Chapter 4

Concerned that Abi might be shaken by having killed a man, I turned to comfort her. To my surprise, Abi was grinning at me the way she did last night. Her first remark was, "Mike, that's just to pay ya back a little fer all ya've done fer me."

"Aren't you even a little disturbed by having just killed a man?"

"That wuzn't no man, that wuz a snake what wuz tryin' ta harm my man. I couldn't let that happen! I don't feel nothin' but relief fer having protected ya."

I thanked her for her good work. That part about "my man" completely escaped me, and I looked around for any more danger. Abi started to hand the carbine back to me, but I told her to keep it. I gave her the additional clips and warned her that she was now holding all of the ammunition we had with us for her weapon.

With Abi to back me up, I was now even more confident that I, we, could move around in reasonable safety. For lack of any better idea, we continued down the trail for a couple of miles. I was counting on this guard to be about three miles from the working mine, so we dismounted and walked the rest of the way toward the mine.

Abi caught on quickly on how to move without being too obvious, so I was not surprised when we came upon another guard who had not even detected our presence. This guard was so inept that I was able to dispose of him with a knife thrust into his right kidney and up into his heart. I was glad for the opportunity to remain undetected by not needing to fire a shot.

The trail led around a sharp bend and we could hear work taking place ahead, though we could not see it. I whispered to Abi to stay behind me and to be ready to give me cover as I crept closer to the work site. She nodded her understanding, and I began working my way around the bend, trying not to be seen or heard.

Once I could see, I was treated to the sight I expected from the sound we had heard. Two men were loading rocks that must have been gold ore into a wagon. One man was driving a team of mules and the other was operating a tipple that dribbled the ore into the wagon as it slowly passed under the outlet.

I watched this activity for a minute. I was not paying much attention to anything else because I was depending on Abi to watch for any other activity. This showed that I was expecting too much from a raw recruit, since she suddenly shot off a short burst of fire at the rocks on the other side of the work site. The guard that she shot at over there could not have seen me, but she reacted without considering all of the consequences.

At least, she did hit her target, but he was only wounded. He was no problem now, but he might become one later. Well, we were committed, so I drew my gun and shot at the wagon driver. He was hit and fell from the wagon, but I missed the other man, who ran into the mine.

I warned Abi that there might be two more guards up among the rocks, and it was her job to keep them occupied while I went after the men in the mine. I guessed that there were at least two more men in the mine besides the one that I had shot at, so I was very careful as I worked my way toward the entrance. As soon as I got close to the entrance to the mine, I emptied the last of the clip from my .45 and swapped it for a new one.

Ducking as low as I could, I jumped into the mine and hugged the wall in a luckily positioned deep shadow. The mine was lit by torches, but they were spaced so far apart that there was still deep gloom in the tunnel. I was going to have to be very careful not to let myself be silhouetted against the mine opening. I got out my LED flashlight, but did not turn it on, yet. I was hoping not to have to use it, but I did want to keep it handy.

I was still waiting for my eyes to adjust to the gloom when I heard a relatively long burst of fire from the carbine. That was a lot of bullets, so I hoped that Abi had hit something useful with at least one of them. I now realized that we were going to have to start carrying more ammunition for the carbine at the rate Abi went through it in her enthusiasm.

I had just started to move deeper into the mine when I heard another burst, this one not as long, coming from the carbine. I hoped that this accounted for all of the outside guards. Well, that was Abi's job, and she seemed to be proficient at it.

Ahead of me, I heard a voice. "What the hell was that!?! It sounded like shootin', but I ain't never heard of a gun what could shoot that many times." There were two answers of bewilderment, so I had located three of my enemies. Thank you, Abi.

A little farther into the tunnel, I saw a concentration of light as if from several close-spaced torches. I guess that it must be the site of the living space, since I had seen nothing suitable outside. If I continued to stay lucky, all of the men I was hunting might be huddled in there where I could see what I wanted to shoot at.

Aha! There they were, all bunched around some double-decker bunks. They were really dumb or very inexperienced, because none of them had thought that I might be sneaking up on them. I probably gave them more credit than they deserved, but I stayed hidden just in case one of them might get in a lucky shot. I had inched into a slightly more favorable position before I opened fire. The shots from the .45 were deafening as they reverberated through the tunnel. I managed to fatally wound or kill all three men with only five shots triggered off as fast as I could pull the trigger. I was quite proud of myself with that bit of shooting, though I knew that others could have done better on a closed range where there was no danger of anyone shooting back at them.

All of these men were dead, but that did not necessarily mean that there were no other enemies in the tunnel. As Shakespeare said, I screwed my courage to the sticking point and ventured farther into the tunnel. I used the flashlight to look for tripwires as I worked my way deeper into the mine, but I did not find anything.

This mine had only the one shaft, so I eventually came to the end without finding any more people. Relieved that I was not likely to get shot at from inside the tunnel. I walked toward the entrance. When I got there, I shouted, "ABI, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

"THANK GOD, MIKE! I WUZ WORRIED 'BOUT YA! THE COAST IS CLEAR OUT HERE! YA KIN COME ON OUT!"

That was good to hear, so I replied that I was coming and walked out into the daylight. Abi came running to me and gave me a big hug and a kiss that I was not expecting. In my previous experience, I had not received that kind of welcome from my coworkers. Let me say, though, that it was not at all unwelcome!

She reported that all of the exterior guards were dead, and she had been waiting for over half an hour for me to show up. I complimented her on her efficiency, but asked her if she had seen any blasting powder in the area. She pointed out a shed hidden by the tipple, and we walked over to it. I broke off the lock and found a dozen kegs of powder and a lot of fuse.

I told Abi that I wanted to blow up the mine to make it unusable. She looked at me like I was crazy, but calmed down when I promised to explain later.

I did say that I would like to find the smelter that had to be servicing several mines, but I didn't know how to do that. Abi suggested that we let the mules show us. Undoubtedly, the mules hitched to the current wagon had been to the smelter on more than one occasion, so they knew the way. All we had to do was to sit in the driver's seat and get them started. Very likely, they would simply head for the smelter of their own volition.

I congratulated her on an excellent idea, except that I had no idea how to drive a wagon. She poo-pooed the problem, since she knew quite well how to drive mules. Damn, could I have found a better partner?

I suggested that she drive the mules about a mile away and wait for me while I blew up the mine. She retrieved our horses and found the others penned up nearby. There was enough rope in the shed for her to make lead ropes for the eight horses, so she did that.

Meanwhile, I was busy moving powder into the mine entrance. I hoped to make this a two-stage explosion. I moved nine kegs of powder half way down the mine shaft and strung a long fuse out the entrance. Then I moved three kegs just inside the entrance and put down an appropriate length of fuse. My plan was to light the long fuse and let it burn well passed the kegs of blasting powder at the entrance, and then light the second fuse. I then was going to get the hell out of the area and follow Abi to the smelter.

I gave Abi time to get a few miles away before I lit the first fuse. It seemed to take forever to burn far enough for me to light the second fuse. As soon as that fuse was lit, I took off, heading to rendezvous with Abi.

I heard the first explosion before I reached Abi. OK, the entrance to the mine was sealed. Now it really made little difference whether or not the second explosion went off, but I hoped it did. I had just caught up to Abi when the second explosion went off. It was less an explosion than the rumble of an earthquake. It was a very satisfying noise, and we went on our way with a light heart. The first part of the day's activities was complete.