‘What good will that do?’ Uncle Huw asked bitterly. ‘All it’ll mean is us giving in without a struggle.’ He flicked his wrist as though sweeping the idea away. ‘And I thought you had a good idea,’ he said even more bitterly.
‘I never said it was a good idea, only that I had one. Which is a damned sight more than you can offer at the moment, so don’t knock it. Come on Meg, off with you, there’s a girl.’
Mam put on her coat. ‘I’ll be as quick as I can. Is there anybody else you want me to bring? Like Lewis Lewis and Peter?’
‘Damn, I should have thought of that myself. Yes, and stress the importance of the meeting. Peter will probably be in bed by now, it’s past nine o’clock, and he won’t take kindly to being woken up. But if you can bear his curses and stress how much we need him, you might be able to persuade him to come.’
‘I’ll try,’ Mam promised and left.
‘Dai, take these chairs into the front room, bring the trolley in here and push the other chairs back against the wall to make more space.’
I went to do as he ordered, still listening to Da and Uncle Huw as they argued.
‘What good will this do, Evan? I ask you, man. It’s bloody ridiculous.’
‘Huw, Huw, Huw,’ Da said sadly. ‘Think about it. At the moment we have everything to lose. If they find out it was you, and I’ve no doubt they will damned quickly, you and the others will be arrested. Once you’re all gone, the rest of the men who are for the strike will give in. We’ll all end up back in work and at least a dozen good men will go to prison or worse. What I’m hoping is if we all go back to work, we may be able to persuade the owners . . .’ He paused. ‘Look, the owners will make a lot of money sooner than they expected because the strike will be over. We can try and get them to pay for the damage to the railway and get the charges dropped. If they can’t or won’t then we’ll fight them with everything we’ve got and by God they won’t get coal from that mine inside a year. And this time boyo we’ll do it properly and really hurt them. I’ve got a few ideas on that score too, only pray to God we don’t have to use them.’ He broke off for a moment and then added, ‘Do you fancy a whisky? I think I’ve got a dram left from last Christmas which I was keeping for the right moment. I guess this is as good a time as any. I heard the clink of bottle on glass and went back into the living room.
‘Dai, put the blinds up in there will you? I don’t want any nosey parker seeing what’s going on.’
‘I already did, Da.’ I was pleased with myself when he said ‘Good boy.’ I was becoming tired but when Da suggested I went to bed, I protested. ‘Aw Da, can’t I stay up now? I want to hear what’s going to happen. Please, Da? I’ll be quiet, honest I will.’
‘All right, you can stay. But don’t say a word.’
Not long afterwards the front door opened and Grandad came in. ‘What in hell’s name is so important to bring me out at this time? Meg didn’t . . . You needn’t look at me like that Evan, I can guess now I see our Huw is here.’
‘Look Dad,’ Uncle Huw jumped to his feet, bristling with indignation.
‘Shut up, Huw for God’s sake,’ said Da sharply. ‘And stop taking offence so easily. You were involved. You are involved I should say and everybody will know it when they get here. What about David? Did he go with you?’
‘No,’ he replied shortly.
‘Thank the Lord for small mercies,’ said Grandad. ‘What the hell are we going to do about it? Perhaps we can get Huw away somewhere tonight. Get him north or as far as Scotland.’
‘I’ve thought of that,’ said Da. ‘And I reckon we plan on it just in case my other idea doesn’t work. After all, it isn’t only Huw that’s involved. There’s all the others too. If the worse happens they’ll have to look to themselves and we’ll take care of Huw. But in the meantime there’s something else we can try.’
‘I wouldn’t go anyway. I’m not leaving Mair and Sally for anything or anybody.’
‘Huw, this is one time you’ll do as you’re told and like it,’ said Grandad. ‘We’ll get Mair and Sal to you as quickly as we can manage. Maybe it’ll even have to be abroad. God knows we haven’t much money but I’ve got enough for you to get away and I may as well use it to save your stupid hide. I’m sorry son, I didn’t mean that. It’s just that . . . .’
‘It’s possible I suppose. The combination of the carrot and the heavy stick might work, especially if the owners believe we’ll all fight as hard as possible. It’s true to say with us against the strike the owners were hoping it would collapse that much easier. Which is true. There’s only one snag. What would you do if you were the owners, Evan?’
Da grunted. ‘That’s easy, Dad. I’d insist that part of the deal would be an agreement from us not to take them to court over the accident.’
‘Yeah, that’s the way I see it too,’ said Grandad heavily.
‘No!’ Uncle Huw said vehemently. ‘We can’t allow that after all we’ve been fighting for. I’d rather run and take a chance on getting away than say we’ve been beaten.’
‘Don’t talk wet, Huw! How are we going to spirit away ten or twelve families? Tell me that.’ Grandad frowned. ‘Now stop thinking with your bloody feelings and start thinking with your brains. Bloody Sir Clifford has us by the short hairs and the sooner you realise it the better. What do you think they’re doing up there in their fine houses right now? I’ve no doubt they’re celebrating the near end of the strike because you’ve played us right into their hands. They’re not stupid.’ We heard a knock on the door. ‘That’ll be William,’ he said.
Within minutes of each other Uncles William, David and Albert arrived. Da said little until they were all there. Mam returned a few minutes later. She told us that Aunts Nancy, Maud and Gwyneth had gone for the committee. She had not bothered Aunt Mair.
Lewis and Shepherd arrived soon after, but though we waited ten minutes for Peter he didn’t turn up.
‘All right,’ said Grandad. ‘I think we’ll start without him. It’s now ten to ten. We don’t have much time and there’s a hell of a lot to do. You all know what happened to the train. Does anyone have anything to add?’
We looked at each other and then Uncle William shrugged. ‘I heard from the vicar that nobody was killed and that he reckoned it was a miracle. A few were hurt, he said, but he didn’t say how badly.’
‘Oh, I don’t mean planned murder or whatever it is they call it,’ Lewis paused. ‘The charge would probably be reduced to manslaughter at the trial, but until then they’d treat it like murder and use the extra police and resources they’d have. Anyway it doesn’t matter because no-one died.’
‘Maybe so,’ replied Uncle William, ‘but according to the vicar they were ready to come and take the villages by storm. The scabs were of a slightly different mind,’ he grinned unexpectedly, ‘because they just wanted to go home. According to the vicar they said they hadn’t signed up to be attacked like that and had been promised there’d be no trouble. And if this was the way the militia were supposed to guard them then they wanted to go back to Cardiff. Quite a few have already left.’
‘That’s an added bonus I hadn’t counted on,’ said Da. ‘It means we have something to argue with.’
‘How about telling us this idea of yours, Evan,’ said Uncle Albert. ‘Meg said something about getting the men back but how will that help?’
‘Hang on and I’ll tell you. William, was there anything else from the vicar?’
‘Not really. The militia are staying where they are for tonight, sleeping in their tents. They’re probably coming on here tomorrow or the next day. I expect they’re waiting for orders from Cardiff to tell them which is more important, the railway incident or the mine being reopened.’
‘Good. All right, look you, I tell you what I have in mind. We get a shift into the mine first thing and start as normally as we can. The committee go and see the owners. Our conditions for staying in work are these. First, no prosecution of the men responsible for the crash. Second, no intimidation and no sackings. Third, we continue negotiations about compensation with a view to going to court if we can’t get what we want. That last point I don’t think will even be considered. They’ll insist on an agreement from us not to go to court unless I’m very much mistaken. But it can’t be helped now. This is far more important. If they don’t agree then you tell them that we’ll fight with everything we’ve got. It’ll become so expensive that even if we do lose in the long run, which we will, they’ll lose a hell of a lot. We can only go hungry. They’ll lose a lot of money and by the time we do give in, probably a few shafts as well. Remind them about safety, water pumping, gas and stuff like that. I think that with a little luck they’ll see reason.’
My head fell forward and I dozed. The next thing I heard was Grandad saying: ‘It’s now quarter past eleven. We’ve only got a night to get organised. We need at least two hundred men for a shift. There’s eight of us . . .’
‘Nine,’ interrupted Mam.
‘No, Meg,’ half a dozen voices said together.
‘You’ve done enough for one night, love. It’s not right for you to be out in the streets until the early hours of the morning. And,’ Da added, ‘especially in case some of that militia swine are wandering about.’
‘Look you,’ said Uncle David, ‘we can just about get two hundred from here.’
‘No good,’ replied Da, ‘because it’ll seem like we’ve gone back and left the other villages out of it.’ He nodded as the others started to murmur. ‘Ridiculous maybe but we don’t want to antagonise anybody needlessly. Everybody must be involved. Huw, this is important. You’ve got to persuade Ivan Thomas, Williams . . . who else? Pratt? Gordon? All those who were for the strike. Make them understand. If you can’t do that then we may still fail in what we’re trying to do . . . In fact . . .’
‘In fact,’ interrupted Grandad, ‘maybe it would be better to see them first. If we can persuade them to go back then we can take one of them with us. That way perhaps less explaining will be needed. Is that what you were going to say, son?’
‘In a nutshell, Dad. The more I think about it the better it gets.’
I must have dozed again because I saw that they were leaving and I had not heard anybody suggest it. Da put on his coat, kissed Mam and said: ‘I don’t know what time I’ll be back but it should be before daylight.’
Mam smiled. ‘Good luck. Right, Dai, time you were in bed.’
Mam emptied the ashtrays into the dying fire and I asked: ‘What do you think will happen Mam? Will they go back? And if they do will it save the men from going to prison? Or being deported or whatever?’
She shrugged. ‘I just don’t know. I suppose we’ll manage to get some of them away. We’ll certainly get Uncle Huw away, you can rest assured about that. Some of the others will be caught but some’ll make it. The best thing, I’m sure, is this scheme of Da’s. If it doesn’t work then the men will be hunted like criminals and that’s a pretty unpleasant thought. Now off with you, up the wooden hill.’
I went to bed thinking about what was going on in the streets, though not for long, I was asleep almost as soon as my head touched the pillow.
10
The next morning Sion was up and out by the time I went downstairs. I guessed he was with Uncle James, who was taking a real interest in kites and flying. He and Sion were often on top of the hill trying to get one of their designs into the air.
Mam looked happier than she had done for ages and I heard her humming. She said: ‘Da came in about five o’clock and said they’d filled the shift. The others are now going round the rest of the villages explaining the situation to everybody. He said they’d had difficulty with Ivan Thomas but all Ivan could suggest was getting the men away.’ She laughed, but there was only a touch of humour in her voice. ‘Ivan Thomas said that as leader of the strikers he ought to stay and fight for the people, whatever that means. If all the others ran for it he’d be in the clear. The worm! Fight for the people! Huh! Grandad promised Ivan the authorities would know of his involvement; he’d make sure of it. Da said that was when Ivan gave in, calling Grandad quite a number of nasty names. But, like Da said, names don’t matter, as long as the men started work.’
‘Is that why you’re so happy, Mam?’ I asked, sipping my tea.
‘It’s all part of it. Da and I were worried about using up all our savings especially now we need every penny to get to America. If the strike went on for too long we could end up using more than we could afford. It may have meant putting off going for another year, who knows? But now with the men back and if Da is successful in trying to persuade the owners to leave things alone . . .’
‘Da,’ I interrupted. ‘What’s he got to do with it? I thought the committee was dealing with the owners.’
‘It is. But Grandad insisted that Da went along as well, to help them. Especially as it was all his idea. The rest of the committee agreed. Da was reluctant to go at first because he wanted to go down the mine. Like he said, he doesn’t get anything for going to the meeting. Grandad persuaded him it was for the best, just this once, so he agreed to go. At this moment he’s with the owners and Sir Clifford at their offices.’