She made an effort, and when she spoke again her voice was calmer.
‘Sorry, Vic, I’m rattled. I’m terrified of being underground like this. I feel shut in and buried.’
‘I know. Now, get hold of yourself. Once you start feeling sorry for yourself, you’re sunk. Come on, kid.’ I linked my arm in hers and we set off again.
The ground sloped steeply and we began to descend into what seemed a black pit.
Suddenly my torch went out.
Paula clung to my arm, stifling a scream.
‘It’s all right. Put yours on,’ I said. ‘Mine was due to fade. It’s a wonder it’s lasted so long.’
She gave me her torch.
‘We’d better hurry, Vic. This won’t last long.’
‘It’ll last all we want.’
Having someone to steady made it easier for me. But we increased our pace, both knowing we would be in a bad spot if the torch failed us before we could find a way out of the mine.
We kept going down, and the farther we went the more stifling the air became. Then to add to our troubles the roof of the tunnel became lower with every step we took.
Suddenly Paula stopped.
‘This isn’t the way!’ Her voice was high-pitched. ‘I know it isn’t! Let’s go back.’
‘It must be the way. Dedrick turned left at the end of the tunnel. I watched him. Come on, let’s look a little further.1
‘Vic; I’m scared.’
She backed away from me. I could hear her rapid breathing, and I flashed the light on her face. She was white and her eyes were wild looking.
‘I—I can’t stand any more of this! I’m going back! I can’t breathe!’
I was having trouble with my breathing too. There was a tight feeling around my chest and every lungful of air I took in had to be fought for.
‘Another hundred yards. If it doesn’t take us anywhere we’ll go back.’
I caught hold of her arm and pulled her along. Fifty yards farther on, there was another intersection. The air was very] bad now.
‘There you are,’ I said. ‘I told you we’d come to something. We’ll go right. If it goes down we’ll turn back and try the other way.’
She went with me.
Every new tunnel we came to was exactly like the others. We might just as well be walking up and down the same tunnel of all the progress we seemed to be making. And as we went on into the darkness, walking became more difficult. My legs felt heavy, and I had to make a continuous effort to move them. Paula was gasping for breath, and I had to help her along.
But at least the floor of the tunnel wasn’t going down. If anything, it was going up.
‘I’m sure we’re on the right road now,’ I gasped. ‘We’re climbing.’
She leaned more heavily on me.
‘The air’s awful. I – I can’t go much farther.’
I put my arm round her and helped her along. The roof of the tunnel was getting lower. We had to bend our heads. Another twenty yards and we were bent double.
We stopped, gasping for breath.
‘We must go back, Vic!’
She pushed away from me and began to stagger back the way we had come. I stumbled after her, jerked her round.
‘Don’t act the fool, Paula! Now, come on. You’re getting into a panic.’
‘I know,’ She clung to me. ‘I can’t help it. It’s this awful darkness.’
I could feel her trembling against me.
‘Let’s sit down for a moment. We’re going to get out of this; only, you’ve got to keep calm.’
We sat down, and immediately discovered the air was a lot better near the floor of the tunnel. I pushed her flat and lay beside her.
After a few minutes the tightness around my chest and the weights around my limbs went away.
‘This is better.’
‘Yes.’ She half sat up, pushing her hair off her face. ‘I’m behaving awfully badly. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do it again.’
‘Forget it,’ I said and took her hand. ‘You’ve got a touch of claustrophobia. You’ll get over it. Feel like moving? We’ll crawl some of the way. Keep your nose close to the ground. I’ll go first.’
We crawled over the rough ground, bruising our hands and knees. After a while we had to stop again. I was sweating, and my breath rasped at the back of my throat. Paula flopped beside me: all in.
‘Do you really think we’ll get out?’ she asked in a small voice.
‘Yeah; we’ll get out,’ but my voice carried no conviction. ‘We’ll take it easy for a few minutes; then we’ll go on.’
I was beginning to realize that Dedrick couldn’t have come this way. It looked as if we had taken a wrong turning somewhere. The thought of being in this mine much longer was beginning to get on my nerves.
Suddenly she gripped my arm.
‘What’s that?’
I listened.
Somewhere in the mine, I had no idea how far away or how near, there came the sound like rain falling and the soft rustle of dry leaves.
‘What is it, Vic?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘It sounds like rain.’
‘Can’t be. Keep still!’
We sat motionless, listening.
The pattering sound was nearer now: a sound of a thousand little leathery feet running over pebbly ground. I knew what the rustling sound was. I’d heard it before: only it wasn’t one or four, but hundreds.
The rats were on the move!
V
I jumped to my feet.
‘Come on. Let’s see how fast you can run.’
‘What is it?’ Paula said, scrambling up.
I grabbed her hand.
‘Rats! Now, come on. Don’t be frightened. We’ll lose them.’
Bent double, we ran down the tunnel. The pattering sound behind us grew louder. We blundered on, stumbling over stones, banging against the rough walls, but keeping up some sort of pace. The tunnel curved to the right; turning the corner, we found more head room. After a few yards it was possible to stand upright
‘Stretch your legs,’ I said, and increased my speed, dragging her along with me.
The going was easier now. We kept on, gasping for breath, running blindly into the darkness. The tunnel seemed endless. Suddenly Paula lurched and would have fallen if I hadn’t swung round and steadied her. She leaned against me, sobbing for breath.
‘I’m done!’ she gasped. ‘I can’t go any farther.’
‘You can, and you’re going to!’
I put my arm round her and forced her on, but we had gone only a few hundred yards when her knees buckled and she sprawled on the ground.
‘Give me a minute. I’ll be all right. Just give me a minute.’
