Echoes In The Dark by EM

Word Count 4,098

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The sun was setting low in the sky as Scott and Johnny wearily turned toward home.  

“Boy this last storm sure made a mess,” Johnny said as he wiped his sweaty face on the arm of his sleeve. 

Scott resettled his hat and added, while he led the way through a stand of oak trees. “It will be weeks to get everything sorted out.” 

As they emerged on the other side, the ground beneath them started rumbling. “Is that an earthquake?” Scott asked. 

“I think so,” Johnny replied as he tried to control his horse as Barranca side stepped and tossed his head. “It will be over soon.” Just as Johnny said soon, the rumbling stopped. 

“Easy boy, it’s all over,” he said patting Barranca’s sweaty neck. 

“Hope it didn’t do any damage. We already have enough from the storm.” Scott urged his horse up the hillside with Johnny following. 

They hadn’t gone more than a hundred yards when the rumbling started again, however the ground was starting to shift violently. 

“Landslide!” Scott yelled pointing at the hillside as rocks and larger boulders started rolling downhill. 

The horses thrashed from side to side, as Scott and Johnny struggled to control them.  “Do we run?” Johnny called to make himself heard over the increasing noise. 

Scott pointed to the whole hillside which had sheered off and was heading their way.  “We’ll never make it. Get off. Let them go. We’ve got to climb this.” Scott yelled. “Hold on to my hand and don’t let go.” 

They got off the horses which disappeared crashing into the thick grove of oak trees.

They desperately climbed up the hill as the landslide built momentum. Trees and boulders were being pushed ahead of a wall of mud. 

Frantically, they held on to each other and used their other hand to hold onto tree limbs and rocks while trying to stay on top of the slide. Just as it looked like they were past the worst of it, a whole section of the hillside slid out from under their feet, and they fell into a hole. 

“Are you all right?” Johnny asked coughing 

“Yes what about you?” Scott spit a mouthful of red dirt and then wiped his mouth on his torn, dirty shirtsleeve. The sound of the landslide was retreating into the distance. 

“I’m okay, but that was too close,” Johnny said as he panted while catching his breath. “Way to close,” Scott agreed while waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. 

“Why’d you have us get off? Maybe we coulda made it.” Johnny asked as he joined Scott in feeling around the sealed entrance. 

“I remembered reading about the Wiley family in New Hampshire. They were caught in a landslide. The family members who ran perished, but the two brothers who climbed the slide and stayed on top of it survived. Those horses ran right through that oak stand. If we hadn’t been killed, we likely would have been knocked off by the low hanging branches,” Scott added. 

“Did they fall into a cave?” Johnny asked 

“No, not that I recall.” 

“Would have been helpful if they had, then you could tell me what we’re going to do to get out of here.” 

“Well Edgar Allen Poe wrote about Arthur Pym being trapped in a cave but that’s not a great example for us to use to effect our escape.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Let’s just say it didn’t end well for them.”

“Maybe not for us too. This hole is sealed right up by rocks and mud.” Johnny continued to feel around the entrance. 

Scott reached down to try to figure out what he kept bumping into. ”I don’t think we’re in a cave, we’re in a mine.” 

“I can feel the rails. Maybe we can find a shovel to work on this entrance.” Johnny said as he also realized they were in a mine. 

“Or better yet a pick axe.” 

Feeling around, Johnny exclaimed, ”I found a lantern. It’s got some kerosene in it too.” “Do you have any matches Johnny, mine are wet.” 

Johnny pulled out three matches. The first one broke, the second one blew out before he could get the lamp lit. The last one finally stayed lit long enough to light the lantern. 

“We need to save the air,” Scott said as he turned the flame down as much as he could without it going out.  

Johnny whistled as they both confirmed what they had felt in the darkness. The entrance was tightly sealed. 

“We can’t get through that without dynamite,” Johnny sighed. 

“Even if we found some dynamite that was dry enough, it might bring the whole cave down on us. We need to find a different way out. Mines usually have another entrance as well as air shafts.” 

“You read that in another book?” Johnny asked. 

Scott gave him a grin, “As a matter of fact I did.” With that he led the way deeper into the cave. 

****

“Cipriano! Mira ahí.” Pedro called pointing at what caught his eye. A chestnut and palomino were at full gallop heading toward the corrals. 

“Open the gate,” Cipriano called. “Go get the Patron,” he instructed his son, Paco. ”Pedro, saddle the horses.” 

Murdoch’s face showed the concern he felt at seeing his son’s horses return riderless.  Barranca had a small branch caught in one stirrup and Scott’s horse had a piece of a branch caught in his tail. Both horses had leaves and sticks caught in their manes and were covered in mud.  

Mounting up, Murdoch ordered tersely, “Let’s go.” 

Cipriano easily followed the horses tracks. Between the tall winter grasses that were crushed by the horses, the hoof prints in the moist soil made it easy to track. 

They pushed their way through a thick stand of oak trees to stop abruptly in shock at seeing the entire hill slide had slid at least five hundred feet. Murdoch was off his horse first and grabbed an oak branch. 

“Scott, Johnny!” He called as he frantically tried to prod the branch into the mud and rocks. 

The other men followed suit both calling and poking into the disturbed soil with oak branches. After an hour they all had sweat drenched faces and clothes. 

Murdoch felt a hand on his arm and a canteen came into his blurry vision. He took a sip and spit it out and then two long swallows. “I’ve got to find them Cip,” he said hoarsely. 

“We will. I know we will,” Cipriano assured. 

They started when Pedro called, “Over here!” 

Wading through the loose soil and rock, they saw what Pedro found. “A cave?” Murdoch asked. 

Nodding, Cipriano stepped forward to survey the site. “Sealed up tight.” 

“Could they have made it into the cave?” Murdoch wondered hoping against all hope it was true.

The men worked in twos hitting at the drying mud that sealed the cave. 

Jose yelled and pulled out a mud encrusted gun. He showed it to the Patron who confirmed grimly, “It’s Johnny’s.” Unconsciously, he flicked off chunks of mud as he fingered his son’s gun. 

With renewed effort the rapidly tiring men attacked the blocked entrance to the cave.  Working in shifts, some men caught their breath while others dug away with their primitive tools 

“This isn’t working,” Murdoch said in frustration. “Pedro, go back to the ranch and get a buckboard, tools and more men. Get back here as soon as you can.” 

“Sit down my friend. I will get Pedro on his way.” Cipriano counseled. 

Cipriano directed Pedro, “Get with Señorita Teresa and ask her for bandages, blankets, and some food. Bring the two small barrels of water too.” 

Si Señor, I’m on my way,” he took off running back to where the horses were tethered. 

As darkness fell, two wagons arrived. “It took a long time to work our way around the slide. This is as close as we could get.” Pedro announced. 

The men formed a human chain passing tools, ropes, tarps and food to the work area. 

Cipriano directed his fifteen year old son, Paco, to make a fire and get coffee going. He directed the just arrived hands to work in shifts of thirty minutes. They were making slow progress by lamplight while the other men rested. 

Murdoch paced until Cipriano placed a firm hand on his shoulder and encouraged him sit on a large downed tree trunk. Handing him a cup of coffee and two biscuits, he told his boss to rest. “We’ll find the ninos Patron.” Murdoch nodded and kept his dread to himself that they might never find them or find them alive. 

****

“What is that?“ Johnny asked. 

Scott held the lantern higher and ahead was shimmering darkness. “We’ve got to be careful. The floor could be unstable.”

Scott took three more careful steps when Johnny grabbed his sleeve. “Wait a minute.  Look. It’s water. It’s flooded.” 

Scott once again held the lantern high. The light reflected off the dark water but they couldn’t see far enough to tell if the tunnel was completely flooded or just a section.  

“What do we do? Go back and try to dig out?” Johnny asked. 

Both were silent as they thought about their slim chances. 

“That could take days at best. We need to at least check out the water and see how far it’s flooded.” Scott decided. 

“I’ll do it,” Johnny said as he took a step farther.  

“No I’ll do it.” 

“Scott let me do this. If I can’t find the end, I’ll come back.”  

Reluctantly Scott agreed. Johnny felt his way down the slight slope into the water. At first it was only ankle high, but five steps in, it was above his knees. “Oh it’s cold.”  Feeling carefully with his boot, he could feel a drop off where the wooden supports had collapsed. “Careful here, the floor’s gone.” 

“Come back.” Scott ordered. 

“No, I can get around it. It feels solid on the edges. Just have to straddle it.” Just as he said that, he disappeared. 

“Johnny! Johnny!” Scott rushed forward prepared to jump in to try to reach his brother. Just before he started in, Johnny popped up.  

Treading water, he called, “I’m okay. The floor is caved in.” 

“Get back over here.” Scott’s worry and agitation showed in his voice. “No, I…” 

“Don’t argue with me. For once can’t you just do as I say?”

“Boy you sure sound like the old man.” Johnny swam five more strokes away from Scott and stood up. The water was waist high. “It’s solid over here.” 

He could just make out Scott standing there holding the lantern, but he was glad he couldn’t see his expression. 

Trying to change the subject, Johnny asked, “How are you going to swim over here with the lantern? There’s about twelve feet you need to swim.” 

“I’ll hold it on my chest and swim on my back across that section.” 

Johnny watched anxiously as Scott made his way to the collapsed floor and then he turned over to lay on his back. He was across the flooded area quickly and marched up next to Johnny. 

“I should tan your hide,” he snapped when he got to his brother. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again.” 

Deciding this wasn’t the time for a smart remark, Johnny kept his mouth shut and followed his brother up the slope, once again feeling the ore cart tracks.  

“Here’s another lantern and it seems to have some oil. It’s too hard to see in the dark to pour the oil to this lantern so let’s try to light it. Carefully maneuvering the lanterns, they managed to light the second one.” They had gone less than 200 feet when the first lantern went out with a sputter. 

“What do you think it means that we’re going up?”Johnny asked.  

“Hopefully we’re heading for another entrance or an air shaft. It must be dark out so we may need to wait until morning to look for a shaft.” 

“It’s awfully cold Scott and our clothes won’t dry down here.” Both were shivering in spite of the hard work of walking following the ore cart tracks and dodging timber and rocks. 

The tunnel came to a fork and they studied their options. “The ore cart tracks go both ways. Let’s go right for a ways, and then if it doesn’t go anywhere, we can come back.” Johnny suggested.

With one hand on the rock wall, they carefully made their way deeper into the tunnel.  “Maybe this is an air shaft,” Scott mused as he headed into a narrow tunnel.  

They had to squeeze past places where the roof had fallen down, and at one point they crawled on their stomachs to get through. Entering a chamber, they stopped to catch their breath. They’d been active for close to five hours and the stress and activity was taking a toll. Scott held the lantern up to see how much oil was left. 

“Turn it up,” Johnny exclaimed 

Scott turned up the lamp, and immediately saw what caught Johnny’s attention.  “Gold!” 

“Are you sure?” Scott asked. 

“I think so.” 

A thick vein of quartz ran along the rock wall of the tunnel. Embedded in the quartz was a band of gold. “The miners must a discovered this, but didn’t return for some reason.”  Johnny picked up a pick axe and began hitting the vein. 

“What are you doing?” Scott asked, his tone implying he couldn’t believe what he was seeing his brother do. “Leave it, we’ve got to get out of here…now!” 

“Hold up Scott. I just want to bring back a little. He handed a big chunk to his brother.  “Here take this,” he said as he stuffed another big chunk into his shirt. 

“You’re crazy,” Scott said as he also stuffed the chunk of ore into his shirt. “Can we go now?” 

“Sure let’s get going.” Just as Johnny said that, the lantern flickered out. The silence was pregnant. 

Sounding very calm, Scott remarked, “well that’s not good.” 

Johnny followed the wall to his right touching it with one hand. Feeling his way in the dark, he clunked his head on a timber.

“Watch your head.” 

“Watch yours too Scott,” Johnny said as he ducked. “What was that?” “What was what?” Scott asked. 

“That. It’s a snake!” 

“Get away from it,” Scott ordered 

“No no, it’s heading up the shaft. We’ve got to follow it.” 

Scott could sense Johnny was walking bent over with his hand on the snake.  “What if it’s poisonous?“ 

“I don’t think so. It’s huge. I can’t even fit my hand around it. There’s got to be a way in and out right?” Johnny asked. 

“Yes…” Scott said slowly, “but a hole for a snake is a lot smaller than a hole for a man.” “Yeah but we can make it bigger if we have to.” 

“I see light!” 

Both men peered through the darkness at the sooty looking darkness above them. 

“Wait. There’s something here,” Scott felt sick as he realized he’d found a skeleton.  “There’s a body here.” 

“What?” 

“Someone died down here,” Scott clarified. 

Both men were silent as they contemplated the meaning. 

“Come on, let’s go,” Scott pushed Johnny forward. 

“It feels wrong to leave him. ”

“I don’t like it any better than you do, Johnny. We have no choice.” “You’re right,” Johnny said reluctantly. 

They moved to the end of the shaft and Johnny asked, “Can we climb it?” “I’ll give you a boost.” 

“No, I’ll give you a boost. You’re taller. Once you are out, you can reach down and help me climb out.” 

That’s what they did while trying to keep the dirt showering down on them out of their eyes, and wincing as an occasional rock glanced off their head or shoulder on its way to the bottom of the shaft. 

With a mighty pull, Scott pulled Johnny over the lip of the air shaft and they laid back in the damp grass panting. 

Taking deep breaths of the sweet night air, it was thirty minutes before they began taking in their surroundings. 

“What should we do now?” Johnny asked, exhaustion showing in his voice.. 

Ever the strategist, Scott surveyed what they could see from the moonlight. “The problem is, there could be more of these air shafts and we could fall into one if we go stumbling around in the dark. Let’s wait up here until morning so we can see where we’re going.” 

Scott stared at the night sky as he tried to will himself to sleep but his mind kept coming back to something that was bothering him. 

“Hey Johnny,” he said quietly. 

“Yeah?” 

“I was out of line earlier, and I’m sorry.” 

“What are you talk’in about?” 

“When I said I’d tan your hide. You scared me, but I was out of line and I didn’t mean it.”

Johnny was silent for a bit and Scott began to worry that his brother was mad at him. “I don’t know Scott, I think maybe you did right then. Why do you think I kept going? I figured I was safer where I was.” 

“So you’re not mad?” 

“No, of course not. I’m not mad at ya.” 

“Good. Go to sleep Johnny.” 

”Hey Scott.” 

“What is it Johnny?” 

“Next time I get trapped in a cave, I hope it’s with you. You’re a handy man to have around and all that reading you do, paid off.” 

Grinning to himself in the dark, Scott said, “Hopefully that will never happen again, but if it does, you are the only one I want to be trapped with. I couldn’t have done it without you brother.” 

“Fair enough. Night Scott.” 

Within no time, even though cold, exhaustion won out and both brothers were asleep. 

****

About two o’clock in the morning, the search had been called off. All the men were exhausted and a decision was made to sack in until morning. They’d get a fresh start at first light. 

Paco had coffee on the boil as the first rays of sun came over the distant mountains. Cipriano and Murdoch were the first two up. Both men looked like they had aged ten years. Their clothes were wrinkled and caked with dirt as well as their faces and hands. Long streaks of red dirt made rivulets on their neck where yesterday’s sweat left its mark.

Taking their coffee to the entrance of the mine, they both stared at the solid wall in silence. Clearing his throat, Cipriano ventured, ”we’ll make more progress today.” 

“It looks like we barely scratched the surface,” Murdoch observed glumly. At this rate it could be days if not weeks. What if the mine collapsed?” Shaking his head as if to shake away his dark thoughts of despair, he returned to the campfire where Paco was cooking bacon. 

****

With a groan, Johnny rolled to his knees and used his arms to push himself to stand. “I feel a hundred years old,” he said as he held out a hand to help Scott up. 

“Me too. Every muscle in my body aches. Nothing for it though, we need to start home.” 

Without further ado, they started walking down hill in an eastern direction toward where the ranch should be.  

“Here’s another one.” Johnny pointed at the ground. 

“Snake?” Scott asked. 

“No hole. I guess it’s another air shaft. Do you remember Murdoch talking about this mine?” 

“No, I don’t recall him mentioning it.”  

“Well we’ve got a gold mine right here on Lancer. We’ve got proof too.” 

“After all this, do you honestly think Murdoch will let us go back into the mine to dig for gold?” 

Johnny pursed his lips as he thought, and then grinned ruefully. “Probably not.” 

“Absolutely not. I’m not going down there again to mine for gold, and neither are you.” Scott said forcefully. 

“But what about that man? Do we leave him? It don’t seem right. That snake was coiled around him like he was his best friend.”

“When we get back, we’ll talk to Murdoch to see how we can get him out of there. I do agree, he deserves a proper burial.” 

After they had walked for close to an hour, Johnny stopped, ”I smell bacon.” Scott smiled as he also smelled bacon. 

“I sure hope they left some for us.” Johnny began walking faster with Scott right beside him. They could just make out a couple of wagons and horses grazing above them and then they saw campfire smoke below them. 

“Hello the camp,” Scott called 

“Scott! Johnny!” Murdoch cried as he stumbled his way up the hill to his two bedraggled sons. Enveloping them in a hug, he whispered, “I thought I lost you.” 

“We’re fine really,” Scott assured. “A little beat up, hungry, thirsty and cold, but a good meal, and a cup of coffee will help a lot.” 

Before they could process anything, they were surrounded by the men who had worked into the long hours of the night to rescue them. They were being pounded on the back and wrapped in blankets. Once they were seated by the fire with a cup of coffee in one 

hand and a plate of eggs and bacon resting on their knee, Scott took over telling how they fell into the mine and found their way out. All the men took a moment to examine the ore. As expected Murdoch declared that no one was to go into the mine. 

“The Argonaut mine collapsed fifteen years ago trapping ten men. They all died. It’s been closed since.” This sobering news delivered by Murdoch brought home how lucky they were to get out alive. 

“We’ve got to go back Murdoch. There’s a man down there. We need to give him a proper burial.” 

“No Johnny, it’s too dangerous. The body has been interned there for fifteen years. No need to disturb it.” 

“I agree with Johnny, Sir. I’ve been pondering it on our walk this morning. He is close to the air shaft. That area was quite stable. I think with the right equipment we could bring him out.”

Johnny looked at Scott and then Murdoch with hope. “We gotta do it Murdoch. He almost made it out.” 

Cipriano cleared his throat, “I heard after the cave in, a wall of water rushed through the tunnels. He very likely drowned.” 

Giving in against his better judgement, Murdoch agreed to at least look into it. “Gracias, old man,” Johnny said affectionately. 

They were well on their way home, when Scott brought up the subject of Johnny’s pet. “What do you mean, Johnny’s pet?” Murdoch asked. 

“I think Scott hit his head on a rock. He’s telling tales.” 

“No, no, no, brother, you charmed that snake and he led us out of the mine.” “Well that’s true, but he’s not my pet.” 

“Was it yellow?” Murdoch asked? 

Johnny shook his head, “It was too dark to see his color. He stayed with the body.” 

“I remember a miner called Dutch Bill who had a yellow boa constrictor. She was a pretty thing. Very docile. He wore her around his neck.” 

“Could she still be alive?” Johnny asked. 

“Snakes live many years,”Scott responded.  

“If it was her, She’d be about twenty years old by now,” Murdoch added. 

“That explains why she seemed to like me touching her. She curled around my arm,  and I could feel her tongue on my hand. Maybe we should go back and look for her.” 

“She’s been fine all these years so we’re going to leave her to get on with her life, and you will be getting on with yours, without a pet snake may I add,” Murdoch said firmly. 

Giving in, Johnny curled up on his side with his blanket wrapped tightly around him and drifted off to sleep lulled by the rocking motion of the wagon.

“You should try to sleep too, Scott. You’ve had an ordeal.” 

Looking at the stress on his fathers lined face, he nodded and said, “So should you Murdoch you look done in.” 

“I was Scott, but seeing the two of you safe and sound, gave me a second wind. After a long bath, I’ll probably sleep for two days.” With that declaration, Murdoch watched Scott settle into an exhausted sleep as he told himself, ‘But not yet. Once the boys are home safe and sound, I’ll rest but not yet.’ 

The End
September 1, 2025

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