The three men had reached Coppa Parc, an enclosure of twelve acres bounded along the north by the cliffs' edge, and deriving its name from a mass of granite rock--Carn Coppa--that, rising in ledges from near the middle of the field, ran northward until it broke away precipitously, overhanging the sea. The slopes around the base of the Carn showed here and there an outcrop of granite, but with pockets of deep soil in which (or so the Lord Proprietor maintained) barley could be grown at a profit. He appealed to Eli. "Come, what does Mr. Tregarthen say to it? A piece of ground like this--hey?--oughtn't to beat a man that has grown barley on Saaron?" He said it intending no offence, but in a bluff, hearty way, which he meant to be genial. After a second or two, Eli not answering, he turned and saw to his amazement that the man was trembling from head to foot with wrath. "What right have you? What right----" Eli stammered fiercely, and came to a full stop, clenching his fists. The Lord Proprietor stared at him. "My good fellow, I hadn't the smallest wish to hurt your feelings. What ails you? An innocent remark, surely!" "What ails me?" echoed Eli, and stopped again, panting. "Man, have done with this, and let me go--else I'll not promise to keep my hands off you!" For a moment he stood threatening, his eyes--like the eyes of a dumb animal at bay--travelling from the Lord Proprietor to Sam Leggo. The blood ebbed from his face, and left it unnaturally white. But of a sudden he appeared to collect himself; thrust both hands in his pockets, and, turning his back, walked away resolutely down the slope. "Well!" said Sam Leggo, after a pause. "Well!" "The man has never been thwarted before," said the Lord Proprietor, as they gazed after him together. "That's what comes of living alone in a place like Saaron; and I'll take care his children don't learn the same folly. Feels the curb, as you might say. Have you ever seen a horse broken late in life?" "You take it very quiet, sir, I must say," protested Sam, admiringly. "So disrespectful as he was, too--and to the likes of you! Well! I've known Eli Tregarthen forty year, and if any man had come and told me----" "The worst is, we have wasted an afternoon," said Sir Caesar, easily. "But since we are here, with half-an-hour to spare before sunset, what do you say to showing me the adit?" "The adit, sir?" "There's an old adit hereabouts--eh?--that leads down to a cave.... Come, come, my good man, you don't deceive me by putting on that stupid face! We don't allow smuggling on the Islands in these days, and I like to know the secrets of my own property. The cave is called Ogo Vean, or something like it; and if I must explain more precisely, it is where you and your father used to go hunting seals."