Chapter 48 – Landslide (long)

Thursday, April 6th, Jack was up early to head out on rounds. He chose to let Elizabeth sleep since she was still so tired. He set her alarm to get up for school. It was a little overcast, but it didn't look like rain. He headed to town just before light. He was able to get Sergeant saddled and ready to go. There was a part of him that wished he would have waited for Elizabeth, but he wanted to get things done. He had a bad feeling since he had heard the wind blowing during the night. Once he got going he was surprised that it was still windy in many areas. He was concerned that trees might come down with all the rain that they had. He took his time on rounds. He noted a number of trees were down, but no roads were blocked. Jack knew that the down trees could cause problems at the river. He didn't notice any actually blocking the river, but he noted where there might be a couple problems. He was going to let Lee know and hopefully he would be able to spare a couple of men to help clear the areas. Jack was also concerned, because it didn't appear that the wind was going to die down.

It was mid-morning when Jack got back to town and he wasn't prepared for what awaited him when he got there. Faith was in his office with an injured man. Jack was surprised to see one of the miners, Roy Hall, from the Silverton mine. Roy let Jack know that there had been a mudslide and he had gotten out, but others were trapped and injured. Jack jumped into action. He went to Lee's office and asked him to start getting men and wagons ready as he was activating the emergency plan. He then went to the cafe to find Bill and let Abigail know what happened. Only he didn't find Bill, Abigail let him know that Bill had headed out of town on a personal matter and had planned to be back later that night or in the morning. Jack told Abigail to put Bill in charge of things when he got back. He needed to get up to the mine and help the people there.

Jack and the other men were quickly able to activate the disaster plan that Jack had made. Jack didn't like leaving without Bill there, but his mother reminded him that the people at the mine were counting on him and that she would keep the peace until Bill arrived back. Jack knew his mother meant it when she said that she would keep the peace. She wasn't one to be crossed especially when there were things that needed to be done. The men loaded a number of supplies from Gowen's old house. Faith wanted to head up to the mine, but Jack insisted that she stay in town. He didn't want to risk her getting hurt. Charlotte agreed with Jack and between the two of them were able to convince Faith to stay back. She wasn't happy about it, but she realized that they were right.

As the men got ready to head to the Silverton mine, Abigail and Faith started to get the other women together to put things in action back in town. They needed to set the schoolhouse and saloon up to receive people. That meant moving the children to the cafe, before that happened, Elizabeth gave the children a list of homework that would put them through the next week. She wasn't sure how long they would be out of class, but wanted the children to keep up. She then put Rosemary in charge of the children. She was to keep them until Elizabeth returned or it was the normal time for school to get out. They children had been instructed to help where they could and say out from being under foot. Elizabeth had been hoping to see Jack before he left, but by the time that she got the children settled, Jack was already gone. She said a quick prayer that Jack would be safe. Abigail and Elizabeth went out with a couple of the other women to the settlement to let them know about the landslide at the mine. Faith and Charlotte worked at getting the schoolhouse turned into an infirmary. Charlotte took charge of things in town with Abigail gone to the settlement. No one questioned her, mainly because she scared them just a bit. It also helped that she was Jack's mother. The other thing that helped was the pistol that was strapped to her hip.

It took some time for the men to get the mine because they had to clear some trees from the path. They also were being careful because they knew that the road could have washed out. As prepared as Jack was, he wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted him at the mine. Rocks, mud and trees covered the entrance. There were seven men on the outside trying to make a hole, Jack immediately had his men take over and he and Pastor Frank went about checking the men. Jack learned that there were twenty-three men working at the mine at the time of the slide. Jack quickly had some of the men get fires going to keep people warm. Jack knew that they had enough blankets and water for the men, his biggest thing was if there were serious injuries. He wasn't sure what Faith could handle. They had brought bandages and a few splints, but Jack was worried about more serious injuries after he saw the entrance.

Jack also looked around and saw the small building that served as an onsite office. He went over there and was able to find a list of men. He quickly copied it, he knew it would be needed to identify the men. He then checked the board and saw that the twenty-three men, including Roy. He crossed Roy off because he knew he was safe in Hope Valley. Jack looked at the board with the pit tags. He said a quick prayer that they would be able to pull all the men out. As Jack was staring at the board, he realized that the list didn't have pit tag numbers on them. He went back to the office to see if he could find the list of pit tag numbers. He remembered from when the mine was active in Hope Valley, that each man was assigned a pit tag and that was how they knew who was in the mine and who wasn't. Failing to find the pit tag list, Jack flipped to a new piece of paper in his notebook and copied the numbers of the missing pit tags. He quickly realized that there were twenty-four pit tags missing.

Jack went over and pulled Lee and Pastor Frank aside. He explained that he found twenty-four pit tags missing, but only twenty-three names and no list to match them to. He knew that Roy was safe in Hope Valley, but didn't know his pit tag. He wanted to start getting the men's names and their pit tag numbers so that they could figure out who was missing.

"Hey." Lee said. "It will be okay. Take a breath. I will have Hickum get names and tag numbers. He is great with the details."

"Thank you." Jack said.

"Hickum." Lee yelled.

"Yes." Hickum said after jogging over.

"Jack has a job for you." Lee said. "It is very important and it is right up your alley."

"Mike." Jack said. "I need to start getting names and matching them to the pit tags. I have twenty-three names, but twenty-four tags missing."

"What are pit tags?" Hickum asked.

Jack showed him and quickly explained their function. Hickum said he was on it. He also let Jack know that he was going to quickly look around the office to see if he found any more information. He also wanted a clipboard.

"I trust you." Jack said. "Find me when you have all the names and have been able to match pit tags. Ask other men, they usually know who has which pit tag. Also Roy Hall is safe in Hope Valley, but I don't know his pit tag."

"I am on it." Hickum said. "Don't worry. You do what you have to, I got this."

With that Jack left Hickum and went back to helping the men. Pastor Frank was kneeling talking to a man. Jack could see that the man wasn't going to make it. Jack stopped and knelt with them. The man wanted to make sure his son knew that he loved him.

"What is your name?" Pastor Frank asked.

"Nathan." The man said.

"What is your son's name?" Jack asked.

"Harper." Nathan said weakly. "Harper Tucker."

"I know Harper." Jack said. "Good boy."

Frank and Jack tried to comfort the man. He died while they were talking to him. Pastor Frank closed the man's eyes and said a prayer over him. He then covered him with a blanket. He looked at Jack and they both had the same question, how many more. Frank took a moment before he moved on to talk to the next man. Jack also took a moment. He knew that it was going to be hard for Nathan's widow and the boy. Jack felt for Harper. There was a part of him that wished he could have done more, but he knew that Nathan's injuries had been too great. Even if they would have had a doctor there, it wouldn't have made a difference. At the moment, that wasn't much consolation. Lee saw the far off look in Jack's eyes and walked over to his best friend. He put his arm around him and pulled him back to reality.

"You did everything you could." Lee said.

"He still died." Jack said solemnly.

"We all die." Lee said. "Best you can do is let the family know and be there for them."

By the time that they were able to get all the men out, it was almost dark and they didn't want to move the injured men down the mountain in the dark so they decided to send Jesse back to town to let them know that they would be moving the men out at first light and to expect more then twenty injured. Also to let Faith know that there were five more severe than the others. Jack had scribbled out a list of the injuries. He handed it to Jesse and told him to give it to Faith. With the exception of the one fatality and five more serious injuries. Most of the men escaped with cuts and bruises. He had a few sprains and three with possible broken bones. He didn't consider the broken bones as serious. There were two he thought they might lose. They both had head injuries, but one was more severe then the other. Jack was also glad that Hickum was able to find the list with the pit tag numbers on it. They were able to identify all the men, including Roy who had gone for help. The numbers were off, because the supervisor had gone into the mine that day, but didn't add his name to the list of men working.

On the way back, Jesse took a short cut and saw that there was a log jam in the river and that if it broke, it would take out the settlement. Jesse let Abigail know about the log jam when he got back to town. Abigail said that they would take care of the settlement at first light and for Jesse to head back to the mine to let Jack know about the log jam. Jesse carefully made his way back up to the mine and Jack was surprised to see him back. He quickly let Jack know about the log jam and that he had let Abigail and the other women know. When Jack learned of the settlement, he didn't want to wait until first light to head out. Lee and Frank were able to remind Jack that the women were very capable and that he was responsible for the men that they had rescued. Jack looked around and agreed. He knew that he needed to stay there, at least until they got the men moving down the mountain. Jack knew that Elizabeth and/or his mother would lead the way to evacuate the settlement, but he wanted to be there to help. Jack knew that his mother could handle herself, but Jack was still worried. He was also worried about Elizabeth. He knew that she was stubborn and would probably go help, but he wished and prayed that she wouldn't.

Just as the sky started to get light, Jack had the men of Hope Valley to start loading the injured men. He put Hickum in charge of checking off names as they were loaded, they didn't want to forget anyone. They tried to spread out the more severely injured men and also put a healthy man in charge of each of the five that needed to be watched more closely. The rest of the men filled out the wagons. Everyone mounted up and Jack looked at Lee and Lee knew what was coming.

"Get those men to Hope Valley safely." Jack said. "I am heading to the settlement."

With that, Jack jumped on Sergeant and motioned for the men to head out. He went with them a little ways down the mountain, but then broke off on the trail that he knew led to the settlement. He didn't ride by the log jam, but headed straight to the settlement. He didn't know how much time they had. He just wished the women would have listened to him about moving. He didn't want to see anyone get hurt. Jack said a prayer that Lee would get the men to Hope Valley safely and that the women would get to the settlement in time. They had already lost one man, they didn't need to lose more. As he approached the settlement, he heard his mother and Elizabeth yelling at the women to get moving. For the first time, Jack was relieved that his mother was in town.

Abigail, Elizabeth and Charlotte headed out just before first light and worked quickly to evacuate the settlement. They made good time out to the settlement. When they got there, they didn't know how much time they had, so they had the people gather what they could and to get to the wagons. Abigail and Elizabeth were getting ready to head out when they learned that one of the small children was missing. They wanted to look for the child, but Charlotte said that they couldn't risk everyone. Abigail agreed that they had to get out of there. Charlotte said that she would look for the missing child. About that time Jack rode up to the settlement. Elizabeth saw him.

"Jack!" She yelled. "Maggie is missing!"

"I got it. Go!" Jack yelled back.

Charlotte turned to see her son riding toward the river. Jack also saw her, he knew she was going to look for the child, but he needed her to get the wagons back to town.

"MA!" Jack yelled. "Get those wagons out of here. NOW!"

"Be safe!" Charlotte yelled back.

She turned her horse to escort the wagons back to town. Abigail and Elizabeth were encouraging the horse to go as fast as safely possible. Once they were a safe distance from the settlement, both slowed the pace and let the horses catch their breaths. They still kept a good pace, but didn't push the horses. Elizabeth looked over at Charlotte and saw the fear in her eyes. It was the first time that Elizabeth had seen it. Quickly, Elizabeth started praying for Jack. She knew that he was in danger and so was Maggie. She prayed they were both able to get to safety.

Once Jack saw the wagons turn toward town and he headed to get Maggie. Jack knew that he didn't have a lot of time, but he knew that he needed to find Maggie. He also knew that he needed to be careful. He trusted Sergeant, but that didn't mean that things still couldn't happen. He remembered what happened to Lee and he was an experienced rider. He quickly said a prayer for safety, both for him and all those that were making their way to Hope Valley. Jack had known that Maggie had liked to play by the river bank and had probably left a toy out there. Part of him was upset at the child, but then he shook his head. She was a small child and she was probably frightened and he also knew that she didn't have much so losing a favorite toy was a lot to a child. Jack said another prayer, this time asking for forgiveness at his quick judgment. He remembered what it was like to be a small child and have a favorite toy that went missing. He figured that starting near Maggie's favorite spot was as good as any place to start. Jack spotted Maggie, she was clutching her bear and seemed frozen in fear. He yelled at her to stay where she was and that he was coming to get her. Just as Jack went to cross the river, Sergeant reared up and threw Jack. That was when the log jam broke and the water flooded the settlement.

Charlotte led the group into town and they sent the people into the saloon to get something to eat. The children were taken to the cafe so they could have story time with the other children. It was decided that it would be easier to have the children in one spot and not under foot as they received wounded. About the time that Abigail and Elizabeth got both the wagons unloaded and horses cared for, the men started to arrive from the mine. It was crazy getting all the injured people to either the infirmary or the school. Bill had also arrived back with an injured girl, but at least he was back and safe. Charlotte pulled Bill aside and asked his help for a moment. She knew that they were getting overwhelmed with the injured. She convinced Bill to send a wire to Benson Hills, Buxton and Union City about what happened. Charlotte thought that they might need some help.

After talking to Bill, Charlotte went to help tend to the injured. It had been awhile since Elizabeth and Abigail had gotten back to town from the settlement. It was crazy busy, but Elizabeth couldn't find Jack. She was becoming frantic looking for him. She had checked the schoolhouse and was headed to the saloon. When she asked, no one had seen him in town. Elizabeth knew something must have happened when she checked and Maggie wasn't in town either. Just as Elizabeth was trying to get Bill to head back to the settlement, they saw a lone figure riding toward town. As the person got closer, they knew that it wasn't Jack, but they also could tell that the man had a child with him. Elizabeth was the first to reach the rider. She reached for Maggie and lowered her to the ground. The man let them know that he had found her along the trail alone clutching her bear.

"Maggie, honey." Elizabeth said getting down to her level. "Have you seen Mountie Jack?"

"Yes." Maggie said tearfully. "The water took him away."

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth said.

"The water took him away." Maggie cried.

Elizabeth and Lee exchanged looks, they weren't sure what to make of what Maggie said. All Elizabeth knew was that Jack was out there and probably injured. Elizabeth ran to Thor. Lee tried to stop her for a moment.

"Hey." Lee said. "Slow down for a moment. Where are you going?"

"I need to find Jack." Elizabeth cried. "Something is wrong, I know it."

"We don't even know where to look." Lee said.

"Anyone who can find a horse, follow me." Elizabeth pleaded.

Bill heard the desperation in her voice and knew she was probably right. Jack was probably injured and they needed to find them. Bill also knew if anyone could find Jack that it would be Elizabeth.

"You heard her! Mount up!" Bill called out.

"Someone needs to tell Charlotte." Lee said.

"I will." Bill said. "I will be right behind you guys."

Lee, Jesse, Pastor Frank and several other people all mounted up to go look for Jack. Elizabeth led the way. She wanted to start at the river bank near where the settlement had been. It didn't take Bill long to catch up to them. When they got to the river bank, Bill ordered the men to fan out and head down river. It didn't take them long to find Jack. He was about two hundred yards down from where Maggie was known to have played. Jack was caught up on a tree limb that was near the water's edge. He was unconscious, but his head was above water. Elizabeth yelled that she had found him. Elizabeth and Pastor Frank were the first to get to Jack. He was soaked and barely breathing. Lee got there and helped Frank pull him from the water. One of the men said that they would head back to town and bring a wagon. Pastor Frank said that they didn't have that kind of time. They looked at each other and then Jesse spoke up.

"I am the lightest." Jesse said. "Please let him take him back to town. It will be faster than waiting for a wagon."

"Are you sure?" Pastor Frank asked.

"Yes." Jesse said. "Please trust me. We need to get him back and fast."

Everyone looked to Bill, they knew that Bill was in charge when Jack wasn't around. They also knew that Bill looked at Jack like a son, so it should be his decision.

"Do it." Bill said.

Bill still had issues when it came to Jesse, but he was right. Jesse was the lightest and it would be the easiest to ride double. Bill was placing a lot of trust in Jesse to help Jack and Jesse knew that it was his chance to prove that he had really and truly turned the corner. Lee called the men over and they helped get Jack up to higher ground. Bill and Lee helped get Jack up into the saddle and then Jesse climbed up behind him. Jesse was able to take Jack's body weight and wrap his arms around Jack. Pastor Frank handed Jesse the reins and sent him off. He said a quick prayer before climbing back on his own horse. Jesse headed back to town and the others weren't far behind. Jesse pushed the horse as hard as he felt was safe. Jesse didn't turn around, but he could hear the group behind him.