CHAPTER 16 
CHAPTER 16 Will plopped down next to Jem. Before he could speak, however, Nathan, Chad, and Ellie crowded around. Only Shen remained outside the group. He arranged the last of the mining tools and began to examine the rocks in one of the piles.
“Don’t you want to hear this, Shen?” Ellie asked.
Wu Shen’s answer was an indifferent shrug.
Jem hid a smile. His friend’s ears would miss nothing, even from where he squatted next to a heaping mound of ore. Jem lit another candle, dripped wax on the ground, and jammed the lighted candle into the melted wax.
“Any way you look at it,” Will began, “these scavenger diggings will go back to my father. Right or wrong, the only thing Judge Reece cares about is the law. In fact, it’s already Father’s claim again.”
“That’s just downright—”
“Oh, hush, Ellie!” Jem cut her off and scowled at Will. “You told us that already.”
Will scratched his chin. He looked pleased to be the center of attention, even if it meant sitting on the ground in a dark, gloomy mine. “The Chinese miners will be driven out. Nobody—not even your pa—can prevent it any more than he can keep the sun from rising.”
Jem nodded glumly and flicked a glance at Shen. I wonder what he thinks of this.
“But …” Will lowered his voice; four heads drew closer. “If the mine were to collapse, it would be useless to the Chinese. They mine by hand. They couldn’t clear the rubble enough to make these diggings ever pay again. They would move on.”
“But—”
Will waved Jem quiet and kept talking. “The Midas crew has plenty of equipment, blasting powder, mules, and men to clear out this little mine in a jiffy. It could be used for the air shaft, like Father and Mr. Carter have wanted all along.” Will smiled and sat back on his heels. “The mine collapses, the Chinese move on, and your father doesn’t have to evict anybody.”
For a full minute, nobody spoke. The air felt thick with questions, but Jem asked only one. “And just how does the Belle collapse? It’s stood for years and years.” He pointed up. “It’s solid rock, not shored up with beams.” He remembered pieces of the ceiling had broken loose the other day, but only after weeks of hammering at it. Right now, it appeared mighty sturdy.
Will rose and jammed his hands into both pockets. “With these.” Slowly, he withdrew two skinny, tube-like pouches. A string hung from one end of each cloth wrapping.
Jem and the others stood and surrounded Will. Nathan brought his candle closer to give more light, but Will jerked his hands away. “Keep that candle away from this stuff!”
“What is it?” Jem asked.
“Black powder.” He shrugged. “Gunpowder. It’s wrapped up tight so it can be stuffed into drill holes when the miners need to blast.”
“Gunpowder?” Jem often helped Pa load his pistols with tiny amounts of the black granules. But he’d never seen anybody carry the stuff around in their pockets!
Will took a few steps toward the entrance and found an opening between the rocks. Then he jammed the cloth-wrapped tube into a deep crack near the ceiling and stepped back. “I’ve watched the Midas miners use black powder to blast new tunnels.” He reached across the tunnel and found another crack. “Even a small explosion would drop enough debris in the mine to make it useless to scavengers.”
“You’re crazy,” Chad whispered. In the smoldering candlelight, his tanned face looked like chalk. “Father uses black powder to get rid of stumps. There’s no such thing as a small explosion.”
“The little tubes control the size of the blast,” Will insisted. “This can work, Jem. The Chinese will be evicted. The judge said so. This keeps your pa from having to be the one who does it.”
Jem looked from Will to Chad then back at Will. His heart skipped a beat when he realized what Will was doing. He was reaching out to Jem, trying to make peace between them and be a friend. Will looked proud of his idea to help Jem’s father.
“There’s plenty of time to get out once I light the fuses,” Will said. He walked back to where Jem had left his candle burning on the ground and picked it up.
Just then, Shen joined the group. He had not spoken the entire time. Now he did, but his words were few. “Very bad idea.” Holding his stubby candle high, he turned his back on the others and hurried through the tunnel toward the entrance.
Jem was forced to agree with Shen. No matter how much he wanted to help Pa, he knew it was his father’s decision to evict or not evict the scavenger miners. He could trust him to make the right decision. Pa did not need Jem’s help. Or Will’s. Especially not this kind of help.
Jem saw Ellie and Nathan standing close by. The reckless branding incident suddenly popped into his head. Had he learned his lesson yet? I’m responsible for Ellie and Nathan. This is too dangerous.
“Thanks, Will,” Jem said. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do. You’ve been a real friend today. But Pa will skin the hide offa me if I go along with this.” He reached out and clasped Ellie’s hand. “We’ve seen enough of the inside of a mine. Let’s go home.”
Jem didn’t wait to see if Will would join them. He took Ellie’s candle and held it up to light their way out.
“I’m mighty glad you didn’t go along with that fool notion of Will’s,” Chad said when they’d gone a few steps.
Chad’s words and ready smile made Jem feel good all over.
Suddenly, running footsteps echoed from the tunnel. Jem glanced behind his shoulder. The look on Will’s face turned Jem’s blood to ice.
“Run!” Will shouted. “I lit the—”
Ka-boom!
Blackness. Blackness so dark it numbed Jem’s mind.
And dust. Thick, choking dust that made his breath come in shallow, rapid gasps.
Jem’s first thought was that he’d died and gone to that place of “outer darkness,” where there was “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” He could understand the gnashing part. Gritty dirt filled his mouth and grated against his teeth. He tried to create enough spit to clear it, but it was no use. His tongue was drier than dust.
Jem rubbed his eyes and peered into the blackness, but it was as if someone had tied a blindfold tightly around his eyes. No, he corrected, worse than a blindfold. With a blindfold, one could often see a hint of gray, or maybe even a crack of light.
Here, there was nothing.
Jem tried to sit up, but something heavy lay across his legs. He kicked and thrashed at the heavy something until it groaned and fell away.
In a flash, everything came back. He wasn’t stuck in eternal outer darkness but in the belly of a collapsed mine. He’d heard stories about trapped miners. Very few of the stories ended well. A wave of gut-wrenching fear set Jem’s heart racing out of control. He squeezed his eyes shut. Whatever else happens, God, don’t let me panic. Even if I’m so scared I’m shaking, keep me brave for Ellie and Nathan. Keep me calm.
Slowly, Jem sat up. He hurt all over, but no searing pain ripped through his arms or legs; nothing seemed broken. He ignored the ache in his head and strained to see through the dark. The mine entrance must be somewhere. Surely, he could find a glimmer of light from the outside world. It was still afternoon. Or was it? Jem had no idea how long he’d been unconscious.
He listened, barely breathing. The usual drip, drip, drip of groundwater had changed to a faint splashing. Rocks continued to settle, clunking or rolling to the ground. Jem listened harder, but he heard nothing more. No moaning or weeping; no breathing noises. Nothing.
Anger at Will’s stupidity for getting them all trapped suddenly energized Jem. Blood rushed through his veins, warming his face and making his head pound. “Ellie!” he shouted. “Nathan! Chad! Anybody!”
His voice echoed back, unanswered. Please, God, Jem pleaded, don’t let them be dead. He reached out in the direction he’d kicked the groaning something earlier and touched warm flesh. Moving his hands up and down the still body, he knew it was one of the boys. A whiff of hair tonic gave away the sleeper’s identity. “Nathan!” Jem shook his cousin. “Wake up.”
Nathan answered with a startled cry. He gripped Jem’s arm and wouldn’t let go. Then he began to sob.
The “weeping” part of that Bible verse, Jem thought. “Stop it, Nathan,” he ordered. “If you’re alive enough to blubber, then you’re not hurt too bad.” He tried to make his voice sound light and reassuring. “Do you hurt anywhere?”
Nathan sniffed, and his sobs lessened. “All over. But m-mostly … my head.” He coughed. “What happened? Why is it so dark?”
“Take a—” Jem bit back his answer to such dumb questions. He remembered how confused and disoriented he had felt when he first came to. “Will set off the powder, and everything came tumbling down.”
“C-can’t you l-light a c-candle?” Nathan stammered. “It’s awful dark.”
Jem paused. Why didn’t I think of that? I guess my mind is still fuzzy. He reached into his pocket and curled his fingers around two candles and the small metal tin of matches. From his other pocket, he drew out three more candles.
For the first time since the accident, Jem found himself smiling. This was something he could do, something that would keep his mind off the fact that they were trapped. Alone. In the dark. With no chance of—stop it!
“Good idea,” he told Nathan, shoving the candles toward his cousin’s voice. Fingers fumbling in the dark, Jem pulled off the top of the tin and carefully withdrew one of the precious matches. He replaced the lid and stuffed it back in his pocket. Then he scraped the match across a large rock near his boot.
The match burst into light that made Jem blink and gasp. The smell of sulfur exploded in his nostrils. A few inches away, Nathan clutched the candles and gaped at the small, bright flame. His face was black with grime. Blood had turned his pale hair rusty red. “Hurry,” Nathan said, “before the match goes out.”
Jem lit the candles then blew out the match. Globs of melted wax on the tunnel floor kept three of the candles in place. Nathan and Jem held the other two. Jem did not light any more, even though Nathan offered the ones in his pockets. “We should save them,” he said. “It might be awhile before Pa and the rest of the town can dig us out.” If they even know where we are.
Jem did not share this bleak thought with his cousin.
The flickering candles made the tunnel look almost cheery. “At least nobody else will have to wake up in outer darkness,” Jem said. He looked around for the others, heart thudding. “Ellie!” he whispered and hurried to her side.
Ellie lay sprawled near an overhang along the side of the tunnel. The narrow outcropping had kept the larger rocks away; she was covered with only a spattering of small gravel.
Jem knelt down next to her and brushed the rubble from her hair and clothes. “Wake up,” he said gently. He handed Nathan his candle and pulled Ellie into his lap. “Please wake up,” he pleaded. Jem had taken his little sister into the mine. If anything happened to her because of his decision, he’d never forgive himself.
Ellie bolted upright and threw her hands over her head. “The rocks are falling!” she shrieked. Then she saw Jem and grabbed him around his neck, hugging him tight. “I wanna go home,” she sobbed. “I don’t like coyote holes this big.”
A bubble of laugher burst from Jem’s throat. Ellie was fine, completely uninjured. Thank you, God! “Neither do I,” he told her. “Now, let go of me so we can see if Chad and Will are all right.”
They found Chad half buried under some larger rocks. Jem and Nathan freed him and shook him awake. Chad cried out in pain and sat up. “It feels like a knife is stabbing my shoulder,” he rasped. “I think it got wrenched out of the socket.” He took a deep, shuddering breath and clutched his left arm to keep it still. “I hurt bad.”
“Don’t worry,” Jem told him. “Soon as we get out of here, Doc Martin will pop that shoulder right back where it belongs.”
Chad gave Jem a weak smile then leaned his head back against the tunnel wall and closed his eyes. “If I keep still, I can stand it.”
Jem glanced around for Will and saw he was already awake. He appeared uninjured, huddled next to the rock wall, with his knees pulled up under his chin. His eyes were wide and scared-looking. Tears ran down his cheeks, leaving muddy trails. His breath came in choking gulps. “I’m sorry … I’m sorry,” he moaned. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”
Jem squatted beside him. “Oh? How is a mine explosion supposed to happen, Will?” He was so angry, he wanted to shake him. Blowing things up with gunpowder was dangerous and unpredictable. Of course it wouldn’t turn out the way Will planned.
Jem was only spouting off, covering up his own terror with surly words. But Will looked up and answered as if Jem really wanted to know. “The mine was supposed to come down behind us. You know, where I set the powder in the cracks. Way back there.” He pointed toward the shadows. A pile of debris partially blocked the tunnel. “Then we could just run out through the mine entrance.”
“It looks like the explosion blew up more than just one part of this old mine,” Jem said. “It’s a miracle more of the ceiling didn’t fall on us.” He stood up, held his candle high, and started toward the entrance.
“Don’t leave, Jem,” Ellie whimpered. She stumbled over to her brother and grasped his hand. “Take me with you.”
Ellie’s hand was ice-cold. Jem squeezed it, then gently peeled her fingers away. “I’m not going far,” he said. “I want to see how much of the tunnel is blocked. Stay with Nathan. I’ll be right back.”
Ellie dropped her hand to her side and stepped aside without an argument. Jem should have been pleased. Holding Ellie back was usually a full-time job. But from the moment Jem had led her into the Belle mine, his sister’s spunk had fizzled away. She changed her mind about seeing this hole, but I dragged her in here anyway.
Cautiously, Jem picked his way around piles of rocks, some the size of small boulders. He heard a low rumbling then a large crack. Jem dodged a shower of fist-sized stones that tumbled to the ground in front of him. Waving away the dust, he took a few more steps and came face to face with a mound of rubble that filled the tunnel from top to bottom.
A feeling of panic rose at the sight of the blocked tunnel. Jem clenched his jaw and swallowed his alarm. This is really bad, God. But I know You’re here. You must have a way out for us. Or a way in for Pa. I have to trust You and stay calm.
“Jem!” Ellie’s frightened shout bounced off the tunnel walls. “What was that noise?”
“Just a little rock shower,” he yelled back. “I’m fine.”
Jem wasn’t fine. Not really. He couldn’t keep his hands from shaking. The candlelight wobbled all over the place. He hurried back to the group and sat down. “The way out is completely blocked.” He let out a long, dismal breath. “But I knew that before I checked. There wasn’t a glimmer of light when I woke up. Not from anywhere.”
A choked cry burst from Will. His face turned white. “That means”—he gulped—“that means I’ve killed Wu Shen.” He buried his head in his knees and sobbed.