‘Yes… Sir?’
‘Be quiet and move faster!’
‘Yes… Sir!’
From behind us came the boom of a shot. I nearly dropped the handle and threw myself to the floor.
‘Don’t!’ Mr Ambrose commanded. ‘They can’t hit us! The metal container shields us from any gunfire!’
‘As long as… they’re behind us.’
‘Yes.’
‘What happens… when they realize that they… could probably catch up… by jumping off and… running after us?’
‘Mr Linton?’
‘Yes… Sir?’
‘One of the advantages of being silent is not giving your enemies any ideas while they might be in hearing distance. Now be quiet!’
‘Yes, Sir!’
~~*~~*
It was about five minutes later, and we were just struggling up another slope, when we heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind us.
Mr Ambrose shot me a dark look. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. His look said it all: faster!
Another shot whistled over my head. And another, and another! The last one came so close that I could feel the air move as it whizzed past. Then came the sound of panting, and I knew they were catching up. Quickly, I risked a glance over my shoulder.
There they were! Halfway up the hill, only a few dozen yards behind us. The red and gold of their uniforms shimmered menacingly in the light of the torches they carried, the steel of their rifles adding another deadly colour to the mix of blood-red and gold. They were three in number, and were dashing forward at a dead run. One of them in particular, a slim-built fellow who looked as if he were used to running from Bristol to Bath and back again every morning before breakfast, seemed intent on sinking his claws into us. He was catching up fast.
‘We'll never get away from them,’ I panted. ‘They’ll get us!’
‘No, they won’t,’ was Mr Ambrose’s cool reply. ‘Not if we make it to the top of the hill in time.’
‘How…?’
‘Be quiet and move! Faster!’ And he started shoving down the handle twice as fast as before. Now, even his breathing sounded a little laboured. A single drop of sweat appeared on his chiselled forehead and ran down the side, disappearing into his collar.
Ha! So he is human after all, not some inanimate statue into which the God of Mammon has breathed life by accident!
Unfortunately, I wasn’t a living statue either. My tortured, aching muscles made my humanity all too clear to me. Gripping the handle more tightly so my slippery hands wouldn’t lose their grip on it, I tried to keep up with his insane tempo.
Think of Joan of Arc, I told myself. She threw an entire invasion of men out of her country! And you are going to be defeated by a stinking mining cart? What are you? A baby?
Well, at the moment I definitely felt like lying down and crying.
Blinking the sweat out of my eyes, I stared past Mr Ambrose and, in the dim light of the torches that our pursuers carried, could make out a dark black outline rising above us. The top of the hill? I couldn’t tell. It seemed miles away yet, but in the gloom, distances were impossible to gauge. Behind us, the sound of panting breath was growing louder.
‘Stop!’ The shouted command from behind me came so suddenly, and sounded so near, it nearly made my heart jump out of my chest. ‘Stop or we'll shoot!’
How very kind of you to warn us… Of course, you have already shot at us, so it’s not much of a warning, but still, very thoughtful.
‘Don’t stop,’ hissed Mr Ambrose.
‘Of course not! What do you take me for? An idiot?’
Silence. Very meaningful silence.
‘Well, thanks so much!’ I growled.
‘I did not say anything, Mr Linton.’
‘You didn’t have to, Sir! You were thinking loud and clear.’
‘Just keep moving, Mr Lin-’
The crack of a shot cut off his words brutally. It was so loud, so terribly near now that my ears stung from the impact of the sound. Mr Ambrose’s eyes burned into mine, and again I could read the same message in them: Faster! Faster!
And I did move faster. Up and down and up and down - the repetitive movement sent shocks of pain up my tired arms and down my back. I kept going, but didn’t know how long it would be before I collapsed again. Even my thoughts of Joan of Arc didn’t comfort me anymore. Surely, beating an army of men had to be easier than this? There probably was some way to just hoodwink the stupid fools into falling on their own swords. But a mine cart… a mine cart was devious, and unrelenting. Up, down, up, down—
And then, we were suddenly rolling forward easily, and I nearly fell forward as the cart began to gather speed, without any help from me, and plunged downwards.
Yes!
‘We’ve done it! Let go, Mr Linton! Let go!’
I couldn’t. My hands were glued to the handle, my eyes half-closed with exhaustion. Another pair of hands gripped mine and slowly pried them loose. ‘Let go! We have to lie down! Now!’
Lie down? But why?
The answer to my question came a second later, when two shots echoed through the tunnel. Something heavy collided with me, throwing me to the floor and landing on top of me. Something - no, somebody familiar. Mr Ambrose.
‘They’re shooting,’ he told me in his cool, precise tone. ‘They have a better angle now, from above. Stay absolutely still.’
Oh no, I plan on running a marathon! After all, I feel so rested right now.
I didn’t say anything, though. I couldn’t have moved a muscle if I had wanted to, not even my lips. And I didn’t want to, really. To lie on the rough wood, his arms wrapped tightly around me, felt very comfortable for some reason.
But why is he lying on top of you?
Good question. It was almost as if he were shielding me from the gunfire. But that couldn’t be. That was something only the heroes in penny dreadfuls did if they happened to be in love with the heroine…
The next shot sounded farther away. The one after that could hardly be heard. We were gathering speed now - I could feel it from the wind rushing past us, tickling my face. We were really getting away! Really and truly!
‘Why…’ My voice sounded like a crow with a cold. I cleared my throat and tried again. ‘Why aren’t they following us?’
‘Oh, they will, eventually’ Mr Ambrose said in a dry tone. ‘But they jumped off their cart halfway up the last hill, in order to run after us. It will have rolled downhill by now. They’ll have to push it up all the way before they can follow us. That will take time. We have a good head start.’
There was a last, faint echo of a gunshot, but even I, with my limited knowledge of firearms, knew it didn’t have a hope of hitting us anymore. We were much too far away by now, the darkness gathering around us. The distant red flicker of torches subsided into grey gloom, and then the grey turned to black, and the last noises of our pursuers faded. All noise faded, except for the song of wheels on the rails, the whistling of the wind in my hair, and Mr Ambrose’s breathing. We were alone. We should get up and try to find a light, try to find out where we were, maybe. We should definitely get out of this embarrassing position, Mr Ambrose lying on top of me, his arms pressing me to the floor. Yes, that was definitely something we should do.
But then, why didn’t he get up?
Why don’t you get up yourself, Lilly? You still have two arms and two legs, don’t you?
I checked, just to make sure. Yes, all the necessary limbs were still attached, and hurting like hell. He might be lying on top of me, but I could have pushed him away, or tried to slide out from under him, or said something to him. Yet I did not. I simply lay there, his body pressing against mine in a way that made me ache to pull him even closer and put my arms around him. I could feel his breath on my cheek. He was so close. Almost close enough to ki-
‘We should get up,’ he said. His voice sounded strange, rough even. It still was his usual cool tone, and yet, it wasn’t.
‘Yes,’ I agreed.
Neither of us moved.
‘Well?’ he said. ‘What are you waiting for, Mr Linton?’