Bonds of Earth, The (4 page)

W
HEN
G
ORAN RETURNED
to the farmhouse and told Agnes Roach of the latest incident involving Grimble and the miners from Wheal Hope, she expressed her disapproval.

‘When I first heard about the mine I said there'd be trouble. It follows miners as surely as night follows day. Mining and farming don't sit comfortably with each other. We look after the land, putting as much back into it as we take out, knowing that if we take care of it the land will always be here for those who come after. The miner takes what he wants and puts nothing back. When there's no more to take he moves on to do the same somewhere else. We're like oil and water. Mind you, that doesn't mean I hold with these mantraps. They might just as easily have caught one of those young girls you found on Spurre land. When I was a young girl a little lad belonging to a washerwoman at the Hall trod on one of them. It took the poor little soul's leg clean off and he was dead before they could get help to him. I thought they weren't allowed to put them down any more. Not that a ban would stop Sir John using them if he wanted to, he believes he's above the law – and I doubt there's anyone in Cornwall would argue with that.'

‘Talking about the law and Sir John, Captain Pyne who's in charge of the Wheal Hope says he's had a meeting with Sir John who told him he owns mining rights to all the land hereabouts. They even talked about the amount of money he would be given for the ore they took out.'

‘Sir John said that? If this mine captain comes down here to see me I'll soon tell him different. If there's any mining done beneath either farm then the dues come to us, not to anyone else!'

‘That's more-or-less what I told him. He said he'll come down and see you when he's not quite so busy and he'd like me to show him where the boundaries are for the two farms so he'll have a better idea about it when he talks to Sir John again.'

‘Good. When he comes here I'll prove that whatever Sir John may own doesn't include any rights for our land. None at all.'

Goran was aware Agnes disliked the landowner intensely. He hoped she knew what she was talking about when it came to mining rights … but she was still speaking.

‘This miner who was caught in the mantrap, you say he was poaching on the Spurre estate?'

‘That's right, he knew he was doing wrong but it sounds as though his family are close to starving. He was desperate to get them something to eat.'

‘We've got two fields almost ready to be cut for hay and Elworthy will have the same, as well you know. Old George Yates as good as said last year it would be the last time he'd be able to help us bring it in and I know he was bad for most of the winter, so we're going to have to take someone else on. Will this miner be fit enough to help?'

Goran shook his head, ‘He'll be lucky if he's ever able to walk properly again – but he's got a son of about thirteen. He's a sturdy lad and fit enough. He ran all the way from the Spurre estate to the mine to fetch help for his pa, then ran back again with Captain Pyne and the miners. I think you'd find he'll work twice as hard as anyone else to prove he can do a man's job and help his family.'

‘He might
try
but he's
not
a man and couldn't expect to pick up a man's pay, but if you think he can do the job … Anyway, it's you who'll need to work all the harder if he can't. Do you know where he lives?'

‘No, but they'll know up at the mine.'

Goran realized Agnes was working something out in her head and now she said, ‘You've got work to catch up on tonight, but if you work a bit faster and finish your chores early enough tomorrow afternoon you can take a few eggs up to the mine for this miner and find out whether his son would like to help in the haymaking with you. I'll give him a shilling for half a day's work and see that Elworthy does the same. He'll have a meal here before he goes home and no doubt your ma will find some breakfast for him when he's working over there with you. That'll make things a little easier for the family, but you can tell him he'll need to work hard for it – and while you're up at the mine speak to this Captain Pyne. Tell him he's to take no notice of what Sir John's told him and that he'd better come and see me before he thinks of going beneath any of our farmland.'

Goran enjoyed the unaccustomed luxury of having a task to perform on a fine summer's evening that consisted of nothing more than carrying a basket of eggs, two loaves of farm-baked bread and a pound of butter from Agnes's farm to the Wheal Hope. Agnes was a good-hearted woman, despite the impression she chose to give to others, and the plight of Albert Bolitho and his family had moved her.

When he arrived on the site of the new mine, Goran was impressed by the way work had progressed in a short time. The main shaft was well advanced and a number of buildings, including a solid granite engine house, were under construction, but he could see none of the miners who had been involved in the rescue of Albert Bolitho and enquiries for Captain Pyne revealed the mine captain was underground with a team of miners. Goran guessed the men he had met on that occasion were probably with him.

However, when he asked after the injured miner the attitude of the men he was speaking to became openly hostile and Goran realized the cause of Albert Bolitho's injuries was no secret here and his colleagues were suspicious of anyone who came asking about him.

Fortunately, when he explained it was he who had found Albert Bolitho when he was ‘hurt' and that he was bringing food for his family, the miners' attitude changed immediately. One of them said, ‘Albert and his family put together a place up among the rocks on the moor. I'm not exactly sure whereabouts it is but if you go ask at Captain Pyne's house they'll know there.'

Goran was directed to a newly erected cottage hidden from the mine workings by a clump of trees immediately beneath the rim of the moor. When he arrived there he saw a woman taking in washing from a line slung between two trees at the rear of the cottage, where it would have been dried by the afternoon sun. The woman's features were so similar to those of Morwenna that Goran realized she must be the mother of the three Pyne girls.

When he introduced himself, her face broke into an amused smile, ‘Then you must be the young man who has seen more of my daughters than any young man should?'

Deeply embarrassed, Goran stuttered, ‘I'm sorry … but I didn't know they were going to be … like they were. I heard their voices in among the gorse and wondered who they were … what they were doing.'

Taking pity on him, Annie Pyne said, ‘From all the girls told me, they were very lucky it was you who found them and not that gamekeeper. Poor Jennifer had a nightmare about that poor dog of his last night and woke us all up with her screaming. She was very upset. The man must be some kind of monster, what with that and poor Albert Bolitho.'

‘It's actually Mr Bolitho and his family I've come up here to find. Agnes Roach, the farmer I work for, has sent a couple of things for them.'

‘That's very kind of her, very kind indeed. I sent the girls up to them earlier today with a couple of things I'd baked, but they can do with anything they can get hold of to eat. Unfortunately, Albert is one of those foolishly proud men who feels that accepting things from others is almost as bad as workhouse charity.'

‘Thanks for warning me, but I think I can get over that problem. I mentioned Jenken to Agnes and she's said she'll take him on to help me with the haymaking. I'll tell Mr Bolitho we're so desperate for help that she's sent me with this basket as a sort of bribe.'

Annie Pyne nodded her approval, ‘That should work, and having Jenken bringing money into the home will be a godsend for them all. Your employer must be a very kind woman.'

It was Goran's turn to smile now. ‘She wouldn't thank you for saying that. She tries to convince everyone she's a hard-headed, no-nonsense farmer, and in some ways she is, but she
is
a kindly woman and let me leave work early today to bring these things up here … but that reminds me, the reason I've called on you is that no one at the mine could tell me where Mr Bolitho and his family live. They said you might know.'

‘I've been there only once and doubt if I would be able to find it again, but Nessa will, she's in the house doing some school work. You'd never be able to find it on your own. Wait here while I take this washing in and I'll send her out to you.'

Inside the cottage Nessa was seated at a table, utilizing the light streaming through a south-facing window by which to copy words from a large, leather-bound dictionary.

‘There's someone outside wanting directions to where the Bolithos live. I said you would show him.'

‘Oh, Ma! I'm trying to finish this before the light goes.'

‘Of course, I forgot you were doing something important. I'll go out and tell him you're busy when I've put this washing down.' Then, in an off-hand manner, Annie Pyne added, ‘It's that young man you met when you, Morwenna and Jennifer were trespassing on the Spurre estate.'

‘It's Goran?' Nessa's sudden change of attitude was startling, even though her mother had been expecting her to become more interested when she knew who was outside.

The heavy book was closed hurriedly and Nessa rose to her feet so swiftly that her mother's eyebrows were raised in unfeigned surprise as, all interest in her bookwork forgotten, Nessa demanded, ‘Where is he…?'

Without waiting for a reply, she darted to the door saying, ‘I won't be long, Ma. I'll just show him to the Bolithos' house.'

Behind her, Annie Pyne was left with a great deal to think about.

Outside the cottage Nessa had a moment of panic when there was no immediate sign of Goran, then she remembered her mother had been outside taking washing off the line behind the cottage.

She had recovered much of her composure by the time she found him waiting by the back door, back towards her, holding the basket.

‘Hello, what are you doing here?'

It was not as casual as she would have liked it to appear but, turning, Goran returned her smile and lifted the basket. ‘Agnes Roach has sent this for the Bolitho family but I don't know where they live. I just spoke to your mother and she said you would know.'

‘I do, but it's out on the moor and you'll never find it on your own. I'll take you there.'

‘Thanks, but I also want to speak to your pa, Agnes says she wants him to call on her at the farm. I've been to the mine but they said he was below ground with some of the miners.'

‘He should be home by the time we get back from the Bolithos'. You can tell me what it's about on the way and why she's sent things for Albert and his family … they'll certainly be welcome. The family are desperately poor.'

W
ALKING AWAY FROM
the cottage, Nessa struck out across the open moor with Goran by her side heading in the general direction of a ragged ridge of fractured granite that rose in impressive dominance above the surrounding moorland.

‘I love it up here,' Nessa said, happily. ‘It's so different from where we lived down west. There it was impossible to escape from the noise and clatter of the mines all around us, but here it's so quiet sometimes you can imagine you're the only person in the world.'

‘I know what you mean, but you can hear the noise from the mines around Caradon when the wind's in the wrong direction – and Wheal Hope will be closer than any of
them
.'

Looking at him questioningly, Nessa asked, ‘Don't you like mines, or mining?'

‘I don't know enough about them to say whether I really like them or not,' Goran replied honestly, ‘but my pa was killed working on a mine when I was small and Ma has always been very bitter about it, so I suppose that's bound to have had some effect on how I think about them.'

‘Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know.'

He shrugged, ‘How could you? Neither of us knows very much about the other. We've only met a couple of times….'

Even as he was speaking Goran was thinking of their first meeting, when he saw more of the Pyne sisters than most men viewed of any woman, even those to whom they were married. He wondered whether Nessa was remembering it too! Dismissing the thought immediately, he hastily changed the subject.

‘Your ma said you were in the house doing school work when I arrived.'

‘That's right, I was learning new words and writing them down, with their meanings. One of Ma's brothers teaches in his own school in London and he sends books and sets work for me. It's something I want to do when I'm older.'

She thought of asking Goran how well he could read or write, but changed her mind. If he could do neither well it might cause him embarrassment and she had no wish to do that.

However, Goran himself pursued the matter. ‘I can read and write a bit. One of my pa's sisters teaches school too and she was teaching me until Pa died and we moved away. She'd sometimes come visiting and leave me books and things to work on, but not long afterwards she went to America and there are so many words in the books I don't understand that I got fed up trying to read them. But I'm not bad at sums. I work mornings for Elworthy Coumbe, Agnes's brother, who has the farm next to hers and because he can't read or write I keep a tally of what money's spent and what comes in. Agnes checks everything because she has a good mind for money but she says I'm pretty good too and it's not often she finds anything wrong.'

‘Don't you have a dictionary?'

‘A what?'

‘A dictionary, a book that tells you what every word means. It's what I was using when you came to the house. It's fun, you find all sorts of words there you've never heard of.' Having a sudden idea, she added, ‘My uncle sent a couple of dictionaries, one for me and another for Morwenna, but she's never bothered to learn to read and doesn't use it. When we go back home I'll ask Ma if you can borrow it. You'll enjoy using it and be surprised how useful it is. If you only learn two new words a day, by the end of a year you'll know more than seven hundred new words – as well as all those you'll have learned from the books you've been able to read.'

Her enthusiasm was such that Goran said, ‘You obviously really
do
enjoy learning, you'll be a good teacher one day. I'm surprised Morwenna doesn't feel the same way.'

With a hint of remorse, Nessa explained, ‘I don't think our uncle helped very much when he used to come to see us. He would keep on about how clever
I
was and never say anything kind about Morwenna at all. I think she was so upset she decided that if she couldn't be better than me at learning she wasn't even going to try. It's a pity because she's quite clever, really, but I suppose it doesn't matter too much, all she wants to do is get married and have a home and family of her own.'

‘And that's not something you want?'

‘I want to get married and have a family too … eventually. But before even thinking about that I want to
do
something. Teaching, if I can.'

Goran was impressed. He had met few girls in his young life and certainly none with Nessa's learning or ambition. The few he had come across thought as did Morwenna, looking forward to marriage and a family as their ultimate aim in life.

‘Where's Morwenna now, back at the cottage?'

Nessa looked at him sharply. ‘No, she's taken Jennifer for a walk to North Hill village. It seems there's a shop there and Ma wanted to know what they sell as it's probably our nearest. Why do you ask?'

‘No particular reason. She won't find very much in the shop although they can usually get anything you ask for … but they do sell sweets, so they might help Jennifer forget the nightmare your ma said she had last night.'

‘Yes, it was about that gamekeeper shooting that nice young hound,' she explained, ‘It was a horrid thing to do. I'm surprised they keep such a man on at the big estate.'

‘Marcus Grimble can do no wrong in Sir John Spurre's eyes. He served as his personal orderly in the Napoleonic wars and Sir John will not hear anything said against him.'

‘I don't think I'd like this Sir John Spurre, although I doubt whether I'll ever meet him so what I think won't matter to either of us … but we're almost at the place where Albert Bolitho lives: it's over there, in among those large rocks.'

The Bolitho ‘home' was no more than a piece of ground about the size of the living-room in Goran's cottage and was surrounded on three sides by man-high granite boulders. Tree branches had been laid across the top of the space, on which there rested an untidy ‘thatch' of gorse, coarse grass and turf.

The open front of the primitive shelter was hung with a frayed and holed tarpaulin sheet which failed to quite reach the ground. A corner had been folded back to reveal a number of flat stones which had apparently been manhandled inside to serve as makeshift seats.

Almost half the floor area was covered by a thick layer of fern on which was strewn three or four frayed blankets. Two scantily clad young boys, scarcely more than babies, were sharing this improvised bed with their injured father while another two, not much older and with only a little more ragged clothing, were outside in the company of a skin-and-bone woman who, a defeated expression on her pinched face, squatted, snapping twigs with which to feed a low-burning fire.

Beside the lack-lustre fire was a smoke-blackened pot containing what Goran thought was probably the remains of a stew made from the rabbits obtained at such a great cost by the head of the Bolitho family.

The state of the hovel and its occupants came as a shock to Goran. He and his mother were by no means well off and he had seen many farm labourers with even less than they possessed, but he had never before witnessed such abject poverty as this.

The woman eagerly seized the basket of food he brought but she had hardly begun to thank him for it when her husband's tremulous voice called from inside the improvised home.

‘Who is it? Who's out there?'

The miner's wife looked at Goran questioningly and he called, ‘It's Goran Trebartha – I'm the one who found you yesterday.'

There was a pause as Albert Bolitho digested this information before calling, ‘What are you doing here? Come inside where I can see you.'

Stooping in order to pass through the triangular opening, Goran entered the primitive dwelling. Albert Bolitho did not appear to have strength enough to rise up from his fern bed but he raised an arm towards Goran, ‘I'd like to shake your hand, son. The doctor says I owe my life to you – and my freedom too. I won't ever forget it. But what are you doing here … and who's that with you? Has someone found out what I was doing?'

He asked the question when he heard his wife say something to Nessa and there was fear in his voice as the possibility occurred to him.

‘No, and no one will. Your wife is talking to Nessa Pyne, she brought me here. I'm here because I mentioned Jenken to Agnes Roach, the farmer I work for, and told her he seemed a sturdy lad. We've got haymaking coming up on the farm very soon and are desperate for someone to help us out. Agnes wants to take him on to work with me getting the hay cut and dried. She asked me to come here and speak to him and has sent a couple of things for the family. You'd be doing us a great favour by allowing him to come and work with me.'

‘He'll do it, of course. To be honest, it would be a lifeline for the family, me being laid up the way I am. Have you spoken to him yet?'

‘No, your wife says he's gone off to the doctor at Rilla Mill to get something that's being made up to put on your leg … how is it feeling now?'

‘The only feeling right now is pain, but the doctor reckons I'm lucky to have that. He believes if I'd been ten minutes later getting to him I'd have lost my leg and should have been grateful had that been all. He says he's seen men die from far less.'

‘Well, you're still here and going to get better. Hopefully by the time you are fit again there will be work for you at the Wheal Hope, they seem to be getting on well with things there.'

‘Captain Pyne has some good men working for him and once I'm well again I'll be more than happy to take any work he can offer me, but I won't forget who I have to thank for being able to do it. God bless you, boy. I'm not much good to man or beast at the moment but when I'm up and about again you'll never need to ask twice for my help in anything, it'll be there for you.'