Authors: George W. M. Reynolds,James Malcolm Rymer
CHAPTER CXV.
THE TREASURE. - A NEW IDEA.
ALAS! that we should be compelled to turn from such bright scenes
as woman's love and lovers' hope, to deeds of infamy and crime.
But so goes the world; and no faithful historian can venture
to deviate from the rule.
Sad, and dismal, and dark, are many of the phases which this
narrative has yet to show; but we can also promise our reader that there will
not be wanting bright and cheering scenes to afford relief to his eye.
Chequered, indeed, are the ways of life: varied and
diversified are all its paths.
And, oh! let him who is wearied with the load of existence,
while wending through the rough and craggy places of the world, and when rudely
jostled by the world's unfeeling crowd, - let him remember that there is
another sphere beyond, where the ways are smooth and pleasant, and where the
voice of lamentation is never heard ,-a sphere where angels alone shall be the
guides of the elect, and where the sound of grateful harmony shall never cease,
- a sphere, whose name is HEAVEN!
Again we say, alas I that we should be compelled to divert
the attention of our reader from scenes of mundane bliss and the contemplation
of the purest love, to deeds of iniquity and hatred.
But to our task.
It was about five o'clock in the evening of the day that
witnessed the incidents of the two preceding chapters, and that had succeeded the
night on which the unhappy Viola had signed a deed surrendering up half her
property to her unprincipled husband , - that the Resurrection Man returned
home to his dwelling in Globe Town.
But before he ascended to the apartments inhabited by himself
and his mistress with a fearful name, he entered the lower part of the
building, and, having lighted a candle, descended to the subterranean vaults.
In the first place he went into a cell opposite to that
which was still tenanted by Viola, who, it will be remembered, had received a
solemn promise to be restored to her own abode that evening at nine o'clock.
The Resurrection Man entered the cell to which we have
alluded, and which was empty.
He raised a stone from the floor, and drew from a hole of
about a foot deep, a large leathern bag, the contents of which sent forth the
welcome metallic sound of gold as he took it in his hand.
The miscreant seated himself upon the cold floor of the
cell, and poured forth into his hat the glittering contents of the bag. His
eyes sparkled with delight as he surveyed the treasure.
He took a few of the coins up in his hand, and let them drop
one by one back again into his hat - his glances greedily fixed upon the gold
as he thus toyed with it.
"Two hundred good sterling sovereigns here
already," he mused within himself, - "two hundred pounds earned with
toil, trouble, daring, and danger. Two hundred pounds are a decent provision
for any man in my line of life! And now," he continued, taking a
smaller canvass bag from his pocket, "there is more to add to swell the
treasury. Here is a hundred pounds - my half of the sum paid by Tomlinson this
afternoon for keeping the secret about his old clerk. The Buffer has got his
share; but I warrant he will hoard none of it as I do! Thank my stars, within
the last year I have learnt to be economical and saving. I mean to have
something for my old age; unless —"
And his countenance suddenly assumed an expression perfectly
hideous, as he reflected upon the probability of his career being cut short by
the hand of the law.
But, in another moment, he grew composed - that is to say,
desperately hardened; and he then proceeded with his occupation and his
musings.
"Well, here is my share of the two hundred pounds that
the chicken-hearted, contemptible, cowardly Tomlinson paid for a secret which a
little calm reflection might have told him that I dared not reveal. That's a
hundred pounds to add to my sinking fund; "- and here the miscreant
smiled. "Now," he continued, "comes the grand swag - three
hundred pounds from Chichester, - and not too much for the trouble I have had
in
his
affair! Two hundred before -
Tomlinson's hundred - and Chichester's three hundred, - that makes six hundred
pounds of good sterling gold, the property of Mr. Anthony Tidkins!"
And here the Resurrection Man laughed outright: - it was a
horrible chuckle - the triumph of a miscreant of a most atrocious nature.
But he was happy - happy after his own fashion
- happy in counting and contemplating
the produce of his turpitude.
While he was consigning his wealth to the larger bag, and
gloating over the gold as he passed it through his hand, he was suddenly
alarmed by a slight sound in the passage.
It seemed like a low footstep.
He listened, but it was not repeated.
For nearly a minute did he remain motionless, and almost
breathless, in a state of painful attention; but not another sound met his ear.
Then, recovering from the state of uneasy suspense into
which that incident had thrown him, he rose from the floor, and hurried into
the passage which divided the two rows of cells.
All was quiet.
Ashamed of himself for his childish alarm, and stuttering a
curse at his folly for having given way to that fear, he returned into the
cell, buried his treasure and covered the place with the stone. He then
carefully locked the door of the dungeon.
He crossed the passage, and proceeded gently to open the
door leading into the cell occupied by Viola. When he entered this vault, he
found the lamp extinguished ; - but by the glare of his candle, he perceived
the unhappy woman stretched in a profound slumber upon the bed.
"All right," he muttered to himself,- "and
just as I expected. She will sleep some hours yet, for the wine was well
drugged; and thus we can convey her back again to her house in a state of
insensibility. When she awakes in her own bed, her servants will assure her
that all she has passed through was a mere dream; and by this plan she will be
so bewildered, that she will actually fancy she has been delirious, and that
her brain has wandered. This was Chichester's suggestion; and I must give him
credit for it. True - she will sooner or later discover that the departure of
half her property is no dream; but then the first burst of passion will have
gone by, and she will consider it prudent to hold her tongue. Well - let her
sleep: at nine o'clock Chichester and Tomlinson will come, and then she shall
be removed."
At that instant an idea struck the Resurrection Man.
Hitherto he had worked as Chichester's agent, and by Chichester's directions,
in this affair: what if he were to turn the business to some good account for
himself? The lady had only parted with half her property: she had eight
thousand pounds left. Might not all, or a decent portion of this sum thus
remaining, pass into the hands of the Resurrection Man? His
mode of treatment
had excited the first concession: some additional horrors might
extort a further grant. The idea was excellent: fool that he was for not having
thought of it before!
Thus reasoned Anthony Tidkins.
The more he thought of the new plot which had just entered
his head, the more he grew enamoured of it. He was well aware that neither
Chichester nor Tomlinson would dare to adopt measures to resist his will; and
with a grin of savage delight, he exclaimed aloud, "By God, it shall be
done!"
He then removed the bottle of wine from the cell, so that
when Viola awoke she might not repeat her dose - supposing that she should be ignorant
of the cause of her long lethargic slumber; for the Resurrection Man was not
aware of the sudden effect which it had produced upon her, but imagined that
the drugged liquid was only powerful enough to operate gradually. He next
replenished the lamp with oil from a bottle which stood in one corner of the
cell, and, having lighted the lamp, withdrew, carefully bolting and locking the
door behind him.
He ascended from the subterranean prison, replaced the stone
trap-door, and issued from the ground-floor of the house, he observed that the
door leading into the alley was looked as he had left it when he entered; and
this circumstance reassured him relative to the little incident which had
temporarily disturbed him when counting his money in the cell.
Many circumstances combined to put the Resurrection Man into
an excellent humour.
He had that day added four hundred pounds to his hidden
treasure; he saw business of all kinds a multiplying upon his hands, and
promising a golden harvest; and he had hit upon a scheme which, he bad no
doubt, would produce him a larger sum than he had ever yet realized even in his
dreams.
It was therefore with a smiling countenance that he entered
the up-stairs room where the Rattlesnake was busily employed in spreading the
contents of her cupboard upon the table.
"Well, Meg, you see I am home before my time," he
exclaimed. " I don't want any dinner: I took some at a chop-house in town,
as I had to wait on business. But leave the lush: I am in a humour for a glass
of grog ;-and you and I, Meg, will sit down and have a cozy chat
together."
"So we will, Tony," returned the woman, with a
manner even more wheedling and fawning than she had ever before used towards
her terrible paramour. " You seem in excellent spirits, Tony."
"Yes, Meg - excellent: I have done a good day's work -
and now I will enjoy myself till nine o'clock, - when I have got to meet two
gentlemen close by here on another little matter."
"Ah! you seldom tell me what you are doing, Tony,"
said the Rattlesnake.
"No - no: I don't like trusting women a bit farther
than I can see them. Such things as getting up a body or so - well and good;
but serious things, Meg - serious things, never!"
"Well, just as you like," returned Margaret Flathers,
affecting a smile as if she were quite satisfied; but as she turned to replace
the meat in the cupboard, her countenance involuntarily assumed an expression
of mysterious triumph.
"Come, now - sit down," said the Resurrection Man:
"give me a pipe, and brew me my lush. There - that's a good girl."
Tidkins lighted his pipe, and smoked for some moments in
silence.
"I tell you what, Meg," he exclaimed, after a
pause; "you shall sing me a song. I feel in such an uncommon good humour
this evening - in such excellent spirits. No - I won't have a song: I tell you
what you shall do."
"What?" said Margaret, as she mixed two glasses of
gin and water.
"You shall tell me all about the coal-mines, you know -
your own history. You told it me once before; but then I wasn't in a humour to
hear you. I missed half, and have forgot t' other half. So now come - let's
have the Life and Adventures of Miss Margaret Flathers."
The Resurrection Man laughed at this joke - as he considered
and meant it to be; and the Rattlesnake, who never dared to thwart him in any
thing, and who apparently had some additional motive to humour him on this
occasion, hastened to comply a with his request - or rather command.
She accordingly related her history, the phraseology of
which we have taken the liberty materially to correct and amend, in the
following manner.
CHAPTER CXVI.
THE RATTLESNAKE'S HISTORY.*
[* in case the reader should doubt the accuracy of any of the
statements relative to the employment of the youth of both sexes in the English
coal-mines, which he may find in this chapter, we beg to refer him to the
"Report and Appendix to the Report, of the Children'. Employment
Commission, presented to Both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty in
1842."]
I WAS born in a coal-mine in Staffordshire. My father was a
married man, with five or six children by his wife: my mother was a single
woman, who worked for him in the pit. I was, therefore, illegitimate; but this
circumstance was neither considered disgraceful to my mother nor to myself,
morality being on so low a scale amongst the mining population generally, as
almost to amount to promiscuous intercourse. My mother was only eighteen when I
was born. She worked in the pit up to the very hour of my birth; and when she
found the labour-pains coming on, she threw off the belt and chain with which
she had been dragging a heavy corf (or wicker basket), full of coal, up a
slanting road, - retired to a damp cave in a narrow passage leading to the foot
of the shaft, and there gave birth to her child. That child was myself. She
wrapped me up in her petticoat, which was all the clothing she had on at the
time, and crawled with me, along the passage, which was about two feet and a
half high, to the bottom of the shaft. There she got into the basket, and was
drawn up a height of about two hundred and thirty feet - holding the rope with
her right hand, and supporting me on her left arm. She often told me those
particulars and said how she thought she should faint as she was ascending in
the rickety vehicle, and how difficult she found it to maintain her hold of the
rope, weak and enfeebled as she was. She, however, reached the top in safety,
and hastened home to her miserable hove - for she was an orphan, and lived by
herself. In a week she was up again, and back to her work in the pit; and she
hired a bit of a girl, about seven or eight years old, to take care of me.
"How my infancy was passed I, of course, can only form
an idea by the mode of treatment generally adopted towards babies in the mining
districts and under such circumstances as those connected
with my birth. My mother would,
perhaps, come up from the pit once, In the middle of the day, to give me my
natural nourishment; and when I screamed during her absence, the little girl,
who acted as my nurse, most probably thrust a teaspoonful of some strong opiate
down my throat to make me sleep and keep me quiet. Many children are killed by
this treatment; but the reason of death, in such cases, is seldom known,
because the Coroner's. assistance is seldom required in the mining districts.
"When I was seven years old, my mother one day told me
that it was now high time for me to go down with her into the pit, and earn
some money by my own labour. My father, who now and then called to see me of a
Sunday, and brought me a cake or a toy, also declared that I was old enough to
help my mother. So it was decided that I should go down into the pit. I
remember that I was very much frightened at the idea, and cried very bitterly
when the dreaded day came. It was a cold winter's morning - I recollect that
well; and the snow was very thick upon the ground. I shivered with chilliness
and terror as my mother led me to the pit. She gave me a good scolding because
I whimpered; and then a good beating because I cried lustily. But every thing
combined to make me afraid. It was as early as five in that cold wintry morning
that I was proceeding to a scene of labour which I knew to be far, far under
the earth. The dense darkness of the hour was not even relieved by the white
snow upon the ground; but over the country were seen blazing fires on every
side,-fires which appeared to me to be issuing from the very bowels of the
earth, but which were in reality burning upon the surface, for the purpose of
converting coal into coke: there were also blazing fields of bituminous shale;
and all the tall chimneys of the great towers of the iron furnaces vomited
forth flames, - the whole scene thus forming a picture well calculated to appall
and startle an infant mind.
"I remember at this moment what my feelings were then
- as well as if the incident I am relating had only occurred yesterday.
During the day-light I had seen the lofty chimneys giving vent to columns of
dense smoke, the furnaces putting forth torrents of lurid flame, and the
coke-fires burning upon the ground: but that was the first time I had ever
beheld those meteors blazing amidst utter darkness; and I was afraid - I was
afraid.
The shaft was perfectly round, and not more than four feet
in diameter, The mode of ascent and descant was precisely that of a well, with
this difference - that, instead of a bucket there was a stout iron bar about
three feet long attached in the middle, and suspended horizontally, to the end
of the rope. From each end of this bar hung chains with hooks, to draw up the
baskets of coal. This apparatus was called the
clatch-harness
. Two people ascended or
descended at a time by these means. They had to sit cross-legged, as it were,
upon the transverse bar, and cling to the rope. Thus, the person who got on
first sate upon the bar, and the other person sate a-straddle on the first
one's thighs. An old woman presided at the wheel which wound up or lowered the
rope sustaining the clutch-harness; and as she was by no means averse to a
dram, the lives of the persons employed in the mine were constantly at the
mercy of that old drunken harridan. Moreover, there seemed to me to be great
danger in the way in which the miners got on and of the clatch-harness. One
moment's giddiness - a missing of the hold of the rope - and down to the bottom
of the shaft headlong! When the clatch-harness was drawn up to the top, the old
woman made the handle fast by a bolt drawn out from the upright post, and then,
grasping a hand of both persons on the harness at the same time, brought them
by main force to land. A false step on the part of that old woman, - the
failure of the bolt which stopped the rotatory motion of the roller on which
the rope was wound, - or the slipping of the hands which she grasped in hers, -
and a terrible accident must hare ensued!
"But to return to my first descent into the pit. My
mother, who was dressed in a loose jacket, open in front, and trousers (which,
besides her shoes, were the only articles of clothing on her, she wearing
neither abut nor stockings), leapt upon the clatch-iron as nimbly as a sailor
in the rigging of his ship. She then received me from the outstretched arm of
the old woman, and made me sit in the easiest and safest posture she could
imagine. But when I found myself being gradually lowered down into a depth as
black as night, I felt too terror-struck even to cry out; and had not my mother
held me tight with one hand, I should have fallen precipitately into that
hideous dark profundity.
"At length we reached the bottom, where my mother
lifted me, half dead with giddiness and fright, from the clatch-iron. I felt
the soil cold, damp, and muddy, under my feet. A lamp was burning in a shade
suspended in a little recess in the side of the shaft; and my mother lighted a
bit of candle which she had brought with her, and which she stuck into a piece
of clay to hold it by. Then I perceived a long dark passage, about two feet and
a half high, branching off from the foot of the shaft. My mother went on her
hands and knees, and told me to creep along with her. The passage was nearly
six feet wide; and thus there was plenty of room for me to keep abreast of her.
Had not this been the case, I am sure that I never should have had the courage
either to precede, or follow her; for nothing could be more hideous to my
infantine imagination than that low, yawning, black-mouthed cavern, running
into the very bowels of the earth, and leading I knew not whither. Indeed, as I
walked in a painfully stooping posture along by my mother's side, my fancy
conjured up all kinds of horrors. I trembled lest some invisible hand should
suddenly push forth from the side of the passage, and clutch me in its grasp: I
dreaded lest every step I took might precipitate me into some tremendous abyss
or deep well: I thought that the echoes which I heard afar off, and which were
the sounds of the miner's pickaxe or the rolling corves on the rails, were
terrific warnings that the earth was falling in, and would bury us alive: then,
when the light of my mother's candle suddenly fell upon some human being
groping his or her way along in darkness, I shuddered at the idea of
encountering some ferocious monster or hideous spectre:- in a word, my
feelings, as I toiled along that subterranean passage, were of so terrific a
nature that they produced upon my memory an impression which never can be
effaced, and which makes me turn cold all over as I contemplate those feelings
now!
"You must remember that I had been reared in a complete
state of mental darkness; and that no enlightened instruction had dispelled the
clouds of superstition which naturally obscure the juvenile mind. I could not
read: I had not even been taught my alphabet. I had not heard of such a name as
Jesus Christ; and all the mention of God that had ever met nay ears, was in the
curses
and execrations which fell from the lips of my Father, my mother,
her acquaintances, and even the little girl who had nursed me. You cannot
wander, then, if I was so appalled, when I first found myself in that strange
and terrific place.
At length we reached the end of that passage, and struck
into another, which echoed with the noise of pickaxes. In a few moments I saw
the
undergoers
(or miners) lying on their sides,
and with their pickaxes breaking away the coal. They did not work to a greater
height than two feet, for fear, as I subsequently learnt, that they should
endanger the security of the roof of the passage, the seam of coal not being a
thick one. I well remember my infantine alarm and horror when I perceived that
these men were naked - stark naked. But my mother did not seem to be the least
abashed or dismayed: on the contrary, she laughed and exchanged a joke with
each one as we passed. In fact, I afterwards discovered that Bet Flathers was a
great favourite with the miners.
"Well, we went on, until we suddenly came upon a scene
that astonished me not a little. The passage abruptly opened into a large
room, -an immense cave, hollowed out of the coal in a seam that I since
learnt to be twenty feet in thickness. This cave was lighted by a great number
of candles; and at a table sate about twenty individuals - men, women, and
children -all at breakfast. There they were, as black as negroes -
eating, laughing, chattering, and drinking. But, to my surprise and disgust, I
saw that the women and young girls were all naked from the waist upwards, and
many of the men completely so. And yet there was no shame - no embarrassment!
But the language that soon met my ears! - I could not comprehend half of it,
but what I did understand, made me afraid!
"My mother caught me by the hand, and led me to the
table, where I found my father. He gave us some breakfast; and in a short time,
the party broke up - the men, women, and children separating to their
respective places of labour. My mother and myself accompanied one of the men,
for my mother had ceased to work for my father, since she had borne a child to
him, as his wife had insisted upon their separation in respect to labour in the
mine.
"The name of the man for whom my mother worked was Phil
Blossom. He was married, but had no children. His wife was a cripple, having
met with some accident in the mine, and could not work. He was therefore
obliged to employ some one to carry his coal from the place where he waned, to
the cart that conveyed it to the foot of the shaft. Until I went down into the
mine, my mother had carried the coal for him, and also
hurried
(or dragged) the cart; but she now made me fill one cart while she
hurried another. Thus, at seven years old, I had to carry about fifty-six
pounds of coal in a wooden
bucket
. When the passage was high
enough I carried it on my back; but when it was too low, I had to drag or push
it along as best I could. Some parts of the passages were only twenty-two
inches in height; this was where the workings were in very narrow seams; and
the difficulty of dragging such a weight, at such an age, can be better
understood than explained. I can well recollect that when I commenced that terrible
labour, the perspiration, commingling with my tears, poured down my face.
Phil Blossom worked in a complete state of nudity; and my
mother stripped herself to the waist to perform her task. She had to drag a
cart holding seven hundred weight, a distance of at least two hundred yards -
for ours was a very extensive pit, and bad numerous workings and cuttings
running a considerable way underground. The person who does this duty is called
a
hurrier
: the process itself is termed
tramming
; and the cart is denominated a
ship
. The work was certainly harder
than that of slaves in the West Indies, or convicts in Norfolk Island. My
mother had a girdle round her waist; and to that girdle was fastened a chain,
which passed between her legs and was attached to the skip. She then had to go
down on her hands and knees, with a candle fastened to a strap on her forehead,
and drag the skip through the low passages, or else to maintain a curved or
stooping posture in the high ones.
"Phil Blossom wee what was called a
getter
. He first made a long straight
cut with a pickaxe underneath the part of the seam where he was working: this
was called
holing