The Gold Mine Adventure (standard:adventure, 3241 words)
Author: Charles Reap, Jr.	Added: Mar 24 2006	Views/Reads: 3479/2292	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Two girls are camping with their parents and find an abandoned gold mine. They become trapped behind a cave-in. Their dog leads their parents back to the mine and they are rescued.

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the field, “Hey. I see a cave. Let's go look at it.” Well, that sounded 
exciting, so standing and sticking my water bottle back in my pocket, I 
replied, “Last one there's a horses' rear end.” And I took off running 
with a wide grin on my face. Daisy got there first, but stopped at the 
entrance. By the time we'd reached the cave, Terry'd caught up with me, 
so I guess it was a tie. Neither of us would be a horses' rear end that 
time. We looked at the opening. It had a bunch of cross-tie sized 
timbers around the sides and over the top. Small rusty railroad tracks 
were coming out from inside. “What do you think, Terry? I said. “Wanna 
go in?” He replied cautiously, “I dunno. Looks pretty dark in there. 
Maybe we oughta head back.” I looked in again. “I've got this penlight 
that mom gave me. Anyway, it's still early and we haven't been gone 
from the camp very long.” “Maybe we really should be getting back.” She 
looked at the penlight I had removed from my pants pocket. “You 
chicken?” “I'm sure not chicken, but your folks should be getting back 
from their own hike about now.” Stubbornly I said, “Well, I'm going in. 
You can stand out here if you want to.” I took a couple steps over the 
rotting crossties, and turned on my light. I looked at Daisy, who was 
just sitting there beside us. “C'mon Daisy. Let's go.” She looked up at 
me, but didn't move. I repeated, with more sternness in my voice, 
“Daisy! Come on.” She still wouldn't go in. I decided, “What the heck. 
So what?” Terry looked inside where my light was shining. “Well, okay. 
I guess I'll come in too.” She moved close beside me. I called once 
more, “Daisy? Aren't you gonna come in?” She didn't. We slowly and 
cautiously walked inside, following the tracks. I used my walking stick 
to push aside some cobwebs. I missed one and Terry caught it right in 
the face. “Ugh!” she cried, wiping it away. Soon we were on a slight 
downhill slope and could hear water dripping ahead. “You hear that?” 
Terry, still nearly touching me, stepped over a fallen rock and said, 
“Yeah. You think there's a creek in here someplace?” “Maybe.” Our 
voices echoed in the tunnel. I was somewhat anxious. I'd never been in 
a mine before. The tunnel swept in a long curve and we were now out of 
view of the outside. I flashed my tiny light from side to side. It 
seemed darker than we had expected. Suddenly, a sparkle appeared on one 
side of the mine wall. “Hey, what's that? Terry said. She grabbed my 
arm and directed my light to the spot she pointed. I walked the three 
steps over to it and exposed the shiny area. “That's gold!” I 
exclaimed. “Golly gee,” exclaimed Terry. “It looks real to me. You 
wanna know what I think? We're in a real abandoned gold mine. Here, you 
keep your light on it while I take my knife and dig this stuff out.” 
After she held it in her hand we both peered at the tiny piece 
carefully. “Hey,” said Terry excitedly. “Let's keep looking. Maybe 
we're gonna get ourselves rich today.” She then grabbed my arm and 
directed my light further down the passageway. Several additional spots 
gleamed at us. We were both excited and moved quickly to gouge them 
out. Terry held several small pieces in her hand and said, “Jill, we're 
gonna be really rich. I'm not even gonna have to work for a living!” I 
responded doubtfully, “But it's not a lot. I think you've gotta have a 
bunch more to be really rich.” Terry took my penlight from me and 
rapidly walked down a side passage. She brushed away some cobwebs with 
her other hand, and flashed the light over the walls and ceiling. I 
didn't spot any more. Suddenly, we came upon an old open handcart, its 
metal wheels resting on the rusty rails. Terry said, “I'll bet that 
wagon's full of gold.” But when she directed the light inside, it was 
empty. Disappointed and angry, she uttered, “Shoot. Nothing in there at 
all.” With that she gave the cart a hard shove with her foot and sent 
it teetering along the old rails. As we watched it careen along, it 
suddenly fell off the rails and crashed into the wall of the tunnel. A 
few pebbles and a small trickle of dirty water fell from the ceiling. 
With Terry still holding the light, we walked over to where the wooden 
cart now lay on its side. She flicked the light over the wall where the 
cart hit and spotted another gleam of shiny metal. “Oh boy. Here, you 
hold the light,” she said as she fingered out the pick on her knife. 
She was just picking the small piece out when there was a sudden loud 
rumble and a huge cloud of dust immediately behind us. Both of us 
jumped over the cart and cringed. “The ceiling fell in!” I cried out. I 
coughed several times. The dust made breathing difficult. I dropped the 
pen light, and it went out. Terry cried out, “Jill! Turn the light back 
on. It's black as pitch in here,” and she started coughing too. I fell 
to my knees and began brushing my hand around on the dirty floor. I was 
afraid I wouldn't find it. “Terry, help me. I can't find the light.” 
She coughed again, and then joined me. After what seemed to be an 
eternity, my trembling hands found the light laying in a puddle of mud. 
I switched it on, and flashed the light on Terry's face. It was covered 
with red dust, and small amounts of mud where she had been sweating. I 
said, “We gotta get out of here. There might be another cave-in.” 
“Yeah.” I scanned the light over the huge pile of muddy rocks. The pile 
seemed to go all the way up to the ceiling. I was scared. I looked over 
at Terry. The light flickered slightly. Then it went out. I banged it 
up and down on my leg, but it remained out. “Terry,” I said solemnly. 
“I think the battery is dead. I can't get it to come back on.” Although 
it was pitch black now, Terry felt my hand and took the light from me. 
“Here,” she said frantically. “Let me try it.” I'll unscrew the back 
and see if that'll work.” She coughed violently. I could hear her 
wheezing a little. The blackness seemed overwhelming. “Terry, I'm 
scared. But we gotta try something. We gotta try to get ourselves outa 
here.” I felt around and found Terry's arm. “C'mon. Let's try to climb 
up on this pile and see if we can move some of the rocks away.” As I 
was speaking, I heard another slight rumble and several more rocks fell 
and tumbled down the pile. These sounded smaller. Still, it was scary. 
We gingerly climbed up the black mountain and began to tug at whatever 
we could feel. The smaller stones moved easily down the pile, but soon 
we discovered that we were confronted with much larger ones. We could 
only guess at the size in the dark. Soon, we were sweating intensely, 
and breathing heavily. I said, “I've gotta rest a little. You okay, 
Terry?” She coughed again, and felt across a large boulder for my 
sleeve. “I don't feel very good. I'm having a little trouble catching 
my breath. How're you?” “Terry, I'm scared. I don't like the dark and 
I'm afraid we can't get out of here.” She said, “Do you suppose our 
folks'll find us here? They don't even know we left the camp.” I 
replied, “They don't know which way we went, or where we are. Do you 
s'pose that we'll die here?” I could hear Terry's voice cracking as she 
said, “I don't wanna die. Somebody's gotta find us.” “I don't know how 
much air we've got in here. I didn't get to see how much further the 
tunnel went before the light gave out.” Terry broke down into great 
sobs. I have to admit that I was a little tearful myself. * * * About 
an hour earlier, Terry and Jill's parents returned to their camp. 
Finding the girls gone, they shrugged their shoulders, knowing that as 
trained Girl Scouts, could easily find their way back to the base. 
Jill's mother noted that Daisy was gone also. She felt somewhat 
relieved with that knowledge. However, nearing dusk, when tree shadows 
were lengthening, and their daughters had not returned, Terry's mother 
said, “I wonder where the girls went. They should be back by now.” 
Jill's dad spoke up. “Yeah. I agree. They should be here. They know we 
always start the camp fire and cooking about this time.” Terry's 
mother, Mary, began to show concern. “Maybe we should go out looking 
for them?” “Absolutely!” Chimed in Sarah, Jill's mother. Ralph, Terry's 
father tossed down the load of broken limbs he was carrying and said to 
Jill's dad, “Come on, Bill. Let's pop out and see if we can't locate 
'em.” All four parents began calling as the men walked into the brush. 
“Jill!” “Terry!” After about five minutes, both men returned to the 
camp. “Can't find 'em,” said Ralph. Mary threw her hands to her face. 
“It's getting dark. Maybe they're lost.” She was feeling frantic, as 
was Sarah. Both looked out into the shadows and called out as loud as 
possible, “Jill!” “Terry!” They heard only their echoes from the 
surrounding hills. Ralph retrieved a battery-operated lantern from his 
tent and said, “We can't just stand around here. We've got to go 
hunting for them.” Bill said, “Yeah, but which way should we head? They 
could have gone anywhere.” Noting this remark, both mothers broke into 
deep sobs of fear for their children. Sarah tearfully cried, “Bill! 
What are we going to do? We've got to find them somehow.” At that 
moment Daisy came onto the campsite. She walked over to beside one of 
the tents and lay down. She mournfully placed her chin between her 
forepaws as if expecting to be punished for something bad. She glanced 
up at the adults standing at the campfire. Her eyes expressed sadness. 
Sarah suddenly ran to Daisy. “Daisy!” She held the dog's head in her 
palms and cried in anguish. “Where is Jill? Jill! Daisy, where is Jill? 
Do you know?” Hearing the name of her master mentioned, Daisy perked up 
her head and ears. “Jill!” Sarah repeated, looking over at the other 
parents. “Where is Jill?” Daisy suddenly seemed to realize what she was 
being asked. She rose to all fours and began to trot in the direction 
where she had been. Bill yelled, “Ralph, c'mon. Quick. I think Daisy's 
gonna show us where the girls are. And bring your lantern.” Ralph 
responded with, “You ladies stay here in case they come back. We're 
gonna see if the dog will show us the way to them.” Ralph immediately 
followed Daisy. He flashed the lantern back and forth like a 
locomotive's headlight. He said, “Bill, keep your eyes open. We don't 
want to miss 'em.” Now night had completely enveloped them. Tree frogs 
were singing their loud melodies to each other. Soon Daisy had led the 
men back to the old mine. Again, she stopped, seemingly afraid to enter 
the dark confines. “My God,” exclaimed Jill's father. “You don't 
suppose they went in there?” “Don't know,” replied Ralph. “But we'd 
best check.” He shined his light into the black passageway. “C'mon. 
Follow me.” Both men called out, “Terry!” “Jill!” There was no answer. 
Ralph and Bill followed along the old rails, with Ralph flashing her 
light to and fro. Bill suddenly grabbed Ralph's arm. “Hey look here.” 
He pointed towards the dirt. Ralph brought the light of the lantern 
onto the mine floor. “Yeah. I see them. Footprints in the dust. The 
girls were here all right.” “Terry!” Ralph called out loudly, as he 
once again moved the light of her lantern along the passageway floor. 
“Jill!” Suddenly the two men came upon a huge pile of rocks, blocking 
the passage. They looked at each other in distress. “Jill!” “Terry!” At 
that moment, they heard a faint cry from the other side of the rock 
pile. “Daddy?” “My God,” cried Bill. “They're trapped in there.” He 
started scrambling over the muddy rocks, grabbing first one, then 
another with her hands. Ralph positioned the lantern over to one side 
and joined Bill in moving the blocking stones. Bill yelled, “We're 
coming, girls! Hang on!” After about half an hour, with bloodied hands, 
the two men had moved away enough rocks and dirt to peer over the pile. 
“Daddy!” screamed Terry. “You've saved us!” Seeing the light above the 
pile, both tearful girls scrambled up to the top, clearing away a few 
smaller stones. Soon, there was enough room to crawl through, and the 
Jill and Terry were freed from their dark dungeon. Dirty, filthy, the 
girls were hugged tightly as they eased themselves down into each of 
their father's open arms. “Let's get out of this place,” said Bill. 
Terry said, still tearful with happiness, “We were just exploring, and 
found some gold.” Jill said, “And the roof caved in. We were afraid 
nobody'd ever find us.” Ralph put her arm around Terry and said 
reassuringly, “You can thank Daisy for that. She came back to the camp 
and showed us how to get here.” Jill reached down and rubbed Daisy's 
back comfortingly as they walked back towards the campsite. “Good dog.” 


THE END 


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