"Comes natural like, sir," said Amos, in a quiet, innocent way; "I think it no shame to say I think a deal of Bessie Prawle, and that's what made me so mad last night." "Well, I suppose it was natural, Pengelly. But hang it, man, you must keep that devil of a temper of yours chained." "I do, sir; I do," said the miner, piteously. "I fight with it hard; but you, a fine straight man, don't know what it is to love a handsome girl like my Bessie, and to feel that you are misshapen and unsightly in her eyes." "Well, but they say pretty girls like ugly men, Pengelly," said Geoffrey, smiling. "Foolish people say many foolish things, sir," said the miner. "I can't believe all that. She's a handsome girl, and she's as good as she's handsome, and waits upon her mother hand and foot. I wish I could bring her though to a better way, for they don't do as they should; and old Prawle makes a mock at all religious talk. Then people say Bess is a witch, and can ill-wish people, and it worries me, sir, knowing as I do how good she is at heart." "Well, never mind, Pengelly," said Geoffrey, cheerily. "Some day, perhaps, Miss Bessie yonder will find out that you are like one of the sea-shells, rough outside but bright and soft within. Eh? But come along, let's see if we can't find out something worth our while. I want to get a good mine going, my lad." "And so do I, sir," cried the miner. "I want to save money now; and-- and--" "Well, what?" "You don't think it foolish of me to talk, sir, as I have?" "Not I, my lad." "It was all owing to that upset last night, sir." "Which we will both forget," replied Geoffrey, "for I've got work on hand that I mean to do, and have no time for such nonsense. Now then, how are we to examine these stones without a pick?" Amos Pengelly smiled, and opened his waistcoat, to show, stuck in his trousers' waistband, the head of a miner's hammer, and a crowbar with a piece of wood, tied in the form of a cross, to keep it from slipping down his leg. "That's capital," cried Geoffrey. "Give me the hammer; you take the bar. First of all let's have a look at the shaft." There seemed to be nothing to see but darkness, but Geoffrey gazed long and earnestly down its rocky sides, and as he let a stone fall down to get an approximate idea of its depth he felt a strange shudder run through him, as he thought of what a man's chance would be did some enemy throw him down. "Ugly place!" he said, as he saw Pengelly watching him. "I never think of that, sir," was the reply. A glance round at the buildings sufficed, and then the miner led him to the bottom of a slope where hundreds of loads had been thrown down as the _debris_ was dug out of the shaft, and, patiently clearing off the grass that had sprung up, Pengelly kept handing up pieces of rock for Geoffrey to break and examine.