Summary:  Written for the Thinking Man Challenge.  Adam’s education gets him into a dangerous situation when bank robbers decide he’s the man they need to send into a mine and retrieve their loot from a bank robbery.  One big problem, the mine tunnel is partially collapsed from an earthquake.

rating = PG    WC = 3865

A Degree In Engineering Can Be Deadly

“Adam Cartwright’s the one that knows all about mining?”

“Yep, Virgil, I heard his kid brother bragging him up in the saloon. Said he went to school for it and even went back east and taught some classes about mining in one of them colleges they got out there. Says he’s fast with that gun too, so we have to take him by surprise. We have to be careful we don’t kill him when we take him though. Killing Adam Cartwright will get us the noose for sure. I guess he and his family are kinda important round here.”

“Theo, the only way we can get that money out of that mine is to have someone go in and get it. We already lost Barney. I don’t want to try it, and I bet you don’t want to either, so we get him. It don’t matter to me if his family is big stuff here in Nevada, we need him. He ought to know how to get into that mine and get our money.”

“Why’d you have to hide the money in an old mine anyway?”

“Can you think of a better place where no one would look for it? That way if the sheriff got a description of us and checked on us, he’d find us staying a cheap hotel and obviously without thousands of dollars from a bank robbery. So it was a good plan.”

“Yeah, I woulda found a spot where it wouldn’t collapse in an earthquake.”

“How was I supposed to know that there was gonna be an earthquake.”

“Well they have earthquakes pretty often around here.”

“I didn’t know that. I’m from Kansas. How did you know? You’re from Minnesota. They don’t have quakes either.”

“I heard talk. Course I never expected one right after Christmas like this.”

“That’s plain stupid. Earthquakes don’t care about Christmas. Now, how do you suppose we can grab that Cartwright?”

“He’s in town. I heard his brother say they was meeting for dinner later with their pa and their other brother. We should find out who he is and poke a gun in his ribs. He’ll come along peaceable enough then.”

“That’s too obvious and would get people to come help him. How about if we appeal to him as a mining expert and ask his opinion on how to get Barney out?”

“But Barney’s dead. Before the rest of the rocks came down, we saw his hand sticking out and it was a mess. He’s all busted up under tons of rock.”

“Well that Cartwright don’t know that. We tell him that we think Barney might be alive.”

“Oh, gotcha, then he’ll come help us thinking we’re rescuing Barney and not getting our money out of there.”

Unfortunately for Adam, the outlaws’ plan worked all too well. They sought him out and appealed to his pride and humanity. They said he was the expert they needed and that poor Barney’s friends and family would want him rescued if possible and if not at least brought out for a proper burial. Adam told them that he was to meet his family in two hours but had time to give them an evaluation at the very least. Once they got to the old mine just outside of town, Adam looked at the opening of the mine with dismay.

Virgil began to add to the story they had told. “You see, our buddy, Barney, was working when the earthquake hit.”

“He was working at night?”

“Well, in a mine, it don’t make too much difference, does it?” Adam shrugged. That made sense to him. “Well, the top fell down.”

“The drift.”

“Huh?”

The top section of an adit or tunnel is called the drift. So that collapsed?”

“Yeah, he was working in a big open area further in.”

“A stope.”

“Well, all right, a stope, and we ain’t heard nothing from him since. You think he might still be alive in there?”

“Well, it’s possible that only the portal here collapsed. I don’t know how stable the rock was further in but it could have held. Most of the mines here had only minor damage. Some buildings in town were much more severely damaged. If we can get some men to come help, we could clear the rubble and see if there’s an opening behind it. Do you know how strong the ribs were?”

“Ribs?”

“The shoring on the sides of the tunnel itself. Sometimes in these old mines, the wood is dried out and can’t support the weight. In an earthquake, the whole thing would collapse, and I’m sorry, but your friend would not have had a chance to survive.”

“But wouldn’t there be room to go over the top of the rocks that fell down?”

“Yes, but how could that help your friend because he would be under those rocks?” Adam turned in suspicion then about what the two men wanted, but he had realized too late that it was a ruse. He had two pistols pointed at him. They instructed him then to go into the mine crawling over the rocks to get to the stope where they had hidden two saddlebags of money they had stolen in Reno. When the posse lost them, they had come back at night to get the money, but the earthquake had struck. Virgil and Theo had managed to escape the collapse but Barney got caught. Then there had been a bigger collapse and Barney had been buried under tons of rock. Now they wanted Adam to use his knowledge of mines to climb through the rubble to the stope to retrieve their money.

“Why me?”

“We heard talk that you got yourself all educated about mines.”

“Why should I risk my life to get your money?”

“Because if you don’t, we shoot you right now and ride out.”

“And leave your money behind?”

“I don’t know how to get it and I ain’t gonna be buried in there like Barney is. There are other banks to rob ifn we hafta.”

“But what’s to stop you from killing me when I come out with your money if I can find it?”

Virgil thought for only a moment. “You could yell to us that you got it and leave it where we could find it easy enough. We’d take the money then and leave. You’d have to wait a bit to come out to make sure we wasn’t still here waiting to shoot you. By the time you got back to town to tell anyone, we’d be long gone.”

Turning to look back at the partially blocked opening of the mine, Adam knew it made sense even if he didn’t like the idea at all. His best chance was to find the money and give it to them. There were still a few problems though. “What if I don’t find the money?” Virgil shrugged and Adam knew what that meant. He would have to stay in that mine a long time then hoping they would leave. “I’ll need some tools and light.”

“We got a lantern and some candles we was using. There are some old tools that was laying around here when we got here. You can use those.” Virgil told him exactly how to find the money in the stope once he got there. Theo brought the candles, the lantern, a small spade, and a small rock hammer. It would have to do.

A few hours later at the hotel restaurant, Ben was getting very worried. It wasn’t like Adam to be late and especially over an hour late. The earthquake had shaken everyone up, and there were people who had moved their beds into their yards in fear of another one toppling their house down around them. The hotel was remarkably unscathed, but many homes and businesses had suffered damage although most was fairly minor. Luckily none of the mines had reported any serious collapses and all had been closed down or working a partial crew anyway because of Christmas and the low price of silver.

“Pa, Adam probably found somebody who needed some help. I expect he’ll be along shortly.”

“Sure, Pa, you know how Adam is when people ask for help especially if it’s a pretty lady doing the asking.”

“Aw, Joe, that sounds more like you than Adam.”

“Maybe, Hoss, but it could be Adam too. Why don’t we order, and he’ll probably be here before the food arrives?”

The food arrived and Adam didn’t. Ben couldn’t get down more than a few bites of his meal before he stood. He paid the bill and turned to go search for his oldest son. Hoss and Joe were soon at his side. The three said nothing until they got into the street and then split up to look in the most likely spots they thought Adam might be. After more than an hour of looking around and asking questions, they met again in front of the hotel to report that no one seemed to have seen Adam recently. Roy saw them and walked over to find out why they looked so worried.

“Well, now, I seen Adam near on two hours ago or more. He was talking to a man I ain’t never seen before and he walked off with him. They looked like they was real deep in conversation. Since then I’ve had a lot to do and haven’t seen him nor the other man.”

“What did the man look like?”

“I can’t remember too much except he had red hair. That kinda stands out with anybody. He was wearing a blue jacket. That’s about all I remember except I’d know him ifn I saw him again.”

The search resumed but now they were looking for the red-haired man in the blue jacket. No one had any more information on Adam, but in a seedier section of town, Joe found that the red-haired man in the blue jacket had arrived the day before and taken a room with two other men. They had been dusty as if they had ridden a long way. Joe checked the livery stables and found their horses stabled. The liveryman said the horses had been in bad shape the day before after having been ridden very hard for probably at least two or three days. He had groomed, fed, and watered them. With rest, the horses were looking much better. Joe asked if the boy who worked in the stable could go find his father or his brother Hoss. He didn’t want to leave the first and only clue they had. If the men came back for their horses, Joe wanted to be there. A few minutes later, the second earthquake struck. The stable shook and the horses got very agitated. Joe helped the liveryman with the horses as he waited for his father and brother to arrive.

In the mine, Adam had an entirely different problem. He felt the second earthquake and waited to see how much trouble it was going to be for him. Luckily the drift above him and in front of him held but behind him, it collapsed again. He had just gotten through the worst of the rubble from the tunnel collapse. The second collapse sent dust his way and snuffed out his candle. He pushed it into his jacket pocket with the matches as he pushed his face inside his jacket to filter out the dust. His jacket made him too hot in the mine tunnel, but he hated to leave any resource behind. He had a fair idea of where he was going and now he needed to move forward. This mine had to be the Thunderhead so it connected with another mine. His father would have likely been able to move in the right direction immediately to find the outlet, but he was going to have to search and hoped that there were no more collapses in this old mine that would block his escape if it wasn’t already blocked by the two earthquakes. He prayed there wouldn’t be another one. More than once he had almost chuckled at the irony that his education had gotten him into a very dangerous situation. He knew than if he got out, his family was going to have fun with this story. He began to crawl forward feeling his way in the dark and hoping that they would be able to tease him. The other alternative was too depressing to consider.

Outside the tunnel entrance, Virgil and Theo were very perturbed. They had hoped to get their money and be gone, but the earthquake had thoroughly closed the opening to the mine. There was no hope that they would get their money. Disheartened they turned to walk back to town.

“Virgil, we ain’t even got no more money for the room. Where we gonna sleep tonight? How we gonna eat and get our horses from the livery?”

“We’ll sell Barney’s horse and gear. That ought to get us enough for a room, some food, and pay the livery stable so we can get our horses. I figure we ride on out of here as soon as we relieve the bank of some of their money. I’m thinking they owe us cause our money is in this Virginia City mine.”

“Yeah, Virgil, they owe us.”

The two men trudged back to town then and headed to the livery stable to see about selling Barney’s horse and gear. When they entered the stable, they walked up to the liveryman and asked just that but heard a pistol being cocked behind them. Whirling about, Virgil and Theo faced a very determined Joe Cartwright who had the drop on them. They raised their arms in the air.

“Hey, mister, we don’t even know you. What right do you got pulling a pistol on us? We ain’t got no money, and that’s for sure.”

“Yes, but I think you have some information on my brother.” Joe looked directly at Virgil. “Now, you were the last man seen with him. Where is he?”

“Mister, I don’t know you so how could I know your brother and where he’s at? You must have me mixed up with somebody else.”

“Yeah, like Virginia City has a lot of red-haired men wearing blue jackets who just arrived in town and were seen talking with my brother and walking off with him. Where’s the third guy you were with?”

“Oh, he’s dead. He got killed in the earthquake last night.” Theo blurted that out before Virgil could tell him to shut up.

“I don’t think I heard anything about anyone being killed. Where did he die?”

Neither man answered. Virgil kept quiet because he didn’t want to give them any more evidence to use against him. Theo kept quiet because he was afraid of Virgil. Then three men entered the livery stable and every one of them scared Theo more than Virgil did. There was an older man with a fierce look and Theo knew he never wanted to cross that man because he was the kind that would follow you to the ends of the earth to exact his justice. The powerful younger man next to him looked like he could kill with one blow of those mighty hands. The third man was the sheriff and his look promised the gallows or prison. Theo began to cry. Joe moved around behind Virgil and pushed him toward the sheriff.

“Roy, I think you ought to question this man. My family will question the other one.”

“Sheriff, you have no right to arrest me. You don’t have any evidence that I did anything wrong.”

“Right now, I’m taking you into custody to question you about the disappearance of a prominent Virginia City citizen. Now you could resist me and then I’d have enough to lock you up.”

An experienced lawman like Roy had immediately picked up on the strategy Ben was suggesting. He planned to take the more hardened criminal and let Ben and his sons work on the fears of the less intelligent and apparently scared man. As Virgil was led from the stable, he yelled out to Theo not to say anything.

“Now you be quiet. I’m charging you with disturbing the peace for that last bit. You’re gonna be in my jail for a while for that so we can sort out what part you had in this other thing. You could help yourself and tell me what you know.”

“I don’t know nothing about anything.”

“Suit yourself then.” Looking back for a moment, Roy addressed Ben. “You see if the other one is more cooperative and wants to avoid the gallows.”

Theo sputtered at that. “The gallows? We didn’t kill nobody. We just told him to go in the tunnel and get our money.”

Ben leaned very close to Theo and spoke in that low growl that said that he better tell the truth. “What money and what tunnel?”

Once Theo started talking, the information flowed out nonstop. “The money that Barney and Virgil got from the bank. We put it in a tunnel, but when we went back for it, the tunnel caved in on Barney. It was the earthquake. We don’t know nothing about mines and we heard that this Adam Cartwright knew a lot about mines so we asked him to help us and he didn’t want to go in there but Virgil made him. Then the second earthquake happened and it blocked the tunnel completely so Virgil said we’d come back here and sell Barney’s stuff so we could pay for our room and get some food and our horses.”

Fear gripped Ben’s insides when he heard where Adam was, but he couldn’t lose hope. “Where is this tunnel?”

“I can show you. You’ll tell the sheriff I helped, won’t you?”

“Maybe. First we have to see if we can get my son out of the mess you put him in.”

“I didn’t do it. Virgil did it. I didn’t rob the bank either. I just held the horses.”

“You were with him and helping him. You’ll stand on the gallows next to him if my son dies. Now show us where the tunnel is.”

Hoss looked like the only thing stopping him from breaking Theo into a lot of small pieces was that they needed him to find the mine in which Adam was trapped. He had to think of it that way and so did Joe and Ben. They couldn’t even consider that the worst had happened although the fear was there. As they neared the mine, Hoss noted that it could only be one mine.

“Pa, it’s got to be the Thunderhead. All the other mines out this was are still being worked.”

“Yes, and if it is the Thunderhead, that would explain the collapse. It was never reinforced with the honeycomb system because it’s played out. The supports in there are old and obsolete.”

Joe voiced the worry that all of them had. “Do you think Adam knows enough about the Thunderhead to find his way out?”

When they reached the mine, it was what they had expected. “Well, I know enough about it to go find him. One of you needs to go find Leon and see if he’ll come help me. Tell him to bring his maps. We’ll go in the main entrance this time and work our way back to the connection to the Thunderhead. They’ve been mining that for several years now so the tunnels should be wide and reinforced.”

Hoss had his hand on Theo’s shoulder. “Joe can go get Leon. I’ll take this jasper to jail and tell Roy what we found out. I’ll meet you later.”

In the Thunderhead, Adam had gotten stuck. He had wriggled out of his jacket and was forced to leave it behind in order to squeeze through a particularly narrow section. Once he got on the other side, he used some words that would have made his father frown. He had left the candles and matches behind when he gave up his jacket. He wasn’t going to take the chance of trying to squeeze back through the tight section so he moved on hoping the lantern would hold out long enough for him to get out. It didn’t. It took hours before he got into a more open area, and the lantern began to sputter. He walked through some light rubble and into a tunnel that was more recently excavated before the lantern died. He was left in complete darkness without any way to determine which way he should go. He sat down and leaned against one of the ribs of the shoring knowing that he needed water and rest. He couldn’t do anything about the water, but he could finally rest falling asleep within minutes. His last thought was that he hoped this mine was still operational or he would have to play a gambling game in the dark trying to guess which way to go.

As dirty as Adam was, his father and Leon almost missed him as they walked the tunnels toward the Thunderhead. He had been drenched in sweat from his exertions and was filthy because of all the gritty rock dust that had coated him. Ben knelt beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Adam, are you hurt, son?”

Startled at the sudden appearance of light and voices, Adam jerked under his father’s hand until he realized who it was. Then he grinned and his white teeth in the blackened face made all of them chuckle.

“I hope you brought some water.”

Chagrined at having forgotten to do that, Ben did ask him one thing. “Did you ever think that your education was going to put your life at risk?”

“No, that thought had never occurred to me. You must have found out from them why they chose me to retrieve their money. But with all the light you brought, I think I can find some money that will make some bank depositors in Reno very happy.”

“Adam, where’s your coat?”

“In the Thunderhead, Joe, and I think I’ll just buy a new one.”

The next day, Theo, Virgil, and the money were sent off to Reno in the care of three deputies. Adam was home and had taken a long relaxing bath as Hop Sing fussed over him and made all of his favorites for dinner. He slept late and luxuriated in the soft comfort of his bed. Of course, he did have to endure nearly nonstop teasing from Hoss and Joe, but he didn’t mind. After being in that mine for so long, he enjoyed his brothers’ banter and even the frequent touches on his shoulder and arm every time his father was near him. It felt very good to be home.

 

Tags:  Adam Cartwright, Family, Trapped