A hundred yards further on I had my driver stop and ran back to fix my battery wires. The explosion was much sharper this time. It was like the sound of a gun and the echoes vanished abruptly, masked by the falling snow. When I went forward to look at the bridge it was a tumbled mass of logs. The drop to the torrent bed was only a few feet. Nobody would get hurt if a truck failed to pull up in time.
I got back into the cab and half a mile further on we caught up with the tail light of the truck ahead. They had pulled up, engines panting softly in the darkness. I ran up to the leading truck and sent Boy back to bring up the rear. Garry looked at me once out of the corners of his eyes as I settled down beside him, but he said nothing and we started forward up the long drag to the camp.
It was twelve-forty when we saw the lights of a hut. More lights appeared as we slowly followed the road across the camp area. From somewhere in the darkness came the faint hum of a diesel electric plant. ‘Do you reckon they’ve all gone down in those trucks?’ Garry asked. It was the first time he had spoken.
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I hope so.’
We were almost clear of the camp when a man suddenly ran out into the middle of the road, flagging us down with his arm. ‘What do we do now?’ the driver asked. ‘Ignore him?’
But I knew we couldn’t ignore him. ‘You’ll have to pull up,’ I said. I could feel myself trembling and my feet and hands felt deathly cold. Something had gone wrong. Another man appeared beside the first; another and another — a whole bunch of them. As we pulled up they crowded round us. ‘Switch the dashboard light off,’ I said to the driver. And then leaning out of the darkness of the cab I flashed the beam of my torch on them, blinding them. ‘What the hell are you boys doing up here?’ I rasped. ‘Didn’t you get Trevedian’s orders? Every man is wanted down the trail. There’s been a bad fall. One of our trucks is buried.’
A man stepped forward, a big gangling fellow with a battered nose. ‘We only got here yesterday. We heard some sort of a commotion going on and then the trucks pulled out. They must have forgotten about us, I guess. We didn’t know what in hell was going on. We’d just about decided to take one of the trucks and go down and find out. We thought mebbe they were scared of another slide.’
I said, ‘Well, you’d better get down there as fast as you can. It’s an emergency call. Trevedian wants everybody down there.’
‘Then why didn’t you boys stay there?’
‘We had to clear the road,’ I said quickly. ‘Besides he wasn’t risking this stuff. It’s got to be up the top and ready to start operating tomorrow. Anybody on the hoist?’
‘I don’t know,’ the big fellow answered. ‘We’re new here.’
‘Well, if you’re new here you’d better look lively and get down the road. Trevedian’s a bad man to fall out with.’
‘Tough, eh? Well, nobody ain’t going to get tough with me.’ His voice was drowned in a babble of talk. Then the men began to drift away to their hut. I signalled the driver to go on and we rumbled into the trees and down the slope to the edge of the slide. A glow pierced the darkness ahead, resolved itself into an arc light hanging from a tall pine pole. There were others, a whole circle of lights blazing on the dazzling white of the snow, lighting up the concrete box of the cable housing. A figure appeared, armed with a rifle. ‘Hell!’ I breatried. That damned fool Butler had failed to collect the guard.
I clambered down from the cab and started to explain. But as soon as I told him we’d got to get our trucks up the hoist he began asking for my pass. ‘Don’t be a Goddam fool, man,’ I shouted. ‘Trevedian’s down at the fall trying to clear it. How in hell would he issue passes. Can you work the motor?’
He shook his head uncertainly.
‘Well, probably one of my men can handle it,’ I said.
But he said, ‘Nobody’s allowed to touch the engine except the hoist men.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ I yelled at him. ‘This isn’t routine. This is an emergency. Don’t you know what’s happened?’ He shook his head. I leaned closer. ‘Better keep this under your hat. Nobody’s supposed to know. There’s a bad crack developed in the foundations of the dam. They think the cliff face may be moving. We’ve got to drill and find out what the strata underneath is formed of. And we’ve got to do it damned quick.’ I caught hold of his arm. ‘Christ, man, what do you think we’re doing up here when one of our own trucks is buried under a fall? We wanted to stay and help dig him out. But Trevedian wouldn’t let us. He said it was more important to get our trucks up on schedule.’
The man hesitated, conviction struggling against caution. ‘You wait here,’ he said and hurried back to the housing. Garry joined me. Through the slit I could see him winding and winding at the telephone. ‘What’s going to happen?’ Garry asked.
‘It’ll work out,’ I said.
‘Well, no rough stuff,’ he growled. ‘We’ve done about $10,000 worth of damage already tonight.’
‘They’d have a job to prove we did it,’ I said.
‘Mebbe. But if you try pulling a gun on this guy…’
‘I haven’t got a gun on me,’ I snapped irritably. ‘And anyway I’m not that much of a fool.’
The guard came out of the housing. ‘I can’t get any reply.’ His voice was hesitant. He was unsure of himself.
‘What did you expect?’ I snarled at him. ‘There’s a million tons of rock down on the road and the line’s under it. In any case, Trevedian’s at the fall, not in his office.’ I turned as figures emerged into the glare of the lights led by the man with the battered nose. ‘What’s the trouble?’ I said.
‘No keys in the trucks,’ he said. ‘What do we do now?’ They were muffled in fur jackets and wind-breakers. Some carried picks and shovels. ‘If we could have one of your trucks,’ he said.
I hesitated. But the snow was falling thick. Much as I wanted to get rid of them I didn’t dare risk one of the trucks. ‘Are you just labourers or have any of you been taken on as engineers on the draw works of the hoist here?’
It was a shot in the dark, a hundred to one chance, but it came off. One of them stepped forward. ‘Please. I am engaged to replace an engineer who is seek.’ Dark eyes flashed in a sallow face. ‘I am shown how eet works yesterday.’ He smiled ingratiatingly.
‘Good,’ I said. ‘Get in there and get the engine started.’ And as the little Italian hurried over to the housing I turned to the guard. ‘There. Does that satisfy you? Goddam it,’ I added. ‘You’d think that piece of machinery was something new in atomic weapons the way you fuss about it.’
‘But my orders-’
‘Damn your orders!’ I screamed, catching hold of him by his coat and shaking him. ‘It’s just a diesel engine. Like any other damned diesel engine. And this stuff has got to be up there first thing. And because of your blasted Trevedian and this bloody dam we’re up here instead of helping to dig out one of our pals.
I wish to God we’d never been given the job. But it’s a thousand bucks a day this outfit costs and there’ll be hell to pay if we’re not up there on schedule, snow or no snow.’ I swung round on the silent, gaping crowd of men. ‘All right. You stay here and give us a hand loading the trucks. Garry!’ He didn’t answer. He stood there, staring at me and for the first time that night I saw a gleam of excitement in his eyes, a hint of laughter. ‘Get your first truck on to the staging. These men will help you load and secure. Boy! You ride up with the first vehicle and supervise the offloading at the top. And see that you don’t waste any time.’ I turned to the bunch of men, standing there like sheep. ‘Any of you cook?’ It was the inevitable Chinaman who came forward. ‘All right,’ I said. ‘You get up to the cookhouse. I want hot chow for all of us in two hours’ time. Okay?’