Down a Mine, Part 2

[If you missed Part 1 last week, you might want to go back and read that before reading this one.  Enjoy!]

Jack looked to his left and right.  There was no room on either side of the track for him and Kurt to wait while the ore car thundered past.  Only one option was available.

“Get ready to jump!” yelled Jack as the ore car came closer.  When it was almost upon them, the boys jumped. They just cleared the front of it and fell into it, Kurt on top of Jack.

“Phew,” said Jack.  “Kurt, could you get your elbow out of my eye?”

“Gladly,” said Kurt.  “Sorry, but they don’t design these things very well to be jumped into.”

Kurt squiggled around until he was off Jack, who sat up.  “This thing’s going pretty fast,” said Jack.

“Good thing Robbie warned us,” said Kurt.

“I wonder what happened,” said Jack.  “This car doesn’t look like it’s been used in a while.  Look at all the dirt covering it.  It couldn’t have started rolling by itself.”

“Then what caused it?” said Kurt.

“There’s only one explanation that I can think of,” said Jack.  “Someone must have pushed it.”

“But who?” said Kurt.  “And why?”

“We’ll have to wait to get to the top to find that out,” said Jack.

“That’ll be after this hits the bottom, I guess,” said Kurt.  “Oh-oh.”

“What’s the matter?” asked Jack.

“I just remembered something,” said Kurt.  “Often, these mines go so low, they have to employ pumps to keep water from collecting in them.  When they finish with the mine, they shut the pumps off.  That’s why a lot of abandoned mines are flooded.”

“This one isn’t,” said Jack.

“Not here,” said Kurt, “but we’re going down.”  He shined his flashlight ahead.  The track was pointed straight for quite a distance, at this point, and Kurt’s light traveled far down the tunnel.

Something glinted far ahead!

“Water!” exclaimed Kurt.  “And we’re rolling straight towards it!”

“We’ve got to stop this car!” yelled Jack.  He looked around for a break lever, recalling that several ore cars had those built in.  Well, that might have been the case, but this car had none.  “How do we stop this thing?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” said Kurt.

“Find out,” said Jack, “because who knows how deep that water is?”

“Wait a minute,” said Kurt.

“Are you joking?  We don’t have a minute—”

“We’re going to have to jump out of this car,” said Kurt.  “I’m going to try to grab a timber on the roof.  You do the same.”

“Got it,” said Jack.  Kurt hauled himself up, reached, and grabbed a timber.  He just had time to swing his legs up before the car passed under him.

Encouraged by his success, Jack stood up and jumped.  He grabbed for a timber, swinging up his legs.  However, he missed it!  Frantically, he twisted in midair as he began to fall.

Quite surprisingly, he landed feet-first behind the speeding car.  “Nice!” said Kurt.  “That was a perfect backflip!  Carl Edwards couldn’t have done it any better.”

Up ahead, the speeding car continued down the tracks until, with a splash, it headed into the water.  It didn’t stop but continued through the depths, down to wherever the end of the mine was.  Jack watched the eerie glow disappear into the water.

Oh yes, the eerie glow.  While grabbing the timbers, neither Jack nor Kurt had been able to hold onto their flashlights.  They were now stuck in total darkness deep in the mountain.

“Don’t worry,” said Kurt.  “I have an extra flashlight.”  Soon, light filled the chamber.

“That was a close call,” said Jack.  “We should get out of here.”

“You’re not kidding,” said Kurt.  “Let’s go.”

Despite the situation, going up was much easier than going down had been.  It was more demanding physically, but at least the boys were headed towards daylight and safety.  Thirty minutes later, their flashlights weren’t providing the only light that was visible.

“I wonder where Robbie is,” said Kurt.

“Ssh!” hissed Jack.  “I don’t know, but don’t make a sound until we can figure out what happened.”

Inching towards the front of the tunnel, the boys flattened themselves against the edges and peeped out.  Kurt, on the right side of the tunnel (facing out) couldn’t see anything, but Jack on the other hand…

“I don’t see Robbie,” he whispered, “but there’s a man walking around out there!”

“What does he look like?” Kurt whispered back.

“About average height,” said Jack, “wearing a work shirt, jeans, and a heavy jacket.  He’s walking towards the tunnel on your right. Wait, he just went in.”

“What do you think he’s up to?” asked Kurt.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like this,” said Jack.  “Was Robbie shouting to warn us, or was he shouting because he was in trouble?  I suggest we go get help.”

“I second the motion,” said Kurt, and the two boys sprinted out of the abandoned shaft.  They looked around for Robbie, but didn’t see him.  However, they continued to the path and kept running when they reached it.

Eventually, they were forced to slow down.  The mining path was deep into the hike, and it would take the boys a while to return to their starting destination.  However, they were determined to go back and get help.  They had been walking for about forty-five minutes when they ran into Robbie!  And two forest rangers!

“Robbie!” said Jack.  “What happened?”

“I was wandering around the clearing,” said Robbie, “and waiting for you guys to get done exploring.  I was near the path when, suddenly, I saw a man wander out from behind some trees, not far from the shafts.  He walked over to the one you all had entered and shoved the ore car down it.  I yelled to try to get your attention, then took off running for help.”

“We saw him on the way out,” said Kurt.  “I hope you all get him,” he told the rangers.

They did.  Forty-five minutes later, the rangers approached the mine and caught the man, who apparently thought Jack and Kurt were still stuck in the shaft.  Why had he shoved the ore car?  Searching the shaft on the left (facing inwards) revealed a sizeable load of stolen electronics equipment.  Apparently, the man had thought no one would explore the old mines.  The reason Jack had never noticed the path before was that there was a lot of underbrush the man normally put over it to hide it from the main trail.  He’d forgotten to replace it this time, though, and it had cost him.  Jack and Kurt were just glad the mistake hadn’t cost them anything, except a couple flashlights.