"How is he?"
And she strained her ears for the answer from a man in the doorway.
"Just the same, sir. He hasn't moved."
The next question turned her giddy.
"Where is Sturgess--in his room?"
"No, sir. He got up when they told him, and went down the mine."
"Why, he wasn't fit to stir! This way, sir."
Robson led them into his room; and there Dinah fell upon her knees
beside a mattress, upon which, pale and stern, with his head enveloped
in a broad bandage, lay Clive Reed, his eyes half-closed, and his lips
moving as he went on muttering incoherently; while as Dinah bent down
over him, she heard her name faintly whispered.
For a moment she believed that it was in recognition of her presence,
and her heart gave one great leap of joy. But it sank down directly
into a slow, feeble beat, as she grasped only too truly that the speaker
was delirious, and there was a look in his face which sent a terrible
foreboding to her heart.
"Let him not die, O God, without knowing that I was his very own," she
moaned to herself, as an intense longing came over her to clasp him
tightly to her heart.
Then she gave way, and rose with a low sigh, as her father said
sternly--
"Let me come, my child. Minutes are precious. At all costs we will get
him away from here."
What followed was like a dream, but she heard the Major's sharp military
voice as he gave decisive commands. She saw him remove the bandage and
replace it with another well saturated with water, and then as she stood
back, she saw four sturdy, willing men stoop down at her father's order,
each take a corner of the thin, narrow mattress upon which Clive lay,
and keeping step, bear him out of the place and along the path toward
the entrance of the gap. Then she was conscious that she was walking
behind in the little procession, with the Major grasping her arm, and
carrying a large bottle of water.
"It is the best way," he said, "and he will see the doctor all the
sooner, for he must pass us on his way from Blinkdale."
The little procession went steadily on, Robson leaving them now, and
Dinah's breath came more freely as they reached the mouth of the gap,
and turned round on to the path without Sturgess having been seen. In
this fashion they made their way steadily on to the cottage, the Major
calling a halt, so that he could saturate the bandage from time to time.
But the little ambulance party had hardly passed out of sight of the
mine entrance, when in answer to the signal the engine gear began to
work, the wire rope ran over the wheel as it revolved rapidly, till with
a sudden clang the ascending cage reached the platform and Sturgess
stepped out, with his arm and shoulder roughly bound up, and with a wild
look in his eyes as they burned feverishly above his hollow, pallid
cheeks.
The captain of one of the underground gangs stepped out after him, and
laying a hand upon his arm, said quietly--
"You take my advice, Mr Sturgess; that place is turning ugly. You go
and lie down again, and let the doctor see it when he comes."
"You hold your tongue for a fool," said Sturgess savagely; and then he
made a lurch as if he had turned giddy, but he recovered himself
directly. "Here, some of you: where's Mr Jessop Reed?"
"I told you," said Robson, who came up just then, "he has gone to town."
"It's a lie!" said Sturgess. "He wouldn't have gone without telling
me."
"Then he told it himself on paper," said Robson coolly. "I read you
what he said."
"And it's a lie, and so is what Smithers says like a fool."
"Ah! you told me there was something wrong below just as I was off this
morning," said Robson eagerly. "Nobody hurt, Smithers?"
"Nobody hurt?" said the man, with a coarse laugh; "well, I suppose
everybody concerned. It's a general burst up, Mr Robson."
"A lie. All a lie," said Sturgess, stretching out his hands and groping
as if to save himself from falling. "All a big flam."
"Is it? you'll see," muttered the captain.
"A lie, I say!" growled Sturgess, half-deliriously, as he looked round
from one to the other, pressing his hand to his heated shoulder all the
while. "A lie, I say, to frighten the people into selling their shares,
and they did, the fools. Bah! The `White Virgin's' the richest mine in
England, and I'll break the neck of any one who says it arn't!"
"No, you won't break anybody's neck," said the man gravely, "unless it's
your own, Mr Sturgess, and unless you take care you're going to be very
badly. It's all true, Mr Sturgess. I thought that lode couldn't go on
yielding like it did."
"In Heaven's name, man, what do you mean?" cried Robson.
"Only this, sir: we've come upon a blind lead."
"What?"
"The lode has stopped dead in the rock, and we can't find any more trace
of it. Nothing but the stone, and I don't believe there'll be another
scrap of ore ever found."
"A blind lead," cried Robson, astounded.
"Yes, sir, that's it; and if Mr Clive Reed holds any shares still it's
a cruel bit of news for him. As for the other chaps--well, they can
take their chance.--Ah, I thought so!"
For Sturgess had reeled and nearly fell, to be lowered down by the man,
breathing stertorously, evidently insensible to all that passed around.
The news was true. The rumour Wrigley and Jessop Reed had set afloat
for their own nefarious ends had proved prophetic. Hoist with their own
petard, they had yet to learn that they were ruined men.