Adventures of Working Men Part 9

"'He has done this on account of what I said to him,' was my first thought, and I felt glad; but directly after I was in misery, for my eyes rested upon Mary Andrews, and that explained all--it was for her sake he had come.

"I don't know how that afternoon pa.s.sed, nor anything else, only that as soon as the children were dismissed I saw John Kelsey go up to Mary's side and walk home with her; and then I walked out up the hillside, wandering here and there amongst the mouths of the old unused pits half full of water, and thinking to myself that I might just as well be down there in one of them, for there was no more hope or pleasure for me in this world.

"Time slipped on, and I could plainly see one thing that troubled me sorely; John was evidently making an outward show of being a hardworking fellow, striving hard for improvement, so as to stand well in old Andrews' eyes, while I knew for a fact that he was as drunken and dissipated as any young fellow that worked in the pit.

"I could not tell Andrews this, nor I could not tell Mary. If she loved him it would grieve her terribly, and be dishonourable as well, and perhaps he might improve. I can tell him though, I thought, and I made up my mind that I would; and meeting him one night, evidently hot and excited with liquor, I spoke to him about it.

"'If you truly love that girl, John,' I said, 'you'll give up this sort of thing.'

"He called me a meddling fool, said he had watched me, that he knew I had a hankering after her myself, but she only laughed at me; and one way and another so galled me that we fought. I went home that night braised, sore, and ashamed of my pa.s.sion; while he went to the Andrews'

and said he had had to thrash me for speaking insultingly about Mary.

"I heard this afterwards, and I don't know how it was but I wrote to her telling her it was false, and that I loved her too well ever to have acted so.

"When next we met I felt that she must have read my letter and laughed at me. At all events, John Kelsey did, and I had the mortification of seeing that old Andrews evidently favoured his visits.

"John still kept up his attendance at the school, but he was at the far end; and more than once when I looked up it was to find Mary Andrews with her eyes fixed on me. She lowered them though directly, and soon after it seemed to me that she turned them upon John.

"It seems to me that a man never learns till he is well on in life how he should behave towards the woman of; his choice, and how much better it would be if he would go and, in a straightforward, manly fashion, tell her of his feelings. I was like the rest, I could not do it; but allowed six months to pa.s.s away over my head.

"I was sitting over my breakfast before starting for work, when I heard a sound, and knew what it meant before there were shrieks in the village, and women running out and making for the pit's mouth a quarter of a mile away. I tell you I turned sick with horror, for I knew that at least twenty men would be down on the night shift; and though it was close upon their leaving time, they could not have come up yet.

"'Pit's fired! pit's fired!' I heard people shrieking; not that there was any need, for there wasn't a soul that didn't know it, the pit having spoken for itself. And as I hurried out I thought all in a flash like of what a day it would be for some families there, and I seemed to see a long procession of rough coffins going to the churchyard, and to hear the wailings of the widow and the fatherless.

"There was no seeming, though, in the wailings, for the poor frightened women, with their shawls pinned over their heads, were crying and shrieking to one another as they ran on.

"I didn't lose any time, as you may suppose, in running to the pit's mouth, but those who lived nearer were there long before me; and by the time I got there I found that the cage had brought up part of the men and three who were insensible, and that it was just going down again.

"It went down directly; and just as it disappeared who should come running up, pale and scared, but Mary Andrews. She ran right up to the knot of men who had come up, and who were talking loudly, in a wild, frightened way, about how the pit had fired--they could not tell how-- and she looked from one to the other, and then at the men who were scorched, and then she ran towards the pit's mouth where I was.

"'There's no one belonging to you down, is there?' I asked her.

"'Oh yes--yes! my father was down, and John Kelsey.'

"As she said the first words, I felt ready for anything; but as she finished her sentence, a cold chill came over me, and she saw the change, and looked at me in a strange, half-angry way.

"'Here comes the cage up,' I said, trying hard to recover myself, and going up to the bank by her side; but when half-a-dozen scorched and blackened men stepped out, and we looked at their disfigured faces, poor Mary gave a low wail of misery, and I head her say, softly, 'Oh, father!

father! father!'

"It went right to my heart to hear her bitter cry, and I caught hold of her hand.

"'Don't be down-hearted, Mary,' I said huskily; 'there's hope yet.'

"Her eyes flashed through her tears, as she turned sharply on me; and pressing her hand for a moment, I said, softly, 'Try and think more kindly of me, Mary.' And then I turned to the men.

"'Now, then, who's going down?'

"'You can't go down,' shouted half-a-dozen voices; 'the choke got 'most the better of us.'

"'But there are two men down!' I cried, savagely. 'You're not all cowards, are you?'

"Three men stepped forward, and we got in the cage.

"'Who knows where Andrews was?' I cried; and a faint voice from one of the injured men told me. Then I gave the warning, and we were lowered down; it having been understood that at the first signal we made we were to be drawn up sharply.

"The excitement kept me from being frightened; but there was a horrid feeling of oppression in the air as we got lower and lower, and twice over the men with me were for being drawn up.

"'It steals over you before you know it,' said one.

"'It laid me like in a sleep when Rotherby pit fired,' said another.

"'Would you leave old Andrews to die?' I said, and they gave in.

"We reached the bottom, and I found no difficulty in breathing, and, shouting to the men to come on, I ran in the direction where I had been told we should find Andrews; but it was terrible work, for I expected each moment to encounter the deadly gas that had robbed so many men of their lives. But I kept on, shouting to those behind me, till all at once I tripped and fell over some one; and as soon as I could get myself together, I lowered the light I carried, and, to my great delight, I found it was Andrews.

"Whether dead or alive I could not tell then; but we lifted him amongst us, and none too soon, for as I took my first step back I reeled, from a curious giddy feeling which came over me.

"'Run if you can,' I said faintly; for my legs seemed to be sinking under me. I managed to keep on, though, and at our next turn we were in purer air; but we knew it was a race for life, for the heavy gas was rolling after us, ready to quench out our lives if we slackened speed for an instant. We pressed on, though, till we reached the cage, rolled into it, more than climbed, and were drawn up, to be received with a burst of cheers, Mary throwing her arms round her father's neck, and sobbing bitterly.

"'I'm not much hurt,' he said feebly, the fresh air reviving him, as he was laid gently down. 'G.o.d bless those brave lads who brought me up!

But there's another man down--John Kelsey.'

"No one spoke, no one moved; for all knew of the peril from which we had just escaped.

"'I can't go myself, or I would,' said Andrews; 'but you mustn't let him lie there and burn. I left him close up to the lead. He tried to follow me, but the falling coal struck him down. I believe the pit's on fire.'

"There was a low murmur amongst the men, and some of the women wailed aloud; but still no one moved except old Andrews, who struggled up on one arm, and looked up at us, his face black, and his whiskers and hair all burnt off.

"'My lads,' he said feebly, 'can't you do nothing to save your mate?'

and as he looked wildly from one to the other, I felt my heart like in my mouth.

"'Do you all hear?' said a loud voice; and I started as I saw Mary Andrews rise from where she had knelt holding her father's hand; 'do you all hear?--John Kelsey is left in the pit. Are you not men enough to go?'

"'Men can't go,' said one of the day-shift, gruffly; 'no one could live there.'

"'You have not tried,' again she cried pa.s.sionately. 'Richard Oldshaw,'

she said, turning to me with a red glow upon her face, 'John Kelsey is down there dying, and asking for help. Will not you go?'

"'And you wish me to go, then?' I said, bitterly.

"'Yes,' she said. 'Would you have your fellow-creature lie there and die, when G.o.d has given you the power and strength, and knowledge to save him?'

"We stood there then, gazing in one another's eyes.

"'You love him so that you can't even help risking my life to save his, Mary. You know how dearly I love you, and that I'm ready to die for your sake; but it seems hard--very hard to be sent like this.'

"That was what I thought, and she stood all the time watching me eagerly, till I took hold of her hand and kissed it; and though she looked away then, it seemed to me as though she pressed it very gently.

"The next minute I stepped up towards the pit's mouth, where there was a dead silence, for no one would volunteer; and, in a half bl.u.s.tering way, I said, 'I'll go down.'