Meanwhile something like an organised attempt was being made to grapple
with the evil. Days must, of necessity, elapse before a proper estimate
of the damage could be made, to say nothing of the loss of life.
Nothing very great could be accomplished, however, until the huge
accumulators had been cleared and the deadly current switched off. So
far as the London area proper was concerned, Holborn Viaduct was the
point to aim at. In big vaults there, underground, were some of the
largest accumulators in the world. These would have to be rendered
harmless at any cost.
But the work was none so easy, seeing that the tube here was crushed
and twisted, and all about it was a knot of high-pressure cables
deadly to the touch. There was enough power here running to waste to
destroy a city. There were spaces that it was impossible to cross;
and unfortunately the danger could not be seen. There was no warning,
no chance of escape for the too hardy adventurer; he would just have
stepped an inch beyond the region of safety, and there would have been
an end of him. No wonder that the willing workers hesitated.
There was nothing for it but the blasting of the tube. True, this might
be attended with danger to such surrounding buildings as had weathered
the storm, but it was the desperate hour for desperate remedies. A big
charge of dynamite rent a long slit in the exposed length of tube, and
a workman taking his life in his hands entered the opening. There were
few spectators watching. It was too gruesome and horrible to stand
there with the feeling that a slip either way might mean sudden death.
[Illustration: The workman, swathed from head to foot in indiarubber,
disappeared from sight.]
The workman, swathed from head to foot in indiarubber, disappeared from
sight. It seemed a long time before he returned, so long that his
companions gave him up for lost. Those strong able men who were ready
to face any ordinary danger looked at one another askance. Fire, or
flood, or gas, they would have endured, for under those circumstances
the danger was tangible. But here was something that appealed horribly
to the imagination. And such a death! The instantaneous fusion of the
body to a dry charcoal crumb!
But presently a grimed head looked out of the funnel. The face was
white behind the dust, but set and firm. The pioneer called for lights.
So far he had been successful. He had found the accumulators buried
under a heap of refuse. They were built into solid concrete below the
level of the tube, so that they had not suffered to any appreciable
extent.
There was no longer any holding back. The party swung along the tube
with lanterns, and candles flaring, they reached the vault where the
great accumulators were situated. Under the piled rails and fragments
of splintered wood, the shining marble switchboard could be seen.
But to get to it was quite another matter. Once this was accomplished,
one of the greatest dangers and horrors that paralysed labour would be
removed. It was too much to expect that the average labourer would toil
willingly, or even toil at all when the moving of an inch might mean
instant destruction. And it was such a little thing to do after all. A
child could have accomplished it; the pressure of a finger or two, the
tiny action that disconnects a wire from the live power, and the danger
would be no more, and the automatic accumulators rendered harmless.
But here were a few men, at any rate, who did not mean to be defeated.
They toiled on willingly, and yet with the utmost caution: for the
knots of cable wire under their feet and over their heads were like
brambles in the forest. If one of these had given way, all of them
might be destroyed. It was the kind of work that causes the scalp to
rise and the heart to beat and the body to perspire even on the coldest
day. Now and then a cable upheld by some _débris_ would slip; there
would be a sudden cry, and the workmen would skip back, breathing
heavily.
It was like working a mine filled with rattlesnakes asleep; but
gradually the mass of matter was cleared away and the switchboard
disclosed. A few light touches, and a large area of London was free
from a terrible danger. It was possible now to handle the big cables
with impunity, for they were perfectly harmless.
There was no word spoken for a long time. The men were trembling with
the reaction. One of them produced a large flask of brandy and handed
it round. Not till they had all drunk did the leader of the expedition
speak.
"How many years since yesterday morning?" he asked.
"Makes one feel like an old man," another muttered.
They climbed presently into the street again, for there was nothing
to be done here for the present. A few adventurous spectators heard
the news that the streets were free from danger once more. The tidings
spread in the marvellous way that such rumour carries, and in a little
time the streets were packed with people.