Kitabı oku: «Derrick Sterling: A Story of the Mines», sayfa 4

Bill Tooley's brutal disposition was mainly the result of his home training and influences, for he could not remember having had a single gentle or kind word spoken to him in all his stormy life. In spite of it he was troubled with some prickings of conscience, and a sort of pity that evening, as he reflected upon the unhappy condition of the lad whom he had left to wander alone amid the awful blackness of the abandoned gangway. He had not intended to do anything so cruel as this when he first left Derrick where he did. He thought the boy would certainly cry out for help, and after allowing him to suffer thus for a short time he meant to go to him and offer to release him upon condition of his joining the Young Sleepers. This plan had been upset by Derrick's disappearance, and then it was more to assert his authority over his companions than with the idea of inflicting further cruelty upon their victim that he had ordered him to be left for a while. Now he began to feel anxious concerning the fate of the lad, and eager to effect his release.

Feeling thus, as soon as he had finished an uncomfortable supper in his wretched home, filled with quarrelling children, and ruled by a slatternly, shrill-voiced mother, he hurried out to try and induce some of his companions to accompany him down into the mine in a search for Derrick. He had some difficulty in doing this, for the other boys were badly frightened by what had taken place, and dreaded to return into the mine. It was more than an hour after he started out before he had persuaded four of the boldest among them to join him in the proposed search.

As this little party gathered at the mouth of the slope, and prepared to descend in a car that was about to start down with some timbers for props, a timid voice said,

"Can't I go too, Bill? Please let me! I know you are going to look for Derrick. Please, Bill!"

It was Paul Evert, who, with an undefined feeling of dread and fear for the safety of his friend, had hung on the outskirts of various groups of boys in the village street until from their conversations he had learned the whole story. With senses sharpened by anxiety and love, he had discovered that Bill Tooley and his companions were going in search of the missing lad. Now, with his father's mine cap bearing its tiny lamp on his head, he begged to be allowed to go with them.

Bill hesitated for a moment, and then, for fear lest if he refused Paul would spread the story of what he had discovered, or perhaps, moved by some better feeling, he said, "Yes, pile in if yer want to, dough I don't see what good you can do."

Overjoyed to receive this permission, Paul hastily scrambled into the car just as it began to move, and in a few minutes was landed with the rest at the foot of the slope.

Some time before this Derrick had emerged from the old gangway, and turned into the travelling-road, up which he was now laboriously making his way.

There did not happen to be an overseer at the bottom of the slope just then, and to the one or two men who observed them the presence of boys in the mine at all hours of the day and night was too common to attract comment; so the little party had no difficulty in entering the old gangway without being noticed or questioned.

For some reason which he could not explain Paul had brought with him a new clothes-line, which he now carried, coiled and hung about his neck. Bill Tooley took the lead, and Paul, with the aid of his crutch, hobbled along close after him, while the others walked fearfully in a bunch at some little distance behind.

They had not gone far when Bill stopped and picked up a piece of cloth from the ground.

"Here's what was over his eyes," he said, "an' as it's a bit furder dan where we left 'im, it shows he's gone furder in."

The boys gazed at the cloth in awe-struck silence, as though it were something to be dreaded; and, when Bill called out, "Come on, fellers, yer won't never find nothing a-standin' dere like a lot o' balky mules," they followed him even more reluctantly than before.

Lighted by their lamps, they made far more rapid progress than poor Derrick had in the darkness, and soon approached the place where he had discovered the dim, reflected light above the mouth of the old air-shaft. Just here the oil in their leader's lamp began to give out, and its flame to burn with a waning and uncertain light.

All at once a strong draught of air extinguished it entirely. He took a step forward in the darkness towards a log which he had barely seen, and thought might be Derrick Sterling lying down. Then came a terrible cry, and Paul's light showed nothing in front of him save the yawning mouth of the shaft down which Bill Tooley had pitched headlong!

CHAPTER VII
A CRIPPLE'S BRAVE DEED

As Bill Tooley thus met the fate Derrick had so narrowly escaped, and the Young Sleepers who followed him were left without a leader, they were thrown into a sad state of confusion. Two of them started to run back, another threw himself on the floor and burst into loud lamentations, while the fourth stood motionless and silent from fear. Of them all, only Paul Evert, the crippled lad, retained his presence of mind.

As upon all such occasions he who retains full command of his faculties and remains calm at once assumes the position of a leader, so it was now.

In a voice that sounded loud and stern as compared with his ordinary gentle tone, Paul commanded the runaways to stop and return at once. They hesitated a moment and then obeyed him. He ordered the boy who lay upon the floor to cease his outcries and get up. Then the little fellow approached as close to the air-shaft as he dared, and lying down, with his head beyond its edge, he listened. In a moment he was rewarded for his pains, for he heard a faint moan. There came another more distinctly, and he knew that wherever Bill Tooley was he was still alive, and might possibly be saved.

Taking the lamp from his cap, and the coil of line from about his neck, where it seemed to have been placed for this very emergency, he tied the one to an end of the other and gently lowered it into the shaft. Before doing this he ordered two of the boys to hold him tightly by the legs, and thus prevent him from slipping over the edge. Quieted, and with some of their courage restored by his coolness, they did as he directed, and held him with so firm a grip that for many days afterwards his legs bore black and blue imprints of their fingers.

As the little lamp swung downward the draught of air caused it to flare and flicker as though it were about to be extinguished, but it was nearly full of oil, and the wick had just been pricked up, so it continued to burn and throw an uncertain light upon the glistening masses of coal that formed the sides of the shaft. It had not been lowered more than ten feet when its feeble rays disclosed a dark object, apparently suspended in mid-air, in the centre of the shaft. It was Bill Tooley, and Paul saw that by some means his downward plunge had been arrested, and that he was now clinging to an invisible support.

Hastily pulling up the lamp, Paul replaced it on his cap, and doubling his line, made one end of it fast to an old timber prop or support of the gangway roof that stood a short distance from the shaft. Knotting the loose end about his body, and bidding the boys place one of the old logs close to the edge of the shaft and hold it there to prevent the rope from being chafed or cut, the brave little hump-backed lad, who, like most of those in his condition, was unusually strong in his arms, swung himself into the dark hole. Down he slid into the blackness, slowly and cautiously, until he came to the object of his search. It was Bill Tooley's limp body hanging across a stout timber brace, which, extending from side to side of the shaft and firmly bedded in its walls at each end, had been left there by the miners who cut this air-channel.

As Paul's withered leg was of no assistance to him in clinging to the timber, he lashed himself securely to it before attempting to do anything for the boy who had so recently been his enemy and tormentor, and was now dependent upon his efforts for even a chance for life. Bill was not unconscious, though so weak from pain and fright as to be nearly helpless. Under the influence of Paul's cheering words, and after the line had been securely fastened about his body, he was induced to let go his desperate hold of the timber and grasp the rope. Then Paul called out to the boys above to pull up very slowly and carefully, as the least carelessness might result in dashing both Bill and him to the bottom of the shaft.

Bill Tooley was a heavy weight for the frightened boys at the top to manage, and several times, even in the short distance of ten feet, his upward progress was arrested, and Paul feared that they were about to let him slip back. Obeying his instructions, two of the boys walked away with the rope, instead of trying to pull up hand-over-hand, while the other two held the log at the edge in place, and made ready to catch hold of Bill's arm as soon as he should come within reach.

Finally his head appeared above the surface, and he was dragged, screaming with pain, over the edge, and laid groaning on the floor of the gangway. Then the rope was again lowered to the brave little fellow who was clinging in perfect darkness—for his light had at length blown out—to the timber brace in the shaft. He was drawn to the surface much more quickly and easily than Bill Tooley had been; but when he found himself once more in safety, a reaction from the nervous strain of the past half-hour set in. Throwing himself down beside Bill, he began to sob so violently as to greatly astonish the boys, who beheld but could not comprehend this weakness in one whose strong will had but a minute before so completely mastered theirs.

In a few moments Paul recovered his composure sufficiently to ask two of the boys to go to the chamber at the foot of the slope and procure assistance to carry Bill Tooley, who was evidently unable to walk. After a long delay these two returned, in company with several miners, who brought a stretcher such as is often kept in coal mines in readiness for the accidents that are so common to them.

From what the messenger boys had told them, these men knew most of the facts connected with the accident. They were so loud in their praise of Paul for his brave deed that he became greatly confused, though it must be confessed that praise from these great strong men, any one of whom would be proud to have done what he had, sounded very pleasantly to the crippled lad. In order to have a little time to think it all over, he hobbled on ahead of the others, who moved but slowly with their burden.

When he was thus alone with his thoughts, Paul suddenly remembered the object for which he had entered the mine. It had been completely lost sight of in the excitement of the past hour, but now he realized that they had discovered nothing concerning Derrick's fate. He grew faint and cold at the remembrance of the air-shaft. Did his dear friend's body lie at the bottom of it? He trembled as he thought how very possibly this might be the case, and waiting for the men to overtake him, he asked if they knew anything of Derrick Sterling.

"Yes," answered one of them, "I saw him come out of his mother's house as I was passing on my way to the slope, more'n half an hour ago."

"Are you sure?" asked Paul, in great surprise.

"Certainly I am. Why not? was there anything strange in that?"

"Yes, we thought he was lost in the mine, and have been hunting for him."

"Well, you were mistaken, that's all, and you've had your hunt for nothing."

Paul was made very happy by this news, though it greatly puzzled him. The other boys were relieved to hear that Derrick was safe, but greatly alarmed as to what fate was in store for them as a punishment for the injuries they had inflicted upon him. Judging from what they would have done under similar circumstances, they did not doubt that Derrick had already spread the story of his wrongs through the village, together with the names of all those who had persecuted him.

At length the party reached the foot of the slope, and Bill Tooley, with his head resting in Paul Evert's lap, and moaning with pain, was sent in an empty car to the surface. The bully had made himself so unpopular by his cruelty, and by his overbearing ways, that nobody except Paul felt very sorry for him. When it was learned that he had received his injuries in consequence of his persecution of Derrick Sterling, the general verdict was that he was rightly served.

The injured boy was carried to his home, whither Paul accompanied him; but the latter was so frightened by the outcries of Mrs. Tooley when she learned what had happened that he hurried away without entering the house. On his way home he stopped at the Sterlings' to inquire if Derrick were really safe, and was much comforted to learn that he had just come in and gone to bed—"Where you should be yourself, Paul," said Mrs. Sterling, kindly, as she bade him good-night.

As the tired but light-hearted boy hobbled into his own home, his father, who had sat up waiting for him, without knowing where he had been, roughly ordered him to bed, saying it was no time of night for lads like him to be prowling about the street.

The sensitive little fellow went up-stairs without a word, all his light-heartedness dispelled by this harsh reception, and the tears starting to his eyes. His back ached so from his unwonted exertions that even after he got to bed he tossed and tumbled feverishly for several hours before falling into a troubled sleep.

Tom Evert left his house earlier than usual the next morning, and went to the mouth of the slope, where he found a number of his friends assembled. They began to congratulate him, and continued to do so until in great bewilderment he exclaimed,

"What's it for, mates? Is it a joke?"

"For thy son, man."

"For my son? which of 'em?"

"Thy crippled lad, Paul, of course. Is the man daft?"

"No; but I think ye must be, to be running on in such a fashion about a lad that's not only a wellnigh helpless cripple, but I'm afeared is going bad ways. 'Twas nearer midnight nor sundown before he came in frae t' street last night, and I sent him to bed wi' a flea in his ear."

A perfect roar of laughter greeted this speech.

"Wellnigh helpless, is he?" cried one. "Well, if he's helpless I'd like to know what you'd name helpful?"

"Going to the bad, is he?"

"Out late o' nights! That's a good one."

"An' yez sint him to bed wid a flea in his ear, an' him just afther doin' the dade should mak' ye the proudest fayther in de place! Did iver I moind de likes of that?"

These and many similar expressions greeted the ear of the astonished miner, and from them he began to comprehend that his son Paul had done something wonderful, and had thereby become a famous character in the village. At length, after much effort, for they would not believe but that he knew the whole story, he learned of his boy's brave deed of the night before. Instead of going down the slope the miner hurried home, where he found Paul, looking very pale and languid, just sitting down to his breakfast.

Picking up the frail boy, and holding him in his strong arms as he used to when he was a baby, the delighted father exclaimed,

"Paul, lad, forgie me this time, and I'll never speak thee rough again. Thee's made me, I think, the proudest man in the state this day. Crippled and all, thee's proved thyself worth a score of straight lads, and to thy fayther thee's worth all the lads in the world. Mither, our Paul's done that any man in t' mine might be proud of, an' he's the talk of the colliery."

Thus was Paul more than repaid for all his suffering of the night before, and as he hobbled to his work in the new breaker that morning he was once more happy and light-hearted.

The evening before, Job Taskar had called Monk Tooley from his house, and as they walked away together he said, in a low but significant tone,

"That Sterling lad's not down in the mine, Monk."

"He must be dere, fer de Sleepers left him where he'd be safe, an' I know he's not come up de slope since."

"He's not there, I tell you; for I just now saw him going into Jones's house, and heard him say he had something important to tell him."

"If yer saw him and heerd him of course he must be up; but I don't see how he did it. If he's told de boss anything it must be a blab on de Sleepers, fer he can't know anything else."

"Whatever it is, he's dangerous to have round, and we must look out for him."

"All right! just leave him to me. I'll have de Sleepers fix him. Dey'll do anything my boy Bill tells 'em; he's got 'em under his thumb."

"Look sharp about it, then."

"Ay, ay, mate, I'll give Bill de word to-night soon as he comes in."

Then the two separated, and Monk Tooley went home, thinking over a plan by which the Young Sleepers, under his son Bill's direction, could effectually drive Derrick Sterling from the mine. As he opened his own door he called out in his loud, rough voice,

"Bill come in yet?"

Stepping into the front room, he stood still in amazement. The wife of a neighbor was holding up a warning finger towards him, and saying, "Sh—h!"

His own wife and two other women were bending over a bed in one corner, and the children, whom he had never before known to be quiet when awake, were standing or sitting silently in various frightened attitudes about the room.

"Who is it?" he asked, hoarsely, with an attempt at a whisper.

"It's Bill," answered one of the women. "He's badly hurted, falling down a shaft in the mine, and is like to die. They say Paul the cripple saved him."

"Bill! my Bill! You're lying!" cried the miner, fiercely. "Bill came out of de mine wid de day shift. I seen him."

Rough and cruel as he was, the man had, hidden somewhere in his being, a deep-seated affection for his son Bill. Although he had never been heard to speak other than harshly to him, Bill was the pride and joy of his hard life. A blow aimed at Bill struck him with redoubled force. His hatred of Derrick Sterling arose from the fact that the lad had thrashed his boy. Now to tell him that his boy Bill was so badly hurt that he was likely to die was like wrenching from him all that he held worth living for.

The women made way for the rough miner as he strode to where his son lay on a heap of soiled bedclothing, tossing and moaning, but unconscious, and in a high fever. One look was enough, and then Monk Tooley left the house, and set forth on a ten-mile walk through the night to fetch the nearest doctor.

By sunrise the doctor had come and gone again, having done what he could. He said the boy would live if he were kept quiet and had careful nursing, but that he was injured in such a way that he might be lame for the rest of his life.

When Monk Tooley went down into the mine that day—for he must now work harder and more steadily than ever to support this added burden—he was a silent, heart-broken man.

It was nearly noon before Derrick Sterling awoke after his first day of bitter experience in the mine. Though he was still sore and lame, hot water and sleep, two of nature's most powerful remedies in cases of his kind, had worked such wonders for him that he felt quite ready to enter the mine again, and face whatever new trials it might have in store for him.

After dinner the mine boss came to see him, and was amazed to find him looking so well and cheerful.

"You seem to come up smiling after every knock down, Derrick," he said. "I shouldn't wonder if you would even be ready to go down into the mine again to-morrow."

"Indeed I think I must, sir," said Derrick, earnestly. "I don't believe any one else can get along with Harry Mule as well as I can."

"Let me see. How many years have you been driving him?" asked Mr. Jones, gravely.

"Only one day, sir," replied Derrick laughing, "but I think he's very fond of me, and I know I am of him."

"All right; if you insist upon it, you shall go down again to-morrow to your bumping-mule. Now I want to talk to you seriously."

The conversation that followed was long and earnest, and it was ended by Mr. Jones saying, just before he left, "I must manage somehow or other to be there on the 27th, and I want you to go with me, for I don't know anybody else whom I dare trust. It only remains for us to discover a way."