At last, his party of miners arrived from England, but they gave him even more trouble than the peons had done. They were rough, drunken, and sometimes altogether ungovernable. He set them to work at the Santa Anna mine without delay, and at the same time took up his abode amongst them, “to keep them,” he said, “if possible, from indulging in the detestable vice of drunkenness, which, if not put a stop to, will eventually destroy themselves, and involve the mining association in ruin.” To add to his troubles, the captain of the miners displayed a very hostile and insubordinate spirit, quarrelled and fought with the men, and was insolent to the engineer himself. The captain and his gang, being Cornish men, told Robert to his face, that because he was a North-country man, and not born in Cornwall it was impossible he should know anything of mining. Disease also fell upon him,—first fever, and then visceral derangement, followed by a return of his “old complaint, a feeling of oppression in the breast.” No wonder that in the midst of these troubles he should longingly speak of returning to his native land. But he stuck to his post and his duty, kept up his courage, and by a mixture of mildness and firmness, and the display of great coolness of judgment, he contrived to keep the men to their work, and gradually to carry forward the enterprise which he had undertaken. By the beginning of July, 1826, we find that quietness and order had been restored, and the works were proceeding more satisfactorily, though the yield of silver was not as yet very promising. Mr. Stephenson calculated that at least three years’ diligent and costly operations would be needed to render the mines productive. In the mean time he removed to the dwelling which had been erected for his accommodation at Santa Anna. It was a structure speedily raised after the fashion of the country. [Picture: Robert Stephenson’s Cottage at Santa Anna]