Bonds of Earth, The

by Thompson, E. V.

  Finally making up her mind, she said curtly, ‘What?’

  ‘Jennifer told me today you’re no longer interested in Goran. Is that true?’

  ‘I don’t see it’s any business of yours, whether it’s true or not.’

  Nessa realized that any conversation between her and her sister was not likely to be amicable, but she wanted an answer to her question and was trying to think how she could learn what she wanted to know without starting a bitter argument when Morwenna unexpectedly spoke again.

  ‘Yes, it’s true, I’ve got no interest in Goran at all any more, he’s boring. So you can have him back again, if that’s what you want.’

  Angered by the condescending nature of her sister’s reply and, despite her intention of trying to avoid an out-and-out argument, Nessa snapped, ‘I have no intention of bothering myself with one of your cast-off lovers. I just wanted to know if what Jennifer said was true, that’s all.’

  ‘Well, now you know and I don’t care whether you take him back or not, any more than anyone in this family cares what it is I want, or what it is that I might care about.’

  There was silence in the room for a full minute before Nessa, regretting that she had reacted so angrily to Morwenna’s declaration that she could take back Goran now she no longer wanted him, tried to placate her sister.

  ‘That isn’t true, Morwenna, we all care about you and the things you want. Ma in particular worries that you’re not happy here and Jennifer was almost in tears tonight because she’s so unhappy you and I aren’t talking to each other.’

  Nessa waited for her sister to reply but all that came was a mock snore that succeeded in bringing all further conversation to an end.

  Lying in her own bed and thinking about the gulf that was widening between her and Morwenna, and what had been said about Goran, it was a long time before Nessa’s troubled thoughts allowed sleep to come to her.

  Chapter 23

  AFTER TWO DAYS of heavy, albeit intermittent rain, the storms moved on from Cornwall and Morwenna was able to make her way across the moor to the Spurre estate to keep her tryst with Tom once more – but the gamekeeper’s nephew did not put in an appearance.

  She waited by the hedgerow boundary for two hours before telling herself that the heavy rain had undoubtedly caused disruption at Spurre Hall and there would be work for Tom to attend to, perhaps closer to the big house. Disconsolately, she returned to the cottage at Wheal Hope.

  When it was a similar story on the second day she began to feel uneasy. Perhaps something had happened to him! After all, his work meant he spent a great deal of time among the trees and woods of the estate. There had been many severe storms – and lightning was known to strike trees! But how could she find out?

  When there was still no sign of him on the third day after the storms had passed on, she decided to check whether he was at the cottage among the trees, where he used to take her. Tom had told her she was never to go onto the estate unless he was with her, but she was so concerned she felt she had no alternative.

  The relationship she had with Tom had been a carefully calculated one after their first casual meeting, but she had grown to like him a lot. She decided she would be a good wife for him and had no doubts about his potential as a husband – and father.

  If there was no sign of him at the cottage Morwenna knew she would need to think of something else, but she had felt utterly frustrated outside the estate hedge, waiting in vain for him to put in an appearance.

  On the way to the gamekeeper’s cottage the thought came to her that perhaps he was actually moving in to the cottage. If this was so he was no doubt being helped by his uncle and it would be very difficult for him to leave him and come away to meet her.

  The thought buoyed her spirits until the cottage came into view and she slowed her approach, no longer certain of what to do next. The cottage looked deserted with no sign of anyone in residence.

  There had been a musty unlived odour inside the cottage and, although it had never dampened the ardour of either of them, Tom had commented on it and, had he taken up residence, she would have expected him to open every window to allow the fresh air from outside to clear the mustiness.

  Arriving at the front door of the cottage she paused. Should she go inside and see whether Tom, or any of his belongings, was there? What if somebody else had moved in…?

  This possibility had not occurred to her before but the cottage was on the estate and Sir John Spurre might have had other plans for it.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing here?’

  The voice startled her and, turning to see where it came from, she was dismayed to see Marcus Grimble standing at the corner of the cottage. He had come from the rear of the building and was standing looking at her, nursing the gun he was in the habit of carrying whenever he walked the estate.

  ‘I asked you what you’re doing,’ he repeated. ‘This is private property and you could be prosecuted for being here.’

  ‘I … I came here looking for Tom – Tom Miller. I usually meet him by the hedge to the moor but I haven’t seen him for a while and wondered whether he was all right. He brought me here to show me the cottage, but it was only the once,’ she lied, hoping Grimble would believe her.

  ‘He shouldn’t have, but Tom won’t be showing anything to you any more, he’s gone.’

  ‘Gone? Gone where? When will he be back?’

  ‘If he ever comes back it won’t be for many a year, he’s gone to America.’

  Morwenna knew little about America, but she was aware it was somewhere across the sea and a very long way from Cornwall. ‘But … he told me he was going to be a gamekeeper and would be moving into this cottage!’

  Morwenna’s distress was patently genuine and, looking at her speculatively, Grimble said, ‘Now why should Tom have told you a story like that, unless…?’

  Leaving the sentence unfinished, he said, ‘I think we’d better go inside the cottage, young woman, and you can tell me what it is you and my nephew have been getting up to.’

  ‘I’m not going inside there with you!’

  Grimble’s revelation that Tom had left the country had come as a great shock, but it had not stripped her of her common sense.

  ‘I’ll be getting home before my pa wonders where I am and comes looking for me.’

  ‘I shouldn’t think your pa’s too particular about where you get to or you wouldn’t have been able to get to know young Tom well enough to have him show you places like this. Who are you, anyway, and where do you come from? You’re not from these parts or I’d know you, although your face seems familiar.’

  ‘Who I am is none of your business – but my pa is captain of the Wheal Hope.’

  ‘Oh, so you’re a mining girl? I’ve heard all about what they get up to around Caradon way … but you’re still trespassing on Spurre land, so I think you’d better come inside the cottage and we’ll decide what we’re going to do about it.’

  At that moment they both heard a muffled explosion. It came from the direction of the Wheal Hope and there was nothing unusual in the sound. Black powder was used to blast through the granite in the deepening shaft and also pursuing tin lodes which already showed great promise at two levels.

  The sound had hardly died away when the ground beneath Morwenna seemed to tremble and it was accompanied by an ominous rumbling. The sound disconcerted both those at the cottage – but only Morwenna was immediately aware of its significance.

  When she was a very young girl her father had been a shift captain on a coastal mine. A tunnel extending seaward had come too close to the sea-bed and during a storm sea water had broken through, flooding the mine with a terrible force that carried everything before it, rocks, machinery – and men. The Wheal Hope was a long way from the sea, and not close to the place where she and Grimble were standing, but she had no doubt that something similar had occurred at the Wheal Hope.

  All other considerations immediately forgotten, Morwenna turned to run back the w
ay she had come.

  ‘Stop! Come back or I’ll shoot you.’

  Running as she had never run before, she did not slow even when she heard the sound of his shot. But Grimble had fired into the air and neither slowing her pace nor looking back at him Morwenna kept on running.

  Chapter 24

  WHEN THE DISASTER at the Wheal Hope occurred, Goran had just returned to Elworthy Farm on the pony after checking on the well-being of his sheep which had been grazing on the moor during the recent storms.

  He had dismounted in the farmyard and was holding the reins of the pony and talking to Albert Bolitho when they were interrupted by the same sounds and sensation experienced by Morwenna and Marcus Grimble.

  The feeling of the ground trembling beneath their feet frightened the farmyard animals and the pony almost pulled free from Goran but, as had Morwenna, Albert realized immediately what had happened.

  ‘The Wheal Hope must have broken through into water,’ he cried. ‘If Cap’n Pyne wasn’t prepared for it he’ll be in serious trouble.’

  Succeeding in bringing the frightened pony under control, Goran said, ‘I’ll ride up there and find out what’s happening.’

  ‘Take me with you.’

  When Goran looked at the crippled miner, his expression showed clearly his disbelief that Albert could possibly be anything but a hindrance if there was an emergency at the mine, and Albert said fiercely, ‘I may not be able to help physically but the only man on the mine who knows more of mining than me is Captain Pyne and I don’t think he’s ever experienced a serious break through into water. I have!’

  A granite mounting-block, accessed by three steps stood close to where the two men were standing and Goran said, ‘I’ll help you up there. If you can get yourself into the saddle I’ll mount up behind you.’

  The pony objected to carrying a double burden but, holding the reins with his arms about the miner, Goran heeled the animal into motion, calling out a brief explanation to Harriet Bolitho who was emerging from the farm cottage as they passed by.

  The mine was in a state of turmoil but around the head of the shaft miners were busily attaching a pulley and rope to a rapidly erected wooden tripod. The previous apparatus used to bring dug earth to the surface had collapsed and it was intended that a man should be lowered down the shaft to assess just what had happened.

  ‘Is anyone trapped down there?’

  Albert called the question to a harassed miner whom he knew would be employed as a shift captain when the mine began full production. He appeared to be organizing all that was going on now.

  ‘Cap’n Pyne’s down below with a four-man team. They’ve been following a copper lode that was found while the shaft was being dug. John James has come up from the thirty fathom level where he was checking on another lode and says he thinks the cap’n and the others might have been sheltering in one of the tunnels on the other side of where they were blasting. It should have only been a small blast but it broke through what was either some old workings or a reservoir. Jack tried to go back down to find out where the others were but the water had carried the ladders away and he couldn’t get down to them.’

  ‘This lode that was being followed – was it down towards the bottom of the shaft? Would the water have hit them right away?’

  ‘They’ll probably be safe for a while, but water’s coming into the shaft above them and judging by the sound of it there’s a whole lot of it. If it keeps up at its present rate no one can possibly get through and it will flood the whole of the Wheal Hope’s workings – including the place where they’re sheltering. To be honest I can’t see any way we can help them.’

  The miner made a gesture of hopelessness that horrified Goran, but Albert was speaking again.

  ‘We know there must be plenty of water down there because of all the springs in the area – and recent storms won’t have made things any better, but if you’ve broken through into old workings there would have been an adit coming out somewhere by the river.’

  ‘An adit? Isn’t that some sort of a mine tunnel?’ Goran put the question to Albert.

  ‘That’s right, most of the old-time mines had them – many of the newer ones too whenever possible. They’re tunnels dug to take off water from a wet mine without the expense of having a pumping-engine and having to buy fuel to keep it working.’

  ‘There’s an adit coming out in a copse of trees down at the bottom of Agnes Roach’s farm. It must have been dug by the miners who worked on the big mine that was once on Spurre land. The mine was worked a very long time ago, possibly as long as hundred years or so, but some of the older folk still talk about it. You can see by the ground in front of this adit that it once carried a whole lot of water, but Elworthy Coumbe said his father told him the roof had caved in when they were cutting down a great oak, a bit farther up the slope. He’s probably right, you can see the hollow in the ground where it fell in. I once went along the adit and came to where a lot of earth and stone was blocking it. There was a bit of water coming through too, although it was little more than a trickle.’

  Suddenly excited, Albert asked, ‘How big is this hollow in the ground where you think the roof of the adit collapsed?’

  ‘Not all that big, perhaps half the size of your cottage and if I stood in it I’d probably still be able to look over the edge.’

  Albert and the Wheal Hope miner exchanged glances, but their two reactions were very different.

  ‘It’s too much of a long shot,’ the miner said, shaking his head dubiously. ‘Even if it is the old adit and we could clear the roof fall it would take time.’

  ‘If we packed explosives into the fall we could blow a hole big enough to loosen up the blockage. If there’s as much water in there as we think there is it would do the rest for us.’

  ‘It would still take more time than we have.’

  ‘Not if I did it. There’s not another man in the whole of Cornwall with my knowledge of explosives, you’ve heard Cap’n Pyne say so – and I’m telling you it can be done.’

  ‘You do it? You’re forgetting your leg….’

  ‘Let me worry about my leg. While you’re finding reasons why it can’t be done the water’s rising up the shaft. If I have a try at clearing the blockage in the adit we’ll feel we’re doing something – and it might save the lives of Cap’n Pyne and four men.’

  Albert’s fervour finally convinced the other man. ‘What will you need, and where is it to go?’

  ‘I’ll need a whole barrel of black powder and as much safety fuse as you have ready, candles, Lucifer matches, pipes and packing for the powder. I’ll also need the best drill team you have – get Jim Darley and his two boys – and tell them to bring the longest borers they have.’

  Turning to Goran, Albert, now very much the man in charge of the situation, asked, ‘Where is this adit?’

  ‘Come down through Elworthy land to the river and follow it upstream to the small copse on Roach land. The adit is in there.’

  ‘Right.’ Turning to the miner, he said, ‘Get things moving with all the speed you can. Goran and me will go back to the farm to collect as many lanterns as we can find and go in and inspect this adit. We’ll meet you there … but hurry, there’s no time to waste.’

  Riding away from Wheal Hope in the same manner as he and Albert had arrived, Goran caught a glimpse of Nessa … and his heart went out to her. With Jennifer in her arms she looked pale and on the verge of tears standing with her mother, a hot-looking and dishevelled Morwenna and two other women on the edge of the crowd about the shaft.

  She was not looking in his direction and he could not tell whether or not she was aware of his presence at the Wheal Hope, but now was not the time to even think of speaking to her. She and the members of her family would be greatly distressed at the knowledge that Piran Pyne was trapped deep down in the mine and in imminent danger.

  Chapter 25

  THE ROOF OF the adit was not quite high enough to enable a tall man to stand upright and was so
muddy underfoot that Goran was concerned for Albert who needed to lean heavily on a makeshift walking stick for support as the two men made their way along the adit, guided by the light of one of the lanterns taken from the milking shed at Elworthy Farm.

  As they were leaving, Harriet Bolitho had needed to bite back the objections she wanted to raise against her husband’s projected attempt to unblock the adit of the ancient flooded mine. She knew miners were always ready to risk their own lives when incidents such as this occurred, accidents being a constant hazard in underground mining.

  She was aware, too, that knowing he would be doing something useful – something vital – would give her husband back much of the self-esteem he had lost during the long period of being unable to provide for his family and the injury which had left him feeling hopelessly useless as a husband and provider for them.

  Meanwhile, Mabel had hurried to Roach Farm to tell Agnes what was happening on her land.

  Before entering the adit, Albert asked to see the depression in the land that was believed to have been caused by the collapse of part of the adit roof. Looking at it thoughtfully, he had Goran pace out its length then, still thoughtful, he limped after Goran to inspect the drainage tunnel itself.

  ‘It’s muddy in here,’ Goran commented, as they neared the place where the roof had collapsed. ‘Won’t it make setting explosives difficult?’

  ‘Not necessarily. If it’s very wet I’ll seal the gunpowder inside a pipe but if the water is seeping beneath the fall and not coming through the roof or walls it won’t be too bad – and might even work to our advantage. It could mean there are faults in the fall. If I can place the explosive in the right place and cause rocks in the fall to shift, the force of the water piled up behind it should be enough to force its way through.’

  ‘But once you’ve packed in the explosive and lit the fuse will you have enough time to get clear of the tunnel? I’m thinking of your bad leg.’