Below the seventh lamp

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

At the mouth of the mine, the iron cage waited between the timber posts, perfectly square and still. The winding engine above them beat with the patience of a clock. Mr Vale tested the gate twice, then smiled at Clara. “You could set your watch by it.” As the cage descended, lamps fixed at equal distances down the wall of the shaft appeared one after another. Each new lamp arrived on the sixth beat of the engine: a gold circle, darkness, another gold circle. Clara began to count them. Their regular return divided the depth into manageable pieces.

At the seventh lamp, the flame was bent almost flat. The engine’s rhythm did not change. Mr Vale continued talking, although he repeated his last sentence. From somewhere beneath them came a tap, answered a moment later by another. The cage gave a small sideways movement, no more than a carriage changing ruts, and Clara tightened her hands around the rail. Mr Vale looked upwards, though the opening had already narrowed to a pale coin.

Then the next lamp failed to appear. The darkness lengthened. The engine still beat above them, exact and cheerful, while the chain beside Clara shivered against the iron roof. Mr Vale pulled the signal cord once, then twice. Nothing answered. A lamp flashed past after only four beats; the next came after three, and the next before Clara had counted two. Mr Vale stopped speaking. The engine kept perfect time.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to change the reader’s response to the machinery during the descent. Support your answer with references to the passage.