“My master would not let the viewer turn me out of the work, as he wanted to do, because I was lame and weak, and not able to do much.--‘Let him have the care of my horses in the stable,’ said my master: ‘he can do something. I don’t want to make money of poor _Lame Jervas_. So, as long as he is willing to work, he shall not be turned out to starve.’--These were his very words; and when I heard them I said in my heart, ‘God bless him!’ And, from that time forth, I could, as I thought, have fought with the stoutest man in the mine that said a word to his disparagement. “Perhaps my feeling of attachment to him was the stronger, because he was, I may say, the first person then in the world who had ever shown me any tenderness, and the only one from whom I felt sure of meeting with justice. “About this time, as I was busied in the stable, unperceived by them, I saw through a window a party of the miners, amongst whom were several of my old associates, at work opposite to me. Suddenly, one of them gave a shout--then all was hushed--they threw down their tools, huddled together, and I judged by the keenness of their looks that they knew they had made some valuable discovery. I further observed, that, instead of beginning to work the vein, they covered it up immediately with rubbish, and defaced the _country_ with their pick-axes; so that, to look at, no one could have suspected there was any _load_ to be found near. I also saw them secrete a lump of spar, in which they had reason to guess there were Cornish diamonds, as they call them, and they carefully hid the bits of _kellus_{Footnote: 2 _Kellus_ is the miner’s name for a substance like a white soft stone, which lies above the floor or spar, near to a vein.}, which they had picked out, lest the viewer should notice them and suspect the truth. “From all this, the whispering that went on, and the pains they took to chase or entice the overseer away from this spot, I conjectured they meant to keep their discovery a secret, that they might turn it to their own advantage. “There was a passage out of the mine, known only to themselves, as they thought, through which they intended to convey all the newly-found ore. This passage, I should observe, led through an old gallery in the mine, along the side of the mountain, immediately up to the surface of the earth; so that you could by this way come in and out of the mine without the assistance of the _gin_, by which people and ore are usually let down or drawn up. “I made myself sure of my facts by searching this passage, in which I found plenty of their purloined treasure. I then went up to one of the party, whose name was Clarke, and, drawing him aside, ventured to expostulate with him. Clarke cursed me for a spy, and then knocked me down, and returned to tell his associates what I had been saying, and how he had served me. They one and all swore that they would be revenged upon me, if I gave the least hint of what I had seen to our master.