'Of course not,' I said.
'Okay. Well, this is wot 'appened las' night. We came da'n the mine ter find the ol' man — remember? The Capting seemed ter know where 'e'd be. 'E took us straight up into the old workings. We 'ad ter crawl on our bellies through a ruddy tunnel no bigger'n a tree trunk. 'E led us right back where the mine narrers between Botallack and Come Lucky. That's where we fa'nd the ol' man. 'E'd got a biddle an a pile o' drills an' 'e was 'ammering 'is way into the rock face at the end of a gallery. Fair swimmin' in water that gallery was. "Wot are you doin'?" the Capting asks 'im. "Making sure you'll not be lettin' the sea into the Mermaid," the ol' man answers wild like. We took him a't then. Mad as a coot, that's wot 'e is. Slim ast the Capting wot 'e reckoned the ol' man was up ter. The Capting said 'e didn't know. But 'e did, an' so did I. So did Slim, too. We was right under Come Lucky in that gallery. Wot the ol' man was doing was breaking a way fru' into the flooded mine. Water was fair rushin' da'n that gallery. If 'e'd made a breach it'd 'ave come roarin' right through the mine, A't 'ere we wouldn't 've stood a chance.'
So that was it. No wonder he was scared. I lit a cigarette. 'Yer won't say anyfink aba't it to the Capting, will yer?' he said. 'I didn't oughter've told yer.'
'No, I won't say anything,' I told him.
The carriage came rattling back along the gallery. We could hear it even above the roar of the compressor. We started drilling again. By the time the debris had all been cleared and the compressor loaded on the carriage we had finished the charge holes and were working with the long drill. But still we weren't through to the sea bed, though there was plenty of water about. Manack climbed up beside us. 'Well?' he shouted. 'Shall we make it this time?'
I pulled the drill clear and told Friar to go and shut the compressor off. 'No,' I told Manack, 'It'll be the next blasting.'
He glanced at his watch. 'You'll be running it a bit fine,' he said. 'It's past nine already.'
I shrugged my shoulders. 'Can't be helped,' I said. 'Even if I put heavy charges in I don't think it'd break through. It wouldn't be a neat job, anyway.' The compressor engine slowed and coughed into silence. The sudden quiet was uncanny. The trickling sound of water whispered through the gallery. We went back to the dugout then and waited for the blast of the charges. Manack didn't go up to the house this time, though Friar suggested twice that he ought to. We were all a bit jittery.
At last it came — a dull, distant thud. Then the blast of air. We only waited ten minutes. Then we went down in the gig and stumbled along the Mermaid gallery through choking clouds of dust. It clogged nose and mouth and hurt the eyes. I could feel the grit in my teeth and on my tongue. We were walking this time, leaving Slim behind to run the carriage out. I don't know what I expected. We must be very close to the sea bed now. I wouldn't have been surprised to find the gallery blocked by sea water.
But it wasn't. We went on down till the dripping walls told us we were under the sea. The gallery was still open. I don't know how the others felt. But my nerves were strung taut as I walked down that gallery. I didn't know what thickness of rock now stood between us and the sea, and that's a frightening thought to a miner.