"See that you keep out of the way of Blackett's men, or you'll find
yourself in the lock-up and lose your place."
Then he walked away.
Mr. Fairburn was annoyed when he heard of the incident.
"I don't like it, George," he said. "There's no reason why there
should be bad blood between Blackett's men and mine; but if they are
going to make disturbances like this I shall have to take serious
steps, and the coolness between Blackett and me will become an open
enmity. 'As much as lieth in _you_,' says the Apostle, 'live peaceably
with all men;' but there's a limit, and if Mr. Blackett can't keep his
men in order, it will come to a fight between us."
The brig started in a couple of days for London, in fulfilment of an
important contract that had for years fallen to Mr. Blackett, but now
had been placed in the hands of his humbler but more energetic rival.
Its departure was hailed by the shouts and threats of a gang of pitmen
from the Blackett colliery, but nothing like another fight occurred,
thanks to the vigilance of Fairburn the elder.
CHAPTER II
THE ATTACK ON THE COLLIERY
Not often has Europe been in a greater state of unrest than it was at
the time this story opens. James II, the exiled King of England, had
lately died in his French home, and his son, afterwards famous as the
Old Pretender, had been acknowledged as the new English king by Louis
XIV of France, to the joy of the many Jacobites England still
contained, but to the dismay of the majority of Englishmen.
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