fantastic time. It was so cool to see the wrecks, and we still might find some gold.”
“The food’s good” added George.
Meanwhile Dad and Barney hunched over the map. The plastic was getting smeared with the moisture in the tunnel and Dad had to wipe it a couple of times. While the Team chatted about the old mill and the tunnel, and which were stalactites and which were stalagmites, Dad and Barney retraced our steps. I watched Dad’s finger moving up and down the zigzag of the Run. He tapped the point where the junction with the Princess Cave was supposed to be and then looked up, tapping his chin. Barney sat on a large rock with his legs crossed, slowly rocking back and forth. He had ‘Me Comfort’ going full blast and the tunnel was beginning to smoke up.
“Did anyone notice anything that looked like another path, branching off, as we came down the tunnel?” asked Dad. “Was there anything, anything at all that looked like it could be another tunnel or an opening?” Everyone shook their heads, Barney included. There was nothing in the tunnel. It was too small and narrow. And we had checked all the alcoves.
“Can anyone remember anything from the journals?” asked Dad. “I wish we brought them with us.”
“Aye” nodded Barney. “But kin ye think what Mrs. Mahoney be doin’ if we did that? Life is mebbe too short te be testin’ the ire o’ Mrs. Mahoney.” We all nodded, Dad included. It didn’t bear thinking about. As it was Mrs. Mahoney didn’t know we had the map, and we’d be in big trouble if she found out. And the journals? Forget it! Barney was right. Life was too short.
But we cast our minds back to the entries in Leslie’s and Rohan’s journals. The tragic voyage on the night of December 6, 1737 and the ensuing sadness. The never-ending search for Jim and the Gold. The capture of Eric and his crew. The departure of Jawali Kaur to London and the lives of Bess and Harold, William and Portia. Leslie’s gout and the sighting of the ghost on the Rocks of Gold. The return of Eric, Martin and Arthur. The death of Leslie. And, of course, the mention of the map.
Somewhere in the journals lay the clue we needed. But where? Did we have to go back to the library and search through the journals again? And would we find it? So far we had been extremely lucky. With Barney’s help and Dad’s thinking we had found our way much further and much closer to the answers to the mystery than anyone else had ever done. And people had been searching for over two hundred years.
We sat there munching on our chocolate bars. I had one with raisins. George swapped me a piece with caramel. Barney sat puffing on his pipe and Dad sat rubbing his chin. It didn’t look promising.
“What about the rule of the three hundred steps?” It was Charlie. Her voice made a strange echo in the damp air.
“What do you mean?” asked Dad, after a few moments.
“You remember” said Charlie. “In Rohan’s journal Eric and Martin said that the Revenooer didn’t know the rule of the three hundred steps, so they didn’t find the cave. After they came back from the Old Bailey.”
“That’s right!” said Dad. “They did say that. But what did it mean? What three hundred steps?”
“The lassie’s right” puffed Barney, sending another cloud of blue smoke into the air. “I be thinkin’ on what Rohan said. It seems te me that three hunnert may be the count. Ye know, mebbe ye be countin’ off three hunnert steps from the mill te the junction, or summat like that. Mebbe then ye be findin’ the Princess Cave.” Barney puffed again on ‘Me Comfort’. “So we need to be gettin’ back te the top o’ the Run and then be countin’ off our steps as we come down the tunnel. Mebbe then we’ll be seein’ the way te the Cave.”
Dad nodded. “Barney may be right” he said. “And we’ve got nothing to lose, so let’s do it. And Charlie. Your memory is brilliant. Thanks for remembering that entry”. Charlie beamed. George swiped the last piece of raisin chocolate.
“Let’s get back up to the cave area with the stalactites and wait there. Barney and I will go back up to the start of the tunnel and count the steps on the way back.”
“But the tunnel’s caved in” said Max. “Lot’s of the steps might be covered up.”
“Yes. That’s true. So we’ll just have to make a guess. Frankly we’re guessing but let’s say we start at step number fifty. That might give us a chance at pin-pointing the cave.” I looked over at Max and shrugged. Fifty was as good as any. If that didn’t work we could try forty. Or sixty. Or whatever.
We trooped back up the tunnel to the open area, everyone glad of Barney’s rope and pitons. When we arrived back in the cave Dad and Barney dropped their packs in a dry spot near to the top, just where the tunnel started again, then began their climb back to the mill.
“We won’t be long” said Dad “Sit tight. And don’t fiddle with anything.”
We sat down next to some tall stalagmites, though there was still some disagreement about which was which. In less than five minutes we could hear Dad and Barney returning by the sound of Barney’s voice. “Two hunnert ‘n seventy, two hunnert ‘n seventy one…” and as they finally popped out into the cave “two hunnert and eighty eight.”
“Only twelve more steps” said Dad. “We started at fifty like we said. Let’s see what we have. Two eighty nine, two ninety.” Dad stepped down the steps one at a time, skipping past where we were standing. “Two ninety eight. Two ninety-nine. Three hundred!” Dad was on the far side of the cave, standing on the steps cut from the rock, and surrounded by the stalagmites and pools of water. Barney stood on the other side, near the opening to the tunnel, puffing on ‘Me Comfort’, while the rest of us stood further down the path, near the middle of the cave. The torches played over the roof and walls of the cave but there we couldn’t see anything that looked like a tunnel, or even any sort of opening.
Dad frowned and shook his head. “It must be here” he said, climbing back to the top near Barney. “I’m going to try every step.” He stopped on each step, from the opening at the top of the cave to the start of the tunnel on the far side. We joined him in shining our torches everywhere. But no matter what step Dad stopped on, and no matter where we played our torches, the cave looked just the same.
“Blow me down” said Dad, puffing out his cheeks and trudging back up to Barney. “It’s got me beat.” He and Barney stood beside each other, peering at the maps, Barney’s pipe filling the still air with curling wreaths of smoke. While Barney puffed, Dad tapped his chin and frowned. “It must be here” he said. “I can’t see how we’ve missed it.”
Then Dad stopped, and turned his torch towards the roof of the cave. “Watch the smoke from Barney’s pipe” he said. We all looked up, and saw the blue plume of smoke, eddying along the top of the cave. And we saw what Dad meant. The smoke was moving, along the top of the cave, and disappearing into the darkness. That meant there was a draft, sucking the smoke out, but to where?
“Ok” said Dad. “Here’s what we do. I want everyone standing two or three steps apart from the top to the bottom. Keep your torches on the smoke.”
We spaced out down along the steps, Barney right at the top and Max right the bottom. Keeping our torches trained on the smoke we tried to make out where it was going. But it was impossible. Even though our torches were bright and powerful, it was still dark in the recesses of the cave and the smoke was dissipating as it moved. We couldn’t tell where it was going.
“I have an idea” said Dad. “When I say Go! Turn off your torches. If the smoke’s finding a way out then maybe some light is finding a way in. Go!” We all switched off our lights and the dark closed over us like a thick blanket. It was so black I felt it pushing on my eyeballs. I opened my eyes as wide as I could but there was nothing. Not a thing.
“Anyone see anything?” came Dad’s voice from further up and seeming, suddenly, to echo through the cave.
“Nope.” That was Barney.
“I can’t see anything” said George “It’s all black.” No kidding!
“Me either” said Max.
“What about you Pat? And Charlie? Anything at all
?”
“No” I said “Nothing from here”. There was silence for a few seconds, the darkness closing in tighter around us. I could feel the cave getting smaller.
“Charlie? Are you there?” said Dad.
“Yes.” Charlie’s voice echoed in the dark.
“Can you see anything?” asked Dad.
“I think I can see something” cheeped Charlie. “But it’s hard to tell.”
“What can you see?”
“A sort of glow. But it’s really faint.”
Dad’s light came on suddenly and the cave walls seemed to fly back away from us and the cave seemed huge. Dad trotted down the steps followed by Barney. We all crowded around the spot where Charlie was standing, near the bottom of the cave, only a few metres from the start of the tunnel to Smugglers Cove.
“Ok, it’s off with the torches again” ordered Dad. Everyone switched off. And then we saw it. It was a pale glow, coming from the eastern side of the cave, behind the faint outline of some stalagmites. It was so faint that I felt I was imagining it at first.
“Charlie, you’re a star.” Dad’s voice boomed out in the darkness. Then Barney and Dad switched on their torches simultaneously and pointed them towards the eastern wall of the cave. “Look” said Dad. “You can see a couple of steps at the base of that stalagmite.” The steps were on the far side of a dark pool of water,