A/N-Thanks all to who have reviewed! Much, much love!
The town of Walnut Grove was shocked into silence as the rumblings from the explosion became lower and lower.
Nels kept looking at the direction of the sound of the blast. Then his wife came out and was looking and asks, "Nels, what was that?" "I don't know"
Just then, John Carter comes along and Almanzo comes running from the mill. and they all look in the direction going of the blast. The doctor and his nurse come out and Hiram shouts, "I think it came from the direction of Sutter's creek!"
Almanzo says,
"I heard that they were doing some work down that way"
Just then Miss. Plum and the school children come out to see what is going on and they all hear a faint sound of a wagon coming into town. They all look at each other as more and more people come out of curiosity. But then they finally see a older man, a man in his mid-to late 60's driving a wagon in awful speed. Finally he barely stops
at the Mercantile and yells out, "Help! We need help! There's been a cave in and most of the men are trapped!"
John Carter yells out to his son who is standing on the front step of the school "Jeb! Ring the bell! Get everyone's attention!"
The boy quickly turns and goes and rings the bell.
Then men run into Nels store and get shovels, picks, axes. Hiram and Nora run back into the office to get medical supplies.
The town turns into a busy beehive then they divide into three separate wagons, Almanzo's and John's to go to the site. The women come in Mrs. Foster's wagon.
The men get there and start the painstaking process of removing each rock. Hiram comes up and stands beside the old man who came for help and he asks him with concern in his voice, "Who are you?"
The old man sniffs and with no embarrassment, wipes a tear away then says:
"I'm Matthew Cobbler, the cook here. I used to be one of these guys working in the mine's, working and shoveling out dirt. Looking for gold, diamonds….even coal. But I got too old and back hurting too much so they put me to cooking"
"What were they looking for this time?"
"Coal. Found some too"
Just then Edwards shows up and asks:
"Coal? Wasn't this mine shut down years ago?"
"Yes, it was but some yahoo got to digging around and found some. Big Wigs went nuts and sent us all down here"
"Humph, out to know better…." He looks around then asks out loud,
"Why does it seem familiar?"
"Should be Edwards, because it's the same one Carl found years ago when Carrie fell down that hole"
"What? That all caved in or so I thought"
"Isaiah, when it comes to money…..safety goes out the mind"
Isaiah sadly shakes his head then goes down to help. After some backbreaking time, they start helping each man out one by one.
The women gently help the men down . Hiram and Nora go to doctoring and nursing. Etta Plum says:
"Most of the men just have scratches and bruises. Some have broken arms or legs"
"Thank God." Responded Hester Sue.
Hiram turns to Matthew and asks:
"How many more men do you figure down there?"
In the background men still keep shoveling rocks out of the way and Matthew looks at t he wounded and says,
"Two, I think, we had a crew of about 20"
Just then a man comes out of the cave, all covered with dirt and dust. Then, Nora looks at him and puts down the bandages in her hand . She runs to him and asks, "Jasper?"
The boy looks at her with confusion then sympathy. He replies, "No ma'am, he's still in there. He got the worst of it."
Just then a man calls out . "We need a stretcher!"
A stretcher is taken inside , then Hiram runs to her and asks:
"Who's Jasper?"
"My son!"
After a few minutes, which seems like a lifetime to Nora, the men come out with the stretcher. Upon the stretcher, lies a boy of about 20 or 21. Nora screams:
"Jasper!"
