Chapter 5
Lizzy’s heart climbed into her throat. Had that really happened? Had the elevator that she and Troy had just worked on that morning really fallen into the shaft?
“The men!”
Rushing to the shaft, she tried to peer down into it, but it was dark. The falling beams must have broken the lanterns and thankfully smothered the flames instead of adding to them, which would have turned the wreckage into a large bonfire.
“Troy!” Ethan cried as he and the others from the smelter arrived, looking sweaty and bewildered. “What in tarnation happened here?”
“It seems that Troy and Lizzy’s elevator didn’t quite hold up when it needed to,” Andrew said, his tone waspish.
“Look, considering what we’re working with—” Troy began, but Julie spoke over him.
“I don’t care what failed or why,” she said. “There are men down there, and they need to be rescued. They could be seriously injured. So, Troy and Lizzy, you have to work out how to get us down there to help them. Do you understand? Everything else is unimportant right now.”
“We can rig something up,” Lizzy said with a curt nod. She was never one for dramatics.
Julie patted her arm. “I know you can do it.”
“We can use the older frame,” Troy said. “It’s over here and still fine.”
They moved to the old pulley system, where a person would put their foot in a loop of rope and be lowered or raised by the turn of a handle on the side of the frame.
The men had been using it earlier in the day when the elevator platform got stuck.
Setting it up was the work of moments for Lizzy and Troy.
Still, her hands were shaking as she and Troy set to work to make it possible for men to go down the shaft and see what could be done.
“Can I help in some way?” Emily asked.
Gosh, Lizzy had forgotten all about her.
“Yes, come and help me get set up here,” Julie said, taking her to one side under one of the trees. “There will be injuries, and I’ll need to be ready to immediately treat them.”
Lizzy noticed Troy watching her as they worked.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing. Well, yes, something. I’m sorry about earlier today.”
“Really? You want to apologize for that now?”
He shrugged.
She sighed. “It’s fine. Let’s get this working so that we can go down there and help.”
“You’re not going down there,” Troy said.
“Why not?” Lizzy asked in surprise.
He shook his head. “There is no way. Not after what happened this morning, Lizzy.”
She raised a brow. Troy had never before fussed over her. “I’m just as capable as you?—”
“He’s right,” Andrew interrupted. “We’ll need you up here, helping Julie and Emily with the injured.”
“I’ll go down!” Tim offered.
Lizzy turned on him in a flash. “Absolutely not!”
“No way!” Troy said as Andrew also expressed his reluctance to have the boy go anywhere near the shaft.
Tim glared at them. “I can do it.”
“No,” Lizzy said. She’d lost her entire family. She wasn’t about to risk her brother’s life—and no, she didn’t need someone pointing out that Timmy likely felt the same way about possibly losing her. She was older. She was stronger. Nothing would happen to her.
Tim growled something and stormed off. What was going on with him? Picking fights and being disrespectful and throwing tantrums? That was not like him. He hadn’t been like this since their folks died.
“Lizzy,” Julie called to her. “Can you come and give us a hand?”
The pulley system was up and ready to use, and already Andrew was heading into the gaping hole that was the mouth of the mine. Lizzy couldn’t help but feel a chill. What would he find down there?
Troy was next, slipping his foot into the loop and catching her eye as he was lowered.
She could have sworn that the look he gave her was one of longing and sadness.
She said a silent prayer that he would come back up again in one piece—and that he’d find the miners below were safe and well, of course.
Walking over to Julie and Emily, Lizzy set to work to help get things ready for when the miners would start to emerge.
“Does this sort of thing happen often?” Emily asked, a slight quaver in her voice.
Lizzy had to force herself not to roll her eyes. What did this woman think happened in a mine?
“No, actually, this is the first time this has happened,” Julie said. “We had a flood a while back, and a few of the support beams have cracked and broken once or twice, but nothing too serious. Troy and Lizzy keep things well in hand most of the time.”
Lizzy paced up and down, wanting to scream. What a day this was turning into.
“You know,” she realized belatedly, “they’re going to have to clear the elevator’s debris before they can get anyone out. I don’t think Andrew and Troy are going to be able to actually get to the men at first. I think we should tie ropes around?—”
“We?” Emily asked, looking shocked. “But the men?—”
“Are currently down a hole,” Lizzy snapped. She wasn’t being fair, and she didn’t care. “I’ll go and get the horses.”
“The horses?” Emily repeated dumbly.
“What are you planning?” Julie asked.
“If we can get some ropes around at least some parts of the debris, we can pull it clear of the hole with the animal’s help,” Lizzy said.
“Look—those poles are too heavy to lift on our own, especially at the angles they’ll be lying at.
If we can get ropes around them, we might be able to work a small miracle and clear enough space for everyone, even the injured, to get out. ”
Julie nodded. “That’s a good plan. I’ll go to the storage tent for rope. Emily, you stay here in case anyone manages to climb out somehow and needs immediate assistance.”
They set off, but soon heard the sound of pattering footsteps coming up behind them.
“I’m afraid that I will be less than useful at the mine without you, Julie,” Emily mumbled. “My medical training extends to clearing choking hazards. I had a student once who swallowed a piece of apple?—”
“Yes, I’m sure it’s a fantastic story, but we need to hurry,” Lizzy said, putting on some speed.
Julie shot Lizzy a look that was quite exasperated. “Come with me, Emily,” she said, and they ran in the direction of the infirmary.
Lizzy went the opposite way up to the paddock. Four horses should do it. Together they could shift a heavy load—and the scaffolding was a heavy load indeed.
As she brought the horses to the mine, Kyle came up out of the hole, followed closely by Troy. She said a silent prayer of gratitude that he was back above ground and safe.
When he saw Lizzy standing with the horses, he beamed.
“You were thinking of using them to help lift out the debris?” Troy asked.
“We came up with the same solution. Once we got down there, we realized there was no way for us to get past the debris to get to the miners. But all that wood is so heavy.”
Lizzy nodded. “This seems the only pertinent way to remove it. Unless …”
“Unless?” he asked.
“Well, if we were to make a winch, we could possibly lift more?” she suggested.
Troy rubbed his chin. “But if we go down there and separate the parts of the frame so that each horse can pull bits up with a rope…”
They stared at each other.
“I think the winch is a good idea,” Kyle said. “We can lift more of it intact, and it will take less work.”
“All right, let’s give that a try,” Troy said. “Will you go and get some of the folks from the fields? We’ll need them.”
Kyle nodded and, hopping onto a horse’s back, he rode off in the direction of the fields on the other side of the creek.
Lizzy and Troy set to work to make the winch. It was hard work, digging a hole and placing a thick section of log into it. Then they tied a thinner, lighter piece of log to that so that it looked like a one-armed man. And then they tied the rope around it.
“I’ll go down and tie the other end to something,” Troy said.
When Lizzy looked around again, Julie and Emily were back with the trunk of medicines.
They had brought the whole thing along, aided by more of the camp’s inhabitants.
The ladies who were on laundry duty arrived, and a minute later, Kyle was back with the folks from the fields.
This was looking a lot more like a rescue party now.
All around them were cries of anguish and fear. There were husbands and brothers and sons down there. Lizzy had to think. She had to find a way to get them out.
Everyone joined in, with men going down into the hole and clearing rocks and rubble. This they sent up out of the hole in baskets on the lift.
Andrea Carlson came flying out of the press of people around the mine, screaming. “Hector! Hector! Is he down there? Is he still in the mine!”
Lizzy grabbed her just as she was about to tip over the edge. Her heart hammered in her chest as she watched others, panicked and grief-stricken, watching them. What happened now would mean the difference between calm, order, and sheer chaos.
“Andrea, stop!” Lizzy cried as the woman tried to wriggle out of her grasp. “You can’t go down there. Please, you have to wait up here.”
“No! My boys aren’t growing up without a father. Hector!” Andrea screamed.
Lizzy had to strain against her. She was fighting tooth and nail to get into the mine. It was as though all sanity had left her. Lizzy didn’t know what else to do but hold on tight. She wasn’t nearly as good with comforting words as she was with outright action.
Walter, who had grown close to Andrea’s family since they arrived in camp, came rushing over. He wrapped his arms around Andrea and, lifting her bodily, moved her away from the edge.
He took her to the medical area and then, placing her on her feet, began to speak to her in a slow and calm manner.
“Andrea, you have to calm down,” Walter said. “We are doing everything we can to get Hector and the others out. Okay? But we need you to be focused and calm. Can you do that?”
Tears streaming down her gaunt cheeks, Andrea nodded. “But I have to do something to help. I can’t just sit here and hope.”