'Well, you may as well know about it now as later,' Manack said. 'I'm letting the sea into the Mermaid gallery.'
'Letting the sea in!' The old man's beard shot up. 'You're mad. You can't do it. I won't allow it.'
'I'm afraid that's what I'm going to do.' Manack spoke flatly as though it were all settled.
The old man strode across to the desk. His eyes were wild and he was quivering with anger. 'Do you realise that Wheal Garth belongs to me?'
'Yes, but I provide the money,' replied his son calmly. 'When I came back the mine was full of water right up to the adits. It's only because I've provided the money that you've got it clear of water to the hundred and twenty fathom level. And if there's going to be any more money I've got to let the sea into the Mermaid.'
'I tell you I won't allow it,' thundered the old man, crashing his fist down on the desk.
'You've no alternative,' was the reply. Manack turned to me. 'Leave us, will you?' he said. He had to repeat his request before I moved, so fascinated was I by the astonishing altercation.
As I left the room Manack senior was saying in a voice that quavered. 'For twenty years and more, Henry, I've lived and dreamed of nothing but this mine. I knew it was rich. I knew it. I thought it was only rich at depth. But I found the seam. I found it. I showed it to you the other day. My God, if you'd only gone into the mines as I wanted you to you'd understand what that seam is. There's a fortune in it.'
As I slowly closed the door I heard his son reply in a hard, almost sneering voice, 'Yes, but unfortunately not a tax-free one.'
I went back to the kitchen. The girl was serving food with a stocky little man at her elbow wisecracking in an accent that brought back memories of Kalgoorlie. He had a round cherubic face and the crown of his head was bald. He was like a diminutive monk with his pot belly and round, rosy cheeks. 'Blimey,' he said as he caught sight of me, 'the horiginal wild man from Borneo. Goin' for a swim, mate?' He grinned. It was the widest grin I'd seen in years. It seemed to split his chubby face open and it revealed two red lines of gums propped open by half a dozen decaying teeth. 'You stay in' or just passing through?' he asked.