The Curse Of The Moloch (13)
Within the foul smelling pit, the remainder of the filth of his evening debauchery spewed out. Then with a quick rinse of his hands and face and an equally fast sluice of his mouth from the nearby water tap, he was able to remove some of the dregs. Miz' Jezebel, his soulful mother, was patiently waiting in the kitchen ready to serve her errant son. She didn't carry on in motherly love, but for the promptness of her son at his job at the pits. This was for the continuance of her son's good earnings that gave the means for a proper life; good wages that enabled her to buy the necessities without a struggle, and to put a few coins into savings at Miser Henry's bank at the center. The wages she grabbed at the end of each week while waiting at the entrance to her grand house before the devil drink consumed it; she succeeded only through the threat of showing up at the mine office at pay day. With a bit of charity, she allowed Jeremiah the few coins to pay the bitter dues of the jar. There were no words spoken as Jeremiah shovelled his breakfast in his rumbling stomach; only the angry stares of his mother were the unspoken words. Equally there no phrases, good or bad, from the young miner as he readied himself for the coming work-day; and there wasn't the greeting of departure as Jeremiah doffed his miner's helmet, and left on the path to the meeting point. � � Chapter Twenty-six It was the usual early morning meeting - a few partial greetings, the lighting of hand-mades, followed by the trudge of the odd mile to the colliery. There, the shaft elevator was waiting in its emptiness. The ride was its usual swiftness coupled with its screeching whines and agonizing jolts. The mesh wire gate opened with its usual bang at the bottom of the deep shaft; without pause or hesitation the workers left the lift, and turned to traipse to their appointed places in the mine. Jeremiah, as well as the other miners, remembered the lucky touch on the half-skull accompanied by the correct mumbling of the words of the incantations. Jeremiah was partnered with his past instructor, Jake and together they shared in the drilling operations. Routine work repeated day by day and on the lateness of the tiring night shifts; there were the usual breaks during their working hours for a hand-made and the eating of their lunches. That fateful morning a spell was cast in the depth of the mine; a curse coursed through the depths that defied the protection of sacred incantions and the mysterious relic. The scenario of work was as accustomed; the necessary holes had been drilled; the machines dismantled and manhandled to a safe area, and the dynamite specialists called in. Jeremiah and his work mate hunkered in the safety of a blind shaft where they heard the shriek of the whistle and the call of warning. The blast came with a roar, but this time it was coupled with the roll of fireballs ignited by a pocket of a mixture of methane gas, hydrogen and carbon monoxide gathered from ages past in the uncut seams. The flowing coal gas exploded, and flamed repeatedly causing the collapse of the supporting beams. Fissures snaked through the coal seam, and heavy chunks of coal were ripped from the roof and walls from the shafts and passages. The pressure of the falling debris dampened the fires; and after a short period, the only sound that could be heard was the hissing of air from broken pneumatic hoses, and the dripping of water trickling from the facing of the hidden shaft walls. Jeremiah managed to push aside a few chunks of coal off his numb right leg as he dragged himself agonizingly to end of the shaft; as he pulled his body along he screamed in pain from the fractured leg. The miner was able to drag painfully his bruised body to a semi-sitting position on the hard facing, groaning loudly in the attempt. Then his hands searched out the condition of his body. His clothes were torn and he felt the redness of burns and bloody cuts and swelling bruises. A hand was raised to his head, and it felt his helmet jammed hard on his head; it was almost impossible to remove the covering without causing severe pain. Jeremiah was cold from shock and his hard hurt body shivered involuntarily. His miner's lamp stilled worked and in the dim light he was able to see his seemingly hopeless state; his blurred eyes saw that the shaft escaped total collapse but it's opening was blocked by chunks of coal and debris. Jeremiah slowly realized that the blind shaft, once the point of safety, was an enclosed tomb, and terror raged throughout his mind. Creatures of hell ravaged his consciousness driving him to the pit of despair. He called out in the frenzy, again and again, but all was still. Jeremiah was trapped, deep in shocked pain, alone and in extreme fear. His only companions were the dead; charred bodies of the unfortunate miners caught in the fireball. Fortunately the living miner was spared their sight as they were now buried under the rubble. His trembling hand went to his face and it roved along his unshaved features till it reached the gaping wound on his right cheek. He quickly snatched the hand back and saw its return dripping with blood. Added abject horror entered his mind as he watched the fluid dripping drop by drop from his coal-blackened fingers. Hurriedly he searched through his pocket for his kerchief; its find relieved him, and he applied it with shaking hands to the wound. His eyes scanned the other spots of his body and his shivering increased at the appalling sight of discoloured bruises, reddened burns and a painful useless leg. Then he stopped in his eye searching, and just stared hopelessly in the void. Mumbled words for salvation to the good Lordy were ejected from his parched lips that were repeated in desperation and abject misery. All was silence and all he heard was the whispering of imagined shadow spirits. A moment of clarity ensued and under the guidance of the dimming light Jeremiah tried to search with his bleary sight for any signs of his partner Jake. As his lamp search out the confines of his trap Jeremiah thought he heard a drum beat in the hallucinations of shock. He directed the waning light along the rough walls and ceiling of tomb. Suddenly he saw it and his eyes opened in deep fright - there jammed between the rocks was the bloody head of his partner with wide staring eyes glaring in the emptiness and its mouth open to a silent scream. Jeremiah stared at the horror till the power of light of his lamp ended, and through the terror of mind he let forth tortuous cry after cry until the curtain of darkness closed in... � � � Chapter Twenty-seven The bleak news of the disaster spread rapidly throughout the settlement, and within a short space of time, kin folk, good friends and layabouts gathered at the mine office and near the entrance to the mine. Their lined faces were etched in the expectancy of tragedy, an unwelcomed visitor whose few frequent visits had left its mark by the many unhealed scars displayed in the community. The tearful eyes of the women looked on in hope for the wellbeing of their men; miners, on the late shifts, searched out the slim news that might tell of the fate of their work mates. Their many excited inquiries to the few available officials of the colliery were garbled in expectancy. But the answers they received were the continual sameness, "Soon as we know a' sumthin' more... ye'll be th' first t'know. Now there, set back a' bit an' let me carry on... " The weather was cold with the winter months settling in; and it added to the misery of the vigil. Patience and fortitude was their deperate need but the frost of the day cut the limits of their perseverance. Their steadfastness dissapeared as the cold winds increased and froze their weary bones. As time passed they turned from a patient and vigilant crowd to an unruly one that required the strength of the sheriff and two of his deputies to attain order; and, in the passing of time, the needed help of state troopers was requested. A temporary solution to the disorder was found whereas for the company managers to place typed up-to-the-hour bulletins at various points on the progress of the rescue operations. These notices, when information was received, included a list names of the miners rescued, those that were badly hurt and needed hospitalization, and those that were sill missing. The notices were there for the few who could read; they, in turn, passed the information to the illiterate. In this way, the colliery managers reasoned that the good folk were able to know of the fate of their loved ones at each passing hour. But as each batch of notices were posted, the gathering crowds rushed towards the typed pages, pushing and shoving for a glimpse; and again the forces of law were called to restore order. Miz' Jezebel, Jeremiah's worried mother, was there amoungst the gathering crowd. Her face, as with the others, was mixed with hope and fear; prayers from her lips offered her consolation in her trying hour. Her supplication to the Lordy was joined with the voices of other wives and mothers; they cried aloud their prayers and waited for a sign.... An exulted cry was called out as the shaft elevator brought a load of miners from the pits; wherupon kinfolk searched their tired faces for a sign of their loved ones. Cries of relief were exclaimed by a few as they rushed to embrace the living. Again and again the lift rose with the evidence of living bodies. There was the pause and the remainder of the gathered folk hushed in silence. Then the elevator rose once again with one solitary passenger, the head of the rescue crew who had returned to report on the casualties and of the damage, "Tis' th' lower shaft... can't get through...all block up.. about thirty-six miners trapped in th' mess...! " The names of the missing miners were typed out and posted for the gathered to read. When Miz' Jezebel saw the name of her son on the list she gave an exclamation of her misery. She joined with the other kinfolk in the wailing for their missing men as they continued to retain their long miserable vigil. Hope slowly faded from minds as each hour passed, but, somehow those simple folk put their faith in the might of the Lordy; they placed their trust in Him to bring a miracle that will see the rescue of their men. The good preacher and his saintly wife were amoung them, attending hours of vigilance; they offered needed consolation and the prayers of hope, and at times, a soft shoulder for a crying woman. The rescue operations continued unabated throughout the cold night and the following day. Time after time the lift rose with its load of terrible tidings with its evidence of a few dirt covered bodies. Shrieks of anguish could hear as a mother or wife threw herself on the once living body of her man. At times injured miners, uncovered from the debris, were brought to the surface and the waiting ambulances were ready to convey them to the county hospital; the drivers and their assistants had to force back relieved family members before starting on their journey. The vigil continued. More rescue workers and equipment were brought in from neaby colleries to assist in the dangerous rescue efforts. Shaft ventilators worked overtime as it cleared the foul air of the mine; the conveyor belts rolled endlessly bringing the chunks of coal from the depths; the shaft elevator moved constantly up and down in its task. The kinfolk waited in their hours of misery, relieved only for a few sparing minutes for rest and a few spoonfuls to sustain their energy. Charred and broken bodies were found as the mine was cleared from the debris as the crews entered passages and shafts; those who were torched and beyond recognition were bundled and brought to surface for pathological identification. There were also miracles in the dreary rescue work; a badly injured miner with the signs of breath was found and immediately dug out and rushed to the top of pit. Then, after long and tired hours of the vigil, Miz' Jezebel, Jeremiah's watchful mother, heard the news of a trapped miner; she waited in hope for the rise of the shaft elevator. � � Chapter Twenty-eight Jeremiah Micaiah lay in the filth of the mine and in the blood of his body. Darkness was all around, and all he heard was the constant hissing of the air hoses bringing his needed life-giving air, and the sound of unseen trickling of water that covered the wreck of his body with its damping cold. There was from time to time the sound of the creaking pressure of the layers of bitumen coupled with the noise of small pieces coal tumbling from the facing. Only once Jeremiah felt the slide of a few small chunks drumming on his helmet.. He lived in deep torturous pain and he thought of the blessing of the finality of life, which would put an end to the misery. Waves of bouts of consciousness and the blackness of mind engulfed him, each in turn in their miserable moments. Time passed in its slow pace; each pulse increased his fears causing him at times to scream out in terror. The hallicinations of his mind increased in its tempo causing him to have bouts of fear of the terrible unknown. Despite the darkness, within his enclosure, his mind revealed lights that pictured the coming of demons, devils, shadow spirits that coursed towards him. He saw clearly in his fantasy their cruel spittled mouths, their cloven hooves, and their tattered wings. He felt their presence as they wafted on the cold air, and he could smell their choking sulphurous stench. Jeremiah heard their angry voices as they cursed him with, "the departure of his body - which his heart, stomach, bowels, entrails, ribs and chest should be melted, be washed away, be loosened, be annulled, be broken, leave and disappear..." From their foul mouths other curses, each more terrible in tone, were heaped upon him until his mind closed up in blackness. The long term of his imprisonment in the underground tomb saw the slow deterioration of his mind. Jeremiah, in the hallucinated periods of consciousness, imagined he heard a primitive orchestra heralding the coming of the god of eternal sacrifice, the Moloch. His unseeing eyes opened to a brilliant pageant of obeisance to the god of fire. He screamed out as the feverent worshippers came to drag him to the waiting arms of the god of fire. He felt the flames of hell consuming his body, and he writhed in the agony of the sacrificial fire. It was only the pains of the wounds and burns that wracked him in misery, and it was the blessed opiate of unconsciouness that salved him. Jeremiah was entombed for about three days and his body was weakened in the internment. He hungered for warmth and for a morsel of food; he was forced to slake his thirst by drinking water seeped in filth. As time passed, the terror of his mind caused him to enter into a state of deep coma. His senses closed up and sight and sound left him. Even the momentary appearance of Satan, in all his evil power, was unable to wake him and cause him additional torment. Jeremiah didn't hear the rasp of shovels and the chop of the pick axes as these implements in competent hands removed the coal and debris that sealed his tomb. The miner didn't feel the rush of cool air as the opening widened. Jeremiah didn't hear the exclamation of the rescue workers, "He's alive, he's alive... " He also didn't feel the willing hands as his body was carefully placed on the stretcher, nor did he feel the trickle of cool water on his parched lips. His many wounds and burns were attended to, but he gave no signs of their welcomed healing. The whirling blackness of the void was deep and in that coma Jeremiah was apart from the living world. He was brought immediately to the surface and placed in a waiting ambulance. In a fit of mercy the driver allowed, Miz' Jezebel, Jeremiah's thankful mother, to accompany her son on the road to the county hospital. And Satan watched and he cursed in the foulness of mouth for his loss of a sinner's soul. . � � Chapter Twenty-nine
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