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

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XXIII.

  THE EXPLOSION AT THE VAUGHAN.

  At twelve o'clock on a bright summer day Mr. Brook drove up in hisdog-cart, with two gentlemen, to the Vaughan mine. One was thegovernment inspector of the district; the other, a newly-appointeddeputy inspector, whom he was taking his rounds with him, to instruct inhis duties.

  "I am very sorry that Thompson, my manager, is away to-day," Mr. Brooksaid as they alighted. "Had I known you were coming I would of coursehave had him in readiness to go round with you. Is Williams, theunderground manager, in the pit?" he asked the bankman, whose duty itwas to look after the ascending and descending cage.

  "No, sir; he came up about half an hour ago. Watkins, the viewer, isbelow."

  "He must do, then," Mr. Brook said, "but I wish Mr. Thompson had beenhere. Perhaps you would like to look at the plan of the pit before yougo down? Is Williams's office open?"

  "Yes, sir," the bankman answered.

  Mr. Brook led the way into the office.

  "Hullo!" he said, seeing a young man at work making a copy of a miningplan; "who are you?"

  The young man rose--

  "Jack Simpson, sir. I work below, but when it's my night-shift Mr.Williams allows me to help him here by day."

  "Ah! I remember you now," Mr. Brook said. "Let me see what you aredoing. That's a creditable piece of work for a working collier, is itnot?" he said, holding up a beautifully executed plan.

  Mr. Hardinge looked with surprise at the draughtsman, a young man ofsome one or two-and-twenty, with a frank, open, pleasant face.

  "Why, you don't look or talk like a miner," he said.

  "Mr. Merton, the schoolmaster here, was kind enough to take a great dealof pains with me, sir."

  "Have you been doing this sort of work long?" Mr. Hardinge asked,pointing to the plan.

  "About three or four years," Mr. Brook said promptly.

  Jack looked immensely surprised.

  Mr. Brook smiled.

  "I noticed an extraordinary change in Williams's reports, both in thehandwriting and expression. Now I understand it. You work the same stallas Haden, do you not?"

  "Yes, sir, but not the same shift; he had a mate he has worked withever since my father was killed, so I work the other shift with Harvey."

  "Now let us look at the plans of the pit," Mr. Hardinge said.

  The two inspectors bent over the table and examined the plans, asking aquestion of Mr. Brook now and then. Jack had turned to leave when hisemployer ceased to speak to him, but Mr. Brook made a motion to him tostay. "What is the size of your furnace, Mr. Brook?" asked Mr. Hardinge.

  "It's an eight-foot furnace," Mr. Brook replied.

  "Do you know how many thousand cubic feet of air a minute you pass?"

  Mr. Brook shook his head: he left the management of the mine entirely inthe hands of his manager.

  Mr. Hardinge had happened to look at Jack as he spoke; and the latter,thinking the question was addressed to him, answered:

  "About eight thousand feet a minute, sir."

  "How do you know?" Mr. Hardinge asked.

  "By taking the velocity of the air, sir, and the area of the downcastshaft."

  "How would you measure the velocity, theoretically?" Mr. Hardinge asked,curious to see how much the young collier knew.

  "I should require to know the temperature of the shafts respectively,and the height of the upcast shaft."

  "How could you do it then?"

  "The formula, sir, is M = h(t'-t)/480+x, h being the height of theupcast, t' its temperature, t the temperature of the exterior air, andx = t'-32 degrees."

  "You are a strange young fellow," Mr. Hardinge said. "May I ask you aquestion or two?"

  "Certainly, sir."

  "Could you work out the cube-root of say 999,888,777?"

  Jack closed his eyes for a minute and then gave the correct answer tofive places of decimals.

  The three gentlemen gave an exclamation of surprise.

  "How on earth did you do that?" Mr. Hardinge exclaimed. "It would takeme ten minutes to work it out on paper."

  "I accustomed myself to calculate while I was in the dark, or working,"Jack said quietly.

  "Why, you would rival Bidder himself," Mr. Hardinge said; "and how farhave you worked up in figures?"

  "I did the differential calculus, sir, and then Mr. Merton said that Ihad better stick to the mechanical application of mathematics instead ofgoing on any farther; that was two years ago."

  The surprise of the three gentlemen at this simple avowal from a youngpitman was unbounded.

  Then Mr. Hardinge said:

  "We must talk of this again later on. Now let us go down the pit; thisyoung man will do excellently well for a guide. But I am afraid, Mr.Brook, that I shall have to trouble you a good deal. As far as I can seefrom the plan the mine is very badly laid out, and the ventilationaltogether defective. What is your opinion?" he asked, turning abruptlyto Jack, and wishing to see whether his practical knowledge at allcorresponded with his theoretical acquirements.

  "I would rather not say, sir," Jack said. "It is not for me to expressan opinion as to Mr. Thompson's plan."

  "Let us have your ideas," Mr. Brook said. "Just tell us frankly what youwould do if you were manager of the Vaughan?"

  Jack turned to the plan.

  "I should widen the airways, and split the current; that would raise thenumber of cubic feet of air to about twelve thousand a minute. It is toofar for a single current to travel, especially as the airways are notwide; the friction is altogether too great. I should put a split inhere, take a current round through the old workings to keep them clear,widen these passages, split the current again here, and then make a cutthrough this new ground so as to take a strong current to sweep the faceof the main workings, and carry it off straight to the upcast. But thatcurrent ought not to pass through the furnace, but be let in above, forthe gas comes off very thick sometimes, and might not be diluted enoughwith air, going straight to the furnaces."

  "Your ideas are very good," Mr. Hardinge said quietly. "Now we will getinto our clothes and go below."

  So saying, he opened a bag and took out two mining suits of clothes,which, first taking off their coats, he and his companion proceeded toput on over their other garments. Mr. Brook went into his office, andsimilarly prepared himself; while Jack, who was not dressed for mining,went to the closet where a few suits were hung up for the use ofvisitors and others, and prepared to go down. Then he went to thelamp-room and fetched four Davy-lamps. While he was away Mr. Brookjoined the inspectors.

  "That young pitman is as steady as he is clever," he said; "he has comeseveral times under my attention. In the first place, the schoolmasterhas spoken to me of the lad's efforts to educate himself. Then he savedanother boy's life at the risk of his own, and of late years hissteadiness and good conduct have given him a great influence over hiscomrades of the same age, and have effected great things for the place.The vicar and schoolmaster now are never tired of praising him."

  "He is clearly an extraordinary young fellow," Mr Hardinge said. "Do youknow his suggestions are exactly what I had intended to offer to youmyself? You will have some terrible explosion here unless you make someradical changes."

  That evening the inspectors stayed for the night at Mr. Brook's, and thenext day that gentleman went over with them to Birmingham, where he hadsome business. His principal object, however, was to take them to seeMr. Merton, to question him farther with regard to Jack Simpson.

  Mr. Merton related to his visitors the history of Jack's efforts toeducate himself, and gave them the opinion he had given the lad himself,that he might, had he chosen, have taken a scholarship and then thehighest mathematical honours. "He has been working lately atengineering, and calculating the strains and stresses of iron bridges,"he said. "And now, Mr. Brook, I will tell you--and I am sure that youand these gentlemen will give me your promise of secrecy upon thesubject--what I have never yet told to a soul. It was that lad whobrought me word of
the intended attack on the engines, and got me towrite the letter to Sir John Butler. But that is not all, sir. It wasthat boy--for he was but seventeen then--who defended your engine-houseagainst the mob of five hundred men!"

  "Bless my heart, Merton, why did you not tell me before? Why, I'vepuzzled over that ever since. And to think that it was one of my ownpit-boys who did that gallant action, and I have done nothing for him!"

  "He would not have it told, sir. He wanted to go on as a working miner,and learn his business from the bottom. Besides, his life wouldn't havebeen safe in this district for a day if it had been known. But I thinkyou ought to be told of it now. The lad is as modest as he is brave andclever, and would go to his grave without ever letting out that he savedthe Vaughan, and indeed all the pits in the district. But now that he isa man, it is right you should know; but pray do not let him imaginethat you are aware of it. He is very young yet, and will rise on his ownmerits, and would dislike nothing so much as thinking that he owedanything to what he did that night. I may tell you too that he is ableto mix as a gentleman with gentlemen. Ever since I have been over herehe has come over once a month to stay with me from Saturday to Monday,he has mixed with what I may call the best society in the town here, andhas won the liking and esteem of all my friends, not one of whom has somuch as a suspicion that he is not of the same rank of life asthemselves."

  "What am I to do, Mr. Hardinge?" Mr. Brook asked in perplexity. "Whatwould you advise?"

  "I should give him his first lift at once," Mr. Hardinge said decidedly."It will be many months before you have carried out the new scheme forthe ventilation of the mine; and, believe me, it will not be safe, ifthere come a sudden influx of gas, till the alterations are made. Makethis young fellow deputy viewer, with special charge to look after theventilation. In that way he will not have to give instruction to the menas to their work, but will confine his attention to the ventilation, thestate of the air, the doors, and so on. Even then his position will fora time be difficult; but the lad has plenty of self-control, and will beable to tide over it, and the men will get to see that he reallyunderstands his business. You will of course order the undergroundmanager and viewers to give him every support. The underground manager,at any rate, must be perfectly aware of his capabilities, as he seems tohave done all his paper work for some time."

  Never were a body of men more astonished than were the pitmen of theVaughan when they heard that young Jack Simpson was appointed a deputyviewer, with the special charge of the ventilation of the mine.

  A deputy viewer is not a position of great honour; the pay is scarcelymore than that which a getter will earn, and the rank is scarcelyhigher. This kind of post, indeed, is generally given to a miner ofexperience, getting past his work--as care, attention, and knowledge arerequired, rather than hard work. That a young man should be appointedwas an anomaly which simply astonished the colliers of the Vaughan. Theaffair was first known on the surface, and as the men came up in thecages the news was told them, and the majority, instead of at oncehurrying home, stopped to talk it over.

  "It be the rummest start I ever heard on," one said. "Ah! here comesBill Haden. Hast heard t' news, Bill?"

  "What news?"

  "Why, your Jack's made a deputy. What dost think o' that, right overheads o' us all? Did'st e'er hear tell o' such a thing?"

  "No, I didn't," Bill Haden said emphatically. "It's t' first time ase'er I heard o' t' right man being picked out wi'out a question o' age.I know him, and I tell 'ee, he mayn't know t' best place for putting ina prop, or of timbering in loose ground, as well as us as is old enoughto be his fathers; but he knows as much about t' book learning of a mineas one of the government inspector chaps. You mightn't think it pleasantfor me, as has stood in t' place o' his father, to see him put over myhead, but I know how t' boy has worked, and I know what he is, and Itell 'ee I'll work under him willing. Jack Simpson will go far; you aslive will see it."

  Bill Haden was an authority in the Vaughan pit, and his dictumreconciled many who might otherwise have resented the appointment ofsuch a lad. The enthusiastic approval of Harry Shepherd and of the restof the other young hands in the mine who had grown up with Jack Simpson,and knew something of how hard he had worked, and who had acknowledgedhis leadership in all things, also had its effect; and the new deputyentered upon his duties without anything like the discontent which mighthave been looked for, being excited.

  The most important part of Jack's duties consisted in going round thepit before the men went down in the morning, to see that there was noaccumulation of gas in the night, and that the ventilation was going onproperly. The deputy usually takes a helper with him, and Jack hadchosen his friend Harry for the post--as in the event of finding gas, ithas to be dispersed by beating it with an empty sack, so as to cause adisturbance of the air, or, if the accumulation be important, byputting up a temporary bratticing, or partition, formed of cotton clothstretched on a framework, in such a way as to turn a strong current ofair across the spot where the gas is accumulating, or from which it isissuing. The gas is visible to the eye as a sort of dull fog or smoke.If the accumulation is serious, the main body of miners are not allowedto descend into the mine until the viewer has, with assistance,succeeded in completely dispersing it.

  "It's a lonesome feeling," Harry said the first morning that he enteredupon his duties with Jack Simpson, "to think that we be the only twodown here."

  "It's no more lonesome than sitting in the dark waiting for the tubs tocome along, Harry, and it's far safer. There is not the slightest riskof an explosion now, for there are only our safety-lamps down here,while in the day the men will open their lamps to light their pipes;make what regulations the master may, the men will break them to get asmoke."

  Upon the receipt of Mr. Hardinge's official report, strongly condemningthe arrangements in the Vaughan, Mr. Brook at once appointed a newmanager in the place of Mr. Thompson, and upon his arrival he made himacquainted with the extent of Jack's knowledge and ability, andrequested him to keep his eye specially upon him, and to employ him, asfar as possible, as his right-hand man in carrying out his orders.

  "I wish that main wind drift were through," Jack said one day, sixmonths after his appointment, as he was sitting over his tea with BillHaden. "The gas is coming in very bad in the new workings."

  "Wuss nor I ever knew't, Jack. It's a main good job that the furnace wasmade bigger, and some o' th' airways widened, for it does come out sharpsurely. In th' old part where I be, a' don't notice it; but when I wentdown yesterday where Peter Jones be working, the gas were just whistlingout of a blower close by."

  "Another fortnight, and the airway will be through, dad; and that willmake a great change. I shall be very glad, for the pit's in a bad statenow."

  "Ah! thou think'st a good deal of it, Jack, because thou'st got part ofthe 'sponsibility of it. It don't fret me."

  "I wish the men wouldn't smoke, dad; I don't want to get a bad name forreporting them, but it's just playing with their lives."

  Bill Haden was silent; he was given to indulge in a quiet smoke himself,as Jack, working with him for five years, well knew.

  "Well, Jack, thou know'st there's a craving for a draw or two of bacca."

  "So there is for a great many other things that we have to do without,"Jack said. "If it were only a question of a man blowing himself topieces I should say nought about it; but it is whether he is willing tomake five hundred widows and two thousand orphans rather than go for afew hours without smoking. What is the use of Davy-lamps? what is theuse of all our care as to the ventilation, if at any moment the gas maybe fired at a lamp opened for lighting a pipe? I like my pipe, but if Ithought there was ever any chance of its becoming my master I wouldnever touch tobacco again."

  Three days later, when Jack came up from his rounds at ten o'clock, toeat his breakfast and write up his journal of the state of the mine, hesaw Mr. Brook and the manager draw up to the pit mouth. Jack shrank backfrom the little window of the office where he was writi
ng, and did notlook out again until he knew that they had descended the mine, as he didnot wish to have any appearance of thrusting himself forward. Foranother hour he wrote; and then the window of the office flew in pieces,the chairs danced, and the walls rocked, while a dull heavy roar, likedistant thunder, burst upon his ears.

  He leaped to his feet and rushed to the door. Black smoke was pouring upfrom the pit's mouth, sticks and pieces of wood and coal were falling ina shower in the yard; and Jack saw that his worst anticipation had beenrealized, and that a terrible explosion had taken place in the Vaughanpit.