I do NOT own The Big Valley or any of the original Barkley Characters. The mine Cynthia talks about is, as far as I know, purely made up. The use of cyanide in the use of gold mines can be found in various locations, I'm sure. I used . for mine. Yes, it says Nevada but cyanide is the same no matter what state it is in so…..

Once In a Lifetime

Chapter Eleven

Scene Twenty

Heath and Cynthia once again stood near the pond. They'd gone on a picnic and quite enjoyed themselves. Heath found himself seriously considering asking her to stay; after all, she had no real family where she came from.

Cynthia could tell by the faraway look in his eyes something was troubling him. Had something happened at the mines? Something she should have known about? "Heath? What's wrong?" She lifted her hand up and laid it on his upper left arm.

He turned his head slightly and gave her a lopsided grin, "I'm fine, only…" He paused. "Do you really have to leave in six months? Can't you stay permanently?"

Cynthia might as well have had the rug pulled out from under her. Stay in the nineteenth century? She looked into his blue eyes and saw in them what she'd been denying for weeks. His interest in her, and hers in him, had turned into something she'd never expected. For a split second, she could see Marie and the others still looking for her. Heath, the Barkleys and their friends or the twentieth century and her friends there, what was she supposed to do?

Heath sensed her dilemma; he couldn't blame her. The more he thought about it, the more he realized there was plenty of time for her to decide. "All I ask is for you to think about it." He reached out and touched her cheek. "There's still time for you to choose." His face was inches from hers when they heard the sound of a horse approaching fast. It was one of the men from the mine. Instantly, both Heath and Cynthia were on the alert.

"What's wrong, Jack?" Heath asked as the man stopped his horse.

"The mine." Jack shook his head in disbelief. "There was a cave in. Nick and some of the men…" He again shook his head. "They're trapped inside! Jarrod told me to find you and tell you." The man didn't have to say another word as Heath and Cynthia ran for their horses. In a matter of seconds, they were both riding hard towards the mine.

Again Cynthia had the nagging feeling she should know something, but what? It must have showed because, unintentionally, Heath barked, "Did you know about this?"

Appalled at the idea he'd think she'd hide anything like this from him, she shot back, "Of course not! I'm just as shocked as you are!" She would have added, 'Don't worry, he's got to make it out alive; after all, the historian told me he married in 1880', but she was too angry at the idea Heath thought she'd withhold any kind of information from him. Nothing more was said as they traveled (one l for US spelling, two for the rest of the world LOL) down the road.

Scene Twenty-One

"What!" Nick, who had been pulled from the mine along with all but one man, and he was in the process of being rescued, was sitting in the office with Heath, Cynthia and the rest of his family, listening to the mine foreman talk. "You heard me, seconds before the cave in, I could have sworn I heard a muffled voice telling someone to hurry up, that the mine would be caving in any second. I can't figure for the life of me though who it was or how they knew. Everyone is accounted for; we can be glad for that."

Everyone sat in shock. Whoever the man heard talking had to have done something to cause the mine to cave in, but what and why? While the Barkleys talked, Cynthia sat thinking. The historian had never said a word about a cave in, but he had talked about other mines in the area. Finally, it hit her; she couldn't believe she had forgotten it! Then again, she'd never expected to wake up in the nineteenth century either! She tapped Heath on the shoulder and nodded towards the door. He got the message. "I'm going to have a look around." He stood up and looked at Cynthia. "Want to come along?" She smiled and followed him.

"Go figure." Nick watched the door close behind the two. "We may actually have someone wanting the mine closed down bad enough to risk killing innocent men and he goes for the girl."

"Don't worry about, brother." Jarrod smiled. "He just might find something out on his walk. We need to work on figuring out if there's actually someone behind this or not."

While Jarrod and the others continued talking, Heath and Cynthia were busy doing their own talking. "So, what is it?" Heath asked as he looked at her, once he was sure no one was listening.

"It's about a mine, one that the historian did talk about and," Cynthia sat on a small boulder, "it's so major, I can't believe I've had such a hard time remembering it! Then again," her eyebrows turned down, "maybe it's because I never expected to be able to do anything about it either." She took a deep breath and started telling what little the historian had told her.

000

Grant Payne knocked on the mine owner's door once again. He would be leaving Sacramento in three months and needed to get this deal over with before he left. When no one answered, he knocked again, only louder.

"You aren't goin' get anyone to answer." An old silver haired gentleman approached him. "Mr. Jacobsen won't be back for another week. I could tell him you were looking for him though, that is, if 'n you tell me what your name is and what you need."

Grant growled under his breath but smiled politely. "I wanted to talk to him about buying that mine of his, the one outside Stockton, the one that borders the ranch belong to the Barkleys, I believe."

Surprise showed on the man's face. "What on earth do you want that old thing for? It's useless. I don't care what anyone says, the gold is all gone, nothing left in it to get out."

Grant wanted to bark at the man and tell him to mind his own business but he didn't. "It doesn't matter." He kept his voice level. "I just do. I'll come back in a week."