meanwhile something like an organised attempt was being made to grapple with the evil. days must, of necessity, elapse before a proper estimate of the damage could be made, to say nothing of the loss of life.
nothing very great could be accomplished, however, until the huge accumulators had been cleared and the deadly current switched off. so far as the london area proper was concerned, holborn viaduct was the point to aim at. in big vaults there, underground, were some of the largest accumulators in the world. these would have to be rendered harmless at any cost.
but the work was none so easy, seeing that the tube here was crushed and twisted, and all about it was a knot of high-pressure cables deadly to the touch. there was enough power here running to waste to destroy a city. there were spaces that it was impossible to cross; and unfortunately the danger could not be seen. there was no warning, no chance of escape for the too hardy adventurer; he would just have stepped an inch beyond the region of safety, and there would have been an end of him. no wonder that the willing workers hesitated.
there was nothing for it but the blasting of the tube. true, this might be attended with danger to such surrounding buildings as had weathered the storm, but it was the desperate hour for desperate remedies. a big charge of dynamite rent a long slit in the exposed length of tube, and a workman taking his life in his hands entered the opening. there were few spectators watching. it was too gruesome and horrible to stand there with the feeling that a slip either way might mean sudden death.
the workman, swathed from head to foot in indiarubber, disappeared from sight.
the workman, swathed from head to foot in indiarubber, disappeared from sight. it seemed a long time before he returned, so long that his companions gave him up for lost. those strong able men who were ready to face any ordinary danger looked at one another askance. fire, or flood, or gas, they would have endured, for under those circumstances the danger was tangible. but here was something that appealed horribly to the imagination. and such a death! the instantaneous fusion of the body to a dry charcoal crumb!
but presently a grimed head looked out of the funnel. the face was white behind the dust, but set and firm. the pioneer called for lights.
so far he had been successful. he had found the accumulators buried under a heap of refuse. they were built into solid concrete below the level of the tube, so that they had not suffered to any appreciable extent.
there was no longer any holding back. the party swung along the tube with lanterns, and candles flaring, they reached the vault where the great accumulators were situated. under the piled rails and fragments of splintered wood, the shining marble switchboard could be seen.
but to get to it was quite another matter. once this was accomplished, one of the greatest dangers and horrors that paralysed labour would be removed. it was too much to expect that the average labourer would toil willingly, or even toil at all when the moving of an inch might mean instant destruction. and it was such a little thing to do after all. a child could have accomplished it; the pressure of a finger or two, the tiny action that disconnects a wire from the live power, and the danger would be no more, and the automatic accumulators rendered harmless.
but here were a few men, at any rate, who did not mean to be defeated. they toiled on willingly, and yet with the utmost caution: for the knots of cable wire under their feet and over their heads were like brambles in the forest. if one of these had given way, all of them might be destroyed. it was the kind of work that causes the scalp to rise and the heart to beat and the body to perspire even on the coldest day. now and then a cable upheld by some débris would slip; there would be a sudden cry, and the workmen would skip back, breathing heavily.
it was like working a mine filled with rattlesnakes asleep; but gradually the mass of matter was cleared away and the switchboard disclosed. a few light touches, and a large area of london was free from a terrible danger. it was possible now to handle the big cables with impunity, for they were perfectly harmless.
there was no word spoken for a long time. the men were trembling with the reaction. one of them produced a large flask of brandy and handed it round. not till they had all drunk did the leader of the expedition speak.
"how many years since yesterday morning?" he asked.
"makes one feel like an old man," another muttered.
they climbed presently into the street again, for there was nothing to be done here for the present. a few adventurous spectators heard the news that the streets were free from danger once more. the tidings spread in the marvellous way that such rumour carries, and in a little time the streets were packed with people.
