Five Have a Mystery to Solve (12 page)

„and you"re not to make a sound. This is an adventure, Timmy - a big adventure - and you"re in it as much as any of us. Come along!"

And there they go, all of them, climbing up the dark passage into the cliff! What wil they find - what wil they see? No wonder their hearts beat fast and loudly, no wonder Timmy keeps close to George. An adventure? He must be on guard then - anything might happen in an adventure!

It was very dark inside the cliff. The children"s torches made bright streaks everywhere, and were very useful indeed for seeing the safest places to tread. As Julian had told the others, there was a curious little stream flowing down the middle of the steep passage, with uneven ledges on each side of it. It had worn this little channel for itself during the many many years it had flowed down inside the cliff!

„It"s probably water draining from the surface of the cliffs," said Julian in a low voice, picking his way careful y. „Be careful here - the ledges are very slippery!"

„Oooh!" said Wilfrid, treading on a slippery bit, and finding one of his feet in ice-cold water.

The echo took up the noise at once. „OOOOH-OOOOOOH-OOOOOH!" Poor Wilfrid"s little

„Oooh" echoed up and down and all round them! It was very weird indeed and nobody liked it. Anne pressed close to Julian, and he squeezed her arm comfortingly.

„Sorry about my Oooh," said Wilfrid, in a low voice. „My oooh, oooh, oooh!" said the echo at once, and George simply couldn"t help giving a giggle, which at once repeated itself a score of times!

„You real y wil have to be quiet now," came Julian"s serious voice, almost in a whisper. „I have a feeling we"re coming to some big opening. There"s suddenly a great draught blowing down this steep passage - I can feel it round my head."

The others felt it too, as they climbed higher up the steep passage, trying to avoid the tiny stream that splashed down its worn channel. It made a nice little noise - very cheerful, Anne thought - and gleamed brightly in the light of their torches.

Julian wondered how in the world anyone could take crates or boxes down such a steep dark passage! „It"s wide enough, I suppose," he thought. „But only just - and the bends in it must be very awkward for boxes to get round! I do hope we don"t meet anyone round a bend, carrying a crate or two! My word - the draught is quite a wind now. There must be an opening somewhere."

„Ju - we"ve not only gone upwards, we"ve gone a good way forward too," whispered Anne. „Wasn"t the old castle somewhere in this direction?"

„Yes - I suppose it would be," answered Julian, stopping to think. „Gosh - I wonder if this passage comes up in one of its cellars! An old castle like that would have huge cel ars -

and probably a dungeon or two for prisoners! Let me think - we must have left the cliff behind now - and yes - I think we may be heading for the castle. Why didn"t I think of that before!"

„Well, then - the well-wall must run down beside the castle foundations!" said Dick, in much too loud a voice. The echo made everyone jump violently, and Julian stopped climbing and hissed at Dick. „Whisper, can"t you, idiot! You nearly made me jump out of my skin!"

„Skin, skin, skin!" said the echo, in a peculiar whisper that made George want to laugh.

„Sorry!" whispered back Dick.

„I think you may be right about the well-wall running down beside the foundations of the castle," Julian said, whispering again. „I never thought of that. The castle wasn"t very far from the well. It would probably have enormous cel ars spreading underground."

„The wall in the well that that queer little door was in, was terrifical y thick," said Dick. „I bet I was looking into one of the castle cel ars, when I peeped through it!"

This was al very interesting. Julian thought about it as they went on and on through the endless passage. It ran more or less level now, and was easy to walk through, for it was much wider.

„I think this part of the passage was man-made," said Julian, stopping and facing the others, his face bright in the light of their torches. He went on in a loud whisper, „Up through the cliff the passage was a natural one, awfully dificult to climb - but here it"s quite different - look at these old bricks here - probably put there to strengthen the tunnel."

„Yes - a secret way from the castle to the sea!" said Dick, almost forgetting to keep his voice down, in his excitement. „I say - isn"t it thrilling!"

Everyone began to feel even more excited - all except Timmy, who didn"t much like dark, secret passages, and couldn"t imagine why Julian was taking them for such a gloomy and peculiar walk. He had splashed solemnly through the stream the whole time, finding the stone ledges much too slippery for his paws.

The draught grew stronger and was very cold indeed. „We"re coming near to the opening where the draught comes from," whispered Julian. „Al quiet, now, please!"

They were as quiet as possible, and Anne began to feel almost sick with excitement.

Where were they coming to? Then suddenly Julian gave a low exclamation.

„Here we are! An iron gate!"

They all tried to crowd round Julian to see. The gate was a big strong one, with criss-cross bars of iron. They could easily see between the bars, and they shivered in the draught that swept through the great gate.

Julian shone his torch through the bars, his hand shaking in excitement. The bright ray of light ran al round what looked like a stone room - quite smal - with a stout, nail-studded door at the far end. This door was wide open, and it was through this that the steady draught blew.

„This is a cel ar - or a dungeon, more likely!" said Julian. „I wonder if the gate is locked."

He shook it - and it swung open quite easily, as if it had been wel -oiled! Julian stepped into the dungeon flashing his torch al round the dark and dismal little place.

He shivered. „It"s cold as ice, even on this warm day!" he said. „My word, I wonder how many poor, miserable prisoners have been kept down here in the cold!"

„Look - here"s a staple in the wall," said Dick, standing beside him, examining the half-hoop of iron, deeply embedded in the stone wall. „I suppose the unhappy prisoner was tied up to this, to make his punishment even worse."

Anne shivered. „How could people be so cruel?" she said, her vivid imagination seeing wretched men here, with perhaps only crusts of bread to eat, water to drink, no warmth, no bed, only the stone floor!

„Perhaps some of them escaped out of the gate, and went down the cliff-passage," she said, hopeful y.

„No - it"s much more likely that the passage was used to get rid of the prisoners," said Dick.

„They could be dragged down to the sea and drowned - and nobody would ever know."

„Don"t tell me things like that," said Anne. „It makes me feel I shal hear groans and cries. I don"t like this place. Let"s go."

„I hate it too," said George. „And Timmy"s tail is right down. I feel as if this horrid dungeon is full of miserable memories. Julian, do let"s go."

Julian walked over to the nail-studded door, and went through the doorway. He looked out on to a stone paved passage, with stone walls and ceiling. He could see other doors iron-barred, along a dismal stone passage. He came back to the others.

„Yes - these are the castle dungeons," he said. „I expect the castle cellars are somewhere near too - where they stored wine and food and other things. Come on - let"s explore. I can"t hear a sound. I think this place is absolutely empty."

They all followed Julian down the stone passage, looking in at each miserable dungeon as they passed. Horrible! Dirty, damp, cold, bare - poor, poor prisoners of long ago!

At the end of the passage was another iron-barred door, but that too was wide open.

They went through it and came out into an enormous cel ar. Old boxes were there, old worm-eaten chests, broken chairs, loose papers that rustled as their feet touched them -

the kind of junk that can be found in a thousand cel ars! It all smelt rather musty, though, as Julian said, the draught that blew everywhere took away some of the smell.

They came to some stone steps and went up them. At the top was another great door, with an enormous bolt on it. „Fortunately the bolt is our side," said Julian, and slid it out of its socket. He was surprised that it went so smoothly - he had expected it to be rusted and stiff. „It"s been oiled recently," he said, shining his torch on it. „Well, well - other people have been here not long ago, and used this door. We"d better go quietly in case they are stil here!"

Anne"s heart began to beat loudly again. She hoped there was no one waiting round a corner to jump out at them! „Be careful, Julian," she said. „Somebody may have heard us!

They may be waiting to ambush us. They..."

„Al right, Anne - don"t worry!" said Julian. „Old Timmy would give us a warning growl if he heard a single foot-step!"

And good gracious - at that VERY moment Timmy did give a growl - an angry, startled growl that made everyone jump, and then stand stil , holding their breath.

Dick looked round at Timmy, who was growling again. His head was down and he was looking at something on the floor. What was it? Dick swung down his torch to see. Then he gave a small laugh. „It"s all right. We don"t need to be scared yet. Look what Timmy"s growling at!"

They all looked down - and saw a great fat toad, its bril iant eyes staring steadily up at them. As they exclaimed at it, it turned aside, and crawled slowly and clumsily to a little damp spot in the corner of the wall.

„I"ve never seen such a big toad in my life!" said Anne. „It must be a hundred years old!

Goodness, Timmy, you made me jump when you suddenly growled like that!"

The toad squatted down in its corner, facing them. It seemed to glare at poor Timmy.

„Come away, Tim," said Dick. „Toads can ooze out a very nasty-smel ing, nasty-tasting stuff. Never bite a toad!"

Julian had now gone through the door at the top of the steps. He gave a loud exclamation - so loud that the others rushed to him in alarm, wondering what was exciting him.

„Look!" said Julian, shining his torch into the dark space beyond. „See where we"ve come to! Did you ever see such a store-house of wonders!"

Julian"s torch shone steadily into the vast room, which seemed to have no end! The others shone their torches too, and Timmy pressed between their legs to see what the excitement was.

What a sight! They were actually in the enormous chamber that the boys had seen through the opening, in the well-wal ! What a place it was - absolutely vast, thought Anne, awed at the size, the height and the great silence.

„There are the golden statues!" said Dick, going over to a group of them. „Wonderful!

Queer faces they have, though - not like ours. And look how their slanting eyes gleam when we shine our torches on them. Makes them look as if they"re almost alive, and looking at us."

Anne suddenly gave a cry and rushed over to something. „The golden bed!" she said. „I wished I could lie on one - and now I shal !" And with that she climbed on to a vast four-poster bed, with a great canopy, now rotting to pieces.

The bed gave a mournful creak, and the part that Anne was lying on, suddenly subsided.

The canopy collapsed and Anne disappeared in a cloud of dust. The bed had, quite literal y, fallen to pieces! Poor Anne.

The others helped her up and Timmy looked at the clouds of dust in surprise. What was Anne doing, making such a dust! He sneezed loudly, and then sneezed again. Anne sneezed too. She scrambled quickly out of the collapsed bed and dusted herself down.

„It has a gold, carved head-piece, and gold legs and end-piece," said Dick, shining his torch on it. „What a monster of a bed, though - I should think six people could sleep in it at once! What a pity it has been lost here so long - all the hangings fel to pieces as soon as Anne climbed on the bed-part! What a dust!"

There was no doubt about it, there were priceless treasures in this vast, underground cel ar. The children could not find the sword with the jewel ed handle, nor the necklace of rubies, which Julian thought were probably locked away in one of the chests. But they found many other wonderful things.

„Look in this chest - this beautiful carved chest!" called Anne. „Gold cups and plates and dishes. Stil bright and clean!"

„And look what"s in here!" shouted George. „Wrapped up in stuff that falls to pieces when I touch it!"

They crowded round a great enamel ed box. In it was a set of animals carved out of some lovely green stone. They were absolutely perfect, and, when Anne tried to stand them up, each of them stood as proudly as once they did many many years ago when little princes and princesses played with them.

„They"re made of green jade," said Julian. „Beautiful! Goodness knows how much they"re worth! They should be in some museum, not mouldering away in this cel ar."

„Why didn"t those col ectors take these - and the golden statues - and all the other things?" wondered Anne.

„Well, that"s obvious," said Julian. „For one thing this is a secret cel ar, I should think, and nobody would be able to get into it unless they knew the secret way to it. There"s probably a sliding panel, or hidden door that leads to it, somewhere in the castle above.

It"s very old, and ruined in many parts - and some of the walls have fallen in - so I suppose it was pretty impossible to get to the cellars, even if the secret way was known!"

„Yes - but what about the way we came up," said Dick. „From the sea - up the cliff passage!"

„Well - I don"t know exactly why that hasn"t been used before," said Julian, „though I could make a guess! Did you notice that great heap of fal en rocks near the entrance to the cliff passage? I should think that that part of the cliff fell at one time, and hid the passage completely - blocked it up. Then maybe a storm came, and the sea shifted some of the rocks - and lo and behold, there was the secret passage - open again!"

„And somebody found it - somebody perhaps who had heard the old legends about the castle of Whispering Island!" said Anne.