Love and Glory: The Coltrane Saga, Book 3 (51 page)

“One thing is for certain,” he continued fiercely. “I’m not going to hurt her or let her be hurt. No matter what happens.”

No matter what happens.
Sam mouthed the words silently to himself.

“We better get moving,” he said gruffly. “I guess I was just worried about you two.”

Travis smiled. “No need to worry. Everything is going to be fine. I’m going to build her a mansion on that land, Sam. Now let’s go take care of the trouble at the mine.”

They rode on in silence. As they reached the site, a worker charged out to meet them, a horrified look on his face. “Coltrane, there was another cave-in,” he cried. “Just now. About ten more feet are gone. One more and the whole dig’s gonna go.”

The site came alive. Travis took off his shirt, grabbed a pick, and started slinging it along with all the others. Time moved with maddening slowness. Now and then they stopped for water, to gasp for a little air. Then they started in again.

Soon it was dark and they worked by lanterns. Dirty, sweating workers appeared ghostly in the light, as though working to dig a grave large enough for all. Support beams were placed, hastily but carefully, as work progressed digging a tunnel into the earth.

Hours later Travis turned at the sound of a wagon approaching. He blinked in disbelief at the sight of Marilee struggling with the reins of the team of horses, her eyes like black coals as her face was struck by lantern lights.

“What in the hell are you doing here?” he called, throwing his pick aside and walking swiftly over. “I’ve never known you to drive a team of horses.”

“Don’t fuss at me, Travis,” she smiled, nodding toward the two women beside her. “We knew you all would be hungry, so we’ve brought food. Sandwiches. Soup. Coffee.”

He reached to clasp her waist and set her down on the ground, pausing to kiss her forehead and give her a grin. “You’re amazing, you know that, woman? But you shouldn’t have done it.”

She laughed, her pale face coloring. “You can scold me later. Right now we’re going to set up this food and feed everyone.”

Walking to the rear of the wagon, she turned and gave him an impish grin. “I’ll make a pioneer woman yet, Travis Coltrane Just you wait and see.”

He laughed. Maybe, he thought, suddenly elated, everything would work out for them. She loved him and he liked her, and damn it, that was better than nothing.

He turned back to his work, much encouraged.

A half hour had passed when Marilee urged him to go and eat. “Everyone else has finished. I’ve saved plenty for you, but the soup and coffee are going to get cold. Sam hasn’t eaten, either.”

“Find Sam,” he said between gasps and swings of the pick. “We’ll take a break and eat together so we can talk about our progress so far.”

She walked away but came back just a few moments later, looking worried. “I can’t find Sam, Travis, and no one has seen him lately.”

He threw his pick aside and went over to where Gilbert Sacks stood sipping coffee from a tin mug. “You seen Bucher?”

Sacks nodded toward the old shaft. “He went in about a half hour ago, I guess. Said he wanted to keep an eye on things while the men who’d been posted there went to eat. They’re back now, though, so Bucher should be out.”

Travis ran to the partially collapsed tunnel. “Where’s Bucher?” he cried, grabbing one of the men by the shirt. “Was he out here when you got back from eating?”

The man’s eyes widened. “We figured he went to eat,” he cried, shaking his head wildly from side to side. “We ain’t seen him.”

Travis released him and grabbed a lantern, staring into the tunnel entrance.

“Hey,” the man called to him, “you can’t go in there. It might collapse!”

Travis ignored him. Stepping inside, he smelled the sharp, dank odor of deep earth. He called out, “Sam? Sam, damn it, are you in here? Answer me!” He ordered himself to be calm. If Sam was inside the shaft, and if there was another cave-in, then he was in grave danger.

Travis held up the lantern, freezing at the sight. It was another cave-in, closer to the entrance than the last one, a cave-in he hadn’t known about. Why hadn’t they heard it? Had they been eating?

And then he saw something that made his heart stop.

Sam’s battered old hat.

Turning, Travis ran back to the mouth of the shaft and shouted, “Bring picks. Supports. Lanterns. Hurry. We’ve got a man down here.”

Marilee ran forward, but he motioned her back. “This is no place for you. Stand by the wagon. We’re going to need it to get him back to town.” He yelled to the men, “Come on, goddamn it. Move! He’s suffocating, and I haven’t even located him yet.”

Gilbert Sacks appeared, brow furrowed. “Coltrane, you can’t take those men down there! You start digging around in there, and it’ll trigger another cave-in for sure. And this time the whole damn mine could go.”

Travis snarled, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do, and don’t get in my way! I’m getting Sam out of there if I have to dig him out with my bare hands.” He gave him a rough shove to the side and pushed by Gilbert to enter the shaft again.

Travis threw himself on his knees and began to claw at the dirt with his fingers, calling all the while, “Can you hear me? I’ll find you, Sam. I swear to God, I’ll get you out of here.” He choked on a sob. Dig, damn it, dig. Every second could mean life to the man who had been more than father, more than brother.
Dig.

There was a low, ominous rumbling, very slight, but enough warning to send the four men who had started after Travis scurrying back out to solid ground.

“You can’t make it!” someone screamed to him as a shower of dirt cascaded down on Travis’ head.

“Come back, Coltrane!” yelled Gilbert Sacks from the mine entrance.

“It’s gonna go any second. Get the hell out of there, man, while you’ve got a chance!”

Travis ignored them, swiping at the dirt caking his eyes and then starting to claw once more. Damn the cowards.

“Coltrane!” called Sacks. “He’s probably dead. You’re gonna kill yourself for nothing. Get out of there!”

Travis felt something and dared to hope. Sam’s heel. He had found his heel! He clawed faster, harder. “Can you hear me, Sam?” he screamed. “Please, God, answer me.”

Sam moved. Ever so slightly, but he moved. Travis inched his fingers upward from the heel along his legs, his buttocks, finally reaching his waist and digging in with all his strength to yank backward.

“Help me, God,” he muttered as he dug frantically. “I’ve never given a damn whether you existed or not, but if You’re up there, help this poor sonofabitch, and I’ll never doubt You again.”

Suddenly he fell backward, still holding Sam. He was out of the dirt, free!

Travis did not stop to see whether Sam was still breathing, or to offer up a prayer of thanks, for in that instant the earthen roof above gave way and fell over his legs. All about him, dirt was running down. “Hang on, Sam!” he cried, using every muscle in his body to inch his way forward on his belly, dragging Sam beside him. “We’re gonna make it, boy!” he gasped, coughing.

Gilbert Sacks scrambled forward on his knees to reach for Sam, grasping his shoulders. Another moved in to grab Travis’ hand.

Just as the three men moved free of the shaft, dragging Sam, there was a great roaring from deep inside, and in a thundering cloud, the mine collapsed.

Kneeling beside Sam, Travis brushed furiously at the dirt caked on his mouth, then leaned over to press his ear to his chest. “He’s still breathing!” he cried triumphantly. “Get the wagon over here. We’ve got to get him to a doctor.”

Marilee came with a blanket and stood by helplessly as Travis and Gilbert loaded Sam very carefully into the back of the wagon. Then Travis turned to her, hair and face streaked with grime, only the whites of his eyes showing. He clutched her shoulders and whispered, “You and the women stay here, sweetheart. I’ll send a wagon back for you if I don’t come for you myself. We’re going to have to ride like hell, and I don’t want you bouncing around.”

“I’m fine, Travis.” She was touched by his tender concern. “I want to go with you.”

“Damn it to hell, no, Marilee!” he yelled, wiping his hand across his dirt-streaked face. “Don’t argue. I’m not taking a chance on your losing the baby. Just wait here. I’ll be back.”

“Yes. Yes, of course, you’re right.” She stepped back, embarrassed that others had heard.

She watched as Gilbert Sacks hoisted himself up into the wagon to take the reins. Travis climbed in the back beside Sam. With a pop of the whip, Gilbert turned down the road, into the black night.

She loved him. The dear Lord above knew how much. He was everything a woman could dream of in a man and more.

But he did not love her.

She would never admit it to anyone, but the notion of leaving him, setting him free, and going home to Kentucky had been quite strong…till she found out about the baby.

Marilee had to accept things as they were, for now. With his baby growing inside her, there was no turning back. She could only give thanks for sharing his life…if not his heart.

The bright lights of Virginia City pierced the purple shroud that engulfed them. Gilbert shouted over his shoulder that they were almost there.

“He’s about half awake,” Travis yelled back “Mumbling something, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. I’m afraid he’s hurt on the inside. There’s blood coming from his nose.”

He kept his hand on Sam’s chest, feeling his heartbeat. It had become stronger once Travis had cleared his nostrils and mouth of dirt, but he did not like the oozing blood.

They could hear noise from the city, piano music and boisterous singing wafting toward them, shrill laughter, a curse. With over a hundred saloons, Virginia City made a lot of noise every night.

Gilbert pulled up the horses in front of the two-story clapboard building with the painted sign, “Virginia City Hospital,” lit up on both sides by gas lanterns. “I’ll go in and get some help and a stretcher,” he called, jumping from the wagon and running up the steps two at a time.

“You’re going to make it, old boy.” Travis patted Sam’s shoulder gently. “Just hang on. You’ve been through tougher things before and come out of it.”

Sam moaned, head lolling.

Travis glanced up as two drunks shuffled by. Across the street, a woman in a red-sequined dress called out to them boldly. The drunks ran their hands down into their pockets, laughed, and hurried over.

Gilbert returned with two men and a stretcher.

“Be easy,” Travis ordered as they climbed up in the wagon bed. “He seems to be in a lot of pain, and I don’t know how badly he’s injured.”

“What happened?” one of the attendants asked, picking up his feet while his assistant caught hold of his shoulders. “Gunfight?”

“Mine shaft collapsed on him. I dug him out. He may have been under there fifteen minutes or so. It was mostly sand. A few rocks. He may have been crushed by one. He’s been trying to talk, but he’s bleeding from his nose.”

They placed him on the stretcher, then maneuvered it carefully down from the wagon.

“Will you please hurry?” a woman called from the doorway impatiently. “I’ve got a gunshot wound waiting, and I’d like to check this one before I start operating.”

Travis looked up to see her framed in the doorway in a halo of mellow light. She wore a plain white dress. The two men carrying Sam on the stretcher disappeared through the hospital doorway, and the woman in white turned to follow. He fleetingly took note of golden-red hair before bellowing to Gilbert, “What the hell is going on here? A woman doctor?”

“Hell, Travis, I don’t know,” Gilbert said wearily, leaning against the wagon and pulling a flask from his pocket. Taking a long drink, he handed it to Travis. “Maybe she is a doctor. You heard what she said.”

“A woman doctor!” Travis spat the words in disgust. “I don’t want Sam looked after by a woman doctor.” He took a swallow of the whiskey and handed the flask back.

Gilbert laughed. “Well, that’s progress, old man. Just be glad there’s a doctor around at all.”

“There’s always a doctor around here,” Travis said angrily. “With everything that happens in this town, there has to be. Someone is always getting shot or cut up. And there’s bound to be a man doctor in there. That’s who I want looking after Sam.”

He ran up the steps and pushed the doors open to find a long, empty hallway lined with doors on either side. Damn it, which door had they gone through? He started into a door on his left and ran into a heavy-set nurse with the build of a man who charged straight for him, elbowing him back out into the hallway.

“Who do you think you are?” she hissed. “This is a hospital, not a saloon. Now you get back out there and wait your turn.”

“Where’d they take the man injured in the mine accident?” Travis demanded, allowing himself to be pushed only because she was a woman.

“I don’t know,” she snapped. “This is a busy hospital. You just wait out there, and someone will speak to you later.”

She started back into the room, but he called out, “Wait. Just answer one question. Do you have women doctors working here?”

She gave him a sour look. “One. What about her?”