"Ralph, oh, Ralph!"
But the man was held to his place by strong arms, and the next moment the smoking, burning carriage was speeding up the shaft for the last time.
Ralph reached the foot of the plane and looked up it, but he saw no light in the darkness there. Before he had time to think what he should do next, he heard a shout from the direction of the shaft:--
"Ralph! oh, Ralph!"
It was Conway"s voice. He recognized it. He had often heard that voice coming from the breast of Mike"s chamber, in kindly greeting.
Quick as thought he turned on his heel and started back. He flew around the curve like a shadow.
"Wait!" he cried, "wait a minute; I"m a-comin"!"
At the foot of the shaft there was a pile of blazing sticks, but there was no carriage there, nor were there any men. He stumbled into the very flames in his eagerness, and called wildly up the dark opening:
"Wait! come back! oh, wait!"
But the whirring, thumping noise of a falling body was the only answer that came to him, and he darted back in time to escape destruction from a huge flaming piece of timber that struck the floor of the mine with a great noise, and sent out a perfect shower of sparks.
But they might send the carriage down again if he rang for it.
He ran across and seized the handle of the bell wire and pulled it with all his might. The wire gave way somewhere above him and came coiling down upon his head. He threw it from him and turned again toward the opening of the shaft. Then the carriage did descend. It came down the shaft for the last time in its brief existence, came like a thunderbolt, struck the floor of the mine with a great shock and--collapsed. It was just a ma.s.s of fragments covered by an iron roof--that was all. On top of it fell a storm of blazing sticks and timbers, filling up the s.p.a.ce at the foot, piling a ma.s.s of wreckage high into the narrow confines of the shaft.
Ralph retreated to the footman"s bench, and sat there looking vaguely at the burning heap and listening to the crash of falling bodies, and the deep roar of the flames that coursed upward out of sight. He could hardly realize the danger of his situation, it had all come upon him so suddenly. He knew, however, that he was probably the only human being in the mine, that the only way of escape was by the shaft, and that that was blocked.
But he did not doubt for a moment that he would be rescued in time.
They would come down and get him, he knew, as soon as the shaft could be cleared out. The crashing still continued, but it was not so loud now, indicating, probably, that the burning wreckage had reached to a great height in the shaft.
The rubbish at the foot had become so tightly wedged to the floor of the mine that it had no chance to burn, and by and by the glow from the burning wood was entirely extinguished, the sparks sputtered and went out, and darkness settled slowly down again upon the place.
Ralph still sat there, because that was the spot nearest to where human beings were, and that was the way of approach when they should come to rescue him.
At last there was only the faint glimmer from his own little lamp to light up the gloom, and the noises in the shaft had died almost entirely away.
Then came a sense of loneliness and desolation to be added to his fear. Silence and darkness are great promoters of despondency. But he still hoped for the best.
After a time he became aware that he was sitting in an atmosphere growing dense with smoke. The air current had become reversed, at intervals, and had sent the smoke pouring out from among the charred timbers in dense volumes. It choked the boy, and he was obliged to move. Instinctively he made his way along the pa.s.sage to which he was most accustomed toward the foot of the plane.
Here he stopped and seated himself again, but he did not stay long.
The smoke soon reached him, surrounded him, and choked him again. He walked slowly up the plane. When he reached the head he was tired and his limbs were trembling. He went across to the bench by the wheel and sat down on it. He thought to wait here until help should come.
He felt sure that he would be rescued; miners never did these things by halves, and he knew that, sooner or later, he should leave the mine alive. The most that he dreaded now was the waiting, the loneliness, the darkness, the hunger perhaps, the suffering it might be, from smoke and foul air.
In the darkness back of him he heard a noise. It sounded like heavy irregular stepping. He was startled at first, but it soon occurred to him that the sounds were made by the mule which he had left there untied.
He was right. In another moment Jasper appeared with his head stretched forward, sniffing the air curiously, and looking in a frightened way at Ralph.
"h.e.l.lo, Jasper!"
The boy spoke cheerily, because he was relieved from sudden fright, and because he was glad to see in the mine a living being whom he knew, even though it was only a mule.
The beast came forward and pushed his nose against Ralph"s breast as if seeking sympathy, and the boy put up his hand and rubbed the animal"s face.
"We"re shut in, Jasper," he said, "the breaker"s burned, an" things afire have tumbled down the shaft an" we can"t get out till they clean it up an" come for us."
The mule raised his head and looked around him, then he rested his nose against Ralph"s shoulder again.
"We"ll stay together, won"t we, old fellow? We"ll keep each other company till they come for us. I"m glad I found you, Jasper; I"m very glad."
He patted the beast"s neck affectionately; then he removed the bridle from his head, unbuckled the harness and slipped it down to the ground, and tried to get the collar off; but it would not come. He turned it and twisted it and pulled it, but he could not get it over the animal"s ears. He gave up trying at last, and after laying the remainder of the harness up against the wheel-frame, he sat down on the bench again.
Except the occasional quick stamping of Jasper"s feet, there was no sound, and Ralph sat for a long time immersed in thought.
The mule had been gazing contemplatively down the plane into the darkness; finally he turned and faced toward the interior of the mine.
It was evident that he did not like the contaminated air that was creeping up the slope. Ralph, too, soon felt the effect of it; it made his head light and dizzy, and the smoke with which it was laden brought back the choking sensation into his throat. He knew that he must go farther in. He rose and went slowly along the heading, over his accustomed route, until he reached a bench by a door that opened into the air-way. Here he sat down again. He was tired and was breathing heavily. A little exertion seemed to exhaust him so. He could not quite understand it. He remembered when he had run all the way from the plane to the north chambers with only a quickening of the breath as the result. He was not familiar with the action of vitiated air upon the system.
Jasper had followed him; so closely indeed that the beast"s nose had often touched the boy"s shoulder as they walked.
Ralph"s lamp seemed to weigh heavily on his head, and he unfastened it from his cap and placed it on the bench beside him.
Then he fell to thinking again. He thought how anxious Bachelor Billy would be about him, and how he would make every effort to accomplish his rescue. He hoped that his Uncle Billy would be the first one to reach him when the way was opened; that would be very pleasant for them both.
Mrs. Burnham would be anxious about him too. He knew that she would; she had been very kind to him of late, very kind indeed, and she came often to see him.
Then the memory of Robert Burnham came back to him. He thought of the way he looked and talked, of his kind manner and his gentle words. He remembered how, long ago, he had resolved to strive toward the perfect manhood exemplified in this man"s life. He wondered if he had done the best he could. The scenes and incidents of the day on which this good man died recurred to him.
Why, it was at this very door that the little rescuing party had turned off to go up into the easterly tier of chambers. Ralph had not been up there since. He had often thought to go over again the route taken on that day, but he had never found the time to do so. He had time enough at his disposal now, however; why not make the trip up there? it would be better than sitting here in idleness to wait for some sign of rescue.
He arose and opened the door.
The mule made as if to follow him.
"You stay here, Jasper," he said, "I won"t be gone long."
He shut the door in the animal"s face and started off up the side-heading. There had not been much travel on this road during the last year. Most of the chambers in this part of the mine had been worked out and abandoned.
As the boy pa.s.sed on he recalled the incidents of the former journey.
He came to a place where the explosion at that time had blown out the props and shaken down the roof until the pa.s.sage was entirely blocked.
He remembered that they had turned there and had gone up into a chamber to try to get in through the entrances. But they had found the entrances all blocked, and the men had set to work to make an opening through one of them. Ralph recalled the scene very distinctly. With what desperate energy those men worked, tearing away the stones and dirt with their hands in order to get in the sooner to their unfortunate comrades.
He remembered that while they were doing this Robert Burnham had seated himself on a fallen prop, had torn a leaf from his memorandum book and had asked Ralph to hold his lamp near by, so that he could see to write. He filled one side of the leaf, half of the other side, folded it, addressed it, and placed it in the pocket of his vest. Then he went up and directed the enlargement of the opening and crawled through with the rest. Here was the entrance, and here was the opening, just as it had been left. Ralph clambered through it and went down to the fall. The piled-up rocks were before him, as he had seen them that day. Nothing had been disturbed.
On the floor of the mine was something that attracted his attention.
He stooped and picked it up. It was a piece of paper.
There was writing on it in pencil, much faded now, but still distinct enough to be read. He held his lamp to it and examined it more closely. He could read writing very well, and this was written plainly. He began to read it aloud:--
"My DEAR WIFE,--I desire to supplement the letter sent to you from the office with this note written in the mine during a minute of waiting. I want to tell you that our Ralph is living; that he is here with me, standing this moment at my side."