by Debby Lee
Ben splashed farther into the river cave behind him. “Couldn’t let you get yourself hurt again, could I? Especially since you still have your arm in a sling from the last time you got the foolish notion to come in here.”
Samuel chuckled. “So now you’re my protector?”
“Esther would never give me another one of her puff pastries if I didn’t at least try to keep you safe.”
Willis smirked. “I may not bake like his wife, but I can cook you up a meat pie for the right price.”
Domingo shot the round-bellied camp cook a hopeful look. “Tonight?”
Willis nodded. “As soon as we retrieve the gold.”
“Admit it, Ben,” Samuel said, using a shovel with his good arm to unearth a slew of rocks. “You came because you believed me when I said there was gold in here.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Ben said, digging his own shovel into the loose rock on the cave’s bottom.
Domingo swung his pickax into the upper side wall and then spun around, his dark eyes wide with excitement, and pointed. “See and believe.”
Ben’s heart lurched in his chest as he raised the lantern higher into the air and stepped up close. Samuel and Willis also gathered around.
“What did I tell you?” Samuel exclaimed, and let out a whoop. “Gold!”
Willis laughed. “Looks like Ben is at a loss for words.”
He was. Ben reached up to touch the shimmering vein running through the rock wall, and a half-dozen images played out across his mind. An image of the bank manager in Sacramento falling over backward in his chair when they cashed in. The surprised look on Lionel Riggs’s face when presented with the amount he requested for the land in the valley on time. A vision of a large wooden ranch house with a wide front porch, and beyond, in the fields, over a dozen horses. One for Phillip to call his very own. And standing by his side, with a blue-eyed baby in her arms, his dear sweet Maggie … his beloved wife.
All of a sudden he felt as light as a feather as euphoria flooded over him, indeed through every limb of his entire body, and Ben found he was laughing along with the others.
“We’re going to need a few more pickaxes to get all of this gold out,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.
Samuel chuckled. “And a few more sacks to put it in.”
“I may have to put those meat pies on hold until tomorrow,” Willis teased, with a broad grin. “This might take awhile.”
Domingo nodded excitedly. “Dinner can wait.”
“First let’s get a few more lamps over here to this side,” Samuel directed. “And clear some of these sharper rocks by our feet so that—”
A loud explosion rocked the earth, knocking Ben off balance. The small Spaniard to his left fell to the cave floor with a splash, and Willis and Samuel also appeared to be fighting to stay on their feet. Then another rumble, even louder than the first, deafened Ben’s ears. A glance toward the cave mouth showed a cascade of debris filling the opening, and with what sounded like a crack of thunder the top of the cave began breaking apart and crumbling in around them.
“Samuel?” Ben raised his arms to shield himself and tried to dodge the onslaught, but something hard hit his head.
And everything went dark.
Chapter 9
Instead of allowing herself to dwell on Ben and Phillip’s imminent departure, Maggie chose to do what she did best and finished mending every last piece of clothing stacked in her client basket. Next, she showed her mother the address of the clothing shop Sarah had given her that might be interested in her designs. Then she took a pencil and piece of Phillip’s tutoring paper and sketched ideas for the wedding dress she was to create for her mother.
Maggie tapped her pencil as she pondered what kind of sleeves the dress should have. “What do you think for summer? Bell or cap sleeves?”
Her mother glanced at the sketches and smiled. “I’ll be happy no matter what I wear.”
“I want you to look exquisite,” Maggie insisted. “I’ve already ordered material with—”
From somewhere outside came a shout. “Maggie!”
She jumped to her feet. Phillip! He sounded afraid, so she rushed to open the door.
“What is it?” she asked, breathless, as he stood on the threshold.
Phillip’s face was flushed, his chest heaving as he struggled to catch a breath. “Rockslide. Down at the river. Uncle Ben and three others were in a cave. And—and are trapped inside!”
Ben?
Maggie’s stomach turned and she grasped the doorframe. “Show me where?”
Phillip nodded, and behind them, Maggie’s mother called out, “I’ll go get Dr. Harrington.”
Maggie arrived at the river to see several dozen men searching the massive rockslide for an opening into the cave. The mouth had been blocked off with so much debris it would take weeks to dig out. Their best option seemed to be to remove rock from the upper left side and tunnel in that way.
Esther ran down from the bakery. “My Samuel’s in there?”
Agnes moved to embrace her friend, while Maggie nodded. “And Ben.”
“Willis and Domingo too,” Agnes informed them.
Why, Ben? Why did ye do it?
Maggie recalled Ben’s words when they’d argued, and her heart raced as she stumbled over the rocks toward the rescue party. Did he go in there for himself? Or Phillip? Or … her?
She never should have pressed him for a proposal. She’d rather have him leave than have him put his life in danger.
“Look out!”
Maggie jumped back in time to heed Charles Henshaw’s warning, and gasped as another slew of rocks slid down the steep hillside above and splashed into the river.
Then as soon as the embankment appeared stable, Charles motioned for Tom Green, newcomer George Galloway, and a couple of other men to help him lift away several large boulders. Pastor Brewster joined them, and as he worked, he uttered a constant stream of prayer for the lives of everyone involved. Maggie, her mother, Phillip, Esther, Agnes, and even Sarah Galloway and her son also removed debris.
“If only we could find an opening,” Maggie murmured. “And find out if they are all right.”
She hated to think of the alternative. She couldn’t think about the alternative. She had to stay positive. After all, God did not bring her out here to lose one man, fall in love with another, and then lose him too.
Maggie drew a sudden breath at the realization. She was in love with Benjamin Freethy. Not just a wee bit, but with all her heart and soul and everything within her. Just as she’d heard so many times during Sunday service that she should also love God.
But did she trust God? And His will for her life?
She had thought it was His will that she agree to an arranged marriage. She’d thought it His will that she open shop and provide for herself. But none of it had brought her the joy, peace, comfort, and security she truly craved. None of that could bring back Ben. Only God, the Creator of the universe and Master of seemingly impossible miracles could now provide what her heart needed most.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Maggie knelt amid the debris and grabbed hold of the rock in front of her. Dear God, it is You and only You that I can now trust. Have mercy on us all and help us get these men out.
She finished the short prayer, but then as she continued digging without any sign of a chink in the rock’s armor, she wondered if she should have prayed longer, or used fancier words, for a better chance of drawing God’s attention.
Her hands removed another rock, and suddenly, a small opening was revealed between two slabs of rock slanting down into darkness. She dropped a few pebbles through the fist-sized hole and couldn’t hear them land, indicating a void, perhaps the interior of the cave and access to the men?
“I may have found an opening!” she cried out, then drew her mouth closer to the ground. “Hello?”
Nothing.
George Galloway rushed over to see for himself then shook his head. “We’ll nev
er be able to move these boulders, not with fifty men. We’ll have to keep tunneling through the side. Keep talking and let us know if anyone responds.”
Maggie called down again. “Ben? Are you there? Hello?”
Please, God. Please let him be all right.
If only she could see. She glanced up toward the heavens, and the last rays of the day’s sun rested upon a pinnacle of rock on the hillside above—like a candle. If she went back to her shop and got a candle lantern, and some rope … No, a rope would be too thick, but if she used the thin leather cording she’d used to bind the edges of Phillip’s saddle blanket, and attached the candle to one of her heart-shaped knots—“hearts sewn with love,” Esther had called them—she might be able to lower the light into the depths below … and discover the men’s fate.
Ben moved his head and winced as a sharp rock poked into his scalp. His cheek burned, raw to his touch where the flesh had been gouged. The sharp metallic smell of blood filled his nostrils and lay on his tongue. He blinked twice but couldn’t see through the encompassing dark. The candle lanterns must have been snuffed out by the—
He drew a deep breath into his lungs and coughed. There had been an explosion. A second thunderous rumble. Rocks. Several rocks fell off his chest as he struggled to sit up, and a needlelike twinge of pain shot through the side of his foot as he moved his leg. He must have twisted his ankle. However, he didn’t think it was broken. How had the others fared?
“Samuel?”
His call was answered by a low groan a few feet away. “I’m here. A bit banged up but in one piece, I think.”
Thank the Lord!
Bolstered by the fact he was not alone, Ben called out again. “Willis? Domingo?”
The two other men had been to his left before he lost consciousness. Careful of his ankle, Ben pulled himself over the rough loose rock and located a large body. Had to be Willis, as the Spaniard was only half the size of the camp cook. Ben found the man’s arm and patted his way up the torso to his throat to feel for a pulse. Willis was alive.
Patting the big man’s fat cheeks, he shouted, “Willis! Wake up!”
The body beside him stirred and emitted a loud, tumultuous groan. “What happened?”
“The roof of the cave collapsed,” Samuel spat, his tone harsh. “Probably because Hugh used dynamite.”
“Hugh!” Ben recalled hearing the first explosion before the rumble of rock that had sealed the mouth of the cave and fallen in from the ceiling above. “He did this?”
“I’d bet money on it,” Samuel growled.
Fueled by his rising anger against Hugh, Ben crawled on his hands and knees and found Domingo. The small man was alive as well, although the words tumbling out of the Spaniard’s mouth were incoherent. “He’s only half-conscious,” Ben announced. “He needs a doctor.”
“Don’t we all.” Willis let out another groan. “I—I think my leg’s busted up. My right arm too.”
The alarming urgency of the situation drove Ben forward as he felt his way around in the total darkness. “Use your hands to search for our tools. There must be something in the rubble we can use to help us get out.”
He had no idea how long they’d been in the cave since the collapse, but from his thirst, he guessed it had been awhile.
“I’m sorry,” Samuel said, his voice half-choked. “You warned me it was too dangerous. I never should have encouraged you to come.”
“You’re not to blame, Sam. I’m the one who decided to follow you in. The only one I can blame is myself.”
He’d been a fool for gold. Also, a fool for hurting Maggie. The look on her face when she’d confronted him about leaving and asked, “What of love?” had twisted his heart into a fearsome knot that threatened to be his undoing, if this cave didn’t finish him off first.
What had he been thinking? When had he become so prideful, so obstinate about who could or could not be the money earner in a marriage? Especially when it was he who had arranged for her to learn the business skills she needed to help her succeed.
He let out a sigh. He should have proposed to her the moment he first saw her, before anyone else could. Because he did love her. He loved her coppery-blond hair, her blue eyes, her Irish accent, the way she mothered Phillip, the way she’d boosted her business and learned to barter. And most of all he loved the way she understood him, the way she looked at him, the way she—
“Ben, do you think there’s any hope?” Samuel asked, his voice cracking.
“As long as we’re alive, there’s always hope,” he replied. Then, recalling Maggie’s words, he repeated, “Always look for the positive in every situation, and thank the good Lord that things are not worse.”
“I suppose I can be thankful I’m not trapped in here with someone cranky like Eben Nash,” Samuel admitted.
“I’m thankful for you too,” Ben said, then sighed. “And Maggie, and Phillip.”
Would he ever see them again?
“Hey, Ben,” Samuel barked suddenly. “Do you see that?”
A flicker of light caught Ben’s eye and he glanced upward, searching for the source. Unbelievably, a tiny candle descended toward them, from about twenty feet above, its brilliance bouncing off the cave walls and lighting the interior.
And a soft, sweet, angelic voice asked, “Ben, are you all right?”
“Maggie!”
She nearly fainted with relief when she heard Ben’s voice respond out of the depths below. He was alive!
“Everyone is working to get you out,” she told him.
“The sooner the better,” he replied. “Samuel and I are okay, Willis is hurt, and Domingo’s head is bleeding. It looks bad.”
Maggie relayed the information to the other rescuers, then wrapped cloth bandages from Dr. Harrington around her leather cord in a tight spiral and lowered them through the hole along with more pencil-thin candles secured by her “love knots.”
Hours passed, wearing the rescue party down, as well as those trapped in the cave below.
“Maggie?” Ben called. “Will you look after Phillip?”
The way he said it made her realize he wasn’t just asking for this moment. It was for in case he didn’t make it out.
Her heart wrenched. “You know I will.”
She also planned to look after Ben too, once he was out, if he let her. “Phillip’s right here beside me. Esther too, and she’s anxious to speak to Samuel.”
Giving the baker and her husband some privacy, Maggie went back to the rock brigade to touch base with the others and lend a hand. More hours passed as men, women, and children all helped by lantern light to remove rubble from what they believed to be the side wall to the river cave. It began to rain, and, wet and shivering, they continued on through the night, working to save the ones they respected and loved.
To Maggie’s surprise, Eben Nash had hobbled down to the river to take charge, unearthing rocks with the rest of them by lantern light until the following dawn.
“Watch your heart,” Dr. Harrington warned him.
Maggie frowned. Eben Nash had a heart problem?
“Instead of worrying about me, you should concern yourself with those men trapped down there,” the tailor said with a scowl and tapped his crippled leg with his cane. “Believe me, I know what it’s like to have a cave collapse in on you. And despite that little hole they are conversing through, if those men don’t get proper ventilation into that chamber soon, they’ll all suffocate.”
Ben’s next words to her confirmed Eben could be right. “Maggie,” he said, his voice strained. “The air is getting thin. It’s hard to breathe.”
“We’re almost there,” Maggie said … which wasn’t exactly true, no matter how much she wished it were.
Many of the tribal natives, who had mostly kept their distance while panning for gold on the river, also offered their assistance and set out diligently to help the recovery effort, but it still wasn’t enough. They needed more men.
More specifically, they needed
Hugh Kendrick and his team, who hadn’t helped at all and were now seen heading upriver with their panning equipment.
Furious over their lack of compassion, Maggie marched toward them.
“Hubert Elias Kendrick,” she stormed, stamping her foot, “how can ye even think of panning for gold when there are men’s lives at stake?”
The tall, broad-shouldered man grinned. “You remembered my full name.”
“As if ye would ever let anyone forget,” she retorted.
“What would you have me do?” he asked.
“Help us,” she pleaded. “We desperately need the strength of more men.”
“Desperately.” Hugh glanced around at his men and laughed. “Hear that, boys? She said ‘desperately.’”
Maggie narrowed her gaze. “This isn’t a game.”
“All right, my men and I will lend a hand.” The look in his eyes grew hard. “If you’ll marry me.”
“What? No. I will not!” She could never marry him or any other, for that matter. Never again would she consider a loveless marriage. Benjamin Freethy was the only man for her, and if she couldn’t have him, she’d die a spinster.
“Well then, it’s going to cost you,” Hugh said haughtily. “Five hundred dollars.”
Maggie sucked in her breath, outraged by his ridiculously steep request, and scanned the faces of the eight other men listening in. “Do ye all agree with this?”
Hugh’s men looked nervous but wouldn’t budge. He paid them too well.
“I’ll get the money,” she vowed.
Except when she ran back and told the other miners who were trying to rescue the trapped men, no one wanted to part with any of their precious gold. No one but Esther. The baker offered to give all she’d saved to help rescue her husband. However, Esther’s generous donation only provided half the amount, which still left Maggie short two hundred and fifty dollars.
“Time is running out!” she told the others. “Hugh and his men may be our last hope.”
She wouldn’t let Ben die. She wouldn’t. But where would she get the rest of Hugh’s required fee? If only she had something of value to—