Coal Camp Girl

by Lois Lenski

  It was Jeff now who had to do the deciding.

  “We’ll stay right here,” said Jeff, “until they come for us.”

  He remembered the sharp rocks that had scraped his back and he was worried for fear the men could not get through. But he did not speak of it to Virgil. There was nothing to do but to wait and hope for the best.

  Trig was quiet again. Jeff and Virgil lay down by his side and tried to sleep. Water dripped on them, gnats stung them and a cold, freezing wind blew across them. They lay there listening to the rats. They hollered until they got hoarse, hoping someone would hear them. They rested, then they hollered again. But only an echo came back.

  At last they quieted down and slept.

  Chapter Ten

  RESCUE

  “Has Queenie come back?” asked Daddy.

  “No, she’s been gone all afternoon,” said Mama.

  Supper was over, but it was still light. Mama sent Tina out again to look for Jeff. Tina put on her sweater and ran up the road. She went again to the Tuckers’ house, but Mrs. Tucker said the boys had not come. Mr. Tucker was away, working in a mine and boarding through the week at a town twenty miles away.

  Tina ran up the hill and stopped at Grandpa’s house. Grandpa told her the boys had passed by on their bicycles soon after noon.

  “Jeff told me they were going to Trig’s,” said Grandpa.

  So Tina hurried on over into Crabapple Hollow. At Uncle Chick’s, Aunt Effie and the girls knew nothing. Aunt Effie was not worried at all.

  “Oh, they’ll be all right,” she said.

  “Which way did they go?” asked Tina.

  “Up to the head of the holler,” said Dede. “I saw them. They had bank caps on their heads.”

  Tina ran down past all the houses. She asked the people she saw, but they had not seen the boys. The old man who lived in the last house said, “I saw some boys go up the mountain long about noon.”

  “Did they come down again?” asked Tina.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  Tina turned to go, discouraged.

  “There’s an old abandoned mine up there …” the old man said. But Tina did not wait to hear.

  She thought of the time that Uncle Jack took her and Jeff inside Linden Number 3. He had told Jeff never to go in an old mine. Old mines were full of gas which might explode. Jeff would never go in an old mine … but fear clutched at Tina’s heart. What if he had forgotten Uncle Jack’s warning? What if he had gone in the old mine on top of Deerfoot Mountain? Tina ran down the road in the hollow as fast as she could go.

  Ahead she saw a man coming. It was Daddy and she put her hand in his as he came up. She told him what the old man in the last house had said.

  “Those scalawags!” said Daddy. “Tina, you go back to Aunt Effie’s and wait there for me. I want to see if I can find the boys’ trail before it gets dark. Tell Aunt Effie to phone Mrs. Bryant and send a message to Mama. Tell Uncle Chick where I’ve gone.”

  Tina hurried down the road.

  Walter Wilson had no trouble finding tracks in the bushes at the foot of the mountain, and he soon located the boys’ bicycles. From there, he followed their trails of scuffed and broken branches up the mountainside to the mine entrance. There he saw their footprints leading in and out of the fan entry. Had they gone in and come out again? The prints led across the old slate dump to the pond. Walter Wilson stood and looked at the deep water, questioning. Had they fallen in? Or had they gone back and entered the mine?

  He went back to the entry himself and walked inside. He tracked the boys to a low place, but could not get through himself because he was too big. He called their names at the top of his voice, but got only an echo in reply. He backed out again. He was a heavy, thick-set man and knew he could not get through the tight places, where the top had fallen. He would have to go for help. He felt sure the boys were inside the mine.

  He came down the mountain, went to Uncle Chick’s house and told him what he had found. Aunt Effie had been telephoning. Soon Mrs. Tucker drove up, bringing Mama and Mrs. Bryant in her car. Then Uncle Jack came with Grandma and Grandpa Ferris.

  The men stood at the gate and talked.

  “I don’t think they are in the pond,” said Daddy. “I think they’re in the mine. They’re lost and can’t find their way out.”

  “Dede saw them go up the road with bank hats on,” said Uncle Chick. “I figure they went in about one o’clock, and it’s nearly six now.”

  “Five hours is a long time under the ground,” said Daddy.

  Grandpa Ferris shook his head. “That old mine is full of gas,” he said. “The sooner you start a search the better.”

  “We’ll have to get some men and go in from both sides or we’ll never find them,” said Uncle Chick. “That’s one of the biggest mines around here.” He turned to Jack. “Go get old Uncle Grimsby—he worked in that mine years ago and timbered it. He’ll know his way around.”

  “Don’t lose any time,” said Grandpa. “We may be too late already. Better call the Rescue Squad and the mine inspectors. I’ll send someone to get carbide lamps and flashlights.”

  Uncle Chick went in the house and did the telephoning.

  Lost in the mine! The women could not believe it. Mama and Mrs. Tucker cried in each other’s arms, while the children stood around, frightened. Aunt Effie, fussed and excited now, began telephoning the neighborhood. The news spread like wildfire. The telephone kept ringing as people called back to ask what they could do. The Mapleton newspaper reporter phoned to get news, but there was none to give him except that the boys were lost and believed to be in the mine.

  As darkness fell, all the houses in Crabapple Hollow were lighted up from top to bottom. Cars and people came and went. The search party had climbed up the mountainside and a crowd gathered at the head of the hollow. At the time that the men entered the mine on the Crabapple Hollow side, another group, led by Uncle Jack, went in on the Kelton side.

  At Uncle Chick’s house, Aunt Effie and Mrs. Bryant fixed refreshments, but no one wanted to eat. Dede and Cindy begged Tina to come and play with their dolls. But Tina shook her head and sat down by Mama on the couch.

  When the boys had not been found by seven-thirty, Mrs. Tucker telephoned her husband and begged him to come home.

  “That mine has not been worked for so long,” said Aunt Effie, “the least jar will cause a slate fall.”

  “Oh, but don’t imagine the worst,” said Mama. “Maybe the boys never went inside at all.”

  “The men feel certain they did,” said Grandma. “Otherwise they’d a been home by dark.”

  Tina looked at Mama. “Are they gonna find them, Mama?” she asked.

  Mama brushed aside her own tears to reassure the girl.

  “What can we do?” asked Tina.

  “Just sit still and wait,” said Mama.

  “And ask God to take care of our boys,” added Grandma.

  So the women and children folded their hands and prayed.

  Jeff roused from his sleep and wondered where he was. Then he knew that he had not dreamed it. It was true—he was lost in the mine. He was dirty and wet and chilled through. Trig and Virgil were lying beside him, sleeping. It was black, black-dark in the mine. How long had they been in there? Was it night or day?

  Suddenly Jeff heard a noise. It sounded very loud in the stillness of the mine. Something was moving. Was it a rat—a rat as big as a cat? There were fantastic stories about mine rats, but what was it Uncle Jack had said? “A rat is the miner’s best friend!” He had told Tina to come and feed “our little pets.” So a rat was nothing to be afraid of. Jeff tried to reassure himself.

  In the quiet, Jeff thought about Tina and her bad burn and long illness of last winter. He remembered how she loved the mine ponies, and he was glad that Grandpa had given her Bright Eyes. He never fought or quarreled with Tina, the way some boys did with their younger sisters. He and Tina were always the best of friends, even if he was her brother. What wa
s Tina doing? Was she still riding Bright Eyes, the way he saw her last? Or, was she out hunting for him, wondering why he did not come home? What time was it? Was it night or morning?

  The noise came again, closer this time. It was something moving. Jeff shook with fright, but called out bravely, “Hey! Hey there! What is it? Who are you?”

  He waited, his heart in his mouth.

  Then he heard it. A voice replied, “That you, boys?”

  “Yes.” Jeff gulped. He could hardly speak. Someone had found them. Who was it? He saw a light flickering.

  Jeff reached over and punched Trig and Virgil.

  “Boys, wake up,” he said. “Somebody’s found us.”

  “Who? What?” asked Trig.

  “Who’s there?” sang out Jeff, his fears fading away.

  “It’s me—Uncle Chick!” said the man.

  Virgil said, “Is someone coming?” and could hardly believe it.

  They waited, then Uncle Chick came through a narrow place, sliding on the slate, feet first. Soon he was down where the boys were.

  Uncle Chick acted as if he were used to finding lost boys every day.

  “Boys,” he said. “I’m glad I found you, but don’t ask me how I got here. We’ll just have to take a shot at the moon to get out of here. I haven’t the least idea which way to go, but come along with me anyhow.”

  The boys got up and crawled after him.

  “We thought you were all dead from black damp,” Uncle Chick said.

  The boys laughed nervously.

  Uncle Chick kept on talking. “We saw your tracks to the water hole. Did you go in for a swim?”

  “No,” said Jeff. The boys did not feel like talking.

  “I don’t know how you boys got over here,” Uncle Chick went on. “You must have crawled over piles of slate and waded water holes up to your neck!”

  Still the boys had nothing to say.

  Going back was not easy, although Uncle Chick led the way. In some places he had to hold onto the top rock with his fingers and pull himself through. The boys pulled each other. In one place, they made tracks two inches deep in dry coal dust, which they did not remember on the way in. But at least now, they had Uncle Chick’s flashlight to guide them. Once they saw some pieces of copper, which they picked up to take out with them, but Uncle Chick made them throw it down.

  “The other men are waiting,” said Uncle Chick. “I was the smallest and skinniest of the men, so they made me go all the way in. I had to go in crawling—scraping top and bottom.”

  After a time, they came to the place where the other men were waiting. “Did you find them, Chick?” they called out.

  “Sure!” said Chick. “Alive and kicking too!”

  The other men began to laugh and joke. All the tension was eased now that the boys had been located.

  At last the whole party came out of the mine. It was dark outside now, nine o’clock at night. Jeff’s daddy and Grandpa Ferris were with the waiting men. The men were both glad and mad to see the boys. They began to tease. “You boys are gonna get the worst whippin’ you ever had in your lives for a stunt like this!” they said.

  The boys hung their heads ashamed.

  Suddenly Jeff remembered his dog. “Where’s Queenie?” he asked. “She went in the mine with us.”

  “Forget the dog,” said Daddy. “You come on home now. Queenie will find her way out all right.”

  “Oh, and my hatchet!” Jeff felt at his belt. “My new hatchet—I left it in the mine …”

  But nobody cared about the hatchet, even if it was a new one. The important thing was to get the boys home as quickly as possible.

  At the bottom of the mountain Uncle Chick’s truck was waiting. The boys climbed up in the back. Their hearts were light now, for they were going home. Trig found a box of groceries with a bunch of onions on top. He handed them to Jeff and Virgil. The boys were so hungry, they ate the onions and said they tasted good.

  Two mine inspectors drove up just after the boys were brought out. After hearing the news of the boys’ rescue, they drove to Kelton and went in on the Kelton side to find Uncle Jack’s search party, to tell them the boys had been found. Afterwards, it turned out that the boys had been located near the Kelton exit. The fresh air blowing in from this exit had saved their lives. Uncle Jack’s party took chalk to mark their way with arrows, to avoid getting lost, themselves.

  At Aunt Effie’s house, three mothers were happy to see their boys again. They put their arms around them and cried.

  Everybody crowded round. “Hey, boys, what happened?” they asked.

  Trig had recovered enough to speak for the other two with something of his old bravado. “We had a good time exploring … but we thought we’d never get out.”

  The people laughed, but Jeff turned to Virgil and said, “I don’t think it’s funny, do you?”

  Virgil shook his head. He still could not talk.

  The boys were a sad sight. Their blackened faces were streaked from crying, they had cut places on their backs, hands and knees. Their overalls were cut through at the knees. Their thin clothes and tennis shoes were soaked and they were shivering with cold. They wished the people would go away and let them alone.

  Uncle Chick wanted them to say something, so he asked, “Well, boys, do you still want to be miners?”

  Virgil found his tongue at last. “I’d rather take a hundred whippings than stay in there,” he said.

  “I’d rather be put in jail for the rest of my life than be in there,” said Jeff.

  “I still want to be a coal miner,” said Trig. “I’m not scared. I’ll take me a rope and tie it and go back in …”

  Everybody laughed. The boys went into the house.

  “Come on, Trig! Come out to the woodshed!” called Uncle Chick. “I’ll warm you up in no time.”

  But Grandma Ferris spoke up. “No—no whippings!” she said. “After all they’ve been through, these boys have been punished enough. They have learned their lesson, I’m sure.”

  The other women agreed.

  Virgil’s daddy did not return until after Virgil was already at home and in bed asleep. He said, “Well, since it was such a narrow escape, I won’t whip him. I’m thankful he’s still alive.”

  Mrs. Bryant drove Jeff and his family home. Jeff was so starved he went first to the kitchen, and Mama fed him right away. Then she washed him and put Mercurochrome on his scratches. His clothes were black and he had coal dust in his hair.

  Jeff sat down on the couch and tried to tell the family about it. But he could not talk, for the tears kept coming fast.

  “I don’t ever want to go in a mine again.” That was all he could say.

  “He’s too nervous to talk,” said Mama. “I’ll give him some nerve medicine so he can sleep.”

  “Put him to bed right away,” said Daddy. “No telling what all that poor kid has been through.”

  Before he dropped off to sleep, Jeff called out, “Has Queenie come home?” He was worried that the dog had been left in the mine.

  The next morning Queenie still had not come home. Jeff slept until noon, although visitors crowded the house and kept coming and going.

  That evening, Jeff’s daddy said, “We can’t leave Queenie in the mine. We’ll have to go and get her out.”

  Jeff shook his head. “You can’t get me to go anywhere near that old mine again.”

  “Uncle Chick will take you,” said Daddy. “He won’t let you get lost. He was up on the mountain this morning and he heard the dog barking inside. He tried to coax her out but she refused to come. She thinks you boys are still inside.”

  “She tried to bring us out,” said Jeff, “but we were too stupid to come. She kept pulling at my pants’ leg …”

  “You can’t let her die in there,” said Daddy. “She’s had no food since yesterday morning. She’s your dog. She won’t mind anyone but you. You’ll have to go inside and call her.”

  So the three boys went into the mine again the nex
t day, not voluntarily, but to bring the dog out. This time they followed safely behind Uncle Chick, tagging at his heels, so there was no danger of losing their way. Queenie’s barking grew louder and louder as they came closer.

  Jeff called her, “Queenie! Queenie!” and she came running up to him. She wagged her tail and jumped on him, excited and happy. He took her in his arms and carried her out of the mine.

  “Queenie deserves a gold medal!” said Mama, when they came home.

  Jeff, Trig and Virgil had had the adventure of their lives, and the people in Crabapple Hollow and Linden were not going to let them forget it. They had to tell their story over and over until they grew tired of it. They saw their names in the paper, and they were teased unmercifully.

  When Jeff went to the company store, Mr. Frazier came rushing out to meet him. “Hi, Jeff!” he called. “Let’s go inspect the mines!”

  All the clerks crowded up and laughed at him. The Linden boys were even worse.

  “What shift are you on, Jeff?” asked Cliff Crouse.

  “Take me in the mine with you, Jeff,” said Sammy Blagg. “I want my name in the paper too.”

  Jeff was glad to get home again. Only Mama seemed to understand.

  “We were just exploring, Mama,” Jeff told her. “We weren’t doing anything bad.”

  “I know,” said Mama. “All boys are curious. It could have happened to any boy.”

  Mama told the others to stop talking to Jeff about it, because it made him so nervous.

  “I want him to forget it,” she said, “but I reckon he never will as long as he lives.”

  Chapter Eleven

  WEDDING

  Here we come!

  Bum, bum, bum!

  Where you from?

  Pretty girl station.

  What’s your occupation?

  What’s your trade?

  Lemonade!

  All the girls were playing in the Wilsons’ yard, divided in two lines facing each other. As one side acted out its “occupation,” the other side tried to guess.

  “Digging coal!” called Tina.

  Her guess was right, so the others ran, and Tina’s side tried to catch them.