Facing Death; Or, The Hero of the Vaughan Pit: A Tale of the Coal Mines

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XI.

  THE ATTACK ON THE ENGINE-HOUSE.

  No sooner did Mr. Merton hear of the resolution of the miners to destroythe engines, than he sat down and wrote an urgent letter to Sir JohnButler.

  "Is there anything else, Jack?"

  "I don't know, sir. If the masters could be warned of the attack theymight get a few viewers and firemen and make a sort of defence; but ifthe men's blood's up it might go hard with them; and it would go hardwith you if you were known to have taken the news of it."

  "I will take the risk of that," Mr. Merton said. "Directly it is dark Iwill set out. What are you going to do, Jack?"

  "I've got my work marked out," Jack said. "I'd rather not tell you tillit's all over. Good-bye, sir; Harry is waiting for the letter."

  Mr. Merton did not carry out his plans. As soon as it was dark he leftthe village, but a hundred yards out he came upon a party of men,evidently posted as sentries. These roughly told him that if he didn'twant to be chucked into the canal he'd best go home to bed; and this,after trying another road with the same result, he did.

  Jack walked with Harry as far as the railway-station, mentioning toseveral friends he met that he was off again. The lads crossed the line,went out of the opposite booking-office, and set off--for it was nowpast five, and already dark--at the top of their speed in differentdirections. Jack did not stop till he reached the engine-house of theVaughan mine. The pumps were still clanking inside, and the waterstreaming down the shoot. Peeping carefully in, to see that his friend,John Ratcliffe, was alone, Jack entered.

  "Well, John," he said, "the engine's still going."

  "Ay, Jack; but if what's more nor one has told me to-day be true, it befor the last time."

  "Look here, John; Mr. Brook has been a good master, will you do him agood turn?"

  "Ay, lad, if I can; I've held on here, though they've threatened tochuck me down the shaft; but I'm a married man, and can't throw away mylife."

  "I don't ask you to, John. I want you to work hard here with me till sixo'clock strikes, and then go home as usual."

  "What dost want done, lad?"

  "What steam is there in the boiler?"

  "Only about fifteen pounds. I'm just knocking off, and have banked thefire up."

  "All right, John. I want you to help me fix the fire hose, the shortlength, to that blow-off cock at the bottom of the boiler. We canunscrew the pipe down to the drain, and can fasten the hose to it with aunion, I expect. You've got some unions, haven't you?"

  "Yes, lad; and what then?"

  "That's my business, John. I'm going to hold this place till thesoldiers come; and I think that with twenty pounds of steam in theboiler, and the hose, I can keep all the miners of Stokebridge out. Atany rate, I'll try. Now, John, set to work. I want thee to go straighthome, and then no one will suspect thee of having a hand in the matter.I'll go out when thou dost, and thou canst swear, if thou art asked,that there was not a soul in the house when thou camest away."

  "Thou wilt lose thy life, Jack."

  "That be my business," Jack said. "I think not. Now set to work, John;give me a spanner, and let's get the pipe off the cock at once."

  John Ratcliffe set to work with a will, and in twenty minutes the unionswere screwed on and the hose attached, a length of thirty feet, whichwas quite sufficient to reach to the window, some eight feet above theground. Along by this window ran a platform. There was another, and asmaller window, on the other side.

  While they were working, John Ratcliffe tried to dissuade Jack fromcarrying out his plan.

  "It's no use, John. I mean to save the engines, and so the pit. They'llnever get in; and no one knows I am here, and no one will suspect me.None of 'em will know my voice, for they won't bring boys with them, anddad won't be here. There, it's striking six. Let me just drop a rope outof the window to climb in again with. Now we'll go out together; do thoulock the door, take the key, and go off home. Like enough they'll askthee for the key, or they may bring their sledges to break it in. Anyhowit will make no difference, for there are a couple of bolts inside, andI shall make it fast with bars. There, that's right. Good-night, John.Remember, whatever comes of it, thou knowest nought of it. Thou camestaway and left the place empty, as usual, and no one there."

  "Good-bye, lad, I'd stop with 'ee and share thy risk, but they'd know Iwas here, and my life wouldn't be worth the price of a pot o' beer.Don't forget, lad, if thou lowerst the water, to damp down the fire, andopen the valves."

  Jack, left to himself, clambered up to the window and entered theengine-house again, threw some fresh coal on the fire, heaped a quantityof coal against the door, and jammed several long iron bars against it.Then he lighted his pipe and sat listening, occasionally getting up tohold a lantern to the steam-gauge, as it crept gradually up.

  "Twenty-five pounds," he said; "that will be enough to throw the waterfifty or sixty yards on a level, and the door of the winding-engine'snot more than thirty, so I can hold them both if they try to break inthere."

  He again banked up the fires, and sat thinking. Harry would be at themagistrate's by a quarter to six. By six o'clock Sir John could be onhis way to Birmingham for troops; fifteen miles to drive--say an hourand a half. Another hour for the soldiers to start, and three hours todo the nineteen miles to the Vaughan, half-past eleven--perhaps half anhour earlier, perhaps half an hour later. There was no fear but therewas plenty of water. The boiler was a large one, and was built partlyinto, partly out of the engine-house. That is to say, while thefurnace-door, the gauges, and the safety-valve were inside, the mainportion of the boiler was outside the walls. The blow-off cock was twoinches in diameter, and the nozzle of the hose an inch and a half. Itwould take some minutes then, even with the steam at a pressure oftwenty-five pounds to the inch, to blow the water out, and a minutewould, he was certain, do all that was needed.

  Not even when, upon the first day of his life in the pit, Jack sat hourafter hour alone in the darkness, did the time seem to go so slowly asit did that evening. Once or twice he thought he heard footsteps, andcrept cautiously up to the window to listen; but each time, convinced ofhis error, he returned to his place on a bench near the furnace. Heheard the hours strike, one after another, on the Stokebridge churchclock--eight, nine, ten--and then he took his post by the window andlistened. A quarter of an hour passed, and then there was a faint,confused sound. Nearer it came, and nearer, until it swelled into thetrampling of a crowd of many hundreds of men. They came along withlaughter and rough jests, for they had no thought of opposition--nothought that anyone was near them. The crowd moved forward until theywere within a few yards of the engine-house, and then one, who seemed tobe in command, said, "Smash the door in with your sledges, lads."

  Jack had, as they approached, gone down to the boiler, and had turnedthe blow-off cock, and the boiling water swelled the strong leathernhose almost to bursting. Then he went back to the window, threw it open,and stood with the nozzle in his hand.

  "Hold!" he shouted out in loud, clear tones. "Let no man move a stepnearer for his life."

  The mob stood silent, paralyzed with surprise. Jack had spoken without atinge of the local accent, and as none of the boys were there, his voicewas quite unrecognized. "Who be he?" "It's a stranger!" and othersentences, were muttered through the throng.

  "Who be you?" the leader asked, recovering from his surprise.

  "Never mind who I am," Jack said, standing well back from the window,lest the light from the lanterns which some of the men carried mightfall on his face. "I am here in the name of the law. I warn you todesist from your evil design. Go to your homes; the soldiers are ontheir way, and may be here any minute. Moreover, I have means here ofdestroying any man who attempts to enter."

  There was a movement in the crowd. "The soldiers be coming" ran frommouth to mouth, and the more timid began to move towards the outside ofthe crowd.

  "Stand firm, lads, it be a lie," shouted the leader. "Thee baint to befrighted by one man, be'est 'ee? What!
five hundred Staffordshire minersafeard o' one? Why, ye'll be the laughing-stock of the country! Now,lads, break in the door; we'll soon see who be yon chap that talks sobig."

  There was a rush to the door, and a thundering clatter as the heavyblows of the sledge-hammers fell on the wood; while another party beganan assault upon the door of the winding-engine house.

  Then Jack, with closely pressed lips and set face, turned the cock ofthe nozzle.

  With a hiss the scalding water leaped out in a stream. Jack stood wellforward now and with the hose swept the crowd, as a fireman might sweepa burning building. Driven by the tremendous force of the internalsteam, the boiling water knocked the men in front headlong over; then,as he raised the nozzle and scattered the water broadcast over thecrowd, wild yells, screams, and curses broke on the night air. Anothermove, and the column of boiling fluid fell on those engaged on the otherengine-house door, and smote them down.

  Then Jack turned the cock again, and the stream of water ceased.

  It was but a minute since he had turned it on, but it had done itsterrible work. A score of men lay on the ground, rolling in agony;others danced, screamed, and yelled in pain; others, less severelyscalded, filled the air with curses; while all able to move made a wildrush back from the terrible building.

  When the wild cries had a little subsided, Jack called out,--

  "Now, lads, you can come back safely. I have plenty more hot water, andI could have scalded the whole of you as badly as those in front had Iwanted to. Now I promise, on my oath, not to turn it on again if youwill come and carry off your mates who are here. Take them off home asquick as you can, before the soldiers come. I don't want to do you harm.You'd all best be in bed as soon as you can."

  The men hesitated, but it was clear to them all that it had been in thepower of their unknown foe to have inflicted a far heavier punishmentupon them than he had done, and there was a ring of truth and honesty inhis voice which they could not doubt. So after a little hesitation anumber of them came forward, and lifting the men who had fallen near theengine-house, carried them off; and in a few minutes there was a deepsilence where, just before, a very pandemonium had seemed let loose.

  Then Jack, the strain over, sat down, and cried like a child.

  Half an hour later, listening intently, he heard a deep sound in thedistance. "Here come the soldiers," he muttered, "it is time for me tobe off." He glanced at the steam-gauge, and saw that the steam wasfalling, while the water-gauge showed that there was still sufficientwater for safety, and he then opened the window at the back of thebuilding, and dropped to the ground. In an instant he was seized in apowerful grasp.

  "I thought ye'd be coming out here, and now I've got ye," growled a deepvoice, which Jack recognized as that of Roger Hawking, the terror ofStokebridge.

  For an instant his heart seemed to stand still at the extent of hisperil; then, with a sudden wrench, he swung round and faced his captor,twisted his hands in his handkerchief, and drove his knuckles into histhroat. Then came a crashing blow in his face--another, and another.With head bent down, Jack held on his grip with the gameness andtenacity of a bull-dog, while the blows rained on his head, and hisassailant, in his desperate effort to free himself, swung his bodyhither and thither in the air, as a bull might swing a dog which hadpinned him. Jack felt his senses going--a dull dazed feeling came overhim. Then he felt a crash, as his adversary reeled and fell--and thenall was dark.

  A LIFE OR DEATH STRUGGLE.]

  It could have been but a few minutes that he lay thus, for he awoke withthe sound of a thunder of horses' hoofs, and a clatter of swords in theyard on the other side of the engine-house. Rousing himself, he foundthat he still grasped the throat of the man beneath him. With a vaguesense of wonder whether his foe was dead, he rose to his feet andstaggered off, the desire to avoid the troops dispersing all other ideasin his brain. For a few hundred yards he staggered along, swaying like adrunken man, and knowing nothing of where he was going; then hestumbled, and fell again, and lay for hours insensible.

  It was just the faint break of day when he came to, the cold air of themorning having brought him to himself. It took him a few minutes torecall what had happened and his whereabouts. Then he made his way tothe canal, which was close by, washed the blood from his face, and setout to walk to Birmingham. He was too shaken and bruised to make muchprogress, and after walking for a while crept into the shelter of ahaystack, and went off to sleep for many hours. After it was dusk in theevening he started again, and made his way to his lodgings at teno'clock that night. It was a fortnight before he could leave his room,so bruised and cut was his face, and a month before the last sign of thestruggle was obliterated, and he felt that he could return toStokebridge without his appearance being noticed.

  There, great changes had taken place. The military had found thesplintered door, the hose, and the still steaming water in the yard, andthe particulars of the occurrence which had taken place had been prettyaccurately judged. They were indeed soon made public by the stories ofthe scalded men, a great number of whom were forced to place themselvesin the hands of the doctor, many of them having had very narrow escapesof their lives, but none of them had actually succumbed. In searchinground the engine-house the soldiers had found a man, apparently dead,his tongue projecting from his mouth. A surgeon had accompanied them,and a vein having been opened and water dashed in his face, he gavesigns of recovery. He had been taken off to jail as being concerned inthe attack on the engine-house; but no evidence could be obtainedagainst him, and he would have been released had he not been recognizedas a man who had, five years before, effected a daring escape fromPortland, where he was undergoing a life sentence for a brutalmanslaughter.

  The defeat of the attempt to destroy the Vaughan engines was thedeath-blow of the strike. Among the foremost in the attack, andtherefore so terribly scalded that they were disabled for weeks, weremost of the leaders of the strike in the pits of the district, and theirvoices silenced, and their counsel discredited, the men two days afterthe attack had a great meeting, at which it was resolved almostunanimously to go to work on the masters' terms.

  Great excitement was caused throughout the district by the publicationof the details of the defence of the engine-house, and the moststrenuous efforts were made by Mr. Brook to discover the person to whomhe was so indebted. The miners were unanimous in describing him as astranger, and as speaking like a gentleman; and there was great wonderwhy any one who had done so great a service to the mine-owners shouldconceal his identity. Jack's secret was, however, well kept by the threeor four who alone knew it, and who knew too that his life would not besafe for a day did the colliers, groaning and smarting over theirterrible injuries, discover to whom they were indebted for them.