She made no reply, but she put up a hand, and touched his face. He turned his lips to the hand and kissed it tenderly. There was a sore, sad spot in each heart; and neither dared to look forward. But tonight there was a sense of belonging to each other in a new and sacred way, of being drawn apart, separated from the world, husband and wife, together. Through George"s mind there wandered half-astonished thoughts about this strange compelling power of marriage,--the deep grip it makes on life--the almost mechanical way in which it bears down resistance, provided only that certain compunctions, certain scruples still remain for it to work on.
George slept lightly, being over-tired. All through the night the vision of the beaten men going down sullenly to their first shift seemed to hold him as though in a nightmare.
Between seven and eight o"clock a sound startled him. He found himself standing by his bed, struggling to wake and collect himself.
A sound that had shaken the house, pa.s.sing like a dull thud through the valley? A horror seized him. He looked at Letty, who was fast asleep; then he walked noiselessly into his dressing-room, and began to hurry on his clothes.
Five minutes later he was running down the hill at his full speed. It was bitterly cold and still; the first snow lay on the gra.s.s, and a raw grey veil hung over the hills. As he came in sight of the distant pit-bank he saw a crowd of women swarming up it; a confused and hideous sound of crying and shrieking came to his ears; and at the same moment a boy, panting and dead-white, ran through the lodge-gates to meet him.
"Where is it, Sprowston?"
"Oh, sir, it"s No. 2 pit. The damp"s comin up the upcast, and the cage is blown to pieces. But the down shaft"s all right, and Mr. Madan and Mr.
Macgregor were starting down as I come away. There was eighty-six men and boys went down first shift."
George groaned, and rushed on.
CHAPTER XXIV
England knows these scenes too well!
When Tressady, out of breath with running, reached the top of the bank, and threw a hurried look in front of him, his feeling was that he had seen everything before--the wintry dawn, the crowds of pale men and weeping women ranged on either hand, the police keeping the ground round the shafts clear for the mine officials--even the set white face of his manager, who, with Macgregor the fireman and two hewers, had just emerged from the cage that was waiting at the mouth of the downcast shaft.
As soon as Madan saw Tressady rounding the corner of the engine-house he hurried towards his employer.
"Have you been down yet?" Tressady cried to him.
"Just come up, sir. We got about fifty yards--air fairly good--then we found falls along the main intake. We got over three or four, till the damp rose on us too bad--we had a rough bit getting back. I thought you"d be here by now. Macgregor thinks from the direction in which things were lying that the blast had come from Holford"s Heading or thereabouts."
And the manager hastily opened a map of the colliery he was carrying in his hand against the wall of the engine-house, and pointed to the spot.
"How many men there?"
"About thirty-two in the workings round about--as near as I can reckon it."
"Any sign of the rest? How many went down?"
"Eighty-six. A cageful of men and lads--just them from the shaft-bottom--got up immediately after the explosion. Since then, not a sound from anyone! The uptake shaft is chock-full of damp. Mitch.e.l.l, in the fan-room, had to run for it at first, it was coming up so fast."
"Good G.o.d!" said George, under his breath; and the two men eyed each other painfully.
"Have you sent for the inspector?" said Tressady, after a moment.
"He ought to be here in five minutes now, sir."
"Got some baulks together?"
"The men are piling them by the shaft at this moment."
"Fan uninjured?"
"Yes, sir--and speed increased."
Followed by Madan, Tressady walked up to the shaft, and himself questioned Macgregor and the two hewers.
Then he beckoned to Madan, and the two walked in close converse towards the lamphouse, discussing a plan of action. As they pa.s.sed slowly along the bank the eyes of the miserable terror-stricken throng to either side followed every movement. But there was not a sound from anyone. Once Tressady looked up and caught the faces of some men near him--dark faces, charged with a meaning that seemed instantly to stiffen his own nerve for what he had to do.
"I give Dixon three more minutes," he said, impatiently looking at his watch; "then we go down without him."
Dixon was the inspector. He was well known throughout the district, a plucky, wiry fellow, who was generally at the pit"s mouth immediately after an accident, ready and keen to go with any rescue party on any errand, however dangerous--purely, as he himself declared, for professional and scientific reasons. In this case, he lived only a mile away, on the further side of the village, so that Madan"s messenger had not far to go.
As he spoke, George felt his arm clutched from behind. He turned, and saw Mary Batchelor, who had come forward from a group of women.
"Sir George! Listen "ere, Sir George." Her lined face and tear-blurred eyes worked with a pa.s.sion of entreaty. "The boy went down at five with the rest. Don"t yer bear "im no malice. Ee"s a poor sickly creetur, an the Lord an"t give "im the full use of his wits."
George smiled at the poor thing"s madness, and touched her kindly on the shoulder.
"Don"t you trouble yourself, Mary; all that can be done will be done--for everybody. We are only giving Mr. Dixon another minute; then we go down.
Look here"--he drew her inside the door of the lamproom, which happened to be close by, for an open-mouthed group, eager to hear whatever he might be saying, had begun to press about them. "Can you take this message from me up to the house? There"ll be no news here, you know, for a long time, and I left Lady Tressady asleep."
He tore a half-sheet from the letter in his pocket, scribbled a few words upon it, and put it into Mary"s hand.
The woman, with her shawl over her head, ran past the lamphouse towards the entrance-gate as fast as her age would let her, while George rejoined Madan.
"Ah, there he is!"
For the small, lean figure of the inspector was already pa.s.sing the gate.
Tressady hurried to meet him.
By the time the first questions and answers were over, Tressady, looking round for Madan, saw that the manager was speaking angrily to a tall man in a rough coat and corduroy trousers who had entered the pit premises in the wake of Mr. Dixon.
"You take yourself off, Mr. Burrows! You"re not wanted here."
"Madan!" called Tressady, "attend to Mr. Dixon, please. I"ll see to that man."
And he walked up to Burrows, while the men standing near crowded over the line they had been told to keep.
"What do you want?" he said, as he reached the newcomer.
"I have come to offer myself for the rescue party. I"ve been a working miner for years. I"ve had special experience in accidents before. I can beat anybody here in physical strength."
As he spoke the great heavily built fellow looked round him, and a murmur of a.s.senting applause came from the bystanders.
Tressady studied him.