The crowd nodded again, their agreement rising up louder and louder with every wave, every pause in Hannah’s diatribe. She was getting to them, sealing her victory in the court of public opinion, and hopefully laying some positive groundwork for the serious work to come in the months and years which lay ahead.
“That's right, we're a democracy. We don't have kings here, we're not governed by warlords or power mongers. We the people have that power and we're not about to give it up! We'll fight to the death, to overthrow any power which becomes corrupt and self-serving, any regime great or small, local, regional, or national, which puts itself above our laws and in front of our sacred Constitution. Thomas Jefferson himself demanded no less! And like our Founding Fathers, we’re not influenced by bullies or strongmen, we’re not about to have our rights bought out from under us so we can be tossed aside by more powerful and more dangerous men, or women! That’s right, look at me; a woman, a woman who survived, thrived, succeeded in a man’s world. Why? Because it’s not a man's world anymore, at least not here. You want to see something powerful and dangerous?” Hannah stood with her legs splayed, hands on her hips. “Well take a good look, gentleman. I am the American woman, I am the most powerful and dangerous enemy you’ve got!”
The room, mostly men, fell silent again.
Hannah sneered at them, pacing slowly to dominate the courtroom. “They say war is coming, a war between the states. And I don’t doubt it, though I rue the notion of our young country tearing itself apart. Like all of you, I love my country, and if I have to shed my blood for her in the coming struggle, rest assured I will. But I will do so on the side of right. Mark my words, people of Marion County, of Indiana, of all the United States; the war will require us to take full measure of our humanity, of our duty to ourselves, each other, to our nation, the rest of the world, and to God. We must not find ourselves on the wrong side of that fight, struggling to maintain old world views in a modern, progressive age. He must not hold tight to the notions of our fathers and their fathers, about inequality among the races, the sexes. I don't know where you all will stand, but you’ll find me on the side of true justice, of true freedom, of true democracy, and you’ll find me with the flag in one hand and my pistol in the other.”
The crowd jumped to their feet in cheers and applause. But Hannah couldn't enjoy it for long as Don Bellamy pushed through the crowd and stepped up to her.
“Don, what is it?”
“The kids,” he whispered, “they've gone missing.”
Hannah’s first thought was to turn on Chisholm and accuse him, but she waited, pressing Don for more information even as panic began to well in her heart and in her mind. “The guards?”
“Didn't see anybody come and go, we don’t think it's that.” Hannah considered it as Jack stepped up to them.
It's true, Hannah realized, Chisholm would have played this a whole other way, not had them kidnapped. It's not the kids he wants, it's the land, the diamonds! Unless he plans to ransom them back in exchange for the land? No, he'd never assume any white person would value a black life that highly.
There could only be one answer.
“They’re in the mine,” Hannah muttered to Jack. “I’ll bet anything they’ve gone back into that mine!” With that, Hannah turned and pushed her way through the crowd, ignoring Chisholm, the crowd, all the bluster and chaos of her victory behind her. “Get our horses,” she told Jack, “hurry!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Belle walked slowly down the shaft, ceiling uneven above her, as much as her eyes could see just a few feet above her. Wooden beams were leaning, cracked, folding into the mud walls. Belle looked back at the opening, now well behind her and blocked by a slight curvature in the shaft, no doubt created by the gradual shifting of the mountain and the land beneath it.
Belle dragged her hand against the side of the shaft, feeling her way along, until she felt an empty space. Belle looked around, squinting in that darkness, to see that there was another shaft in front of her, forming the shape of a cross.
A crossroads.
Belle knew she had to choose one of the three directions, as going back alone was not a choice. And the moments were ticking by, time was running out, and Belle knew that standing there frightened wasn’t an option either.
Belle’s heart was pounding in her chest. She glanced down one stretch of decrepit shaft, a dark abyss waiting. But the other side offered no more hopeful a future than the first, and going straight ahead seemed to also be the same.
“Jo-seph!” she called, the shaft creaking just a bit around her even at her whispered call. Only the echo answered her. Belle looked around again, stumped, her legs almost paralyzed. No, she told herself, I won’t be beat by this! Mrs. Hannah wouldn’t and I won’t either. But … which direction do I go?
Instead of thinking about Hannah, Belle thought about Joseph. Which way would he have gone? How does that boy think?
Belle closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to let her fear slip away and be sensitive to the vibrations around her, the way Joseph seemed to be. She stood in dark silence. Belle could feel her spirit reaching out of her body, feeling the air and the dense walls around them, trying to sense the vibrations of the ghostly miners and their never-ending misery.
But Belle knew there was a greater power than theirs, than even of her loving papa, whose spirit was surely locked in that mountain with her.
Help me, Papa, help me find the way.
Only the cold dank of the shafts answered her, no light and no sound, no invisible motion around her to guide as she hoped there might be, no ghostly hand to lead her safely on.
But the greater power outside the mountain as well as within, encircling the whole of the earth and even beyond, the power of God, was there for her, Belle knew. No angry spirits could do anything but scatter at the coming of His might, no mountain was big enough that it wouldn’t crumble in the mere shadow of His power.
And God was not alone in His kingdom; the Son and the Angels were at His command, ready to do His bidding on earth.
God, protect me, Belle silently prayed, your humble servant. Jesus, lead me, be my shepherd and I will follow. Send your angels to be a light to me, to bring me to my brother and return us both to our lives on the outside.
Belle stood waiting, hoping, praying, but nothing came of it, nothing came to her. Instead Belle felt pushed on by the hand of time, each moment drawing both Robinson children nearer to their doom.
So Belle took a deep breath and turned right, left being the sinister side. Belle walked on, whispering Joseph’s name, her feet sliding on the muddy shaft ground. Belle told herself, straight then right, straight then right, to ensure that, in doubling back, she’d know where to go to find her way and Joseph’s back to the opening. Straight and then right, straight and then right.
Belle walked farther on, heartbeat loud in her ears, voice rolling over and over in the back of her mind. She felt herself getting deeper into the shaft, the air getting thin, lungs struggling. Turn back, a voice inside her cried out, turn back now, before it’s too late!
But it was too late, and Belle knew that. The only way out of that mountain was to find Joseph, and even the chance of that seemed slimmer with every step she took.
Belle came up to another stretch of shaft, crossing perpendicular to her path. Three more choices, one more chance to get lost in that mountain. Turning right would bring her back toward the edge of the mountain, left deeper into it.
Or would it? Belle had to second guess. The first shaft curved and for a long time. A new shaft might put me deeper in when I think I’m heading out, and the other stretch could do the other.
Belle turned to glance down one stretch of the shaft, seeing nothing. But when she turned around, Belle had to stifle a scream.
The match struck with a flare, lighting up the shaft. Joseph stood in front of her, holding the match with one hand and the match box with the other, an eager grin on his face.
“Josep
h!”
Belle was flush with anger and relief, her arms instinctively reaching out and wrapping around Joseph to pull him in. He hugged her back, but his strength and desperation couldn’t match Belle’s. He was alive, they were still safe, and Belle was quick to recall her own directions for a quick escape from that mountain with no argument from Joseph.
Straight and then right and then … left? No, right?
Belle’s blood ran cold, but she didn’t have time to wallow in her fear for long. Joseph’s little hand wrapped around Belle’s wrist and, before she could object or ask why, he gave her a hard yank, almost pulling her off her feet. Before she realized, Joseph was dragging her deeper into the mountain down one of the dark stretched of abandoned mine shaft. She didn’t have time to remember which ways they were turning. Her suddenly scrambled brain was overloaded with rights and lefts, fear and confusion preventing any words of warning from escaping her throat.
“Joseph, stop,” she finally managed to say, but he wasn’t listening any more than he was speaking. Belle was amazed at how fast he was going, dragging her along this shaft, which had to be unknown to him until that day. His sixth sense, Belle knew, but will it be enough to get us out of here, and will the mountain wait to give us enough time?
Finally Joseph stopped them both at another intersection. Joseph turned and lit a match, lighting up the intersection of two shafts. But this one only headed in one direction, the other stopping short against the wall.
But there was a small hole in the bottom of the wall at the end of the shaft, rock freshly pushed away and still crumbling. Joseph reached forward with his free hand and pushed into the wall at the top of the hole, and the earth crumbled away and fell with ease, the hole only getting bigger. The debris fell into the hole and disappeared instead of collecting on the floor of the shaft.
There was a great space on the other side of that hole, Belle realized, and she looked at Joseph who was already nodding and smiling, pointing at the hole. He’s already looked through, Belle realized, he knows what’s on the other side of that hole.
And Belle couldn’t resist seeing for herself. She fell to her knees and dug away at the hole to increase its size a bit before crawling closer and sticking her head into the hole.
Instead of being completely dark, there was light, a stream of sunlight leaking in through a hole in the wall of the massive chamber. It sank down about twenty feet beneath them and seemed to reach up about fifty feet above, a huge pocket empty in the mountain.
But that shaft of light bounced off the walls of the chamber, and that illuminated the chamber even more. Because instead of being soaking into the muddy brown walls of the plain, solid earth, that lone stream of sunlight was bouncing off sparkling white clusters of rock running in thick veins across the chamber walls, clusters of the crystalline formations hanging from the ceilings.
Diamonds!
CHAPTER FORTY
Hannah, Jack, and Don rode out to the estate, Hannah ordering Don to separate from the team to retrieve three oil lamps and meet them at the shaft. Riding up to the mountains of the mines, Hannah was struck by their power, the hold they’d had on her the whole of her life.
Those mountains were the setting of her childhood fantasies, the cradle of her dreams. Those stories inspired her to accomplishments which were well beyond even the dreams of most American men, never mind their abilities. And her accomplishments would set an example for generations of women to come, she was certain.
But none of that mattered. Hannah knew those mountains well, she’d investigated them herself in secret journeys, she’d plotted and planned to plumb them of their treasures. She knew their dangerous allure, and the hazards they provided for any interlopers.
Riding up to those foothills, the mountains getting bigger and bigger before her, Hannah was struck with the idea that she was being called to an appointment, one that was long predestined. She’d been lucky before, Hannah knew, to have escaped with her life, from the mountain and from so many other scrapes in life. She knew somehow that this would be the last great meeting with that mountain, the one visit too many. It felt to Hannah like a final showdown between her and the mountain. One would finally succumb to the will of the other, Hannah was certain, and it wouldn’t come without the highest price.
But Hannah didn’t care about the diamonds, not anymore. Hannah’s true treasure was now likely trapped in that mountain, Belle and Joseph, and Hannah was determined to retrieve them both, whatever the price to herself.
Because Hannah was haunted by her own mistakes. Shouldn’t have told them about the diamond mine in the first place, she admonished herself, maybe Mr. Roth never should have told me! Fool notions of quick wealth are the mistresses of the wicked. What business do I have fostering them in hearts as pure and decent as those kids? And what would they be looking for in the diamonds? Not to overtake me and rule the estate for themselves. They’re in there for me, for us, to prove themselves to us as being worthy and grateful and loving.
Those crazy little angels, I have to get them out of there!
Hannah couldn’t rid her imagination of the shaft’s horrors. She’d imagined it hundreds of times in her sleep and even a few times in person, prowling through the shafts as far as she’d dare go. She’d pictured herself trapped, leg caught in the mud, back broken under a fallen wooden beam, suffocating slowly in that airless chamber, drowning slowly to the rising tide of the underground currents, crushed over weeks by the slowly moving earth, shifting almost imperceptibly.
Almost.
And to imagine her beloved children in that maze of darkness and death was almost too much for Hannah to think about it, yet it was almost impossible to think about anything else. They rode up to the only remaining opening on that side of the mountain, exposed by a cluster of newly fallen rock.
Hannah and Jack climbed off their horses just as Don Bellamy rode up. Jack pulled two whale oil lamps from Don’s saddlebags, along with a book of matches. He and Hannah quickly lit their lamps.
Hannah said to Don, “You wait out here, stand guard. If we’re not out in an hour, or if there’s another big quake, ride back and get the miners.”
Don nodded, glancing around. “Yes ma’am.”
Hannah and Jack shared a determined glance, their eyes locking. They’d found each other and had helped each other create a life. Each seemed to know that at least one of them was likely to remain forever in the mountain, whatever the outcome. But neither was willing to put words to it, and there was little enough time to share, much less to part. So they nodded to one another, raised their lamps, and headed into the chamber.
“Mrs. Kincaid?” Hannah and Jack turned to Don, still on his horse. “Good luck.”
Hannah gave him a little smile before she and Jack turned and stepped into the shaft, a golden light from their two lamps following them in.
Hannah took a deep breath, her childhood and adult fears creeping up on her, though not from out of nowhere. They’d been her companion since she heard from Don back in the court room. But now they were right behind her, arms around her waist, fingers slipping around her throat.
Jack called out, “Kids! Kids!”
Hannah rasped, “Shshshsh! You’ll bring the whole mine down on us!”
“Sorry, wasn’t thinking, you’re right.” They walked on, the lamps revealing little more than the failing shaft, rotting wood, crumbling walls and ceilings. “But what if they’re here but out of sight somewhere, down a few of these shafts? We could be walking right by ‘em!”
Hannah looked around, extending her lamp as they shaft curved in front of them with a shift in the mountain and the land beneath it. “Don’t know, not sure.” Hannah tried to feel the mountain’s vibrations around her, to sense what could not be seen, hear what most couldn’t hear. But even being the Daughter of the She Bear brought her no heightened powers, no abilities.
How foolish, Hannah couldn't help think to herself, believing my own press! I’m not blessed with any power
ful spirit guide, whatever the Chippewa or other tribes, not the Daughter of the She Bear. I’m just Hannah Alexander Kincaid, and I’m probably going to die today.
They walked on, deeper into the chamber until they came to the first intersection of shafts. Jack looked around, then at Hannah. “Now what?”
Hannah gave it some thought and looked around for herself. She lowered her lamp to the shaft ground, muddy and rocky, with a rotting carpet of moss and animal bones cluttered around rusty rails.
But there were also footprints, at least what looked like footprints, and they led to the right.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Belle and Joseph sat kneeling in the mud. Belle’s body was trembling with excitement, blood rushing through her veins. She dug at the hole, making it bigger and bigger, revealing more and more of the tremendous chamber on the other side. Belle pulled back and gave Joseph a huge hug; not just one of relief or of love, but of unabashed joy.
“You did it, Joseph, you did it! I knew you had something going on in there, I just knew it!”
“Yeah,” Joseph said, his voice natural and free, rolling out of his smile.
Belle was astonished, but she didn’t even want to say anything about it, afraid she’d frighten him back into silence. All Belle could do was reach out and take him into her arms again, squeezing so tight she almost thought she’d be unable to let him go.
But the mountain trembled just a bit around them, reminding Belle and Joseph both that time was running out, and the mountain still had a price to collect for revealing her secret, and a desire to keep her secret hidden. There was always room for two more trapped spirits to join that ghostly, tortured team.
Diamonds in the Rough Page 25
