Katie's War by Aubrey Flegg

Author:Aubrey Flegg [Aubrey Flegg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847174642
Publisher: The O'Brien Press
Published: 2012-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Traitor!

Katie crossed the road between the farm and the quarry yard where she had seen Paddy stop to mop his brow and went on downhill at a run, circling the tip heaps that spread like a skirt below the buildings of the quarry yard. Soon she could see where the tip parted to reveal the cut, an awesome crack in the side of the mountain and the only way into the quarry floor by foot. A small stream ran down it, and beside this was a footpath littered with blocks of slate that had fallen in from the walls above. Katie looked up apprehensively. A chill air met her and she remembered talk at home of men being killed while working in the quarry. She wondered with a shudder if their ghosts would mind this sudden intrusion on their peace.

As she emerged on to the quarry floor the towering walls appeared to be closing in on her. Opposite her was a black cave-like opening in the vertical quarry wall. She could see the last of the men disappearing into it now. Dafydd came up behind her.

‘Come on,’ she said. ‘They’ve opened the cave, and I’ve never been inside. Years ago they tried mining the slate here underground.’

‘Katie, don’t go. I don’t like it,’ said Dafydd, pointing up. ‘It’s just under all that waste we were walking on … and look there’s a wet line all along the rock face …’

But Katie wasn’t listening. ‘The cave has always been walled up before. Seamus and I tried to open a hole once to get into it but the stones were too heavy for us.’

‘But it’s not safe, Katie, I know about these things,’ said Dafydd with sudden authority.

‘Don’t be silly, the men are all in there. Stay if you like.’ She was beginning to be irritated by him.

Someone had left candle stubs on a slab outside, but there were no matches. She took a candle in any case and ducked in. Inside, the darkness was total. She groped forward, feeling along the walls until the passage opened out. There she stopped, hoping her eyes would adjust. To her surprise, Dafydd bumped into her.

‘Might as well all die together,’ he muttered.

At that moment a point of light appeared ahead as a match flared. Then the flame became two, then four, then more as the men grouped to light their candles from the next flame.

‘Beautiful,’ Katie heard Dafydd whisper. The gallery where the men were gathered was larger than she had expected. The points of light moved and wavered in the dark, sometimes showing up a face, sometimes glistening on the rock surface. Katie didn’t want to go further. Somewhere just in front of her she sensed there was someone standing, like her also without a light – no point in asking him for a match. Then Father’s voice broke the silence, magnified by the echo of the cavern.

‘We are agreed then. It is good slate, but too expensive to mine underground like this.

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