Hammond Innes - Campbell's Kingdom

At length I could stand the suspense no longer. I drew Garry on one side. ‘Suppose we don’t strike the anticline exactly where we expect to,’ I said. ‘What depth are you willing to drill to?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘The boys are getting restive.’

‘Will you give it a margin of two thousand feet?’

‘Two thousand!’ He stared at me as though I were crazy. That’s nearly a fortnight’s drilling. It’d take us right up to the date of completion of the dam. Anyway, we haven’t the fuel.’

‘I can pack some more up.’

He looked at me, his eyes narrowed. ‘There’s something on your mind. What is it?’

‘I just want to know the margin of error you’re willing to give it.’

He hesitated and then said, ‘All right, I’ll tell you. I’ll drill till we’ve exhausted the fuel that’s already up here. That’s four days more. That’ll take us over six thousand.’

‘You’ve got to give a bigger margin than that,’ I said.

He caught hold of my arm then. ‘See here, Bruce. The boys wouldn’t stand for it.’

‘For God’s sake,’ I said. ‘You’ve been drilling up here now for two months. Are you going to throw all that effort away for the sake of another fortnight?’

‘And risk losing my rig when they flood the place? Good Christ, man, you don’t seem to realise that we’ve all had about as much as we can take. I’ve lost two trucks; neither the rig nor any of the boys are earning their keep. If we don’t bring in a well-’

He stopped then for the door burst open and Clif Lindy, the driller on shift, came in. There was a wild look in his eyes. ‘What is it, Clif?’ Garry asked.

‘We’re in new country,’ he said.

‘The anticline?’

But I knew it wasn’t the anticline. His face, his whole manner told me that this was the moment I had dreaded. They had reached the sill.

‘We’re down to rock as hard as granite and we’ve worn a bit out in an hour’s drilling.’ He caught hold of Garry’s arm. ‘For God’s sake,’ he said, ‘let’s get the hell out of here before we’re all of us broke.’

‘How much have you made in the last hour?’ Garry asked.

‘Two feet. The boys want to know shall we stop drilling?’

Garry didn’t say anything. He just stood there, looking at me, waiting to see what I was going to say.

‘You’re just throwing away good bits and wearing out your rig for nothing,’ Clif said excitedly.

‘What do you say, Bruce?’ Garry asked.

‘It’s the same formation that stopped Campbell’s cable-tool rig. If you get through this-’

‘At two feet an hour,’ Clif said with a laugh that trembled slightly. ‘We could be a month drilling through this.’ He turned to Garry. ‘The boys won’t stand for it, not any more. Nor will I, Garry. I don’t mind risking a couple of months for the chance of making big dough. But we know damn well now that we’re not going to bring in a-’

‘How do you know?’ I cut in.

He laughed. ‘You go and ask Boy. You ask him what he thinks about it. Only you won’t find him, not around camp here. He’s away into the mountains to brood over Campbell’s folly — and his own. He thought when the country changed we’d be down to the anticline. He didn’t expect to get into igneous country this deep.’ His fingers dug into my flesh as he gripped my arm. ‘If you want my opinion Boy Bladen doesn’t know enough about geophysics to plot a gopher hole. As for Winnick, well damn it, isn’t it obvious? His office is right next door to Henry Fergus. He’d put it across you.’ He looked across at Garry and his tone was suddenly quieter as he said, ‘The boys want to haul out.’

Garry didn’t say anything for a moment. He stood there rasping his fingers along the line of his jaw. ‘I wonder how thick through this sill is,’ he murmured. ‘Most of them around here are not more than a hundred, two hundred feet — those that are exposed on the mountain slopes, that is.’

That’s four days’ drilling,’ Clif said. ‘And what’s below the sill, when we get through it? I ain’t a geologist, but I’m not such a fool as to expect oil bearing country directly below a volcanic intrusion.’

Garry nodded slowly. ‘I guess you’re right, Clif.’ He turned towards the door. ‘I’ll come down and have a look at what’s going on. Coming, Bruce?’

I shook my head. I stood there, watching them disappear through the doorway, a mood of anger and bitterness struggling with the wretchedness of failure.

‘I’m sorry, Bruce.’ A hand touched my arm and I turned to find Jean beside me.

‘You heard?’

‘No, Boy told me. I went down to see to the horses and found him in there, saddling up. I came back to-’ She hesitated and then finished on a note of tenderness: To break it to you.’

‘Why the hell didn’t Boy have the guts to come and tell me himself?’ I exploded.

‘Boy’s sensitive,’ she murmured.

‘Sensitive?’ I cried, giving rein to my feelings. ‘You mean he’s a moral coward. Instead of supporting me and trying to lick some enthusiasm into this miserable bunch of defeatists, he immediately concludes his survey is inaccurate and goes crawling off into the mountains like a wounded cur. I suppose that’s the Indian in him.’

‘That’s a rotten thing to say.’ Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright with sudden anger.

‘If you think so much of the little half-breed,’ I said, ‘why don’t you go with him to nurse his wounded pride?’

She opened her mouth to speak, and then slowly closed it. ‘I’ll get you some coffee,’ she said quietly and went through into the kitchen.

I flung myself into the one armchair. Probably Stuart Campbell had flung himself into the self-same chair when he got the news that drilling was no longer possible on Campbell Number One. It wasn’t Boy’s fault any more than it was Garry’s. They’d both of them taken a chance on the property. They couldn’t be expected to go on when they’d lost all hope of bringing in a well. The anger and bitterness I had felt had subsided by the time Jean returned with the coffee. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I shouldn’t have let fly like that.’

She put the tray down and came and stood near me. Her hand reached out and touched my hair. Without thinking I took hold of it, grasping it tightly like a drowning man clutching at a straw. The next moment she was in my arms, holding my head down against her breast. The feel of her body comforted me. The promise of happiness whatever happened to the Kingdom filled me with a sudden feeling that life was good. I kissed her lips and her hair, holding her close, not caring any longer about anything but the fact that she was there in my arms. And then very gently I pulled myself clear of her and got to my feet. ‘I must go down to the rig,’ I said.

‘I’ll come with you.’

‘No. I’d rather go alone. I want to talk to them.’

But when I got there I knew by the expression on their faces that this wasn’t the moment. They were sitting around in the hut and the rig was silent. They were as angry and bitter as I had been, but with them it was the bitterness of defeat.

The decision to quit was taken the following morning. And as though he’d been given a cue Trevedian arrived whilst we were still sitting around the breakfast table. We all sat and stared at him, wondering what the hell he wanted. I saw Garry’s big hand clench into a fist and Clif half rose to his feet.

I think Trevedian sensed the violence of the hostility for he kept the door open behind him and he didn’t come more than a step into the room. His black eyes took in the bitterness and the anger and then fastened on me. ‘I’ve brought a telegram for you, Wetheral. Thought it might be urgent.’