed for him,
and the bell rung for a cup and saucer and plate, for, truth to say,
though the doctor had partaken of the morning meal, he sometimes rose
from it with a better appetite than was quite necessary for a proper
fulfilment of the digestive functions.
"My dear Trethick," he cried, with the tears in his eyes, "God bless you
for the hint! The news about the mine is glorious."
"That's right," said Geoffrey. "Eat your sole, man, before it gets
cold," for a hot plate had been brought in by Madge herself, who seemed
very eager to attend upon the visitor.
"You--you don't mean to say that you have been investing in mining
shares, Rumsey?" cried Uncle Paul.
"Indeed, but I hope he has," said Geoffrey, heartily.
"I have: every penny we had," cried the doctor.
"More fool you!" cried Uncle Paul. "Why, Rumsey, how can you expect a
man to trust you with his internal management if you go and do such
insane things?"
"Uncle Paul don't believe in the mine even yet," said Geoffrey,
laughing. "That will do, Miss Madge," he said; "I'll ring for more hot
water if we want it."
The doctor saw Madge's appealing look at him, and a half-frightened
glance at Geoffrey, and he saw too, as the girl left the room, that
Uncle Paul was watching him very narrowly.
When he spoke again his manner was changed, and there was quite a
coldness about it, which Geoffrey noticed.
"You hold on," he said, attributing it to nervousness caused by Uncle.
Paul's attitude--"you hold on, Rumsey, and don't you be tempted at any
price to sell. I warrant, my dear fellow, that you've made by that one
stroke a handsome provision for your wife, more than you could have made
by doctoring the whole county."
"Then why don't you invest?" snarled Uncle Paul.
"Because I've got no money," said Geoffrey, coolly. "Why don't you, who
have?"
"Because I'm not quite such an old fool as you think."
The doctor warmed up again under the sunshine of Geoffrey's cheery ways,
and soon after they were walking down towards the cliff, the doctor
thanking Geoffrey again heartily as they parted, the one to make his
rounds, the other to go to the busy mine.
Geoffrey had not gone half-way before he met old Prawle, coming direct
from Wheal Carnac.
"Hallo, old man!" he cried. "How's poor mother? By Jove, I must come
and see the dear old lady again."
"Better--better," said Prawle, hastily.
"That's well; and Miss Bessie?"
"Yes, yes, quite well," said the old man, hastily. "I want to see you."
"Come along down to my office. Been to the mine?"
"Yes, yes. I've been down."
"Ah, you old fox!" cried Geoffrey. "You wouldn't tell me, but you see
we found it out."
"Yes, yes," said Prawle, still speaking in a hasty way, contrary to his
wont. "I'll buy some shares."
"No, you won't," said Geoffrey, laughing.
"Why not, eh? You'll let me?"
"There isn't a share to be had, old man. No, sir, you are too late.
You, knowing what you did, Prawle, should have made friends, and taken
your share of the good things."
The old man looked at him with a curiously sly expression of
countenance.
"None to be had?" he said, dubiously.
"Not a share, Father Prawle: for those who hold them know their value
now, and will not part."
The old fellow hesitated as if he half meant to say something, but he
did not say it, and went his way; while Geoffrey went on to the mine,
busied himself a little about some fresh arrangements for stampers and
improved crushing apparatus, and then descended the mine to seek out
Pengelly.
He found him hard at work superintending a gang of wielders of the pick,
eager to make a goodly show of ore to send up to grass, and Geoffrey
stopped about till the men went off to their dinners, when he and
Pengelly had a long conversation about the state of the mine at this
place.
"I've been measuring and calculating, Pengelly, and I find that you are
so near the water here that not an inch must be cut on the face of the
drive, rich as it is. We must go down, and trust to finding the lode
right away."
"What, and leave this?" said Pengelly. "Why, it's madness."
"Madness or no, I shall not have it touched, Pengelly," said Trethick,
firmly. "Lay your ear against the rock. You can almost feel the beat
of the water. I make it that we are right out four hundred feet under
the sea at high water. We must run no risks."
For answer Pengelly began to ply his pick vigorously on the floor of the
gallery, marking out the portion to be sunk so as to be deeper down in
the rock, and where there would be no risk of the sea breaking in.
Geoffrey had well made his plans by night, and was the last, as he
thought, to leave the pit, and he then went straight to his rooms to
refresh himself before writing to several engineers for various
necessaries that would be required for the greatly increased output from
the mine.