"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.