“I rejoice to hear you say so,” said Mr Rawlings, a little more calmly, although his whole fortune had been at stake, as it were; for if the mine had turned out a failure he would have been ruined, and had to begin the world over again. “It would have been hard that all our labour should have gone for nothing.”
“Well, my dear sir,” said Ernest Wilton cheerfully, “you need not complain now. It is not a case with you of ‘Love’s labour lost,’ as in Shakespeare’s play of that title.”
Story 1—Chapter XIII.
Countermining.
“What do you think of doing?” asked Mr Rawlings, drawing a long breath of relief on hearing Ernest Wilton’s cheering words. “We have tried almost everything to stop the flow of water and failed—Seth and I; and although you appear so sanguine, I hardly see what can be done, myself.” And he sighed again, as if he were returning to his previous state of despondency.
“Did you ever hear the old Irish saying that ‘there’s more ways of killing a pig besides hanging him?’” asked Ernest Wilton, instead of answering the other’s question at once.
“Yes,” laughingly replied Mr Rawlings.
“Then,” said the young engineer, “I am going to carry that precept into practice regarding your mine.”