Froth Part 44

"And they ought to have cottages built for them at Villalegre," said another.

"Ha, ha, ha," shouted the Duke, with a burst of coa.r.s.e laughter. "And why not bring Gayarre and Tosti here to entertain them in the evening?

They must be dreadfully dull here, I should think, in the evenings!"

The ladies smiled timidly.

"But really, Duke, you should not make fun of it; it is a serious matter," said the Condesa de Cebal.

"Serious! I believe you, Condesa. It has cost me three million dollars already. Do you think three millions are not a serious matter?"

His fair advisers looked at each other, dazzled by the enormous sums this man could handle.

"But do you not expect to get some interest on your millions?" asked Lola, who flattered herself she knew something of business.

The Duke again roared with laughter.

"Oh no, Senora, of course not. I shall leave that in the road for the first pa.s.ser by. Interest indeed!" Then suddenly turning serious, he went on: "Who the devil has been putting this nonsense into your heads?

I tell you, ladies, that what is lacking here--sadly lacking--is sound morality. Make the workman soundly moral, and all the evils you have seen will disappear. Let him give up drink, give up gambling, give up wasting his wages, and all these effects of the mercury will disappear.

It is self-evident,"--and he appealed to some of the gentlemen who had joined the group--"How can a man resist the effects of mining when his body, instead of food, be it what it may, contains a gallon of bad brandy? I am perfectly convinced that the majority of those on the sick list are confirmed drunkards. Do you know, gentlemen, that in Riosa thrift is a thing unknown--thrift, without which prosperity and comfort are an impossibility?"

This was a maxim the Duke had frequently heard in the senate; he reiterated it with much emphasis and conviction.

"But how do you expect thrift on two pesetas[G] a day?" the Condesa ventured to demur.

"There is no difficulty at all," said the Duke. "Thrift is a matter of principle, the principle of saving something out of to-day's enjoyment to avoid the needs of to-morrow. Two pesetas to a workman are like two thousand to you. Cannot you save something out of two thousand? Well, so can he out of two. Say he has less, fifteen centimes, ten, five. The point is to put something aside, and that, however little, is to the good."

"Merciful Heaven!" the Condesa sighed, "What I do not understand is how any one can live on two pesetas, much less save."

The engineers of the works invited the party to inspect the machine-room and laboratory. There was here a remarkably fine microscope, which attracted general attention. The doctor was the person who used it most, devoting much of his time to investigations in histology. The manager requested him to show the Duke's guests some of his preparations. First he exhibited some diatoms--the ladies were charmed by their various forms; he also showed them specimens of the animalcule which wrought the destruction of the famous bridge at Milan; they could not cease marvelling that so minute a creature should be able to demolish so huge a structure.

"And think of the myriads of these creatures which must have laboured to produce such an effect," said an engineer.

Quiroga, so the doctor was called, ended by showing them a drop of water. One by one they all looked at the invisible world revealed by the microscope.

"I see one animal larger than the others," said the Duke, as he applied one of his prominent eyes to the tube of the instrument.

"And you will see all the others fly before him," said the doctor.

"Very true."

"That is a rotifer. He is the shark of the drop of water."

"Look yourself a minute, it seems to me that he is hiding behind something that looks like seaweed."

"You may call it seaweed. Perhaps he is hiding to catch his prey."

"Yes, yes. Now he has rushed out on a much smaller creature. It is gone, he must have eaten it."

And the Duke looked up, beaming with satisfaction at having seen this strange microscopic tragedy.

Quiroga looked at him with his bold gaze, and said with that eternal ironical smile of his:

"It is the same all the world over. In the drop of water as in the ocean--everywhere the big fish swallow the small fry."

The Duke's smile faded away. He gave a side glance at the doctor, whose mysterious countenance showed no change, and said abruptly:

"You must all be tired of science. Let us go to luncheon."

The crowning attraction of the expedition which had brought all this gay company away from their luxurious homes to so comfortless and barren a region, was a plan for breakfasting, or rather lunching, at the bottom of the mine. When Clementina had mentioned this at one of her card parties it gave rise to a perfect burst of enthusiasm.

"How very original! How odd! How delightful!" The ladies especially were most eager about it.

By the Duke's advice, they all had provided themselves with elegant waterproof cloaks and high boots, for water oozed into the mine in many places, and made deep puddles. Only the evening before, however, several had taken fright at the immediate prospect, and had given up the expedition. The Duke had been obliged to order two meals, one in the mine and one above ground. The braver party who persisted in their purpose were not more than eight or ten. These had brought their waterproofs and leggings.

The whole party now gathered round one of the mouths of the mine known as San Gennaro's pit. Near this shaft there was a building used for inspecting and weighing the ore, and there the ladies and gentlemen changed their boots and put on their wrappers. On seeing them thus prepared for the worst, almost all the ladies declared that they would after all go down with their friends. A messenger was forthwith sent to Villalegre for the rest of the waterproofs.

The cage, worked up and down by steam, had been prepared for the reception of this elegant company. It had two floors, on each of which eight persons could stand. It had been lined with baize, and a few bra.s.s rings had been fitted to hold on by. The director, the Duke, and the valiant ladies who had come prepared, went down first. Orders were given to the engineer to send the lift down very slowly. It began to move, at first rising a few inches, and then descending with a jerk; then, suddenly, it seemed to be swallowed in the shaft. The women smothered a cry and stood speechless and pale. The walls of the shaft were dark, rough-hewn, and streaming with water; in each division of the cage a miner with a palsied hand held up a lantern. All, excepting the manager and the miners accustomed to the motion, had an uneasy feeling in the stomach, and a vague apprehension which made them incapable of speech, and they clenched their hands very tightly as they clung to the rings.

"The first gallery," said the manager, as they pa.s.sed a black opening.

But no one made any remark. This suspension in the abyss, over the unknown void, paralysed their tongues and almost their power of thought.

"The second gallery," said the manager again as they pa.s.sed another yawning hole. And thus he continued till they came to the ninth. There they heard the sound of voices and saw that the gallery was lighted up.

"We shall take our luncheon here. But first we will go down to the eleventh gallery to see the works."

When they had gone past the tenth, he shouted as loud as he could:

"Are the brakes on?"

And a voice from below replied:

"No!"

"Put them on at once," he called down.

"It cannot be done," was the answer.

"What, why? The brakes, I say; put on the brakes."

And with a very red face, almost convulsed with excitement, he still shouted like a madman, while the cage slowly went down, down.

A cold chill fell on every heart. In the upper compartment some of the women began to utter piercing shrieks. In the lower room a few screams were heard and all clung tightly to the men's arms. Some fainted. It was a moment of indescribable alarm. They all thought this was their dying hour.

And still the manager kept shouting: "The brakes, put on the brakes."