by Jules Verne
CHAPTER XI. HANGING BY A THREAD
ALTHOUGH in this way the Ford family led a happy and contented life, yetit was easy to see that Harry, naturally of a grave disposition, becamemore and more quiet and reserved. Even Jack Ryan, with all his goodhumor and usually infectious merriment, failed to rouse him to gayety ofmanner.
One Sunday--it was in the month of June--the two friends were walkingtogether on the shores of Loch Malcolm. Coal Town rested from labor. Inthe world above, stormy weather prevailed. Violent rains fell, anddull sultry vapors brooded over the earth; the atmosphere was mostoppressive.
Down in Coal Town there was perfect calm; no wind, no rain. A soft andpleasant temperature existed instead of the strife of the elements whichraged without. What wonder then, that excursionists from Stirling camein considerable numbers to enjoy the calm fresh air in the recesses ofthe mine?
The electric discs shed a brilliancy of light which the British sun,oftener obscured by fogs than it ought to be, might well envy. Jack Ryankept talking of these visitors, who passed them in noisy crowds, butHarry paid very little attention to what he said.
"I say, do look, Harry!" cried Jack. "See what numbers of people cometo visit us! Cheer up, old fellow! Do the honors of the place a littlebetter. If you look so glum, you'll make all these outside folks thinkyou envy their life above-ground."
"Never mind me, Jack," answered Harry. "You are jolly enough for two,I'm sure; that's enough."
"I'll be hanged if I don't feel your melancholy creeping over methough!" exclaimed Jack. "I declare my eyes are getting quite dull, mylips are drawn together, my laugh sticks in my throat; I'm forgettingall my songs. Come, man, what's the matter with you?"
"You know well enough, Jack."
"What? the old story?"
"Yes, the same thoughts haunt me."
"Ah, poor fellow!" said Jack, shrugging his shoulders. "If you wouldonly do like me, and set all the queer things down to the account of thegoblins of the mine, you would be easier in your mind."
"But, Jack, you know very well that these goblins exist only in yourimagination, and that, since the works here have been reopened, not asingle one has been seen."
"That's true, Harry; but if no spirits have been seen, neither hasanyone else to whom you could attribute the extraordinary doings we wantto account for."
"I shall discover them."
"Ah, Harry! Harry! it's not so easy to catch the spirits of NewAberfoyle!"
"I shall find out the spirits as you call them," said Harry, in a toneof firm conviction.
"Do you expect to be able to punish them?"
"Both punish and reward. Remember, if one hand shut us up in thatpassage, another hand delivered us! I shall not soon forget that."
"But, Harry, how can we be sure that these two hands do not belong tothe same body?"
"What can put such a notion in your head, Jack?" asked Harry.
"Well, I don't know. Creatures that live in these holes, Harry, don'tyou see? they can't be made like us, eh?"
"But they ARE just like us, Jack."
"Oh, no! don't say that, Harry! Perhaps some madman managed to get infor a time."
"A madman! No madman would have formed such connected plans, or donesuch continued mischief as befell us after the breaking of the ladders."
"Well, but anyhow he has done no harm for the last three years, eitherto you, Harry, or any of your people."
"No matter, Jack," replied Harry; "I am persuaded that this malignantbeing, whoever he is, has by no means given up his evil intentions. Ican hardly say on what I found my convictions. But at any rate, forthe sake of the new works, I must and will know who he is and whence hecomes."
"For the sake of the new works did you say?" asked Jack, considerablysurprised.
"I said so, Jack," returned Harry. "I may be mistaken, but, to me, allthat has happened proves the existence of an interest in this mine instrong opposition to ours. Many a time have I considered the matter; Ifeel almost sure of it. Just consider the whole series of inexplicablecircumstances, so singularly linked together. To begin with, theanonymous letter, contradictory to that of my father, at once provesthat some man had become aware of our projects, and wished to preventtheir accomplishment. Mr. Starr comes to see us at the Dochart pit. Nosooner does he enter it with me than an immense stone is cast upon us,and communication is interrupted by the breaking of the ladders inthe Yarrow shaft. We commence exploring. An experiment, by which theexistence of a new vein would be proved, is rendered impossible bystoppage of fissures. Notwithstanding this, the examination is carriedout, the vein discovered. We return as we came, a prodigious gust of airmeets us, our lamp is broken, utter darkness surrounds us. Nevertheless,we make our way along the gloomy passage until, on reaching theentrance, we find it blocked up. There we were--imprisoned. Now, Jack,don't you see in all these things a malicious intention? Ah, yes,believe me, some being hitherto invisible, but not supernatural, as youwill persist in thinking, was concealed in the mine. For some reason,known only to himself, he strove to keep us out of it. WAS there, didI say? I feel an inward conviction that he IS there still, and probablyprepares some terrible disaster for us. Even at the risk of my life,Jack, I am resolved to discover him."
Harry spoke with an earnestness which strongly impressed his companion."Well, Harry," said he, "if I am forced to agree with you in certainpoints, won't you admit that some kind fairy or brownie, by bringingbread and water to you, was the means of--"
"Jack, my friend," interrupted Harry, "it is my belief that the friendlyperson, whom you will persist in calling a spirit, exists in the mine ascertainly as the criminal we speak of, and I mean to seek them both inthe most distant recesses of the mine."
"But," inquired Jack, "have you any possible clew to guide your search?"
"Perhaps I have. Listen to me! Five miles west of New Aberfoyle, underthe solid rock which supports Ben Lomond, there exists a natural shaftwhich descends perpendicularly into the vein beneath. A week ago I wentto ascertain the depth of this shaft. While sounding it, and bendingover the opening as my plumb-line went down, it seemed to me that theair within was agitated, as though beaten by huge wings."
"Some bird must have got lost among the lower galleries," replied Jack.
"But that is not all, Jack. This very morning I went back to the place,and, listening attentively, I thought I could detect a sound like a sortof groaning."
"Groaning!" cried Jack, "that must be nonsense; it was a current ofair--unless indeed some ghost--"
"I shall know to-morrow what it was," said Harry.
"To-morrow?" answered Jack, looking at his friend.
"Yes; to-morrow I am going down into that abyss."
"Harry! that will be a tempting of Providence."
"No, Jack, Providence will aid me in the attempt. Tomorrow, you and someof our comrades will go with me to that shaft. I will fasten myself toa long rope, by which you can let me down, and draw me up at a givensignal. I may depend upon you, Jack?"
"Well, Harry," said Jack, shaking his head, "I will do as you wish me;but I tell you all the same, you are very wrong."
"Nothing venture nothing win," said Harry, in a tone of decision."To-morrow morning, then, at six o'clock. Be silent, and farewell!"
It must be admitted that Jack Ryan's fears were far from groundless.Harry would expose himself to very great danger, supposing the enemyhe sought for lay concealed at the bottom of the pit into which hewas going to descend. It did not seem likely that such was the case,however.
"Why in the world," repeated Jack Ryan, "should he take all this troubleto account for a set of facts so very easily and simply explained by thesupernatural intervention of the spirits of the mine?"
But, notwithstanding his objections to the scheme, Jack Ryan and threeminers of his gang arrived next morning with Harry at the mouth of theopening of the suspicious shaft. Harry had not mentioned his intentionseither to James Starr or to the old overman. Jack had been discreetenough to say nothing.
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br /> Harry had provided himself with a rope about 200 feet long. It was notparticularly thick, but very strong--sufficiently so to sustain hisweight. His friends were to let him down into the gulf, and his pullingthe cord was to be the signal to withdraw him.
The opening into this shaft or well was twelve feet wide. A beam wasthrown across like a bridge, so that the cord passing over it shouldhang down the center of the opening, and save Harry from strikingagainst the sides in his descent.
He was ready.
"Are you still determined to explore this abyss?" whispered Jack Ryan.
"Yes, I am, Jack."
The cord was fastened round Harry's thighs and under his arms, to keephim from rocking. Thus supported, he was free to use both his hands. Asafety-lamp hung at his belt, also a large, strong knife in a leathersheath.
Harry advanced to the middle of the beam, around which the cord waspassed. Then his friends began to let him down, and he slowly sank intothe pit. As the rope caused him to swing gently round and round, thelight of his lamp fell in turns on all points of the side walls, sothat he was able to examine them carefully. These walls consisted of pitcoal, and so smooth that it would be impossible to ascend them.
Harry calculated that he was going down at the rate of about a footper second, so that he had time to look about him, and be ready for anyevent.
During two minutes--that is to say, to the depth of about 120 feet, thedescent continued without any incident.
No lateral gallery opened from the side walls of the pit, which wasgradually narrowing into the shape of a funnel. But Harry began to feela fresher air rising from beneath, whence he concluded that the bottomof the pit communicated with a gallery of some description in the lowestpart of the mine.
The cord continued to unwind. Darkness and silence were complete. Ifany living being whatever had sought refuge in the deep and mysteriousabyss, he had either left it, or, if there, by no movement did he in theslightest way betray his presence.
Harry, becoming more suspicious the lower he got, now drew his knife andheld it in his right hand. At a depth of 180 feet, his feet touched thelower point and the cord slackened and unwound no further.
Harry breathed more freely for a moment. One of the fears he entertainedhad been that, during his descent, the cord might be cut above him, buthe had seen no projection from the walls behind which anyone could havebeen concealed.
The bottom of the abyss was quite dry. Harry, taking the lamp from hisbelt, walked round the place, and perceived he had been right in hisconjectures.
An extremely narrow passage led aside out of the pit. He had to stoopto look into it, and only by creeping could it be followed; but ashe wanted to see in which direction it led, and whether another abyssopened from it, he lay down on the ground and began to enter it on handsand knees.
An obstacle speedily arrested his progress. He fancied he could perceiveby touching it, that a human body lay across the passage. A suddenthrill of horror and surprise made him hastily draw back, but he againadvanced and felt more carefully.
His senses had not deceived him; a body did indeed lie there; and hesoon ascertained that, although icy cold at the extremities, there wassome vital heat remaining. In less time than it takes to tell it, Harryhad drawn the body from the recess to the bottom of the shaft, and,seizing his lamp, he cast its lights on what he had found, exclaimingimmediately, "Why, it is a child!"
The child still breathed, but so very feebly that Harry expected it tocease every instant. Not a moment was to be lost; he must carry thispoor little creature out of the pit, and take it home to his mother asquickly as he could. He eagerly fastened the cord round his waist, stuckon his lamp, clasped the child to his breast with his left arm, and,keeping his right hand free to hold the knife, he gave the signal agreedon, to have the rope pulled up.
It tightened at once; he began the ascent. Harry looked around him withredoubled care, for more than his own life was now in danger.
For a few minutes all went well, no accident seemed to threaten him,when suddenly he heard the sound of a great rush of air from beneath;and, looking down, he could dimly perceive through the gloom a broadmass arising until it passed him, striking him as it went by.
It was an enormous bird--of what sort he could not see; it flew upwardson mighty wings, then paused, hovered, and dashed fiercely down uponHarry, who could only wield his knife in one hand. He defended himselfand the child as well as he could, but the ferocious bird seemed to aimall its blows at him alone. Afraid of cutting the cord, he could notstrike it as he wished, and the struggle was prolonged, while Harryshouted with all his might in hopes of making his comrades hear.
He soon knew they did, for they pulled the rope up faster; a distanceof about eighty feet remained to be got over. The bird ceased its directattack, but increased the horror and danger of his situation by rushingat the cord, clinging to it just out of his reach, and endeavoring, bypecking furiously, to cut it.
Harry felt overcome with terrible dread. One strand of the rope gaveway, and it made them sink a little.
A shriek of despair escaped his lips.
A second strand was divided, and the double burden now hung suspended byonly half the cord.
Harry dropped his knife, and by a superhuman effort succeeded, at themoment the rope was giving way, in catching hold of it with his righthand above the cut made by the beak of the bird. But, powerfully as heheld it in his iron grasp, he could feel it gradually slipping throughhis fingers.
He might have caught it, and held on with both hands by sacrificing thelife of the child he supported in his left arm. The idea crossed him,but was banished in an instant, although he believed himself quiteunable to hold out until drawn to the surface. For a second he closedhis eyes, believing they were about to plunge back into the abyss.
He looked up once more; the huge bird had disappeared; his hand wasat the very extremity of the broken rope--when, just as his convulsivegrasp was failing, he was seized by the men, and with the child wasplaced on the level ground.
The fearful strain of anxiety removed, a reaction took place, and Harryfell fainting into the arms of his friends.
