| The Cave-inby Darrell Sinyard The Cave In
The explosion rocked the shaft and darkness suddenly filled his world. Joe lay flat on his face. His ears rang and a pounding pain filled his head. Dust and foul air filled his nostrils so that a full breath was impossible. He gasped for air and tried to bring his panic under control. There had been an explosion followed by a cave-in
For a moment he lay there in confusion. What had happened? He and Old Man Lewis had drilled holes all morning and the last thing he could remember was that Mr. Lewis had gone outside to get the dynamite. Something must have happened when he brought it back into the shaft. That seemed strange because the old man was always so careful with the explosives.
That brought a new question to mind, where was Old Man Lewis? Joe reached out in the darkness searching for a light.
Nothing.
He felt around until he located the wall of the shaft and slowly began to follow it, he knew not where. If he hit the end of the shaft he would know that he was traveling the wrong way. If he came to the rubble of the cave-in, he would have gone the right way. Slowly he shuffled along the wall searching. There had to be a light or a candle somewhere. He felt in his pocket for a match, again, nothing.
A low moan came from somewhere in the darkness. Joe paused and held his breath. Could it be Old Man Lewis.
"Joe, Joe boy, are you alright?"
"I'm here sir. I'm alright. Where are you?" Joe answered breathing hard, his voice full of fear.
"Here boy, by the light. I'm hurt. You have to get us out of here." The old man answered.
"The light? I can't see any light. What light?" Joe responded. The old man must be hurt bad if he thought he was seeing a light. The mine shaft was as dark as a grave.
"It's here son, by the cave in. Can't you see it?"
Joe hesitated for a moment thinking. If I cannot see the light he thinks he is seeing, how am I going to find him? I know, I'll keep him talking.
"Mr. Lewis, I can't tell where you are but if you keep talking I'll follow your voice."
"Fine boy, come to my voice I think I see a way out. It looks like the cave in caused part of the shaft to collapse. The roof fell in here but I can see light from the shaft opening. If you can move these rocks we can just climb out."
Joe moved slowly toward the seemingly disembodied voice he was hearing. He still could hardly breathe the air was so foul with dust. Coughing and wheezing for breath he traveled toward the old man's calm voice.
"Keep coming toward me son, it's getting easier to breath now. There' s good air coming through the opening in the slide. I can almost take a deep breath now."
Slowly Joe worked his way, shuffling along the wall toward the voice.
"I can hear you now son, just keep coming toward my voice. You're almost here."
Joe paused for a moment. Is that a shaft of light ahead? It is light!
Rounding a curve in the shaft Joe saw the most beautiful site he had ever seen in his entire seventeen years, light. He moved along more quickly now searching for the old man.
"Mr. Lewis, where are you?" he called.
"Here, I'm here, by the slide."
Then Joe saw him. The rock slide had covered the old man from just above the waist down. His face was bloody and drawn from a large cut on his head.
"Mr. Lewis!" Joe cried out in fear. "Let me help you."
"Son, now just listen to me. I'm about done for, but you have to get out of here. Start at the top of the crack and carefully move the rocks away. Pile them over against the other side of the shaft."
"Mr. Lewis, I'm not going to just leave you here." Joe quickly responded. taking off his shirt he began to wipe the blood away from the wound on the old man's head. It seemed to have stopped bleeding but he applied pressure to the wound anyway. He felt the old man's rough hand reach up and gently push his hand away. The old man spoke quietly.
"Son, don't worry about me. Just move the rocks."
"I'm not going to leave you." Joe stated emphatically as he began trying to move the rocks that covered the old man's body.
Old Man Lewis caught hold of Joe's arm with a firm powerful grip that comes from years of hard rock mining. "Joe, if you move those rocks you'll bring that entire slide down on both of us. I taught you everything I know about mining and you've been a good boy ever since the day I found you wandering around on the prairie after that Comanche raid. Don't let me down now. Son, do like I tell you and move the rocks from the top down."
"Yes sir." Joe answered.
He began to take the rocks from top and place them against the edge of the shaft.
"Mr. Lewis, are you going to be alright? He asked in a fearful voice.
"Just fine son, now get us out of here." the old man answered in a voice growing stronger all the time.
It took Joe quite some time to move enough of the rocks for him to finally crawl out of the shaft. With a call to the old man that he was going for help he climbed over the ruble and hurried to the mine opening. The day was well spent and night was falling when he finally stumbled out of the shaft into view of the astonished group of hastily formed rescue workers.
"My God boy, your alive." The Sheriff called out. "We had given you up for a gonner."
"There was and explosion and the shaft caved in." Joe responded stupidly. "I've been digging for hours."
"We heard the explosion from town. It like to scared us to death." The sheriff answered. "Dodson, get this boy some water quick and then get him over to the Doc." He said to one of the men standing nearby.
"Wait," Joe said. "Mr. Lewis is still in there and he's hurt. He's been directing me on how to move the rocks blocking the opening. He talked me out of the shaft. He needs help."
"Murphy, Jones, and Taylor, get in there and get the old man out. Take some medical supplies with you and hurry. The kid says he's hurt bad." The Sheriff ordered.
A while later Joe regained consciousness lying his a cot in the miners cabin that he and the old man shared. He lay there, for a few terrified moments, not comprehending what had happened. Then reality hit him. He tried to sit up but the pain that racked his entire body kept him from moving. He heard voices speaking outside the cabin door.
"Did you boys get the old man out?" The Sheriff asked.
"Yes sir, we got him out." The man named Murphy answered. "Sheriff, I thought I heard that kid say that Old Man Lewis directed him on how to move the rocks from that slide."
"That's what he said." The Sheriff answered. "Why do you ask? How is the old man? Is he alright?"
"Well, the fact is, he's dead." Murphy answered. " It looks to me like the explosion killed him instantly. That gash in his head was enough to kill without having nearly every bone in his body broken. That and being buried under a couple of tons of rocks."
"Well, I wonder what the kid was talking about. He must have been out of his head. He said the old man talked him out of the shaft."
"I don't know Sheriff, but as soon as that dynamite exploded. Old Man Lewis stopped talking to anybody."
Slowly Joe's thoughts began to form.
"I hear what your saying." Joe called out to the Sheriff. "It can't be true. He talked to me, he told me how to move the rocks." Tears of confusion filled Joe's eyes and his voice trembled with emotion as he yelled as loud as he could.
"What was talking to me, a ghost?"
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