The old man was watching me. His eyes had a cunning look. He edged away down the gallery. Captain Manack got hold of my arm. I flung him off. I was within a few feet of the old man now. I said, 'You think I'd help you to work this mine, knowing what I do of the way you treated my mother? No,' I shouted. 'Instead I'll blast a way through to the sea for you. I'll flood the place. All your life you've thought of nothing but that damned lode of tin. Well, you'll never touch it. You'll never touch it because of what you did to Ruth Nearne. When the sea comes roaring into this gallery, that'll be the end of your dreams. Then it'll be your turn to walk over the cliffs.'
The old man was trembling. 'Don't do it,' he said. 'Don't do it. The mine wants to be worked. It has the pride of a rich mine. It must be worked. And if you try to let the sea in, it'll kill you. I've warned my son. Now I'm warning you. The mine will kill you.'
He turned then and went quickly off down the gallery. And I let him go.
CHAPTER SIX
The Dog was Murdered Too
'So Ruth Nearne was your mother?'
I was gazing after the old man. The glow-worm light of his lamp was already some distance down the gallery. 'Yes,' I said. I was thinking of all the misery he had brought my mother.
'Is that why you came here?'
I turned to Captain Manack. He was watching me suspiciously. 'No,' I said. 'I didn't know it was your father she went off with. Not until last night.'
'What did you find out last night?'