"Give me," said he, "the golden hand in your hair ornamented with the strange characters, unless it be memorial of your parents, sisters, or brothers, and take in return a veil which my mother will gladly resign to you."
She finally yielded to his persuasions; and gave him the band, saying;
"It is my name in my mother tongue, which I myself in better times embroidered on this band. Let it be a pleasure for you to gaze upon it, and to think that it has bound up my hair during a long and sorrowful period, and has grown pale with its possessor." Henry's mother loosed the veil and gave it to her, while she embraced her with tears.
CHAPTER V.
After a few days' journey they arrived at a small village, situated at the foot of some sharp hill-tops, interspersed with deep defiles. The country in other respects was fruitful and pleasant, though the hilly ridge presented a dead, repulsive appearance. The inn was neat, the people attentive; and a number of men, partly travellers, partly mere drinking guests, sat in the room entertaining themselves with various cheer.
Our travellers mingled with them, and joined in their conversation. The attention of the company was particularly directed to an old man strangely dressed, who sat by a table and answered pleasantly whatever questions of curiosity were put to him. He had come from foreign lands, and early that day had been examining the surrounding country. He was now explaining his business, and the discoveries he had made during the day. The people here called him a treasure-digger. But he spoke very modestly of his power and knowledge; yet what he said bore the impress of quaintness and novelty. He said that he was born in Bohemia. From his youth he had been very curious to know what might be hidden in the mountains, whence water poured its visible springs, and where gold, silver, and precious stones were found, so irresistibly attractive to man. He had often in the neighboring cloister-chapel beheld their solid light appended to the pictures and relics, and only wished that they would speak to him in explanation of their wonderful origin. He had indeed sometimes heard that they came from far distant regions; but had always wondered why such treasures and jewels might not also be found in his own land. The mountains would not be so extensive and lofty, and so closely guarded, without some purpose; he also imagined that he had found shining and glimmering stones upon them. He had climbed about industriously among the clefts and caves, and had peered into their antiquated halls and arches with unspeakable pleasure.
At length he met a traveller who told him that he must become a miner in order to satisfy his curiosity. There were miners in Bohemia, and he needed only descend the river for ten or twelve days, to Eula, where to gratify his desire he had only to mention it. He waited for no further confirmation of this, but set off on the next day. After a fatiguing journey of several days he reached Eula.
"I cannot describe how gloriously I felt, when I saw from the hill the piles of rock overgrown with thickets, upon which stood the board huts, and watched the smoke-wreaths rising over the forest from the valley below. A distant murmur increased my eager anticipations. With incredible curiosity and full of silent reverence, I soon stood over a steep descent, which led precipitously down into the mountain, from among the huts. I hastened towards the valley, and soon met some men dressed in black, with lamps in their hands, whom I not improperly took to be miners, and to whom I told my desire with anxious timidity. They listened to me kindly, and told me that I must go to the smelting-houses and inquire for the overseer, who supplied the place of director and master, and who would tell me whether I could be admitted. They thought my request would be granted, and told me that 'good luck' was the customary form of greeting the overseer. Full of joyous expectations I pursued my way, constantly repeating to myself the new and significant greeting. I found a venerable old man who received me with kindness, and after telling him my history and my warm desire to be instructed in his rare and mysterious art, he readily promised to fulfil my wishes. He seemed pleased with me, and entertained me in his own house. I could scarcely wait for the moment when I should descend the pit, and behold myself in the long-coveted apparel. That very evening he brought me a mining-dress, and explained to me the use of some tools which were kept in a chamber. At evening the miners came to him, and not a word of their conversation did I lose, however foreign and unintelligible the chief part of their language appeared to me. The little, however, that I seemed to understand heightened the ardor of my curiosity, and busied me at night with strange dreams. I awoke early, and found myself at the house of my new host, where the miners were gradually collecting to receive orders. A little side-room was fitted up as a chapel. A monk appeared and read mass, and afterwards pronounced a solemn prayer, in which he invoked Heaven to give the miners its holy protection, to assist them in their dangerous labors, to defend them from the temptations and snares of evil spirits, and to grant them abundant ore. I never prayed more fervently, and never realized so vividly the deep significance of the mass. My companions appeared to me like heroes of the lower earth, who were obliged to encounter a thousand perils, but possessing an enviable fortune in their precious knowledge, and prepared, by grave and silent intercourse with the primeval children of nature, in their sombre, mystic chambers, for the reception of heavenly gifts, and for a blessed elevation above the world and its troubles. When the service was concluded, the overseer, giving me a lamp and a small wooden crucifix, accompanied me to the shaft, as we are accustomed to call the steep entrance into the subterraneous abodes. He taught me the method of descent, acquainted me with the necessary precautions, as well as with the names of the various objects and divisions. He led the way, and slid down a round beam, grasping with one hand a rope, which was knotted to a transverse bar, and with the other his lamp. I followed his example, and in this manner we soon reached a considerable depth. I have seldom felt so solemnly; and the distant light glimmered like a happy star, pointing out the path to the secret treasures of nature. We came below to a labyrinth of paths. My kind master was ever ready to answer my inquisitive questions, and to teach me concerning his art. The roaring of the water, the distance from the inhabited surface, the darkness and intricacy of the paths, and the distant hum of the working miners, delighted me extremely, and I joyfully felt myself in full possession of all that for which I had most ardently sighed. This complete satisfaction of our innate taste, this wonderful delight in things which perhaps have an intimate relation to our secret being, and in occupations for which one is destined from the cradle, cannot be explained or described. Perhaps they might appear to every one else common, insignificant, and unpleasant; but they seemed to me necessary as air to the lungs, or food to the stomach. My good master was pleased at my inward delight, and promised me that, with such zeal and attention, I should advance rapidly and become an able miner. With what reverence did I behold for the first time in my life, on the sixteenth of March, more than five-and-forty years ago, the king of metals in small, delicate leaves between the fissures of the rocks! It seemed as if, having been doomed here to close captivity, it glittered kindly towards, the miner, who with so many dangers and labors breaks a way to it through its strong prison-walls, that he may remove it to the light of day, and exalt it to the honor of royal crowns, vessels, and holy relics, and to dominion over the world in the shape of genuine coin, adorned with emblems, cherished by all. From that time I remained at Eula, and advanced gradually from the business of removing the hewn pieces of ore in baskets, to the degree of hewer, who is the real miner, and who performs the observations upon the stone."
The old man paused a moment in his narration, and drank, while the attentive listeners pledged his good luck, as they drained their cups. Henry was delighted with the old man's discourse, and was desirous to hear still more from him.
His listeners related descriptions of the dangers and strangeness of the miner's life, and had many marvels to tell, at which the old man often smiled, and endeavored to correct their odd representations.