CHAPTER XXIX.
THE NEW MANAGER.
The next day preparations for pumping out the Vaughan commenced; but ittook weeks to get rid of the water which had flowed in in five minutes.Then the work of clearing the mine and bringing up the bodies commenced.
This was a sad business. A number of coffins, equal to that of the menknown to be below at the time of the explosion, were in readiness in ashed near the pit mouth. These were sent down, and the bodies as theywere found were placed in them to be carried above. In scarcely anyinstances could the dead be identified by the relatives, six weeks inthe water having changed them beyond all recognition; only by theclothes could a clue be obtained. Then the funerals began. A great gravea hundred feet long by twelve wide had been dug in the churchyard, andin this the coffins were laid two deep.
Some days ten, some fifteen, some twenty bodies were laid there, and ateach funeral the whole village attended. Who could know whether thosedearest to them were not among the shapeless forms each day consignedto their last resting-place?
At last the tale was complete; the last of the victims of the greatexplosion at the Vaughan was laid to rest, the blinds were drawn up, andsave that the whole of the people seemed to be in mourning, Stokebridgeassumed its usual aspect.
Upon the day before the renewal of regular work, Jack Simpson,accompanied by Mr. Brook appeared upon the ground, and signified thatnone were to descend until he had spoken to them. He had already wontheir respect by his indefatigable attention to the work of clearing themine, and by the care he had evinced for the recovery of the bodies.
Few, however, of the hands had spoken to him since his accession to hisnew dignity; now they had time to observe him, and all wondered at thechange which had been wrought in his appearance. Clothes do not make aman, but they greatly alter his appearance, and there was not one butfelt that Jack looked every inch a gentleman. When he began to speaktheir wonder increased. Except to Mr. Dodgson, Harry, Nelly Hardy, andsome of his young comrades, Jack had always spoken in the dialect of theplace, and the surprise of the colliers when he spoke in perfect Englishwithout a trace of accent or dialect was great indeed.
Standing up in the gig in which he had driven up with Mr. Brook he spokein a loud, clear voice heard easily throughout the yard.
"My friends," he said, "my position here is a new and difficult one, sodifficult that did I not feel sure that you would help me to make it aseasy as possible I should shrink from undertaking it. I am a very youngman. I have grown up among you, and of you, and now in a strange way,due in a great measure to the kindness of your employers, and in a smalldegree to my own exertions to improve myself, I have come to be put overyou. Now it is only by your helping me that I can maintain this positionhere. You will find in me a true friend. I know your difficulties andyour wants, and I will do all in my power to render your livescomfortable. Those among you who were my friends from boyhood canbelieve this, the rest of you will find it to be so. Any of you who arein trouble or in difficulty will, if you come to me, obtain advice andassistance. But while I will try to be your friend, and will do all inmy power for your welfare, it is absolutely necessary that you shouldtreat me with the respect due to Mr. Brook's manager. Without properdiscipline proper work is impossible. A captain must be captain of hisown ship though many of his men know the work as well as he does. And Iam glad to be able to tell you that Mr. Brook has given me full power tomake such regulations and to carry out such improvements as may beconducive to your comfort and welfare. He wants, and I want, the Vaughanto be a model mine and Stokebridge a model village, and we will do allin our power to carry out our wishes. We hope that no dispute will everagain arise here on the question of wages. There was one occasion whenthe miners of the Vaughan were led away by strangers and paid dearly forit. We hope that such a thing will never occur again. Mr. Brook expectsa fair return, and no more than a fair return, for the capital he hassunk in the mine. When times are good you will share his prosperity,when times are bad you, like he, must submit to sacrifices. If disputesarise elsewhere, they need not affect us here, for you may be sure thatyour wages will never be below those paid elsewhere. And now I have saidmy say. Let us conclude by trusting that we shall be as warm friends asever although our relations towards each other are necessarily changed."
Three rousing cheers greeted the conclusion of Jack's speech, afterwhich he drove off with Mr. Brook. As the men gathered round the top ofthe shaft, an old miner exclaimed: "Dang it all, I ha' it now. I waswondering all the time he was speaking where I had heard his voicebefore. I know now. As sure as I'm a living man it was Jack Simpson asbeat us back from that there engine-house when we were going to stop thepumps in the strike."
Now that the clue was given a dozen others of those who had been presentagreed with the speaker. The event was now an old one, and allbitterness had passed. Had it been known at the time, or within a fewmonths afterwards, Jack's life would probably have paid the penalty,but now the predominant feeling was one of admiration. Those who had,during the last few weeks, wearily watched the pumping out of theVaughan, felt how fatal would have been the delay had it occurred whenthe strike ended and they were penniless and without resources, and nofeeling of ill-will remained.
"He be a game 'un; to think o' that boy standing alone agin' us a', andnot a soul as much as suspected it! Did'st know o't, Bill Haden?"
"Noa," Bill said, "never so much as dream't o't, but now I thinks itover, it be loikely enoo'. I often thought what wonderful luck it wereas he gave me that 'ere bottle o' old Tom, and made me as drunk as aloord joost at th' roight time, and I ha' thought it were curious too,seeing as never before or since has he giv'd me a bottle o' liquor, butnow it all comes natural enough. Well, to be sure, and to think that ladshould ha' done all that by hisself, and ne'er a soul the wiser! You maybe sure the gaffer didn't know no more than we, or he'd a done summatfor the lad at the time. He offered rewards, too, for the finding outwho 't were as had done it, and to think 'twas my Jack! Well, well, hebe a good plucked un too, they didn't ca' him Bull-dog for nowt, for itwould ha' gone hard wi' him had 't been found out. I'm main proud o'that lad."
And so the discovery that Jack had so wished to avoid, when it was atlast made, added much to the respect with which he was held in theVaughan pit. If when a boy he would dare to carry out such a scheme asthis, it was clear that as a man he was not to be trifled with. Thereputation which he had gained by his courage in descending into themine, in his battle with Tom Walker, and by the clear-headedness andquickness of decision which had saved the lives of the survivors of theexplosion, was immensely increased; and any who had before felt sore atthe thought of so young a hand being placed above them in command of thepit, felt that in all that constitutes a man, in energy, courage, andability, Jack Simpson was worthy the post of manager of the Vaughanmine.
Bill Haden was astonished upon his return home that night to find thathis wife had all along known that it was Jack who had defended theVaughan, and was inclined to feel greatly aggrieved at having been keptin the dark.
"Did ye think as I wasn't to be trusted not to split on my own lad?" heexclaimed indignantly.
"We knew well enough that thou mightest be trusted when thou wer'tsober, Bill," his wife said gently; "but as about four nights a week atthat time thou wast drunk, and might ha' blabbed it out, and had knownnowt in the morning o' what thou'dst said, Jack and I were of a mindthat less said soonest mended."
"May be you were right," Bill Haden said after a pause; "a man has got aloose tongue when he's in drink, and I should never ha' forgiven myselfhad I harmed t' lad."