The Littlest Horse Thieves Page #6

---

And So, More Cheaply!

I've Obtained An Offer

From The Owners Of A Steelworks

To Take All Of Our Coal

For The Whole Year On Contract!

But It Must Be Cheap!

Then We'd Be Assured Of Work

For A Full Year?

Exactly!

[Murmuring]

What About The Ponies?!

There's No Place For Ponies

In This Pit!

[Murmuring]

Come On, Amos,

That's An Ultimatum.

We Can't Take

An Ultimatum!

At Least Make Terms!

Well, We Struck For Ponies,

But It Weren't Just That!

We Struck For A Bit Of Respect

For Us And The Work!

But If They Can Turn Ponies Out

Without A Thought Or A Word,

They Can Turn Men Out, Too!

If We Go Back On His Say-So

Without Making Terms--

How Can We Make Terms?!

It's A Colliery Village,

And We Live In Colliery Houses.

Aye. If The Pit Closes,

We're Out On The Street --

All Of Us--

And Our Wives And Bairns.

We'll Have No Money,

Nowhere To Live,

No Food, And No Work.

Aye!

Nowhere To Find None,

Neither.

There's Not A Pit In Yorkshire

That Hasn't Got Some Men Idle.

Nay, Luke...

If Colliery Closs

We're Done For,

So Think On.

I Say We Give It A Chance.

It's Agreed, Then--

We Go Back.

We Should Have A Vote!

Let's Vote!

Them Who Wants To Go Back,

And Them Who Wants

To Hold Out For Terms!

All Right, Then,

We'll Have A Show Of Hands!

Them Who Wants To Go Back

To Work Tomorrow!

Them Who's Against!

[Whistle Blares]

[Bell Dings]

Morning.

Morning, Violet.

Alice, Father's Just Going

To The Colliery.

Aren't You Going To

Kiss Him Good-Bye?

I Shall Never

Kiss Him Again

As Long As I Live.

[Neighing]

Get In!

Come On!

Carter:
Get Those Ponies Loaded!

Come On!

What's Going On There?

Come On, Bert,

Get Them Ponies Up, Don't Ya?

Take Old Flash Up,

Then He'll Give A Lead.

Come On, Get A Move On!

Come On! Come On!

By Next Week, We Should

Be Able To Drive South

From The Forward Heading.

Aye.

It's A Pity We Couldn't Have

Found The Ponies A Home, Sir.

Well, It Would Have

Made It Easier

For The Men To Go Back

With A Good Heart.

They Would Only Have Seen It

As A Sign Of Weakness.

[Explosion]

[Horse Neighing]

[Whistle Blaring]

Man:
Out Of The Way There.

Martin--

One Of The Engineers!

Well?

There's Been

An Explosion, Milord,

And A Fall

In The Drift Heading.

We Don't Know Yet

What Caused It...

And, Uh, Eight Men Cut Off

In The Forward Heading.

Who?!

Who Are They?

Who's That?

Mrs. Armstrong, Sir.

I'm Sorry, Mrs. Armstrong.

I'm Afraid That Your Husband

Is One Of Them.

Amos, Go On.

Bless You, Brother.

[Coughing]

Luke:
Nought.

How's The Leg, Amos?

Oh, Hey, Hey,

Don't Touch It, Lad.

All Right, Lad,

All Right.

If There's A Buildup

Of Afterdamp Beyond The Fall,

It Could Be Days

Before They Get Through.

Aye. Cheer Us Up,

Why Don't You?

I'm Gonna Try

The Other Heading--

See If

I Can Hear Anyone.

Alf?

Mind How You Go, Alf.

One Spark From Your Boots

Might Be Enough

To Set It All Off.

Mr. Sandman:
We Think

They're There, Milord.

I See.

And There's No Way

Of Getting Through To Them?

Well, It's Not A Very Big Fall,

As Far As We Can Judge,

But, Um, It's Knocked Out

The Main Ventilation Shaft.

And, Uh, The Afterdamp

Is Very Bad.

Afterdamp--That's

The Suffocating Gas?

That's Right, Milord.

And When There's Firedamp

And Afterdamp Together--

I Know, I Know--It Ignites.

It Can Do.

And There's No Other

Possible Way Of Reaching Them?

No, Milord, And

It May Be As Much As,

Oh, 48 Hours Before

We Can Get The Ventilation --

We'll Get Through

To Them Somehow.

Come On,

Let's Get Going!

I Tell You,

You'll Be Suffocated

10 Minutes After You Left

The Shaft Bottom!

We Could Get In

Through The Old Workings,

Like We Did With The Ponies!

They Got The Old Winding

Engine Working Again And All.

Well, I'm Prepared

To Try It.

You'll Never Find

Your Way Through, Sir.

And We Can't Take

The Lad Down.

You'll Not Be Able To Use

Anything But Safety Lamps,

Because Of The Danger Of

Firedamp After The Explosion,

And There's Not

Much Light From Them.

In Effect, You'll Be

Traveling In The Dark

Through A Pit

You Don't Know.

Flash

Doesn't Need Lights!

He Knows The Way!

Alice!

Where Are You Going?

To The Old Workings, Mother.

Father's Going Down Again.

Come Now, Then.

Mrs. Sandman,

You're Not Going To --

[Gasps] With All Those

Miners' Wives.

[Indistinct Shouting]

Mr. Sandman:

Is The Pony Ready?!

Aye, Sir.

Well, Bring It Up Then!

Let Me Go Down

With Flash.

No.

No, It's Out

Of The Question.

Please, Sir.

I'm Afraid I Can't

Allow It, My Boy.

You Stay And Look

After Your Mother.

We'll Get Your Father Out

If We Can.

Don't Worry.

I'll Take Flash Down.

I'm His Driver.

Come On, Flash.

Come On!

Come On.

You Stay There, Son.

Come On, Flash.

Good Boy.

What's The Matter

With Him?

Get Him In -- Quickly!

Oh, He'll Be All Right.

Come On, Flash.

Come On.

That's A Good Pony.

He'll Be All Right.

Back Him In.

Back Him In.

Keep The Canary

Up At The Front, Sir.

If There's Gas About,

He'll Give You Warning

Before Anything Else.

Right, Harry!

Right!

Right. Come On, Then.

Watch Your Lamps.

Now, Which Way?

Well, See If Old Flash

Knows The Way.

Go On, Flash.

Go To The Face.

Go On, Lad.

Is That Better?

I Can Walk

20 Mile On It Now.

Aye. I Wouldn't Try It

If I Were You.

[Metal Bang]

Is That You, Alf?!

[Coughing]

Aye. My God,

It's Bad Up There.

Did You Hear Anything

From Beyond The Fall?

Not A Sound.

I Reckon It'll Take

Two Or Three Days

Before The Gas Clears Enough

To Let Them Through.

They Probably Think

We're Dead, Anyway.

Won't Be Long

Before They're Right.

[Chuckling] Hey, Jake,

You're A Real Tonic.

Just A Minute--Stop.

I'm Just Going To Test

For Firedamp.

Yes, There's A Show Here.

Great Heavens.

It's Very Heavy.

Is It That Bad, Sir?

Why, It's

Up To The Limit.

We Don't Have Much Time.

Carter:
Yes, Milord,

Straight Away.

Lord Harrogate:
Tell Her

She'd Be Most Welcome.

Uh, Mrs. Sandman,

Lord Harrogate Was Wondering

Whether You'd Like

To Go And Sit In The Car.

Oh...

Would You Thank

His Lordship,

But Say

I Prefer To Wait Here.

Right You Are.

Give That

To Mrs. Sandman.

My Mum Wondered

If You Want A Blanket.

Well, Thank You, Dear.

Thank You Very Much.

Thanks, Luke.

You All Right, George?

I'm All Right, Lad.

How Is He?

He's Poorly.

He's Real Poorly.

[Neighs]

What Is It, Flash?

What Is It?

It's Blocked.

He Brought Us

To A Dead End.

[Flash Snorts]

[Dirt Falling]

[Muffled Tapping]

What's That?

[Tapping Continues]

[Muffled Tapping]

It's Them!

He's Done It!

Good Old Flash!

They Found Them!

[Crowd Murmurs]

Doctor! Doctor,

They Need You Down Below!

Man:
Lads, Follow Me!

Steady.

Mind His Legs.

[Groans]

You're All Right, Lad.

Mr. Sandman:

Right, Ginger.

Doctor:
Come On, Lad.

Man:
Thank You, Sir.

Good Work.

Ramsden, You All Right?

Aye, Sir.

Let's See

The Other Lads, Sir.

Keep Going Out.

Carter:
There's Three Lads

Coming Up Now!

Alf Ramsden!

George Snape!

Man:
George Snape?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes