The Black Opal Katharine Susannah Prichard (best free novels txt) š
- Author: Katharine Susannah Prichard
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āWell,ā he said, āweāve got to thank you for puttinā the thing to us as clear and as square as you have, Mr. Armitage. It gives every man here a chance to see just what youāre drivinā at. But I might say here and nowā āā ā¦ Iāve got no time for itā āā ā¦ neither me nor my mates.ā āā ā¦ Itāll save time and finish the business of this meeting if thereās no beatinā about the bush and we understand each other right away. It sounds all rightā āyour schemeā ānice and easy. Looks as if there was more for us to get out of it than to lose by it.ā āā ā¦ I donāt say it wouldnāt mean easier timesā āā ā¦ more moneyā āā ā¦ all that sort of thing. We havenāt had the easiest of times here sometimes, and this scheme of yours comesā āā ā¦ just when weāre in the worst thatās ever knocked us. But speakinā for myself, andāā āhis glance round the hall was an appeal to that principle the Ridge stood forā āāthe most of my mates, weād rather have the hard times and be our own masters. Thatās what weāve always said on the Ridge.ā āā ā¦ Your scheme ād be all right if we didnāt feel like that; I suppose. But we doā āā ā¦ and as far as Iām concerned, we wonāt touch it. Itās no go.
āWeāre obliged to you for putting the thing to us. We recognise you could have gone another way about getting control here. You mayā ābuy up a few of the mines perhaps, and try to squeeze the rest of us out. Not that I think the boysād stand for the experiment.ā
āThey wouldnāt,ā Bill Grant called.
āIām glad to hear that,ā George said. He tried to point out that if Fallen Star miners accepted Armitageās offer they would be shouldering conditions which would take from their work the freedom and interest that had made their life in common what it had been on the Ridge. He asked whether a weekly wage to tide them over years of misfortune would compensate for loss of the sense of being free men; he wanted to know how theyād feel if they won a nest of knobbies worth Ā£400 or Ā£500 and got no more out of them than the weekly wage. The percentage on big stones was only a bluff to encourage men to hand over big stones, George said. And that, beyond the word being used pretty frequently in Mr. Armitageās argument and documents, was all the profit-sharing he could see in Mr. Armitageās scheme. He reminded the men, too, that under their own system, in a day they could make a fortune. And all there was for them under Mr. Armitageās system was three or four pounds a weekā āand not a bit of potch, nor a penny in the quart pot for their old age.
āWe own these mines. Every man here owns his mine,ā George said; āthatās worth more to us just now than engineers and prospecting parties.ā āā ā¦ Well have them on our own account directly, when the luck turns and thereās money about again.ā āā ā¦ For the present weāll hang on to what weāve got, thank you, Mr. Armitage.ā
He sat down, and a guffaw of laughter rolled over his last words.
āAnybody else got anything to say?ā Peter Newton inquired.
MāGinnis stood up.
He had heard a good deal of talk about men of the Ridge being free, he said, but all it amounted to was their being free to starve, as far as he could see. He didnāt see that the menās ownership of the mines meant much more than thatā āthe freedom to starve. It was all very well for them to swank round about being masters of their own mines; any fool could be master of a rubbish heap if he was keen enough on the rubbish heap. But as far as he was concerned, MāGinnis declared, he didnāt see the point. What they wanted was capital, and Mr. Armitage had volunteered it on what were more than ordinarily generous terms.ā āā ā¦
It was all very well for a few shell-backs who, because they had been on the place in the early days, thought they had some royal prerogative to it, to cut up rusty when their ideas were challenged. But their ideas had been given a chance; and how had they worked out? It was all very well to say that if a man was master of his own mine he stood a chance of being a millionaire at a minuteās notice; but how many of them were millionaires? As a matter of fact, not a man on the Ridge had a penny to bless himself with at that moment, and it was sheer madness to turn down this offer of Mr. Armitageās. For his part he was for it, and, what was more, there was a big body of the men in the hall for it.
āIf itās put to the vote whether people want to take on or turn down Mr. Armitageās scheme, weāll soon see which way the catās jumping,ā MāGinnis said. āPeopleād have the nause to see which side their breadās buttered onā ānot be led by the nose by a few fools and dreamers. For my part, I donāt see whyā āā
āYouāre not paid to,ā a voice called from the back of the hall.
āI donāt see why,ā MāGinnis repeated stolidly, ignoring the interruption, āthe ideas of three or four men should be allowed to rule the roost. Whatās wanted on the Ridge is a little more horse senseā āā
Impatient and derisive exclamations were hurled at him; men sitting near MāGinnis shouted back at the interrupters. It looked as if the meeting were going to break up in uproar, confusion, and fighting all round. Peter Newton knocked on the table and shouted himself hoarse trying to restore order. The voices of George, Watty, and Pony-Fence Inglewood were heard howling over the din:
āLet him alone.ā
āLetās hear what heās got to say.ā
Then MāGinnis continued his description of the advantages to be gained by the acceptance of Mr. Armitageās offer.
āAnd,ā he wound up, āthereās the women and children to think of.ā At
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