eman, Denbigh, the man whom
he liked and trusted most. He was accustomed to manage his own affairs,
and rarely took counsel with any one. He was one of those men who are
born with the gift of governing others. He was an organiser, an
administrator, by nature. Had he been born to a throne, his kingdom
would have been well ruled from end to end, and rarely if ever embroiled
with other nations; and the same spirit that would have ruled a kingdom
showed itself here in the ruling and management of his seven hundred
feet of ground.

He never bullied, never swore, no one had ever seen him in a passion. He
gave his orders in a pleasant friendly voice, his manner was quiet, even
to gentleness, but he had a way of getting those orders invariably
carried out that was hard to analyse. If he said a thing was to be done,
it was done, and no one knew of an instance where it was not. He never
countermanded an order, and never receded from a position once taken,
even if in his own heart he recognised later it was an unwise one. But
the forethought and caution, the deliberation in decision that were his
by nature, made the occasions on which he regretted an order very
seldom, and if such there were, no matter, the order stood. He himself
looked upon his word as irrevocable, whether given in promise or
command, and instinctively all who came in contact with him looked upon
it in the same light. The men, when they made engagements with him and
stipulated certain terms for certain work, and other details, never
asked for paper, and even refused it when offered. Whatever came from
those silent, resolute lips they knew unalterable, unanswerable, final,
and absolute; they all trusted his word completely, and it passed
amongst them as other men's bond.

Everything on the claims was well organised, all was kept in smooth
working order. The men had exact hours of work, exact time for changing
off, each his specified work and place on the ground, each his tools,
for which he was accountable as long as he worked there.

Talbot's forethought even went far enough to provide for the
happy-go-lucky and mostly ungrateful creatures who had no idea of
providing for themselves. He established a sick fund, and to this each
of the men who worked for him was obliged to subscribe a trifle out of
his weekly wages. Then in their not infrequent sickness there was
alleviation and comfort waiting for them. If the miners were not his
friends they were his depende