The Killer Mine / Hammond Innes

Jim Pryce, a deserter from the British Army, secretly returns to his native Cornwall from Italy aboard the ship Arisaig, but is left on a beach after being robbed, beaten and involved in a murder. In an effort to use his knowledge of mining, he joins an attempt to reopen the abandoned and flooded Wheal Garth mine owned by the elder Manack, but Manack’s son and his henchmen force him to drill an entrance to the sea from one of the mine tunnels to be used for smuggling alcohol. His only ally is the girl Kitty, who delivers him a letter from his long-dead mother, hinting that her death was not an accident but part of a plot by which old Manack gained control of the mine.