Blackstone and the Heart of Darkness (7 page)

‘
You
know
that
would
do
no
good
.
The
Melbourne
Mine’s
just
a
bloody
white
elephant
—
and
the
last
thing
I’m
going
to
do
is
remind
Mr
Bickersdale
that
he
was
conned
into
buying
it
.
’

‘Then
you’ve
got
a
problem
,
’
Tom
says
.

Culshaw’s
mood
swings
again
,
and
now
he
is
very definitely
angry
.

‘No,
you’re
the
one
with
the
problem
,
’
he
says
.
‘Because
if
you
don’t
follow
the
new
instructions
I’m
about
to
give
you
,
I’ll
sack
the
lot
of
you
and
bring
in
a
new
crew
.
’

‘You’d
never
do
that,’
Tom
tells
him
.
‘You’d
never
get
a
crew
that
works
harder
than
mine
does
.
’

‘
I
might
.
’

‘
You’d
be
takin’
a
very
big
gamble
.
’

‘
And
why
wouldn’t
I
gamble
?
What
have
I
got
to
lose
by
gambling
?
If
I
don’t
get
the
results
Mr
Bickersdale
wants
,
I’ll
be
out
of
a
job
myself.’

Tom
thinks
about
it
for
a
moment
.
He
decides
that
Culshaw
is
right
,
and
probably
will
carry
out
his
threat
if
he’s
pushed
.

‘What
do
you
want
us
to
do
?
’
he
asks
.

‘
Next
time
you
blast
,
I
want
you
to
use
a
bigger
charge
that’ll
bring
a
hell
of
a
lot
more
off
the
wall
in
one
go
.
And
then
I
want
you
to
work
a
damn
sight
harder
at
loadin’
the
bloody
stuff.’

‘
We’re
too
close
to
the
nearest
pillars
to
use
a
much
bigger
charge,’
Tom
says
.

‘
I’ll
be
the
judge
of
that,’
Culshaw
replies
.
‘I
was
a
blaster
while
you
were
still
sucking
on
your
mother’s
tit
—
and
I
say
it’s
all
right
.
’

*

‘Tom wasn’t happy about the way things were turnin’ out at all,’ Walter Clegg told Blackstone. ‘But he could see that Culshaw meant what he said, and he must have thought he could get away with using more explosives after all, because he finally agreed.’

*

While
his
crew
load
the
rock
crystal
left
over
from
the
previous
Saturday
on
to
trucks
,
Tom
Yardley
drills
a
series
of
.
holes
in
the
rock
face
,
and
then
packs
them
with
explosive
charges
.

Twenty
minutes
go
by
,
then
Tom
says
, ‘
I’m
setting
the
fuse
now,
so
take
cover.’

The
cover
that
he
means
is
the
salt
pillars
.

‘
Not
there
,
’
he
shouts
,
when
he
sees
the
crew
going
behind
the
pillars
nearest
to
the
salt
face
.
‘This
is
a
bloody
big
charge
I’m
using
.
I
want
you
all
at
the
very
end
of
the
gallery.’

*

‘We didn’t think that was necessary,’ Walter Clegg told Blackstone.

‘Not even though he was using more explosive than usual?’

‘No, they’re massive things, them salt pillars—twenty-five yards square. They have to be that big, because they’re supportin’ several hundred feet of rock above them.’

‘But you went anyway?’

‘Torn was the boss. Tom knew what he was doin’.’

*

The
crew
retreat
to
the
back
of
the
gallery
,
as
instructed
.

Another
two
minutes
pass
,
then
Tom
calls
out
,
‘I’m
going
to
light
the
.
fuse
now.’
And
even
before
his
words
have
stopped
echoing
around
the
vast
cathedral
of
salt
,
there
is
a
huge
,
deafening
explosion
.

*

‘A good blaster knows how to set the fuse so it will give him more than enough time to take cover with everybody else,’ Walter Clegg said.

‘So Tom made a mistake, did he?’ Blackstone asked.

Walter shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think he did.’

*

For
a
while
,
the
crew
are
so
stunned
by
the
ferocity
and
unexpectedness
of
the
explosion
that
they
do
nothing
.
And
even
when
they
do
force
themselves
to
move
,
the
air
is
so
thick
with
salt
that it
is
almost
like
being
caught
in
a
snow
storm
.

Walter
Clegg
is
the
first
member of the
crew
to
reach
the
rock
face
,
so
he
is
the
first
to
see
the
pile
of
boulders
that
the
explosion
has
ripped
away
from
the
wall
—
and
the
first
to
notice
that
projecting
from
this
pile
is
a
human
arm
.

He
knows
he
has
no
chance
of
pulling
Tom
clear
—
knows
that
the
best
thing
he
can
do
will
he
start
clearing
away
the
boulders
—
but
his
instincts
have
taken
over
;
so
he
tugs
at
the
arm
anyway
.

And
it
comes
away
in
his
hand
.

*

‘He was a mess,’ Walter said, his voice choking as he spoke. ‘There were bits of him all over the place. He just looked like so much meat. I was sick. We were all sick. But we collected him up as best we could.’

‘And you don’t think it was his own mistake that killed him?’