Seth felt as if he’d cheered it into trying.
He looked around and noticed a large birch branch sticking out from the snow. Grabbing it, he pushed the branch across the ice, hoping to make a bridge or something on which the calf could get a foothold. The calf threw its head away from the branch. Seth broke more branches from the surrounding bushes and frantically piled them on the edge of the ice, in front of the calf. The calf shied back from the branches.
“Come on, fella!” he shouted. “Try harder! You can make it!” If he only had some rope, he could hitch up Quest to pull the calf out. And a board, too. The calf needed something sturdy to climb onto.
“We need rope and a board!” Seth said.
“Yeah, but from where?”
“From home.”
“You’re going all the way back?” Matt asked in disbelief. “It’s too far.”
“I don’t know what else to do,” Seth answered, his voice breaking. Matt was right; it would be at least an hour, maybe two, before they returned. “Got any other ideas?”
Matt shook his head, “Nope.”
“We’ve gotta hurry. Wounded like it is, it won’t last long.”
Just then, the calf plunged forward. Its hooves landed on the mound of branches Seth had laid in front of it. It began to lift itself forward slightly, as if it might actually get out this time.
Seth backed out of the way, expecting the calf to pull itself up and come barreling out of the water at them.
Instead, the ice cracked away from beneath the calf, and it fell down again into the muddy water, its head inches above the waterline.
The calf bellowed once more, a cry that penetrated the marrow in Seth’s bones. Seth clenched his fists. Only yesterday he believed he could conquer anything. Now he wasn’t so sure.
Seth turned from the calf and walked back through the tangle of brush to Quest, who had his head down, grazing.
“We have to try,” Seth said to Matt.
With the two boys riding, Quest danced skittishly past the bear carcasses and bolted out of the aspen trees onto the trail.
“Whoa,” Seth said. Against the base of the ridge, he noticed a large piece of plywood, poorly camouflaged with fresh pine boughs. “Hey, maybe we won’t have to go all the way back home. See that?”
“What?”
“That board. We could try sliding it under the calf’s front legs. It’s worth a try.”
He knew he had to move fast. If the calf didn’t get out soon, it might get so weak and cold that it would drown before it froze. Matt slid off the horse’s back, and Seth swung out of the saddle.
Quest put his head to the ground and pushed away snow with his muzzle, searching for grass.
Seth walked away from Quest, pulled away the branches, then yanked at the sheet of plywood. Behind it he found a three-foot-by-five-foot cavity.
He put his head inside the dark, dank entry.
“Don’t, Seth,” Matt cautioned. “It was blocked off for a reason.”
“I’ll be quick,” Seth said. “I just have to see if there’s any rope.” Along the inside rock wall, Seth felt something hard and cylinder-shaped. He tugged at it and it came free. It was a large battery-operated lantern. He pushed the button on. Light filled the rust-colored mine shaft. He stepped back out into the light.
“It doesn’t go in very far,” Seth said, stepping into the horizontal shaft. About twenty feet ahead, the shaft appeared to dead-end. The lantern revealed little—just a rock-walled passageway with rubble on the floor. “The miners must not have found enough in this shaft to bother going deeper,” Seth said. He took a few more steps in and shone the light toward the end of the shaft. “Wait. I take that back.”
Seth breathed in the musty air. It wasn’t a dead end. Seth craned his neck cautiously around the corner. Instead of being a narrow shaft, the passageway opened to a room. On the far wall were two bunk beds with sleeping bags stretched open on ragged gray mattresses. Boxes, nets, and snares littered the rest of the room.
Seth held his breath for a second, then let it out slowly. “This must be a hideout.” He felt as though he were looking the poachers in the face.
“See any rope?” Matt asked.
“Not yet.”
“Well, come on. Let me see …,” Matt said as he edged around Seth and stopped. “Let’s look for rope, then get out of here. Fast.”
“Gross!” Seth said. Like ingredients for a warlock’s brew, dozens of black gourd-shaped things dangled from a wire stretched across the ceiling. “What are those?”
Matt wrinkled up his nose at the bulbous shapes. “Probably from those bears. Gives me the creeps.” He started searching around the bunks.
“Look at all this evidence, Matt,” Seth said. He quickly walked around the room. He lifted a wire loop next to a pile of snares. “They trap … boy do they trap.” A wolf hide lay on top of a large pile of pelts. Seth quickly thumbed through them—lynx, beaver, otter, mink, marten, fox …
He picked up a white plastic bottle and held it under the light. “Look at this! ‘Poisonous.’ Bet this is how they get their hides.” Then he squatted next to another set of boxes and held up a stick of dynamite.
“What would they want with dynamite?” Matt asked.
“Bet this is how they fish, by blowing the fish to the top of the water.”
Behind the box of explosives, Seth pulled out a coil of white rope. “All right! Let’s help the calf, then we better find my dad—”
He stopped.
The sound of a motor filtered into the interior of the mine shaft. The rumble grew quickly louder, as though it were going to come right in after them. Then the motor stopped abruptly.
“Oh no,” Seth said.
Matt’s eyes grew wide.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A voice echoed off the dank shaft walls, filtering into where the boys stood motionless. “Looks like we’ve got company,” Robert said.
“Seems we’ve been seeing this horse way too much lately.” It was Clancy. “Wonder if someone was planning to ride it home?” A laugh. A slap. “Get going!”
Then a gunshot rang out.
Seth shuddered and his eyes filled with tears. Had they really shot his horse? He wanted to run out of the shaft and pound them with his fists. But what good would that do? He had to think of a way to escape.
“Tracks lead right in, Robert. Two sets. I’ll bet it’s that kid and one of his buddies. Look over here. Hey! They took my lantern, those little—”
“Hey!” Robert yelled from the shaft’s entrance. “Bring me back the lantern and we won’t …” His voice changed. “Don’t you know,” he said more calmly, “that you’re trespassing on private property? If you’ll just step outside without any trouble, we won’t have to press charges.”
Private property? Seth doubted that. The county map at home showed that nearly all of the land beyond his house belonged to the state.
“Come on now,” Robert said.
Seth was unable to think or move until Matt pointed to the pile of rubble. Between the pile and the ceiling was a small dark hole. Quickly, they climbed up over the rocks. Seth squeezed in first through the opening at the top. “Come on!” he whispered. “They’re coming!”
Matt crawled up after him, but stopped halfway.
“My sleeve’s caught!” he said.
Seth aimed the light on Matt’s jacket sleeve, which was caught on a wood beam jutting out from the pile.
“Slide out of it,” Seth whispered. “Quick!”
Matt slipped out of his jacket and yanked it free, then squeezed through the opening toward Seth on the other side of the pile and lay down.
“Shoot, I ripped it! My mom will kill me.”
Seth snapped off the light. “Be quiet!” he whispered.
Darkness surrounded them, darkness so black it seemed to press down upon them. Now they were trapped, and the calf wouldn’t survive. Seth’s own breathing seemed too loud. The rocks felt cold and damp. Footsteps shu
ffled down the passageway.
“If I had the stupid light …,” Clancy complained.
“There’s a flashlight in one of the boxes,” Robert said, then lowered his voice. “You block the passageway so they don’t sneak past us.”
Seth could hear Clancy’s rattled breathing, footsteps, boxes moving.
Light spilled over the top of the rock pile.
“Where are those little twerps?” said Clancy.
“Scoot back,” Seth whispered, fearing that the men might be able to spot the tops of their heads. As they slowly edged down the dark side of the pile, a rock tumbled onto the shaft floor.
“Well, well, well,” Robert said. “Only a couple of kids could fit back there.”
“Yeah, two kids that’ll be the end of us,” Clancy said, “if we don’t do something about them. They’ll blow us right outta the water!”
“Hey, now, there’s an idea,” said Robert. “Just like in the war, going after an enemy you can’t see.”
Seth heard them rustling through boxes. Then the men chuckled in a way that made his blood stop cold. He held his breath.
“I’ll grab the pelts,” Robert said. “You grab the gallbladders. They’re dry enough to ship by now.”
Gallbladders, Seth thought. Is that what those funny looking things were? He remembered reading something in National Geographic about bear poaching—something about people using bear gallbladders for an aphrodisiac, a kind of love potion. The demand for the stuff in Asia was great, commanding huge sums of money. He’d never dreamed the bear population would be threatened here.
“Got everything to do the job?” Clancy asked in his raspy voice.
“You doubt me?” Robert replied.
The boys found themselves in darkness again. Were they going to use the dynamite? Seth waited. Slowly, he let out his breath.
“Think they’ll really leave?” Matt whispered. “Or just wait outside to trick us?”
Then they heard Robert’s voice.
“Move the four-wheeler! I’ll get them fixed up here.”
After a few moments of silence, Robert began counting. “Ten … nine … eight … seven …” The counting faded away.
Seth squeezed his eyes shut as he realized what was about to happen. “Matt! Get down and cover your head. They’re gonna blow the entrance!”
They waited one more second in darkness.
Kaa-booooommmmmmmm!!!
The explosion shattered the silence and rang through the mine shaft. All around them, rocks fell like a shower of meteorites.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Seth’s ears ached. Dust filled his mouth and nostrils as he choked and coughed. He touched a throbbing knob on the top of his head. With outstretched hands, he groped in the blackness, uncertain of floor or ceiling. He touched only cold rock.
“Matt?” he said. When he didn’t respond, Seth panicked. What if he’s dead? “Matt!”
“Uhmm …,” his voice came as if from far away.
“Where are you?” Seth cried. “I can’t find the lantern. Are you all right?”
“Uhmm … yes …no. My head hurts,” he said, catching his breath, “… my leg …”
Seth crawled toward Matt’s voice. He felt the smooth plastic of the lantern, found the button and turned it on. The rock pile they’d hidden behind had spilled across the floor of the poachers’ room.
Matt lay on his back with one leg under rocks. His face was covered with reddish gray dust; a small gash on his forehead dripped blood over his left eyebrow.
“You look pretty rough,” Matt said, his voice strained.
“You’ve looked better yourself,” Seth tried to joke back, but he knew deep inside that they were in real trouble—trouble from which they might not escape.
Seth pulled the smaller rocks away from Matt’s leg first, then pushed with all his might on the biggest rock.
“Ouuuuch,” Matt moaned.
“This one’s too heavy,” Seth said. “I need to pry it with something.” He needed leverage.
Against a wall, he found a two-by-four beam and angled it under the rock’s edge, then went to the other end of the beam.
“When I say ‘now,’ you roll out of the way,” he said as he pushed down with all his weight on the beam.
“Now!” he groaned.
“I’m trying—,” Matt said.
“Hurry, or the rock’s going to fall back down!”
Matt pulled his leg free, and Seth let go of the timber. The large rock thudded back down where Matt’s leg had been.
“Is it broken?” Seth asked.
“I don’t think so,” he said, exploring his leg, “but it hurts bad.”
The tunnel entrance had collapsed with no sign of daylight from the other side.
“They have us in here pretty tight,” Seth said. “I wonder how long until we run out of oxygen.” What had he got them into? “Wait,” he said. “If they can dynamite us in here, why can’t we blow our way out again?” He shone the lantern toward the boxes. The explosives were gone. So much for that idea.
“There’s gotta be a way out of here!” Seth shouted. “There’s gotta be!” He felt panic rise within himself. “Lord,” he prayed, a simple prayer coming from deep in his being, “help us.”
Seth remembered his mom’s words that life is “a gift.” No matter what he faced, even if it was the worst, his life, from start to finish, was in the hands of the Creator. And with that thought, he somehow found a quiet place within himself.
A hiding place.
That was it! Seth scrambled over the leveled rubble. He lifted the lantern. The light illuminated a new shaft directly behind the pile of rock rubble. The explosion had blown the entrance to this once-blocked shaft wide open.
“Matt!” he said, looking into the four-foot-high tunnel. “Take a look!”
Matt stood with all his weight on his right leg. He shrugged his shoulders and hung his head. “It just goes deeper into this hill.”
“Well, I’m going to find out,” Seth said as he crouched low, picked up the coil of rope, and entered the reopened shaft. Maybe it wasn’t the best hope of escape, but at least he’d find out where it led to.
Ten feet in, a rock boulder blocked the shaft, but Seth squeezed by it and kept going.
“Wait up,” Matt said, coming from behind. “I’m not staying in the dark.”
Loose rock fell from the low ceiling. Seth raised a gloved hand to protect his head. What if the shaft were to collapse and they got buried beneath loose rock? He wanted to turn back, but to what? A blockaded prison? Again, he crawled ahead, feeling the dampness around him.
Plunk. Plunk. He heard the slow drip of water. Plunk. Plunk. Plunk.
Ahead, he saw a rust-encrusted pickax leaning against one wall, as though someone had come down this shaft to work but never finished the job, never came out again.
Something feathery brushed across Seth’s face. Seth felt crawly. He tried to bat at it, whatever it was, and dropped the lantern. But it was still on his face.
“Hey!” Matt called. “I can’t see!”
Picturing a wolf spider the size of a half-dollar, Seth swiped his hand across his cheek. He let out his breath. It was only a cobweb.
“Sorry.”
He picked up the lantern and held it next to the low ceiling. He looked back. Matt limped up slowly, his face crumpled in pain.
“You’re hurting?” Seth asked.
Matt nodded, biting his lower lip.
Then Seth started off again, moving slower. They rounded a bend in the tunnel.
Ahead, threads of light broke the darkness.
“We did it, Matt!” Seth said.
Through holes as big as nickels, light pierced a wall of boulders. Working together, Matt and Seth tossed and heaved and pushed earth until they had a hole large enough to squeeze through.
Rope in hand, Seth dropped down to the snowy ground next to Matt. Daylight never looked better. Cedar trees concealed their exit on the southern slope
of the hill. Beyond them was the stand of birch trees—beyond the birch trees was the calf. Seth listened for its bellow. All he heard were ravens cawing.
There was no sign of the poachers or of Quest.
“Come on,” Seth said, and began climbing up the slippery hill. They had to make sure the poachers were gone before they could get the plywood.
As they came over the crest of the slope, they spotted two men below on the west side. Clancy and Robert were strapping a blue tarp over the trailer behind a four-wheeler.
Seth motioned to Matt to crouch low. If they moved quickly and quietly, they could slip away with the poachers still thinking they were in the mine. As they slunk across the top of the hill, Seth saw Clancy turn. Seth and Matt dropped on their bellies.
“Those kids!” hollered Clancy.
“What?” Robert said. “Impossible!”
Seth’s heart raced. They’d have to disappear in the woods before the men followed them to the top of the hill. They might have their guns. “Run!” he called to Matt. He felt his fear turn into a power that propelled his legs forward, almost as if they weren’t his own.
“We can’t let them get away this time!” Robert yelled.
Seth raced past the edge of the old debris pile. He looked back. Matt was limping behind.
He ran back to Matt.
“Put your arm around my shoulder!” Seth said. Matt leaned some of his weight against Seth, and they hurried toward the woods.
“Stop!” Robert hollered, his voice close behind. “That’s an order!”
Hobbled together, the boys ran through scraggly sumac toward the woods, until Matt stumbled, falling to the ground.
In that moment, from the corner of his eye, Seth could see the camouflage cap. Robert grabbed Matt by the jacket collar.
“Run!” Matt said. “Get help!”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Seth ran through the trees, oblivious to pain as branches scraped his face. He slid down a small hill, scrambled up the next ridge, and tucked himself behind the trunk of a Norway pine. He had to get help, but what if it wasn’t soon enough? Shaking, he looked across to the top of the other ridge.
Through the trees, he could see that Matt was on the ground in a heap, looking up at Robert.
Moose Tracks (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage) Page 6