'An' then there was that 'ooman who went mad down there,' put in another.
'Iss,' the landlord said to me, 'walked over the cliff, she did.'
'Tedn't a place I'd go near at night, anyway,' said the skittle player.
'Nor me,' agreed the old man with the accordion. 'I'd be scared o' seeing the death fetch o' one o' they women.' And he chuckled softly to himself.
'I don't care what 'ee say,' put in the landlord, 'I reckon 'ee knaws summat. One way and another 'ee's got control of the whole mine. Bought the other adventurers out for next to nothing, 'I'm thinking.'
'Then why was he one of the ones that wanted to knack her?' asked the skittle player.
The landlord shook his head. 'Dunno,' he said. 'Mebbe it was so as he could get control of the mine.'
In the short silence that followed I leaned across to the landlord and asked, 'Is it Captain Manack you're talking about?'
He gave me a quick glance. 'No. The old man. Captain Manack is his son. Why? Do you know'n?'
'Mebbe,' I said. 'Where's he live?'