At length we reached the new fall. I flashed my lamp up into the dark hole of the shaft. Water was seeping through from a number of places. It glistened silvery in the light. Our gum boots stood six inches deep in a muddy grey lake. Captain Manack rang Slim and told him to send the carriage down. The hawser sucked clear of the muddy stream as it pulled taut, water dripped from it.
Friar and I set the ladders up and climbed into the shaft. A loose bit of rock crashed down, narrowly missing my head. Water poured over me. The rock looked pretty thin. Friar, close behind me, said: 'Gawd! An' ter think there's fishes and things swimmin' ara'nd just above our heads.'
I didn't say anything. No need to tell him I didn't like it. The carriage arrived with the compressor. Manack came up as we were getting the drill clamp fixed. He looked at me. He was enough of an engineer to realise that the creviced roof of rock wasn't any too safe. There were great cracks in it and the water came through in a steady stream. I sent Friar down to start up the compressor. 'Better take it easy when you start drilling. Manack said.
I nodded. 'I'll put double charges this time,' I said.
'Right. I'll have this rock cleared as fast as I can. This is no place to hang around.' He grinned and clapped me on the shoulder. 'Don't take any risks,' he said. The compressor started up, drowning all other sound. I watched him climb down the jagged rent of the shaft. Crazy, reckless and unscrupulous he might be, but he knew how to handle men.
Friar climbed up beside me and we started drilling. The time was then just eleven. For two hours we worked in that cramped space, thrusting that bucking drill into the watery rock face. Each time I thrust it home to the hilt my heart was in my mouth. Once a whole section of rock broke away, crushing the ladder on which Friar stood. He only saved himself by hanging on to the drill clamp. If I'd any sense I'd have refused to go on. But then Manack wasn't the sort of man to stand for that. He came up to have a look more than once. And each time I sensed the intense excitement in him. This was the sort of thing he enjoyed.
By one o'clock they'd finished clearing the debris from below the shaft. Once when I looked down I caught Dave's eyes glancing nervously up at the shaft. The water was rising. It was almost to the top of his gum boots. His face looked white in the orange glow of the lamps. They cleared the planks from above the pit. Friar glanced nervously down at the black expanse of water below us. 'Ain't we nearly finished yet?' he asked. His face was streaked with wet rock dust and his eyes looked fever bright with nervous exhaustion.
'Only one more,' I said.
Then somebody shouted down below. I could just hear it above the roar of the compressor. I looked down. Captain Manack was on the far side of the pit, the side where the telephone was. He seemed excited and he was giving orders to Slim, who glanced quickly up in our direction. Friar suddenly pulled at my sleeve. 'Somefink's up,' he yelled. His voice was high pitched, almost a scream.
Manack scrambled along one of the ledges. Slim turned and vanished into the gallery. Dave followed, casting one quick, frightened glance in our direction. Manack scrambled up the scaffolding and on to the ladders in the shaft. 'How many more?' He shouted the question into my ear. His voice was steady and controlled.