Chapter 3. Digging Down

Pippin sat listening to the satisfying thunk of Regi's pick digging into the floor of their trap, followed by the scrape of shovels wielded by Andy and Dinny, removing the loosened dirt, then the soft shush as Seth carried bucketfuls of dirt aside and emptied them. The hobbits sang softly as they worked, keeping the rhythm with their tools. He hated this helpless feeling, listening to others work while he merely sat. To distract himself, he called softly to Len, lying nearby.

'How are you, Len?'

'I've been better,' came the reply. 'And yourself?'

'Can't complain,' the Thain answered. 'Cosy seat, good view, fine entertainment. The only thing mising is a cup of wine to make me perfectly happy.'

'Wouldn't the view be better if you opened your eyes?' Len asked.

The Thain smiled. 'O no,' he said softly. 'A watched pot never boils, you know. They'll make much faster progress if I keep my eyes closed.'

Len laughed. 'I have an even better idea,' he said.

'What's that?'

'Once we get out of here, let's leave tunnelling to others and go fishing.'

'Sounds fine to me,' Pippin answered. 'So you've decided you don't want to continue studying to be an engineer?'

'O, I wouldn't go that far,' Len said easily.

'How far would you go?' Pippin asked.

'What d'you mean?' Len said, grimacing as he tried to find a more comfortable position.

'Aldebrand and I were talking of sending you, Dinny, and Seth to the Lonely Mountain, learn a few things about mining from the dwarves.'

Len sat up so fast he gasped at the sudden pain in his leg.

'Easy now, lad,' Pippin said, opening his eyes.

'I'm all right,' Len said. 'Foolish of me.' He coughed. 'Dust is bad,' he commented.

The Thain closed his eyes again. 'Air's not so good, either,' he said, 'but it'll be breathable awhile yet.'

'You're really going to send us to the dwarves?'

'O, aye,' the Thain murmured. 'They've forgotten more about digging than you could ever learn from Aldebrand.' He sighed. 'I hope he got out.'

'I hope we get out,' Len said softly.

***

Diamond had sent Ferdibrand to the Thain's study to get the plans for the dig. He spread them out on the ground while she, Meliloc, and the foreman gathered around. The foreman put a hand on the page. 'That shading means rock, that much I know,' he said. 'If they were at the far end, we can't dig down to them, there's a rock ceiling above.'

Diamond nodded. 'But if some of them were there, it could have saved them,' she said softly. She remembered long hours in the Thain's study, listening to her husband discussing the details of the diggings with the engineers. She frowned and looked more closely. 'These aren't the right plans,' she said.

'What d'you mean?' Meliloc asked. 'They're clearly marked.' He pointed to the legend "New Smials".

Diamond tapped her finger on her husband's barely legible scrawl, "Prlmnry". 'These were the first plans they drew up, the preliminary plans. They are not completely accurate, I know for a fact that changes were made. Did you not find the final plans?'

Meliloc shook his head. 'Aldebrand probably had them with him.'

Diamond looked to the foreman, who shook his head as well. 'They were not on him when he was found,' he said. 'Either someone else has them, or they're buried.'

Diamond took a steadying breath. 'Then we'll use what we have.' They bent back to the plans.

Meliloc put his finger down. 'So if I'm reading this right, the rock stops here? We could dig down into the tunnel, then over.'

'We don't even know where they were...' the foreman said in despair. 'There's a hundred feet of corridor to go through.'

'Tell me again what happened,' Diamond said.

'The Thain had sent Aldebrand out to tell the next shift to wait, he also had a few questions for us, and then he turned to go back in. It wasn't long after that it all came down. I think Everard was with him, yes he would have to have been, but I only remember seeing the two of them. The others must have been further inside.'

'Perhaps at the end of the corridor, where the work had stopped,' Diamond said. She was going to hold out maximum hope. To think anything else was to believe her husband buried under tons of rock and dirt.

There was another rumble and panicked shouts, and a cloud of dust rose from the entrance to the diggings. The foreman excused himself hastily and ran back to the work.

Diamond felt a tug at her skirt. 'Mother?' a grave little voice said.

'Faramir!' she gasped. 'What are you doing here?'

'I heard...' the lad said, his eyes enormous. She wasn't surprised, their son excelled at finding out information he wasn't supposed to know. He nodded towards the entrance, where hobbits scurried about like disturbed ants. 'Is Father in there?'

'Yes, he is,' Diamond said soberly.

'Is he in charge?' Faramir asked. 'Or is he one of the ones buried?' His clear eyes gazed directly into his mother's.

She hesitated, and he knew the answer. In his disconcerting way he went straight to the point. 'I'm too young to be Thain,' he said. 'I'm only ten.'

Diamond hugged him hard. 'We don't know anything yet,' she said. 'We have to hold on to hope.'

The foreman came back, shaking his head. 'That was close,' he said. 'The fall is just too unstable. We need more shoring timbers before we can keep digging. I've sent off, but don't know when they'll get here.'

'Could you start digging down from the top while you're waiting?' Diamond said. It went against the grain to just sit and wait while hobbits were buried alive.

The foreman nodded. 'We'll do that, Mistress.' He turned to shout orders, and several work crews shouldered picks and shovels and began to climb the hill above the diggings.

***

Merry looked across the River at the sound of a horn, saw that the flag was raised at the Ferry. He saw hobbits at the Buckland landing jump to send the Ferry back across to the western shore. Berilac came up to him. 'Pony Post?'

Merry nodded. 'That's what it looks like. Wonder what Pippin's about. It isn't anyone's birthday.'

Berilac grinned. 'Maybe he saw fit to run another test, keep the innkeepers from getting slack.'

'It's a little warm to be running ponies at top speed,' Merry shook his head. 'Let's go down to meet him, see what's up.'

The young rider from Tookland had dismounted when he saw the Master and Steward approaching the landing, and he left the lathered pony in the care of one of the other hobbits, to jump to shore as the Ferry was being tied up. He was hardly recognisable, so dust-coated was he, and he was breathing hard, but he began to speak as soon as the Master reached him.

'There's been a cave-in at the new diggings in Tuckborough,' he gasped. 'The Took is lost, don't know if he's alive or not,' Merry gave a start, and the rider continued, 'We've no engineers left; they're all buried.'

'That was short-sighted of them,' Berilac murmured, but when the rider turned on him in anger Merry put up a restraining hand. He could see his steward was deep in thought. 'I wish my father were still here,' he said. 'Merimac was the best engineer Buckland ever had.' He looked up. 'D'you think Buckland can spare both Steward and Master? I was training under him before you tapped me for Steward.'

'Right,' Merry said. 'You see to the ponies whilst I get Doderic.' He turned to the messenger. 'Take your pony to the stables, they'll care for him there, then go up to the Hall and give your message to the Mistress. Tell her the Master and Steward and Chief Engineer are all off at once.'

'Yes, Sir,' the messenger said, handing Merry the saddlebags and turning back to lead his pony from the Ferry.

Merry snagged a young Brandybuck, telling him to run for Doderic, he'd be in his study this time of day, then he turned to the saddlebags, digging out the hastily scrawled message from Meliloc. Good, they could use the Pony Post; he'd ordered three ponies made ready for them at each stop. Fine foresight on his part, he'd probably already figured that Merry, Berilac, and Doderic would be the ones to come.