Lizzie’s grip on Abigail’s arm tightened. “What was that?”
Though Lizzie couldn’t see it, Abigail shook her head. She heard the rumble, too, and it sounded close. “I don’t know.”
They fell silent and listened. No more rumbles followed the first, but Abigail didn’t like it. Something was wrong, and she needed to get Lizzie out of there, fast.
Her mind made up, she took Lizzie’s hand and held on tight. “I don’t think we should stay here anymore. I think we need to try to find our way out. Do you think you can remember which way we came in?”
Lizzie sniffed, and a tremor shook her voice. “No, I don’t think so.”
“It’s all right, sweetheart,” Abigail said, squeezing her hand. “We just need to think of something else.”
She stood carefully to her feet, pulling Lizzie along with her. “Tell you what. We’re going to walk a few steps one way and then a few steps the other way and see what we find. Sound good?”
In answer, Lizzie’s grip on her hand tightened.
“Now you stay close to me so you don’t trip on anything. Ready?”
“Yes.” Her voice was little more than a squeak.
Abigail’s first thought was to travel away from the rumble, but thinking better of it, she wondered if perhaps the sound was from the miners. Maybe they were excavating more tunnels. If she traveled toward the sound, maybe she’d find help.
Drawing a breath to brace herself, she took two hesitant steps forward. The walls of the drift stretched out in front of them—how far, she couldn’t guess. Progress was slow, but she put one foot in front of the other, always feeling her way first with her booted toes against the ore car rails and then her hands.
No good. The tunnel could go on for miles. She stopped and drew her sleeve across her brow. The air inside the mountain was clammy and oppressive, but she still sweated buckets. She squeezed Lizzie’s hand.
“You all right back there?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” She took several gulps of stale air, trying hard to calm the racing of her heart. “I guess we should try going back now.”
Lizzie clung to her legs.
“What is it, sweetheart?” Abigail said, running a hand over Lizzie’s tangled hair.
“I don’t want to go back. I’m scared.”
“So am I, Lizzie, but we don’t know if this is the way out.”
Lizzie shook her head and buried her face in the folds of Abigail’s dress. “I don’t wanna go back.”
Abigail hesitated. Either way could be as wrong as the other. Finally she stroked the side of Lizzie’s cheek. “All right, then, we’ll go forward, so long as we keep moving.”
After a moment, Lizzie peeled herself from Abigail’s leg and clung to her hand.
“Good girl. Here we go.”
Once again Abigail pushed forward, feeling with her feet for the track before them.
“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
The familiar passage of scripture came to Abigail’s mind. Well, God would certainly have to guide her here. Deep inside the mountain, she was truly blind.
How long they walked, she couldn’t be certain. It seemed like hours. It may have been minutes. All she knew was they walked one moment, and the next they rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a man.
A lantern in hand, Nathan looked out over the crowd. Several of the faces were familiar. Along with Lin, Soo, and the Chinese were John and Caroline Gardner; the aunts, Hester Jane and Vivian; and Pastor Burch with several of the men from his congregation. Even Belle had come, bringing a few of the hands from her saloon. Thinking they might need to dig out Abigail and Lizzie, the men had armed themselves with pickaxes and shovels, and they stood awaiting his orders. He appreciated the numbers willing to help them. Dusk approached, and he knew they wouldn’t have much time before night fell in earnest.
“All right, everyone knows the plan. We’ll spread out in groups of five. Each group will walk a different section of the mine, but we’ll still try to stay close enough to communicate. If anyone finds anything”—he held up the scrap of cloth—“especially anything that looks like it might belong to one of the girls, we all gather up and decide where to go from there. Any questions?”
When no one raised a hand, Nathan stepped back and the groups began making their way onto the cage. He lowered them into the shaft group by group until all that remained outside the mine were the women, John, and two Chinese named Han and Delun.
Nathan stepped toward the three men, but before he reached them, Belle caught his arm.
She gestured toward the mine entrance. “You sure they’re in there?”
Impatient to get going, he shrugged. “Not certain, but it’s the only lead we’ve got.”
Her head dipped, but not before he caught the worried frown that gathered on her face. “Did I ever tell you about the day Anson Watts came to see me?”
Her voice had gone so low, Nathan had to strain to hear. Surely she didn’t intend to tarnish the man’s reputation now, when his daughter was missing and possibly hurt? Nathan stiffened and shook his head.
Belle’s lips stretched in a tight smile. “It was a few years ago. I was in jail.” Her gaze hardened. “Gavin Nichols had me thrown in jail.”
“I heard about that.”
Speculation sparked in her gaze. “Did you now? I can guess how.” She braced her hand on her hip. “Did he also tell you who bailed me out?”
Nathan stilled and shook his head.
“Anson Watts. Never could figure out how or why he came. Just showed up one day with a fistful of money. He paid Gavin what I owed and left. Now, I count that as strange, don’t you?”
“I suppose.” Where was this leading? Nathan shifted from foot to foot and waited.
“I have an idea,” Belle continued. Surprisingly, tears sprang to her eyes. “Deep down, I always figured he wanted me to ask, you know, so he could share something about his God. I almost did—several times—before he died.”
She went silent then, her tears drying up faster than water in the desert. When she looked up, her face was once again hard. “I hope you find her, Mr. Hawk. I hope you find Anson’s daughter.” With that, she turned and slowly headed back toward the saloon.
John appeared at his elbow. “We ready?”
Nathan nodded and turned to Caroline.
“You and the others stay up top.”
“We will. Be careful, all of you.”
She pressed a kiss to John’s hand and then stepped away to operate the cage. Before they could begin their descent, Hester Jane tapped Nathan’s shoulder.
“Young man, if my niece is down there…”
Sudden tears filled her eyes, and her voice quivered so that she could not finish. She hadn’t taken it well when Nathan told her and Vivian that Abigail and Lizzie were missing, but neither had she cried. It was only now that he realized how deeply the news of Abigail’s disappearance troubled her. Vivian, on the other hand, kept a lace handkerchief pressed to her dripping nose.
He squeezed Hester Jane’s wrinkled hand. “I’ll find her.”
“See that you do. And take care of yourself while you’re about it.” Head held high, she stepped aside and patted her sobbing sister on the back. Though she comforted Vivian, she kept her gaze fixed to Nathan’s until they disappeared from sight.
Inside the mine, the muted voices of the searchers calling for Lizzie and Abigail already filled the tunnels in several directions. Small circles of light bobbed down narrow passageways as they made slow but steady progress. Nathan lifted his lantern, though it did little to dispel the deep blackness pressing on every side.
Abigail and Lizzie were in this? And probably without a light to guide their way. He shuddered, thinking of the fear they must feel.
“Which way?” John, too, lifted his lantern, illuminating first one drift and then another that ran opposite.
Nathan pointed toward the second tunnel. “This one. We’ll try to keep as far to the right as we can so we don’t cross any ground the other groups have already covered.”
Han and Delun agreed. Nathan led the way, though several times, John had to caution him to slow down. Nathan could hardly stand it. He wanted to run, screaming, down every tunnel. Instead, they plugged along, making sure they tracked their course with markings on the walls at every turn so they didn’t lose their way.
Finally John pulled alongside him, panting. Rivers of sweat coursed down his face, and red grime caked along his nose and eyes. Nathan knew he looked the same, but he wasn’t about to give up.
“Nathan, we’ve gone too far. We need to turn back.”
Nathan shook his head and swung his lantern toward the dark tunnel ahead. “No, I think if we go just a little farther—”
John pointed toward Han and Delun, who breathed as heavily as he. “It’s no good. We’re all tired. We need to meet up with the others and see if anyone has found anything.”
Though he wanted to resist, he knew that John was right. What if Abigail and Lizzie had already been found? Or what if evidence of their passing lay in one of the other drifts? Wasn’t he just wasting time searching a tunnel they hadn’t traveled?
“First…” He drew a shuddering breath. He couldn’t meet John’s eyes, not with the fear so thick inside him he could almost taste it. He gestured down the tunnel behind them. “Go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”
John studied him a bit longer and then clapped Han and Delun on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”
As soon as they were out of earshot, Nathan closed his eyes to pray. He couldn’t take one more step—not one—until he asked God for direction. Moisture gathered behind his eyes when he finished, but a new peace filled him as well.
Using a sharp stone, he marked on the wall where they’d turned around and then followed John and the others to the main stope. The searchers who’d made their way back had gathered in a small circle around the pastor, their faces shadowed by concern in the glow from the lanterns. It wasn’t the news he’d hoped for.
“What is it?” Nathan pushed his way to the center of the circle. “What did you find?”
His stomach sank as Pastor Burch looked up and met his gaze. The man’s face was weary and drawn, and in his eyes, sorrow glimmered.
He stepped toward Nathan, his hand outstretched. “It’s not good, son. It’s not good at all.”