the most part their gains are
barely sufficient for their wants; and whether they are lucky or unlucky
in that respect, the toil is always hard--so hard that few of them
retain health or strength sufficient to go underground beyond the age of
forty-five, while hundreds of them find an early grave, owing to disease
resulting from their peculiar work, or to accidents. These last are
usually occasioned by the bursting out of collections of water which
flood the mines, or the fall of masses of timber, or the premature
explosion of blast-holes. At other times the men lose hold of the
ladders--`fall away' from them, as they express it--or stumble into a
winze, which is a small shaft connecting level with level, in which
latter case death is almost certain to ensue, many of the winzes being
sixty feet deep. In St. Just you will see many poor fellows who have
been blinded or maimed in the mines. Nevertheless Cornish miners are a
contented, uncomplaining race of men, and Cornwall is justly proud of
them."

"I am much interested in what you tell me," said Clearemout; "in fact I
have come here for the purpose of making inquiry into mines and mining
concerns."

"Then you will find this to be the very place for you," said Oliver.
"My uncle, Mr Donnithorne, and Mr Grenfell, and Mr Cornish are
intimately acquainted with mining in all its phases, and will, I am
certain, be happy to give you all the information in their power. As to
the people of St. Just and its neighbourhood, you will find them most
agreeable and hospitable. I can speak from personal experience,
although I have only been a short time among them."

"I doubt it not," replied Mr Clearemout with a bland smile; "my own
limited experience goes far to corroborate what you say, and I hope to
have the pleasure of still further testing the truth of your
observations."

And Mr George Augustus Clearemout did test their truth for several
weeks after the picnic. He was received with kindness and hospitality
everywhere; he was taken down into the mines by obliging agents, and was
invited to several of the periodical business dinners, called
"account-dinners," at which he met shareholders in the mines, and had an
opportunity of conversing with men of note and wealth from various parts
of the county. He dwelt, during his stay, with old Mr Donnithorne,
and, much to the surprise if not pleasure of Rose, proved himself to be
a proficient on the guitar and a good musician.