Next morning! The thought of it had filled not only Arthur and his
wife, but every one connected with the Berkow establishment, with grave
and anxious care. It had come now, that dreaded morning, and all the
apprehensions which had been felt respecting it seemed likely to be
realised.
At a very early hour the whole staff of officials was assembled at the
great house. They had either come to hold counsel or had taken refuge
there; it almost seemed the latter, for the men's faces were pale,
haggard, excited, and there was a great buzz of talk going on among
them, much anxious discussion pro and con, proposals rejected as soon
as made, and many fears expressed as to coming events.
"I am still of opinion that it was a mistake to arrest those men,"
Schaeffer declared, speaking to the Director. "It might have been risked
if the soldiers had been on the spot, but it should never have been
attempted by us, while we are unsupported. They will storm the house to
set the prisoners free, and we shall be obliged to give them up."
"Excuse me, we shall do nothing of the kind," cried the chief-engineer,
in complete opposition to his two colleagues as usual. "We shall let
them storm, and we shall hold out and defend ourselves here in the
house if necessary. Herr Berkow is determined to do it."
"Well, you ought to know best what he has decided on doing; you are his
only adviser," said the Director, rather piqued. He could boast of no
such intimacy with the proprietor, although his position would rather
have entitled him to it.
"Herr Berkow is in the habit of deciding for himself," replied the
chief-engineer, drily. "Only it happens this time as usual that I fully
agree with him. It would be contrary to all right and justice, it would
be nothing better than mere paltry cowardice, to let these miscreants
go. Why! they had avowed an intention of destroying the engines for
us."
"By Hartmann's order," interposed Schaeffer.
"It does not signify who gave the order. Their master arrived just in
time to hinder them from performing their rascally trick, and I should
like to see the man who would calmly have let the offenders go. He had
them arrested, and he was right. Hartmann was not by, he was still down
at the shafts in the thick of the row, but he could not prevent the
others going below after all; his own father went and stood up against
him."
"Yes, it was a good thing the Manager came to our aid," said the
Director. "He must have seen there was no other way of averting the
worst, for he came to us of his own free will this morning and offered
to take the lead of the men going on shift, though it is no part of his
business. He knew his son would not venture to attack him, and not one
of the others lifted a hand against their mates when they saw their
leader held back. If the descent was made, we have only the old man to
thank for it."
"I tell you this," maintained Schaeffer, "the descent had been
accomplished, more than half the miners had stood by neutral, and if
they had not been exasperated by the arrest of their comrades, the
whole business might have been settled peaceably and quietly."
"Peaceably and quietly, while Hartmann is in command?" the
chief-engineer laughed outright. "There you are quite mistaken. He was
looking for a pretext, no matter what, to attack us, and, if he had
found none, he would have attacked us all the same without. This
morning's work must have shown him that his power is rapidly drawing to
an end, that perhaps after to-day he may not be able to count on his
partisans, so he will risk his last throw. The fellow knows he is lost,
and he will drag down with him recklessly all who obey him still
through habit or through fear. He will stand at nothing now, and least
of all at injuring us."
Here they were interrupted by Herr Wilberg, who left the window where
he had been posted for the last ten minutes and came back to them with
a very white face.
"The noise gets worse and worse," said he timorously; "there can be no
doubt that they mean to besiege the house, if Herr Berkow does not give
way. The park-gates are down already, all the beds are trampled up. Oh!
and all those lovely roses blooming on the terrace"----
"Don't come bothering us with your sentimental nonsense," cried the
chief-engineer, as the Director and Schaeffer hurried to the window.
"Now when the rebels are storming the house about our heads, you are
thinking of your trampled-down rose-trees. Why don't you go and sit
down and put your lamentation over them into verse? I should think it
would be just the theme to inspire a poet."
"I have been so unfortunate for some time as to excite your displeasure
by everything I say or do, sir," returned Herr Wilberg, offended, but
not without a sort of secret self-satisfaction which seemed to increase
the other's ill-humour.
"Because you never say or do anything sensible," he growled, turning
his back on the young man and going up to his colleagues, who were
still looking out at the ever-growing tumult.
"We shall have it in earnest now," said the Director uneasily. "They
are threatening to force an entrance. Herr Berkow ought to be told."
"Let him have a minute's peace," interposed the chief-engineer. "He has
been at his post ever since daybreak. I think you might let him have
five minutes with his wife now. All the necessary measures are taken,
and when danger is really at hand, he will not be wanting, as you well
know."
He was right. Ever since the dawn Arthur had been actively occupied,
giving orders and instructions, and personally superintending all that
was being done. He had hardly seen Eugenie until now, when he had gone
with her for a few minutes into one of the adjoining rooms.
During this short interview he must have made her fully acquainted with
the situation, for her arms were clasped round his neck, and she was
clinging to him in the greatest agitation.
"You must not go out, Arthur. It would be a mad, a desperate venture.
What can you do, one against so many? Yesterday, when you interfered,
they were fighting among themselves, but to-day they will all turn
against you. You will pay the penalty for your rashness. I will not let
you go."
Arthur freed himself gently but firmly from her embrace.
"I must, Eugenie! It is the only possible way to avert the attack, and
it is not the first time I have had to face such scenes. Why, what did
you yourself do yesterday when you arrived?"
"I was coming to you," said she, in a tone which implied that any
venture would so have been justified. "But you want to tear yourself
from me and wildly expose yourself to the blind fury of this Hartmann.
Think of what happened yesterday evening, think of his threats. If you
must go, if there is no choice left, let me go with you at least. I am
not afraid, I only tremble when I know you are in danger and alone."
He bent down to her gravely but lovingly.
"I know that you are brave, my Eugenie, but I should be a coward myself
before those crowds, if I knew that a stone from their midst might
strike you too. I want all my courage to-day, and I should not have it
if I saw you in peril and felt I could not protect you. I know why you
wish to go with me. You think I shall be safe from that one arm while
you are at my side. Do not deceive yourself, that is all over and past
since yesterday evening. You share the hatred now with which he has
persecuted me, and if it were not so"--here his voice lost its soft
inflection and his brow grew dark--"I would not owe my safety to a
feeling which is alike an offence to you and to me, and which would in
itself be sufficient to call for the man's dismissal, if his conduct in
other respects did not make it necessary."
She must have felt the justice of his words, for she drooped her head
in silent resignation.
Arthur started.
"The clamour is breaking out again, I must go. We shall only see each
other for a few brief minutes at a time to-day, and even they will be
anxious minutes for you, my poor wife. You could hardly have come back
at a worse time."
"Would you rather have held out against them without me?" she asked in
a low voice.
His face brightened, and there came into it an expression of passionate
tenderness.
"Without you? I have gone on so far like the soldier of a forlorn hope.
I only found out yesterday how one can fight with a will when the
prosperity of a lifetime and all one's future are dependent on the
result. You brought back to me the desire for both, and now they may
assail us on all sides as they like. I believe in success now that I
have you at my side once more!"
The officials hushed their noisy debatings as Berkow and his wife
entered, and the impression produced on all hands by their appearance
was due to something more than mere respect for the master. All eyes
were at once fixed upon him, as though they could read in his face what
was to be hoped or feared; they all pressed round him, as round a
centre where support was to be found, and every one breathed more
freely when he came in, as if the danger were half conjured already.
This movement, involuntary as it was, showed Eugenie sufficiently the
position her husband had conquered for himself, and the way in which he
stepped in among them proved too that he well knew how to maintain it.
His face, which she had seen but a few seconds before heavily clouded
over by care, bore, now that it had to meet all those anxious enquiring
looks, no other expression than that of a calm gravity, and there was
an assurance in his bearing which would have instilled confidence into
the faintest heart.
"Well, gentlemen, things look rather hostile and threatening outside.
We must hold ourselves prepared for a sort of siege, perhaps even for
an attack; does it not appear so to you?"
"They want to have the prisoners set free," said the Director, with a
glance at Schaeffer, inviting his support.
"Yes," said the latter, coming forwards, "and I fear we shall not be
able to hold our own against all this uproar. The arrest of the three
miners is their sole motive or pretext at present; if that were taken
from them"...
"They would find another," interrupted Arthur, "and the weakness we
should have betrayed would remove from them the last restraint. We must
show neither hesitation nor fear now, or we shall lose the game at the
last moment. I foresaw what would happen when I had those mischievous
fellows arrested, but in the face of such a criminal attempt as that
there was no choice but to proceed with the utmost severity. The
prisoners will remain in custody until the troops arrive."
The Director beat a retreat, and Schaeffer shrugged his shoulders. They
had learnt to know that this tone of his would brook no contradiction.
"I do not see Hartmann in the crowd," continued Arthur, turning to the
chief-engineer; "he is generally first wherever there are noise and
tumult. To-day he seems only to have urged the others on, and then to
have left them. He is nowhere visible."
"I have missed him for the last quarter of an hour," answered the other
gravely. "I hope he is not up to fresh mischief elsewhere. You ordered
back the men posted about the engine-houses, Herr Berkow?"
"Certainly. The few men we can dispose of are even more necessary here
in the house, and, since the descent has been effected, the shafts and
engines must be perfectly safe. They could not meddle with them without
endangering their comrades down below."
"With such a leader, they may even be meaning that," said the official
reflectively.
Arthur's brow grew dark, "Nonsense! Hartmann is an unruly fellow, a
furious madman even, when he is irritated, but he is not a scoundrel,
and that would be a scoundrelly act. He would have injured the engines
to prevent the descent being made, but when he found he could no longer
prevent it, why do you suppose he rushed off to the sheds? Certainly
not to see that his father and comrades were given up to destruction;
he wanted to recall his former orders, and it was only when he saw we
had been beforehand with him that he broke out against us in his wrath
at the failure of his plans. The engines are secured to us by the fact
of the men being below. Not a hand will be raised to injure them while
the Manager and the rest are in the mine, and so the storm is now
turned against the house. I shall go out and make an attempt to calm
them."
During the last few weeks the officials had been accustomed to see
their leader act on similar occasions with resolute boldness and
without regard to his own personal safety, but this time entreaties and
remonstrances resounded on all sides; even the chief-engineer joined in
to dissuade him, and Schaeffer, knowing from what quarter opposition
would alone avail, turned to Eugenie, still standing at her husband's
side.
"Do not allow it, your ladyship. Not to-day, it is much more dangerous
to-day than it has ever been before. The men are horribly excited, and
Hartmann is staking his last throw. Keep Herr Berkow back."
At this warning, which did but confirm her own fears, she grew deadly
pale, but she retained her composure; something of Arthur's calm seemed
to have been communicated to her.
"My husband has told me he must make the attempt," she answered
steadily, "he shall not say that I kept him back with tears and
lamentations from what he holds to be his duty. Let him go."
Arthur held her hand clasped in his. He only thanked her by a look.
"Now, gentlemen, take example by my wife's courage. She has most cause
to tremble. I repeat it, the attempt must be made. Let the hall-door be
opened."
"We will all go with you," said the chief-engineer. "Fear nothing, my
lady, I will not stir from his side."
Arthur put him aside quietly, but firmly.
"I thank you, but you must remain here with the other gentlemen. In
such a case one man alone is generally safe against a crowd. If you
were all to appear, they might take it for a challenge. Hold yourselves
in readiness to cover my retreat into the house, if it comes to the
worst. Farewell, Eugenie."
He went, accompanied as far as the stairs by the chief-engineer and
several of the officials. No one attempted to stay him now. They all
knew that in his appearance outside lay the only chance of averting a
danger which it would be hard, if not impossible, for them to withstand
for hours together here shut up in the house.
Eugenie rushed to one of the windows. She did not notice how all
present were anxiously pressing round the others, did not hear the
remarks exchanged in an undertone by the Director and Schaeffer who were
standing close behind her; she only saw that wild rebellious crowd,
that sea of heads so densely packed together surging round the house,
only heard those fierce cries demanding the surrender of the prisoners.
To this crowd her husband was about to expose himself alone; in the
very next instant his life might be menaced by it. The iron gates
of the park, more elegant than strong, had already yielded to the
battery; they lay broken to pieces on the ground; the beautiful,
carefully kept gardens, trodden under foot by hundreds, were nothing
now but a desolate chaos of earth, remnants of flowers and plants, and
trampled-down bushes.
Already the foremost men among the rebels had all but reached the
terrace, and so were drawing very near the house itself; already here
and there clenched fists could be seen, armed with stones and ready to
hurl them at the windows. There was a confused rumour of shouts,
threats and cries of all descriptions; every minute the clamour waxed
louder and louder, until now and again it would rise for a second to a
howl which was almost unearthly.
Suddenly there came a deep breathless silence. The uproar ceased
abruptly, as though by an order from on high; the agitated groups
paused in their restless movement, the great masses fell back, as if
they had all at once encountered an obstacle, and all eyes, all faces,
were turned in one direction. The hall-door had been opened, and the
young master stepped out on to the terrace.
The lull lasted a few seconds, then the momentary surprise gave place
to a fresh and more terrible outburst of fury which no longer lacked an
aim. Those fierce yells, those faces distorted by passion, those
threatening upraised arms, were all directed against one man; but that
man was their master, the proprietor of the works, and that which the
father, with all his industrial genius, his tenacity of purpose and
arbitrary will, had failed to acquire during twenty years and more, the
son had won for himself in a few weeks: the authority of his own
personal influence; it worked even now when all the customary
restraints of order were loosed.
He let the storm take its course. With his slight figure well erect,
his steady eyes fixed on the multitude before him, every individual of
which was superior to himself in strength, he stood facing them, alone
and unarmed, with no protection save that which his authority gave him,
waiting, as though the breakers of revolution, beating idly against
him, must spend themselves in vain.
And they spent themselves. The general clamour gradually subsided into
distinct and separate cries, then into a sullen murmur. At last even
this was hushed, and Berkow's voice was raised, unintelligible at first
through the movement surging round him, interrupted often by the
tumult, which at intervals would break out afresh, then sink powerless
again, until finally it died out altogether. Then the master's voice
was heard, loud, clear and distinct, reaching the ears even of those
who were farthest from him.
"Thank God!" muttered Schaeffer, passing his handkerchief across his
brow, "he has got them in hand now; they may be restive and struggle,
but they will obey. See, my lady, how they are quieting down, how they
recoil before him. They are actually retreating from the terrace and
letting the stones drop from their hands. If Providence will only keep
Hartmann out of the way, the danger is over."
He little knew with what intensity Eugenie reechoed the wish in her own
mind. Up to this time she had sought in vain for that one dreaded
figure; so long as it was not visible her courage did not fail her, so
long she believed Arthur might yet be safe; but now security and hope
were over. Whether the sudden lull in the uproar he had busied himself
to raise had summoned the missing man to the spot, or whether a
suspicion of what was taking place drew him thither at that critical
moment, Ulric Hartmann, risen, as it were, from the ground, appeared
suddenly at the park entrance behind them. One look sufficed to show
him how matters stood.
"Cowards that you are!" he thundered to his comrades, as, followed by
Lawrence and Deputy Wilms, he forced his way through the dense masses.
"I thought as much almost, I thought you would be getting yourselves
caught in his nets again while we were seeking information as to what
they had done with the prisoners. We know now where they are, there at
the balcony to the right, on the ground-floor, just at the back of the
dining-room; that is where the attack must be made. Break in the
plate-glass, it will save forcing open the door."
No one obeyed the injunction as yet, but it had its effect. Nothing is
more vacillating, more unstable of purpose, than an excited crowd,
accustomed to bow to the will of one resolute man.
In all the previous clamour and disturbance there had been an absence
of any fixed plan, an indecision which had kept the rebels from any
positive action; the eye, the arm, of the leader had been wanting. He
was there now, and, as he grasped the reins, he gave them an aim and
sure direction. They knew now where the prisoners were lodged, and knew
how to get to them, and thus the danger, which had so nearly been
conjured, was kindled afresh.
Ulric cared little at that moment whether his order were obeyed or not.
He had forced a passage for himself through to the terrace, and stood
confronting the master with all the defiant hostility of his rebellious
nature, his gigantic form towering nearly a head above his fellows. He
was a born leader of the masses; his fierce energy and despotic will
carried them with him in blind obedience, and, spite of all that had
happened, that might happen yet, his command over them was still for
the time being unlimited. All the advantage which Arthur had obtained
was called into question, if not wholly destroyed, by the mere
appearance on the scene of this man whose influence worked at least as
powerfully as his own.
"Where are our mates?" asked Hartmann in a tone of menace, and stepping
up still closer. "We want them out at once! We will have no violence
used to any of us."
"And I will not have my machinery destroyed," answered Arthur coldly
and calmly. "I had the men arrested, though they were only the tools in
another's hand. Who ordered that attempt upon the engines?"
There was a triumphant gleam in Ulric's eye; he had foreseen this
firmness and built his plan upon it. He himself needed no pretext; he
was bent on satisfying his hatred at any cost, but his partisans,
wavering and ready to desert their flag, were in want of some
provocation to urge them forward; it was necessary now to goad them on,
and the adversary was bold and proud enough to offer them an incentive.
"I owe you no answers," he said disdainfully, "and I shall not allow
myself to be questioned in that dictatorial way. Give up the prisoners,
all the men on the works demand it, or" .... and his look completed the
threat.
"The prisoners will be detained," declared Arthur unmoved, "and you,
Hartmann, have no longer the right to speak in the name of all the men
employed on the works; half of them have seceded from you already. I
have nothing more to say to you."
"But I have something to say to you," shouted Ulric, desperate with
rage. "Forwards," he cried, turning to the rebel masses, "forwards, on
to our mates, strike down all that comes in your way!"
He would have rushed upon Berkow, thereby giving the signal for a
general onset, but, before he could do so, before it could be
determined whether the crowd behind him would render or refuse
obedience, there boomed suddenly through the air a strange and terrible
sound, making all the ground around them tremble.
The leader stopped electrified, and all present stood spell-bound,
listening breathlessly for what would follow. It had been like the
reverberation of a dull and distant shock, coming, as it seemed, from
the very bowels of the earth, and was succeeded by a low rumble under
ground which lasted a few seconds; then all was still as death, and
hundreds of scared faces were turned in the direction of the works.
"Good God! that came from the mine; something has happened there!"
cried Lawrence, with a great start of alarm.
"That was an explosion!" said the voice of the chief-engineer; during
the last few critical minutes he had been on guard in the great hall at
the head of the younger officials and all the available servants, ready
to hasten to Arthur's assistance. "An accident has happened in the
mine, Herr Berkow, we must go over."
For one moment horror seemed to paralyse every limb. No one moved; the
warning was all too terrible. At the very moment when one party was
rushing forward bent on the other's annihilation, destruction of
another kind had reached their brothers down below. Now they were
imperatively called on to abandon the attack and hurry to the rescue.
Arthur was the first to recover himself.
"To the shafts!" he cried to the other officials, who by this time had
come out of the house and were pressing round him, and, so saying, he
set the example by himself speeding off before them all in the
direction of the works.
"To the shafts!" shouted Ulric, turning to the miners.
The command was unnecessary; in an instant the crowd was rushing in
wild haste, their leader at their head, to the scene of the disaster.
He and Arthur reached the works first, and almost simultaneously.
Nothing was to be seen as yet of the effects of the destroying element;
the thick column of smoke issuing from the shafts alone bore witness to
what had happened, but it was eloquent enough. In less than ten minutes
the whole surrounding space was crowded with human beings, who, now
that their first mute horror was over, broke out loudly into
lamentations and cries of fear and despair.
There is something appalling and yet elevating about a great misfortune
which is not due to the hand of man, for it almost invariably brings
into play the better side of human nature, saving its honour, and
cleansing it from those evil passions which at other times disfigure
and obscure it. The revolution in the general feeling was so sudden, so
instantaneous, it hardly seemed to be the same multitude which, but a
few minutes before, had clamoured round the house, menacing destruction
if not murder, because their wild demands were not conceded. Strife,
enmity, the hatred of long months, all gave way now to the one thought
of rescuing those below.
To this rescue, miners and officials, friends and foes, pressed forward
indiscriminately, and foremost among them were they who had been most
ardent in rebellion. An hour before they had threatened their comrades,
and would have attacked and beaten them down if their leader's own
father had not led the gang, and now that the self-same comrades were
in peril of their lives, each man would have risked his own to have
succoured them. The awful message had borne fruit.
"Back!" cried Arthur, stepping forward to meet them, as, without any
definite plan, they pressed blindly forward. "You cannot help now, you
will only hinder the officials' approach. We must first ascertain how
and where it is possible to penetrate into the shaft. Make way for the
engineers."
"Make way for the engineers!" repeated those nearest him. The cry
resounded through the ranks, and a narrow passage was at once formed
for the chief-engineer and his staff, who now came up from an opposite
direction.
"There is no possibility of forcing our way in over there yonder," said
he to Arthur, pointing towards the lower shaft which was in connection
with the upper one, and from which mighty columns of smoke and thick
vapour were issuing. "We have not even made the attempt, for no human
being could breathe in that infernal steaming cauldron. Hartmann tried
it, but when he had gone five or six steps, he was forced to beat a
retreat half stifled, and he was just able to drag out Lawrence, who
had followed him, but had fallen at the entrance. Our only hope lies in
the upper drawing-shaft; perhaps they may have taken refuge there. Set
the engines going, we must make the descent that way."
The man in charge of the machinery, to whom these words were addressed,
stood by pale and agitated without preparing to obey.
"The engines have refused service for the last hour," he reported in a
tone of distress. "I wanted to send word of it, for all the gentlemen
were up at the house, but my messenger could not get through on account
of the row there was up there, and I thought, at all events, the gang
at work could ascend by the lower shaft which remained free. We have
been trying hard to work them, but we can't make them move."
"Heavens and earth! that about finishes us," cried the chief-engineer,
rushing by into the shed.
"But by the ladder-way?" Arthur turned hastily to the Director. "Cannot
we get down there?"
The other shook his head.
"The ladder-way has not been available since the morning. You know,
Herr Berkow, Hartmann had all the upper ladders destroyed, so as to
prevent the descent at all hazards. He did not succeed; the men went
down by the drawing-shaft, and that is the only access left us now to
the mine."
Ulric appeared at this moment with Wilms and several of his usual
companions.
"Down there it can't be done," cried he to the miners, while he pushed
his way through their ranks. "We should sacrifice our lives all for no
use, and they are needed just now to help. Perhaps up here it may be
possible, we must go down with the drawing-cage."
He was pressing hurriedly on to the engine-shed, when he was suddenly
confronted by Arthur Berkow, who looked sternly at him and said in a
loud sharp tone:
"The engines have refused service for the last hour, and it is only ten
minutes since the accident happened; there can be no connection between
the two. It is just an hour since your three delegates were taken up.
What had happened before that, Hartmann?"
Ulric fell back as if he had received a blow.
"I recalled the order," he gasped, "the moment my father and the rest
went down. I came myself to stop it, but they had done it already. I
would not have had that, I swear, I would not!"
Arthur turned from him to one of the engineers who now came out.
"Well, how goes it?" he asked, hastily.
The official shook his head.
"The engine does not act. We have not been able to find out the cause,
it is certainly not the explosion, for that happened nearly an hour
later, and had no effect whatever on the buildings about the shafts.
This injury has been done wittingly. We must have overlooked something
this morning when we examined the machinery. If we do not manage to get
it into working order all access to the mine is cut off from us, and
the men below are hopelessly lost, Manager Hartmann with the rest."
He had raised his voice as he spoke the last words and fixed his eyes
on Ulric, who, with a deadly pallor on his face, was standing by dumb
and motionless; but now he started violently and made a hasty movement
forward. Arthur barred the way.
"Where are you going?"
"I must be up and doing!" groaned the young Deputy. "I must help, let
me go, Herr Berkow; I must, I tell you."
"You cannot help," interrupted Arthur bitterly. "There is nothing to be
done now by the sheer strength of a man's arms. You could destroy and
increase the danger tenfold, leave the repairs to those who understand
them. They alone can make it possible for us to come to the rescue, and
they must not be hindered or interfered with at their work. Keep the
space round the house clear. Director, and you, Herr Wilberg, fetch
down the prisoners immediately. They must know where their hands have
been busy, perhaps they can put the engineers in the right way. Be
quick."
Wilberg obeyed, and the Director prepared to carry out his
instructions. He found no difficulty in so doing; the crowd around knew
that everything now depended upon the activity of their superiors. All
felt something of that truth which Arthur had once expressed in answer
to their leader's challenge.
"Try," he had said, "try to do without that powerful element you hate
so much, which directs your labour, gives impulse to the machinery, and
lends mind to your work."
Here were hundreds of arms, hundreds of strong men ready to help, and
not one could raise his hand, not one knew how to employ his strength;
the whole power to save, the whole possibility of coming to the rescue,
lay now with the few, who here again must set their minds to work to
discover means of even yet affording help, while the many, together
with their leader, could do nothing but hurry blindly on to certain
death. Those detested, much contemned officials! Every look now hung on
them; directly one of them appeared, he was surrounded by an eager
throng, and they and their work would at this juncture have been
protected at any cost, had such protection been needed.
Minute after minute went by in anxious, torturing suspense. Wilberg had
long ago come back with the three prisoners who had been confined in
one of the rooms on the ground-floor of the great house. The men knew
what had happened; like all the rest they came in breathless haste, to
stand by, like them helpless and despairing. They were no longer
wanted, for the cause of the stoppage in the engines had already been
found; the injury proved to be trifling, and might be quickly repaired.
The engineers, under their principal's superintendence, worked with
might and main, while out of doors a plan for the rescue was being
drawn up, and preparations set on foot for carrying it out.
Continued attempts were made to effect an entrance into the mine by the
other shaft, but they were always made in vain. The danger had knitted
together again the loosened bonds of discipline; every one obeyed
orders, and obeyed more quickly, with greater alacrity, than even in
former days, before the strike had broken out.
But most active and ardent of all was the master himself. His eye, his
voice, were everywhere, assisting and encouraging. Arthur possessed
little or nothing of the special knowledge and experience required by
the occasion. The young heir to the works had been brought up in total
ignorance of all that it would have been most necessary for him to
know, but one thing he did possess, which no teaching could have
given him, and that was the gift of command. This was exactly what
was wanting now, for the only really energetic official, the
chief-engineer, was detained near the engines, and the Director and the
rest, half stunned by the rapid succession of events, and by the
catastrophe itself, seemed, in spite of their knowledge, experience and
ability, to have lost all presence of mind.
It was Arthur who gave them back composure, who, at a glance, found the
right place for every man, and urged him on to do his utmost in it;
Arthur who carried all with him by the fervour of his zeal. The young
man's character, so long misunderstood by those about him, and most of
all by himself, had never so brilliantly proved its worth as in this
hour of danger.
At last the heavy creaking sound was heard of the machinery being set
in motion; then followed a snorting and groaning, spasmodically at
first and at intervals, then in regular cadence; the pistons rose and
sank again obediently as ever. The chief-engineer came out to Berkow,
but his face had not cleared.
"The engine is at work, but I am afraid it is either too early or too
late to make the descent. The smoke is pouring out here now, the
fire-damp must have extended. We shall have to wait."
"Wait!" said Arthur, with a hasty movement of impatience. "We
have waited a full hour, and the lives of the unfortunate men may
hang on each minute. Do you think it is possible to get down the
drawing-shaft?"
"It may perhaps be possible. It seems to be only smoke that is coming
up, but any one who goes down now will risk his life. I would not
venture on it."
"But I will!" broke in Ulric's voice, speaking with great decision. As
soon as the machinery had begun to move he had pushed forward, and he
was now standing by the great iron cage in which the ore was lifted.
"I shall go down," he repeated, "but one man is of no use below, I must
have help. Who will go with me?"
Nobody answered. All present recoiled before a journey down that
steaming gulf; they had seen how the brave fellows, who had tried to
force an entrance through the other shaft, had stumbled back or fallen.
Lawrence still lay unconscious; he had succumbed to a venture from
which his stronger companion had escaped scathless, and not one among
them had the temerity to follow that companion in an expedition where
return or retreat seemed almost hopeless.
"No one?" asked Ulric after a pause. "Well then, I will go by myself.
Give the signal."
He sprang into the cage, but suddenly a slender white hand was laid on
its grimy edge, and a clear voice said:
"Wait a moment, Hartmann, I am coming with you."
A cry of horror broke from the lips of all the officials standing
round; on all sides a loud opposition was set up.
"For God's sake, do not, Herr Berkow! You will sacrifice your life
uselessly. You can give no help." And so on, in every tone and alarm of
anxiety.
Arthur drew himself up, looking every inch the master as he replied,
"I do not go to help but to set an example. If I start first, they will
all follow. Make every arrangement in your power up here to ensure our
safety; the Director will keep order outside. At this moment I can do
nothing but try and give the people courage, and that I mean to do."
"But not alone and not with Hartmann," cried the chief-engineer, almost
dragging him back. "Beware, Herr Berkow, it is the same situation and
the same company which proved fatal to your father. You too might
meet with other perils down below than any caused by an explosion of
fire-damp."
It was the first time the accusation had been openly launched before
witnesses; though none dared to echo it, their faces showed how fully
the suspicion and fear were shared by them. Ulric still stood in his
place; he neither spoke nor moved, neither contradicted nor attempted
to defend himself, he only turned his eyes full upon the young
proprietor, as though awaiting from his mouth an acquittal or
condemnation.
Arthur's look met his; only for a second, then he freed himself from
the strong arms which would have held him back.
"Below in the mine are more than a hundred lives which must be lost if
we cannot come to the rescue, and there, I think, no hand will be
raised except to save. Give the signal. Your arm. Hartmann, you must
help me."
Ulric stretched out his arm with convulsive eagerness to give the
required help. Next minute Arthur stood by his side.
"As soon as we are safely down, send after us any who can and will
follow. God grant us good speed!"
"God grant us good speed!" repeated Ulric in a low voice, but with
equal firmness. The words had a solemn sound; both men, as they uttered
them, turned to brave the depths which were yawning to receive them.
The engine was set in motion and the cage sank slowly. Those who stood
above could only see how the young master, giddy with the unaccustomed
journey, confused by the smoke which, happily, was now rising only in
thin clouds, reeled to one side, and how Hartmann threw his arm quickly
round him and supported him. They then disappeared into the reeking
gulf.
Arthur was right. His example was decisive while Ulric's would have
been quite ineffectual. The people were accustomed to see Deputy
Hartmann set his life at stake for a much less cause and always escape
uninjured, so that a sort of superstitious belief had spread among his
companions that no danger could touch him.
It was he who had made the ladder-way inaccessible, who had caused
the machinery to be tampered with, so that all help had been delayed
for more than an hour; his father was below with the rest, lost,
perhaps, through his doing--it was a thing of course that he would
rush unhesitatingly forwards to face a risk which none would
willingly share with him. But when the master led the way, the proud,
delicately-nurtured man, who had never set foot in his own mines while
they were comparatively safe, when, now that destruction impended, he
pressed forward, all were ready to follow.
The next to volunteer were the three miners who had meddled with the
machinery in the morning; they went down under the conduct of an
engineer. Then more and more helpers came forward; there was no need to
appeal for, no need to require, assistance. Soon the chief-engineer was
obliged to turn back applicants, as only a certain number could
admitted to the work of deliverance.
Hour after hour passed by, the sun had long since reached its meridian,
had long since sunk below it, and still, down below in the very bowels
of the earth, the mind of man and the will of man were struggling to
snatch their prey from the revolted elements. It was a more terrible
fight than any fought in the light of day. In order to advance at all,
every foot of earth had to be conquered, every step forward to be
painfully won at the risk of their lives, yet they did advance; and it
seemed as if such incredible exertions would be rewarded by results
equally incredible.
Communication with the unfortunate prisoners had been established; it
was hoped they might yet be saved, now that it was found they, or at
least some of them, were still living. A happy chance, the finding of
two lanterns which had been lost thrown away in the hurried flight, had
led to the right track. The explosion seemed to have only partially
destroyed the upper shaft, and the miners had apparently had time to
take refuge in the side-galleries, where the fire-damp had not reached
them, but where they were blocked up and completely walled in by a fall
of earth in the outer chambers.
The question was how to work a way through to them, how to find a
passage in which the liberating party would at least be able to draw
breath, and so to carry out the prompt and efficient plan which had
been conceived for their rescue.
"If the whole earth lay on them we must get through!" Ulric had cried
when the first traces were found, and that had become the rallying word
repeated by every man to his fellow.
Not one fell back, not one tried to evade the perilous duty of his
post, yet the strength of many among them could not keep pace with
their zeal, and, to avoid increasing the number of sacrifices, several
of the workers had to be sent to the surface and their places filled by
fresh volunteers.
Two only of the party never flagged and never wearied; Ulric Hartmann
with his iron frame, and Arthur Berkow with his iron will, which
steeled the nerves of the delicate, slightly-built man, and gave him
power to endure on under circumstances, and in the midst of dangers, to
which so many stronger than he succumbed. These two held on; side by
side they pressed forward, and always in the van.
Ulric's giant strength worked marvels and overcame obstacles which
seemed too great to be conquered by human hands: as for the master, it
was sufficient that he should be there at their head, that he should be
there at all. He could, indeed, do no more than encourage the others in
their labours, but in doing this, he rendered better service than by
toiling with his arms.
Three times already the hand of his more experienced companion had
pulled him back, when, unacquainted with the dangers of the mine, he
had exposed himself imprudently; already the engineers had entreated
him to turn back, now that there were workers enough and officials
enough to lead and direct. Arthur refused each time most resolutely. He
felt how much depended upon his remaining among these men who had so
suddenly turned from open, violent revolt, to aid and succour in the
present distress.
Now all looks were on the master, who, since he had reached
independence, had ever stood opposed to them, who, now for the first
time, was in their midst, facing danger and death, ready to expose his
life like the least among them, and, like them too, leaving above
ground a young wife in the throes of a horrible suspense.
In these hours of a common work and common peril he won for himself at
last that which had so long and so persistently been refused to the son
and heir of a Berkow, their full trust and confidence. There, in the
rocky mine below, the old hatred and the old discord were buried, there
the strife came to an end.
Arthur knew that for him more was involved than a mere temporary risk,
which any one in his place might have run; he knew that, by staying on
to the last, he was assuring the future of his works and a future for
himself, and the thought of this induced him still to leave Eugenie
alone in her anxiety, and to remain at his post.
So they worked on with unabated activity and endurance, advancing
slowly, it is true, and step by step, but still advancing, until at
last the malevolent powers which dwell below yielded to man's potent
will, and a path was opened down to the fellow-men beneath.
As the sun up above sank to its setting, the way to them was found, the
rescued miners were lifted to the light of day, injured, half
suffocated, stupified by fright and by the fear of death, but still
living, and following them came the deliverers, worn out in their turn
and half dead with exhaustion. The two who had been first in the bold
undertaking were also the last to leave the field of action. They would
not stir until every man was in safety.
"I can't think what is the reason that Herr Berkow and Hartmann are
delaying so down below," said the chief-engineer, uneasily, to the
officials round him. "They were close to the opening of the shaft when
the last of the men came up, and Hartmann knows the dangers of the
mines well enough not to wait a minute longer than is necessary. The
cage is still below, they have given no signal, and they do not reply
to ours. What can it mean?"
"I trust no misfortune has happened at the last moment," said Wilberg
anxiously. "There was such a strange noise down in the shaft just as
the last load came up. The distance was too great, and the noise of the
engines too loud, for me to distinguish clearly what it was, but the
whole ground seemed to tremble. Suppose there should have been an
afterfall."
"God forbid! but you may be right," cried the chief-engineer. "Give the
signal once more as loudly as possible. If that is not answered, we
must make the descent again and see what is the cause of it."
But before he or the others could carry out this resolution the signal
for drawing up was given below sharply and quickly. The men above
ground breathed more freely and drew near to the shaft's mouth.
After a few minutes' waiting the cage appeared. Ulric stood in it, his
face disfigured and blackened by perspiration and dust, his clothes
torn to rags, and covered with earth and fragments of rock and stone,
while blood poured from his brow and temples. As at the time of the
descent, he was supporting the young master, but now Arthur was not
merely staggering; his head rested on his companion's shoulder, his
eyes were closed, and he lay motionless and deadly pale in Hartmann's
arms, which seemed to be exerting all their strength to hold him
upright.
A cry of fear resounded on all sides. Before the engine had well come
to a stop, twenty arms were outstretched to receive the unconscious man
and to carry him to his wife, who, like all the rest, had never once
stirred from the scene of the calamity. Every one pressed round the
two, help was called for, the doctor summoned, and in the general
confusion no one paid attention to Ulric, who had stood strangely quiet
and passive, and suffered his burthen to be taken from him.
He did not spring out of the cage with his usual rapid movement;
slowly, painfully he got out, catching twice at the chains to keep
himself from falling. No sound escaped him, but his teeth were tightly
set as in an extremity of pain, and the blood gushed forth more
violently from his wound; under that thick layer of dust it could not
be seen that his face rivalled that of the master in pallor. He
advanced a few paces with an unsteady gait, then he stopped all at
once; grasping convulsively with both hands at the pillars before the
engine-house, he managed to support himself by them.
"Make your mind easy, my lady," consolingly said the doctor, who had
been in attendance on the sufferers, and had at once hastened to the
spot. "I do not find that Herr Berkow has sustained the slightest
injury. He will recover."
Eugenie took no comfort from his words. She only saw that white face
with its closed lids, that prone inanimate form. There had been a time
when, as a bride, but a few hours after her wedding, she had been
snatched from peril by the hand of a stranger, and, being in
uncertainty as to her husband's fate, she had coolly and quietly turned
to her deliverer and said, "Pray look to Herr Berkow!"
For such cold disdain as this she had more than atoned by the torture
of the last few hours. They had taught her what it is to tremble for a
loved, one without having power to help, without even being near and
sharing the danger. Now she would have no one at his side but herself,
now, like any other wife in her anguish and distress, she was on her
knees beside her husband, calling piteously on his name,
"Arthur!"
At the sound of this passionate despairing cry a great quiver passed
through the miner's frame as he still stood leaning against the
pillars, and he drew himself up erect. He turned his mournful blue eyes
once more on those two, but there was nothing of the old defiance and
hatred in his look, nothing but a dumb profound sorrow. Then all grew
cloudy before him, he raised his hand, not to his bleeding brow, but to
his breast where no external hurt was to be seen, as though the greater
pain were there, and at the very moment that Arthur, still supported by
his wife's arms, re-opened his eyes, Ulric fell heavily to the ground
behind them.
Though the last man had now been brought to the surface, an uneasy
silence still reigned among the assembled crowd. There were no
demonstrations of joy; the sight of the sufferers forbade all
rejoicing, for as yet it could not be told whether life was really
saved, or whether Death would not after all come in and claim the
victims who had been snatched from him at the cost of so much toil and
labour.
The master had recovered from his fainting fit more quickly than had
been expected. He and his companion had really been overtaken by an
afterfall of earth, rudely shaken and dislodged by the recent
explosion, but, marvellous to say, Arthur had escaped unhurt. Supported
by his wife's arm he could stand up already, though wan still and weak,
and he was trying to collect his thoughts so as to answer Eugenie's
questions.
"We were close to the opening of the shaft. Hartmann was on in advance
and in perfect safety. Something must have shown him what was coming. I
saw him suddenly rush back to me, he seized my arm, but it was too
late; all was giving way around us. I only felt that he pulled me with
him to the ground, felt that with his own body he shielded me from the
avalanche which was coming down upon us, then I lost consciousness."
Eugenie made no answer. She had feared this man so intensely, had been
a prey to such unutterable alarm ever since she heard that Arthur had
undertaken the dangerous task in his company, and now it was to this
man's presence alone she owed her husband's life and rescue.
The chief-engineer came up to them. His face was very grave and his
voice sounded almost solemn as he said:
"The doctor says they will all be saved, all but one; for Hartmann no
help can avail! The efforts he made down in the mine to-day were too
much even for his strength, and the wound has done the rest. How, in
such a state as that he could possibly have worked a way for himself
and you through the ruins, have raised you into the cage and held you
until you were in safety, is almost incomprehensible. No one but
himself could have done it; he has succeeded, but he will pay for it
with his life."
Arthur looked at his wife. Their eyes met, and they understood each
other. In spite of his exhaustion, he shook himself together, took
Eugenie's hand and drew her with him to the spot where prompt aid and
attention were being lavished on the sufferers. Only one, the last, had
been carried to one side. Ulric lay stretched on the ground; his father
was still unconscious and knew nothing of his son's state, but he was
not therefore left alone or altogether dependent on the help of
strangers.
At his side a girl was kneeling, holding the dying man's head in her
arms, and gazing into his face with a look of heart-breaking anguish:
she paid no heed to her lover, who was standing on the other side
holding his friend's hand, now rapidly growing cold Ulric saw neither
of them, perhaps no longer knew that they were there. His eyes were
wide open and fixed on the flaming sky, on the setting sun, as if he
would drink in one last ray of the external light and carry it with him
down into the shades of the long dark night.
Arthur put a question in an undertone to the doctor standing by; he
answered with a silent shake of the head. The master knew enough. He
left his wife's hand free, whispered a few words in her ear, and then
stepped back, while Eugenie bent over Ulric and spoke his name.
Then life leapt up within him again, flashing one last gleam through
the mists of death. Perfectly conscious now, he turned upon her a look
in which all the glow and passion of former days were for one moment
concentrated. She put a timid low question.
"Hartmann, are you badly wounded?"
His face quivered with the old pain, and he answered in low broken
tones, but quietly,
"Why do you ask about me? You have _him_, why should I live on? I told
you before, it should be he or I.... I meant it differently, but that
was what came into my head when the wall fell in. I thought of you and
your grief .... I remembered that he had held out his hand to me when
no one else would .... and then .... then I threw myself over him."
He sank back, that last bright spark quenched in the effort of
speaking; the life, which had been so full of fire and of wild
restlessness, now ebbed gently away without struggle or pain; the man,
whose whole existence had been passed in hatred of and rebellion
against those set over him by fate, had come to his death in the act of
rescuing his enemy.
So was the presentiment fulfilled, which had been borne in upon him
yesterday as he listened to the murmuring water; from the inner depths
of the earth the stream had brought Death's greeting to his victim.
Ulric, truly, had no need to look beyond the morrow, shrouded from him
by the impenetrable veil; all had indeed come to an end for him with
that "morrow"--all and everything!
From the high-road out yonder sounded the regular march of an advancing
troop, with now and again a word of command or the clashing of arms;
the help, which had been requested and expected from the town, had
arrived. As soon as he reached the first outlying houses of the
settlement the officer in command learned what had happened. Drawing up
his men in the road, he himself, accompanied by a slight escort, went
over to the scene of the accident, and asked to speak to the
proprietor.
Arthur went forward to meet him.
"I thank you, Captain," he said quietly and gravely, "but you have come
too late. I do not need your help now. For the last ten hours we have
fought together, my people and I, for the lives of some of us who were
in danger, and during that time we have made peace--I trust for ever."