Chapter 14

“Ned! Consarn you, fool mule! Here, Neddie! Ned! Come here!” she cried. Ned whickered, trotting amiably enough up to Sary. “Thank God, for once…” Sary didn’t finish, too bone-weary to think. Barely standing, she knotted the rope to its hame and dropped back down the shaft with the other end secured about her waist, much as Seb had done, before she could think on it.

At bottom, she kept lighting matches, groping Seb’s tunnel. The lantern was just ahead. She couldn’t stand to be in the dark any longer, watching the slender Lucifer char to her fingertips. Black pressed her face as though it were another being, with weight and chill breath, just as she caught a glimpse of plaid. She lit the lantern, holding her breath. It sputtered as she groped for Seb’s cold wrist…his shirt…and by feel, whispering reassurance, quickly knotted the rope under his arms. “Shhh, shhhh…got you now, Brother.”

Sary hated to leave him at the mouth of the tunnel, where the sun still gilded the shaft. She watched her hands race up rungs, following the rope to blessed light. What’s this? The ladder shuddered, then swayed sickeningly out into the void, taking her with it, as if she would never stop arching back. Reaching the end of the arc, inch by inch Sary swung it back, until she smacked the rock face, knocking her breath out.

Pressing her body and the ladder to the shaft, Sary finally breached the top. Gratefully she patted Ned’s velvet nose. “Sweet Neddy,” she urged. “Now, pull!”

Ned planted his feet and heehawed.

“Ned!” She yanked the mule’s hame. “Come!” She grabbed a few acorns.

At last, Ned lurched out of the trees, trotting after Sary.

She watched the rope stretch taut, zing and twang, scraping splintered wood as she led Neddie away from the mine and poor Seb was bumped and dragged the whole way up the shaft until Sary hobbled the mule and she hauled Seb, as gently as she was able, over the lip.

****

At camp, Seb thudded to the ground from Ned’s back before she could untie him. A thunk followed. Sary sank beside him and crawled to the nugget, then stared over at her brother’s broken body. “Were you going to tell me, Seb?”

Later, Sary slept where she fell, tightly gripping the jagged lump of gold.