‘Watch your head, the tunnel gets quite low here. But it should widen out again soon.’ James was doing his best not to show his fear, but Agnes could hear the quiver in his voice.
Finally, as James had promised, the tunnel opened out and Agnes felt a rush of fresh, cold air.
‘The air road,’ James said, sounding relieved. ‘We should be able to find the others from here.’
‘I think I can hear them …’ Agnes stopped, cocking her head in the darkness. From somewhere further up the tunnel she could just make out the murmur of men’s voices.
They followed the sound down the air road for a while and then turned down another short stump of tunnel.
‘Hello?’ James called out, swinging his lamp high.
‘Not so loud! D’you want to kill us all?’ Seth’s voice growled back out of the darkness.
They found the men hunched at the end of the tunnel, amid a tumble of fallen rocks and boulders and broken pit props.
The first thing Agnes saw was Seth, crouched beside a man who lay shuddering on the ground. As her eyes grew used to the dusty air, she saw the man’s legs were an ugly mass of blood and bone and mangled flesh. Shock snatched the breath from her throat, and it was all she could do not to recoil.
Seth looked up, his expression changing when he saw Agnes.
‘What’s she doing here?’ he said.
Agnes ignored him. She forced herself forward to examine the injured man. He was shuddering and twitching like a puppet.
Seth moved aside reluctantly to let her attend to him. ‘Been doing that ever since we got here,’ he said.
‘Shock,’ Agnes said. ‘We need to keep him warm.’ She dropped her bag on the ground and shrugged off her coat to drape over him. Seth immediately took his off too and handed it to her.
Agnes felt for the man’s pulse, his hand cold and clammy in hers. It fluttered as lightly as a trapped butterfly under her fingers.
‘Reckon he’s beyond help,’ Seth muttered. He still bore the scars of his beating, purple bruises around his eyes and a swollen lip.
Agnes looked down at the man. He had already lost so much blood, she could almost see the life draining out of him. ‘At least I can give him something for the pain,’ she said.
‘Where’s the rest of the rescue team?’ James asked, looking round.
‘Three of them have gone up the drift to take the other injured men to safety,’ Seth said. ‘We reckoned it were too dangerous to take the cage up to the surface again. The vibrations could bring down more of this place.’
‘We came down in the cage.’
‘Aye, I know. We felt it.’ He looked grim. ‘I said I’d stay behind with these two. It’s a long walk up the drift, and we didn’t reckon they’d make it. One’s gone already.’ He glanced to the far corner of the tunnel, where Agnes could make out a figure lying on the ground, covered in a makeshift shroud of tarpaulin.
‘Who is it?’ James’ voice was flat.
‘Reg Willis.’
Agnes stopped, her hands fumbling with the hypodermic needle she was trying to put together in the dark. She had a sudden picture of the day she first arrived in Bowden, and little Reg Willis sitting behind the table at the Miners’ Welfare Committee in his stiff, uncomfortable collar.
She was suddenly aware Seth was watching her keenly. She pulled herself together and finished giving the injection.
‘How many men did they take up to the surface?’ James asked.
Seth frowned at the question. ‘Three, I think. Aye, there were three.’
‘And what happened to the other man?’
‘What other man?’
‘I had the checks counted. There were six men down here. With these two, and the three that have gone up to the surface, that only makes five.’
Seth looked around. ‘You must have got it wrong. We searched everywhere.’
‘What about the tailgate?’
Seth shook his head. ‘That were the first to come down. If he were down there I doubt if there’s much left of him by now.’
‘What were the names of the men who were taken up to the surface?’ James demanded.
Seth’s frown deepened. ‘Geoffrey Frisk, I think. Aye, and his brother Percy …’
‘What about Rob Chadwick? Was he one of them?’
Agnes looked up sharply at the name.
‘Nay, I’ve not seen him.’ Seth looked from James to the far end of the tunnel. ‘Why, do you think—’
‘I don’t know,’ James said. ‘But I’m going to find out.’
He started back towards the air road, but Seth stopped him.
‘It’s too dangerous,’ he said. ‘There’s nobbut a couple of props holding it up, and they could give at any minute.’
‘I need to find him,’ James insisted.
‘Aye, we will. When the others get back.’
‘But it might be too late by then!’
‘I daresay it’s already too late.’ Seth’s voice was sombre.
For a moment James looked as if he might argue. Then his shoulders slumped. He sat down on a rock a short distance away, hidden in the shadows, his head in his hands.
Agnes turned her attention back to the man on the ground. He had lapsed into unconsciousness, his chest rising and falling as his breath came in quick, shallow gasps.
‘How is he?’ Seth asked behind her.
‘It’s not good.’ Agnes forced herself to think, pressing her hands to her temples. ‘If there was some way I could raise his hips above his head, I might be able to keep the blood flow going …’
‘What about these rocks? We could pile them up, make a bit of a platform. Would that work?’
‘It might.’ She held up the lamp while Seth searched around, groping in the gloom. He found some loose chunks of rock and Agnes set down the lamp beside the man’s head and together she and Seth piled up the rocks, forming them into a crude plinth.
Seth sat back, breathing hard. ‘Now what?’
‘Now we have to lift him on to it.’ Steeling herself, Agnes slid her arms under the man’s hips and tried to move him towards it. He was a dead weight in her arms and she could feel the muscles in her back straining as she struggled to lift him. She tried again but her arms slipped and she found herself holding on to the bloody, mangled pulp of his upper thighs.
‘Do you think it will help?’ Seth asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Agnes admitted. ‘But I can’t think of anything else to do.’ She wiped her forehead, and felt sticky blood smear from her sleeve across her brow.
They sat in silence for a moment. Then Seth said, ‘I never thanked you – for what you did for our Christopher.’
Agnes stared at him, taken aback. It was the last thing she had been expecting. ‘How is he?’
‘They reckon he’ll make it. But he could have died. Another few hours …’ Seth’s voice trailed off.
‘I know.’ As she had thought, Christopher’s appendix had been on the point of bursting when the operation took place. ‘But he’s having the treatment he needs now, and that’s the main thing.’
‘I don’t think I could have coped with losing someone else.’ Seth’s voice was bleak in the darkness.
‘You mustn’t think like that,’ Agnes said. ‘Christopher will recover. He’s a strong young man.’
‘Aye. You were right about summat else, too,’ Seth said after a brief silence. ‘I haven’t been a good father to those bairns.’
‘I’m sure that’s not true.’
‘Yes it is, and you know it. Haven’t you taken me to task about it often enough over the past few months? But I never listened to you. I told mysen you were interfering, just like I told mysen I was doing my best for them by going to work every day and keeping a roof over their heads.’ He shook his head. ‘But I wasn’t, and that’s the truth. I didn’t take care of them. I just gave up and let Hannah do it all. And this is what happened.’
‘You couldn’t have stopped Christopher from falling ill,’ Agne
s said, but Seth hardly seemed to be listening.
‘I knew it was wrong,’ he said. ‘I knew it wasn’t what their mother would have wanted, either. But the fact is I couldn’t face being a father to them. So I stayed out and kept mysen busy with the union and the Welfare Committee and everything else, and acted like I was doing something important, all because I couldn’t face going home knowing she weren’t there.’
Agnes stared at his shadowy profile. It was as if the darkness had allowed him to reveal his deepest fears.
‘Grief does strange things to people,’ she said.
‘Aye, and I let mine take me over,’ Seth said. ‘I was so wrapped up in how I felt, it never occurred to me that the bairns were missing their mother too. They needed me, and I let them down. And I don’t think I’ll ever forgive mysen for that.’
He slumped forward, his grief so raw Agnes felt helpless in the face of it. Without thinking she reached for his hand.
‘It isn’t too late to put things right,’ she said. ‘You still have a family. Billy, Elsie, Christopher – they still need you.’
‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘If we get out of here, things are going to be different. I’m going to be different, I can tell you that.’
‘You mean, when we get out of here?’ Agnes said.
Seth was silent a moment too long. ‘Aye,’ he said quietly.
Agnes was suddenly aware of his rough, callused hand holding hers. How did that happen? she wondered. She was about to pull away but then realised how much she needed the reassurance of his fingers curled around hers.
Then she remembered James, sitting in the darkness. He must be utterly terrified, poor man. If anyone needed reassurance, he did.
‘Are you all right, Mr Shepherd?’ she called softly. There was no reply. ‘Mr Shepherd? James?’
Seth’s hand slipped from hers. ‘Mr Shepherd?’ They were both silent, listening. All Agnes could hear was the steady plop of water dripping down.
‘Where is he?’ she whispered. She turned to Seth in the darkness. ‘You don’t think –?’
‘I think the damn’ fool’s gone off on his own to look for Rob Chadwick.’ Seth muttered a curse under his breath and shifted beside her. ‘I’d best go and find him.’
‘I’ll come with you.’
‘Nay,’ Seth said. ‘You stay here and look after him.’ He nodded towards the man on the ground. ‘The others should be back soon, and they can take him by stretcher to the surface.’
‘But I might be able to help.’
‘Nay, I said!’ Seth turned on her, and she saw the glint of fear in his eyes. ‘If that roof goes, I don’t want to have to pull your body out as well.’
They were both silent for a moment, staring at each other, making out each other’s faces in the gloom.
‘Be careful,’ Agnes pleaded.
A shadow of a smile crossed his face. ‘Aye. And you. Sit tight until the rescue party comes back.’
Agnes listened to him clawing his way slowly through the darkness, clambering over fallen rocks, coughing in the dust, until the sound faded away and she was quite alone. In a distant part of the pit, the ponies were still whinnying in fear, sensing danger. Agnes prayed they would be safe.
She prayed they would all be safe.
She turned her attention back to the man on the ground. He was barely breathing now, in spite of her efforts.
Agnes was reaching into her bag to find a cloth to wipe his face when she heard a distant rumble of thunder from somewhere above her.
She snatched up the lamp and looked about her, but the sound had faded away, replaced by the pitter-patter of what sounded like rain falling around her.
Agnes put her hand up to her hair, expecting it to be wet, but it was still dry. Puzzled, she looked up, and caught a face full of dust and tiny fragments of pebbles showering down from the ceiling.
There was another rumble, and an ominous cracking sound above her.
‘Seth!’ She screamed out his name without thinking as a rumbling tide of rocks began to fall. Agnes dived for cover, her hands over her head, while the world began to crumble around her.
Chapter Forty-Six
Carrie went down to the pit as soon as she heard the bell. Even though she had no reason to fear for her own loved ones any more, the sound of the calamity bell always woke up something inside her. She dressed quickly, roused the maid and told her to take care of the baby, and then hurried down to gather with the other women.
It was only when she saw them all standing at the gates anxiously waiting for news that she realised why she had come. In times of crisis like this, Bowden became one family, sharing each other’s pain and fear.
She looked for her own mother and sisters, but there was no sign of them. Carrie wasn’t surprised. Her poor grief-stricken mother was probably too exhausted to cope with anyone else’s heartache today. She hoped Eliza, Hattie and Gertie were taking proper care of her.
Then Carrie spotted her friend Nancy, flanked by her mother and Ruth Chadwick. As Carrie pushed her way through the crowd, she could see the two older women had hold of Nancy’s arms, propping her up on either side.
Fear seized her. Oh, God, not Archie? They had been married such a short time.
She hurried towards them, calling out Nancy’s name. Her friend looked up, saw her and burst into tears.
‘Oh, Carrie!’ Nancy fell into her arms, sobbing. ‘What am I going to do?’
Carrie consoled her, stroking her soft hair. ‘Shhh now. Don’t take on, Nancy.’
‘But it’s been so long, and we’ve had no news.’
‘He’ll be safe, don’t you worry.’ Over her friend’s shoulder Carrie caught a glimpse of Ruth’s tense face. Jinny stood with her mother, looking after the other children.
‘They should never have put him on the night shift,’ Nancy wept. ‘He’s always hated it. He says he never likes to leave me – oh, Carrie, I can’t lose him. Not now!’
‘She’s just found out she’s expecting,’ Mrs Morris explained to Carrie, with a worried glance at her daughter. ‘You need to calm down, Nancy lass. This in’t doing that bairn any good.’
Carrie looked at the woman’s taut face. Mrs Morris, like Ruth Chadwick, had been through too much in her life to let bad news overwhelm her. The pitmen’s women had a tough, practical philosophy. Whatever life landed you with, you just had to get on with it and muddle along as best you could.
But there was nothing tough or practical about Nancy. Her emotions consumed her, good and bad. She was either singing or sobbing, as her mother would say.
And now her heart was breaking. Carrie felt utterly helpless in the face of Nancy’s storm of grief. All she could do was go on holding her, trying to comfort her.
‘Shhh, love. Your mum’s right, you’ll do thysen no good.’ She rubbed Nancy’s heaving back. ‘Archie will come back to you, you’ll see. The Lord won’t take him away from you, not now …’
Nancy pulled away from her sharply. Her pretty features were so red and puffy from crying, Carrie barely recognised her. ‘The Lord took Harry Kettle away while Ellen was expecting!’ she snapped. The next moment her face crumpled and she was crying again. ‘Archie might never see his baby, just like Harry.’
Carrie glanced at Ruth’s stoical expression. With Nancy’s grief so all-consuming, it was easy to forget the other poor woman was waiting for her son.
Then Ruth spoke. ‘Rob is down there too,’ she said quietly.
Carrie looked back over her shoulder, towards the pit, trying to take in what she was hearing.
Rob Chadwick was lost underground.
She braced herself, waiting for the pain to tear at her heart, just as it tore at Nancy’s. But nothing came.
She was worried for Rob, just as she was concerned for Archie and all the other men. She hoped and prayed for their safe return. But more than that, there was nothing. Certainly none of the grief and despair that were ripping Nancy apart.
‘Archie will come back,�
�� Carrie murmured, turning back to comfort her friend. ‘They all will.’
‘Look!’ Jinny Chadwick was pointing towards the gate, her face lit up with excitement. They all swung round to look at the figure limping across the yard towards them.
‘It’s my son.’ Ruth’s words were faint, as if she couldn’t quite believe them enough to say them out loud. ‘It’s my Archie.’
‘Archie!’ Nancy screamed out. She broke away from Carrie and pushed her way to the gates, waving madly.
‘Look at her,’ Mrs Morris said, shaking her head. ‘I reckon she’ll climb them gates if they don’t open them soon.’
The gates opened and Nancy launched herself into Archie’s arms, nearly knocking him off his feet. Carrie felt a pang as she watched them embracing, holding on to each other fiercely, as if they never wanted to let go again.
She thought about James and what she had lost, and a desperate yearning went through her.
By the time Nancy returned, leading Archie through the crowd by the hand, Carrie had managed to put on a brave face. Her friend looked so radiantly happy, it was impossible not to smile.
Archie was smiling too, but his eyes were troubled as he explained what had happened. The roof had collapsed on them, shutting off part of the seam and burying some of the miners under rubble. Carrie shuddered as he described how they had dug themselves and each other out, clawing away the rocks. Then they had tried to find their way out, some of the injured men crawling on their hands and knees, until they were met by the first of the rescue party.
‘And what about Rob?’ Ruth Chadwick asked.
Archie’s face grew sombre. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I were working on the maingate, and he was down t’other end from me. The second rescue party were on their way down when I came up, so I daresay they’ll find him …’ He looked at Carrie. ‘Your mester’s gone down with ’em, and that nurse.’
Carrie stared back at him, bemused. ‘But – you must have got it wrong.’ She shook her head. ‘James hates the pit, he would never go down there.’
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