The Curse Of The Moloch (10)
They related in the garble of their tongues to those who listened, "a good soul could hear the shriek of the haunted voices of the three ancient hags called out by the birds of the night. Their shrill voices screamed out warnings to take heed of the hidden mysteries of the spirit world." The night birds sounded out the warning of Lilith, a female demoness with tattered wings, long tangled hair with a call like the shriek of a screech owl. Their defining cries told that she was Adam's first wife but later they parted and Lilith pledged herself in harming women in childbirth as well as their newborn babies. The haunted voices of the hags called out the abracadabra incantation to protect those that might be accursed - "Lilitu, Lilit, Lilu, Lil - I forbid you to harm anyone henceforth - Lilitu, Lilit, Lilu, Lil." They sounded out in the shriek of their warning call for those that walk alone at night in the darkeness of the forest; it placed oneself in great danger of the demoness Agrath, daughter of Asmodeus the king of the demons. The devilish demoness roams throughout the night with myriads of devasting angels; a fierce gaze from her eyes inflicted madness and fits. Amoung the demons and shadow they named were those active in morning and those active in the afternoon. These creatures of hell were exceedingly dangerous during the summer months as they caused convulsions and fever during the heat of the day. The shrill of the words spelled out the dangers of the spirits of the night and their counting of their numbers endless. They counted out their numbers, which were ten thousand to the right and ten thousand to the left and if one could see them they would be a fright to one's soul. As you listened to the shriek of the birds you heard the gnarled words of the souls of the ancient ones. They called out repeatedly to be cautious of other shadow spirits of the trees, the demons of the water and of the pure spirit that wafts in the wind. BEWARE! and the good folk were cautious as they listened to the warnings in the shriek of the night birds who spread their wings and flew under the waning moon. � � Chapter Nineteen The age of fourteen, amoungst the youth in the settlement, was the time to start their tedisome call of their future, namely signing for work at the colliery; it was labelled an apprenticeship in the eyes of the justices. The period to don cut hand-me-downs, pack the lunch pail, wake up at the early hours, meet the rest of the miners at the appointed hour and place, and trudge the odd mile to the pits. There was no official registration of the boys for their work. It was only an unwritten agreement between the mine management and the good folk of the community. The procedure was simple. When the age of fourteen was reached and the boy was in fair physical strength, he simply showed up at the mine office; and after a cursory look over by the pit bosses, he was assigned a spot in the workings of the mine. The young adult put his mark on the rolls and was told to report the next morning. Jeremiah Micaiah was no outsider to this ritual of the youth of the community. "Need th' money fer vittles," reasoned Miz' Jezebel, his thrifty mother, as she explained her excuse for sending her son to the pits. Her preparations were similar to the habits of her neighbors and kinfolk as they prepared their sons in that ritual. She searched through the belongings of Lemmuel, her mate of the past, for the odds and bits of mouldy clothing to be fitted for her son. "Hol' still," ordered Miz' Jezebel as she measured a worn shirt on Jeremiah's grown body. "Don' need much cuttin'," exclaimed the good woman as she noticed the hefty body of her son, "Grown a bit these y'ars." Jeremiah in his fourteenth year had shot up to a fair height, and through the diet of daily fare mixed with the largesse of nature, his body had spread proportionally. He was sturdy with the signs of the development of hard muscles. This was due to constant walking or running the odd mile or two to school, the devoted walk to the chapel on Sundays, and the race to the village center on an errand for Miz' Jezebel, his demanding mother. But his worrisome face was still thin with a slight puffiness on reddened cheeks; his searching grey eyes were dulled by the thoughts of the coming days. Yet there was a difference to his features, which showed in the acne pimpled skin, his brown hair badly shorn by the ineptness of his mother, and a missing tooth that gaped in the openness of his lips. "Stan' still while ah pin up these h'yar britches ov yer pa!" as Miz' Jezebel hefted up a pair of worn trousers on her son's frame, "Lands sake ye be nearin' th' bigness of yer pa! She pinned a few points on the cloth much to the discomfort and embarassment to her son. "Thet be it," exclaimed Miz' Jezebel, "Change in t' yer other duds. Ah need to be a' fixin' yer pit clothes." Jeremiah hesitated for a moment in undressing as he felt the shame of being in his holey underclothes but a reprimand forced the issue. Miz' Jezebel, his attentive mother, put aside the clothes and her workbasket and called the attention of her son. "Now listen here boy ye be goin' in t' th' mine quarters t-morrow an' ye 've t' be in yer best words. Ah won't be thar t' helps y' when thars be needin' me." Jeremiah's mother outlined the simple procedure of applying for employment at the colliery. "Jest hear what t' be done an' put yer mark on thet sheet." Before Jeremiah was able to reply, Miz' Jezebel, the feverent believer, was on her knees with her hands raised in supplication; and her son had no choice but to do the same. As he knelt on the hard floor he heard his mother calling out, "Lordy, Lordy d'ye hear... mah son Jeremiah be goin' t' th' pits mighty soon... Look 'fter him, d'ye hear..." Then she went into her usual speechifying on the dangers of her son, Jeremiah falling into the temptation of sin and its equal danger of the hell fires of the god of the nether world, the Moloch. She continued in her prayers to direct her son in the straight and just way in the path of righteousness. "Lordy, Lordy, d'ye hear me a' callin'!" she cried out passionately at the end of her beeseching words. "Amen," responded Jeremiah as he helped his mother rise from the hardwood floor. � � Chapter Twenty Jeremiah Micaiah was assigned to a miner who worked at the similar type of job as Lemmuel, his late father, namely drilling holes in the coal facing needed for the explosive charges. The previous day at the mining office he was told by the pit boss that he would work the following morning as an apprentice to a veteran driller by the name of Jake. He was told it would be easy to find him as he will on top as the storehouse picking up a few drilling bits, "Ye caint miss 'im. Jest be on th' lookout fer a hefty built feller w' a red long beaker on a' face thet looks better on a horse." There was a simple introduction when he found his mate. True to the directions given he was able to identify him - through his muscular body and horse faced features with a singularly large nose blotched with red veins. "Jeremiah s' th' name, "the youth exclaimed, "was tole thet ah be workin' with ye." And the miner simply nodded and answered,"Jake's th' handle." "Let's me see," the driller called out as he examined his elongated tool box and check on the various implements of his job. He rustled about with the ringing of the tools and bits of hardware to see that all was in order and properly stored; and after finishing the task turned to his apprentice, "Jest y' be watchin' me an' y'll be th' same as yer old man. Heard about 'm. Good man, yer paw. Tis a shame thet he got kilt' in thet thar' blast. Now, help me wit' this h'yar junk." Jake closed and latched the toolbox; and with Jeremiah holding to a handle at the side of the container and the miner pulling on the other end, they trudged the upward path to the shaft elevator. "Jess y' wait while ah go a pick up a couple of drill bits," he said as they put the heavy box on the hard ground much to the relief of Jeremiah. There was precious little time to catch his breath as the driller returned immediately loaded with three long shafted drilling bits. There was the press on the correct buttons on the board that sig nalled the elevator. "Give me' a' hand in loadin' this h'yar stuff,"called the driller upon the approach of the lift. The cage door was raised, and, together, they placed the implements within; a slam of the downward plunge of the wire mesh cage door was heard as entered. Before they started downwards, they checked the lamps ontheir work helmets. Then with a press of a button, the elevator started with a jolt of its frame; it quickly made its long descentown the shaft. The shadow spirits of the darkness accompanied them with the whisper of their presence. Jeremiah felt them as they whiskedbout in the fantasy of his mind, and he automatically mumbled a secret incantation to ward them away. At the bottom the cage door was reopened, and Jake and his apprentice quickly unloaded the work-box and drills. Through the beaming light of his lamp he was able to see part of the complex sloping passages of the dank underground. The slam of the closing the lift's heavy gate cause Jeremiah to jump nervously. But there was little time for fear or apprehension as the demanding voice of his work mate called out to him to stop his dreaming "Jess ye carry them thar' bits and 'll heft th' box on me shoulder," Jake cried out. They made they way through the dank dimly lit passages, meeting flashes of light of other safety lamps; Jeremiah saw these lamps as the glowing eyes of demons. The had to take caution as they walked along the fixed tracked roads as loaded shuttle-cars wheeled by taking their loads of coal to the conveyor belt feeders. The noise of the mine machinery was deafening. Its loud noise was heard in the continuing click-clack movement of the mine cars, the rasping and squealing of the cog gears, and the swishing of hard rubber of the seemingly endless conveyor belt. Jeremiah found the noise like the fabled sounds of hell and he tried to force himself to blot out the damning sounds with shrill whistling, but to no avail. He searched out the sources of the noises, half-expecting the presence of the devil and other evil creatures as the deep fantasy rumbled in his thoughts. His mate wasn't bothered by it; he even was able to greet a fellow miner and even exchange a few words. "Never ye mind, ye'll git used to it," Jake yelled to him, "But where we r' goin' tis a bit quiet. The work mate then noticed the worrisome fear in eyes, "Ah see ye also got th' jitters of th� dark. Aferred of seeing th' devil or any ov his boys down h'yar, are ye?" Jeremiah tried to answer but was stopped by the continued words of his mate. "All th' boys were mighty fearful at times an' were skerred, but not now as we 've a mighty thing agin' them evil critters... an' they r' not come h'yar since.. Sure thing tis it be. Them thar critters don' give us any more trouble..No siree!" "Got it frum them three ol' womin' at th' forest. Mighty fearful thing tis is...does its job real well.." Before he was able to go into detail about the mystic relic, Jake warned him to step aside as a coal car was nearing. Jeremiah jumped from the tracks upon the command. While he waited for the passing of the car, he thought for a moment on Jake's words. They asssured him and it enabled the clearing away of the imaginary fears; with this relief in mind, he carried on with the knowledge of his safety from the unseen evil creatures by that unknown protective charm. They left the tracks and trudged through a new tunnel being drilled in the coal facing; the noise of the tracks and belts were replaced by the noise of a rotary roof bolter installing bolts for the roof supports. The noise diminished as they trudged down the sloping tunnel till they came to a blind shaft leading to the coal facing. Another grinding noise greeted Jeremiah, the continuous vibrating sound of a high-pressure pneumatic air drill. The youth heard the continual hissing of the escaping air and showed his puzzlement, "Ain't no spirits jest a bit o' high air," answered Jake as he indicated that they should put their load down next to an idle drilling machine much to the relief of Jeremiah's aching arms. There was pause for a moment of rest as they untied their lunch pails from their belts and got ready for the day's work. Jake called out loudly to the two man crew of the working pressure drill at a near distance from them. It took some hefty shouting before he got their attention. The drilling noise stopped and the two miners greeted Jake. After a bit of light banter he spelled out his word, "Got me a few new drillin' bits.. Ye ken 've one of 'em if there be need." Jeremiah was quickly introduced. "New boy t' work th' pits wit' me.Tis' be Lemmuel's boy.. Take th' place of th' other feller who go himself in a bit of a bother with th' pit bosses." Jeremiah got a hearty shake of grimy hands and the nodding of the heads, mixed with a couple of words of greeting, from the two black-faced crew. The talking was short lived and the sound of drilling was heard again. Jake called Jeremiah to assist him at the idle pneumatic drill as he started to replace a broken drilling bit with one of the new ones. The apprentive passed the right tools from the box upon the call of his mate; and within a short time the new bit was in place, and that the broken pieces of the old bit gathered at the tool container. "Boy, c'mon h'yar. I'll show how t' couple th' air hose t' th� drill. Now y' take the line to thet air line over thar. Thet's it. Now twist th' coupling t' th' line," he instructed. Jeremiah did as he was told but when he started to couple the line, Jake had opened the pressure valve, and the air hose snaked out of his hands with a loud whooshing sound. Jeremiah jumped up and down to avoid the air hose as it danced about his legs; he screamed loudly in fright. Then he heard the hoarse laughter of Jake, "Tis a bit of a laugh," as he shut the valve. "No more tricks, never ye mind... jest fit th� line t' th' air pipe." Jeremiah did it cautiously with one eye on his boss. Jake instructed his apprentice in the placing the shaft drill on its support, and the right method in aiming the bit to its correct spot on the coal facing. Jeremiah's boss was rough in his ways but his instruction was done with careful thought, and he shrugged of the minor errors of his apprentice with a harsh word or two before directing the right way. "Ye won't be doin' any drillin' fer some time... only helpin' me with holdin' th' line an' helpin' wit the' other work and runnin� about an' fetchin' things fer me." The machine was set and Jeremiah felt the vibration of the drill as holes were drilled; within time he was dusted with the black of the bitumen, looking like a black devil. The work was tiring and there was no time to think, just the thought of a weary body. The workday continued with the hammering of the pneumatic drill, the heaviness of placing the shafted bit at mark spots, and the vibration of the air hose. Jake gave the signal when sufficient holes were bored, and both crews stopped in their drilling. Jeremiah, on his instruction, ran to the pit boss and told him that the holes were ready. Upon his return he helped his mate uncouple the pneumatic drill. Together they manhandled it and the other implements back afew feet to a large opening in the walls of the tunnel.
Go to part: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Copyright © 2002 Norman A Rubin |