Oh dear do you think we ought to go after them? said Lucy-Ann desperately. She would be frightened to death going up that dark secret passage, she was sure, and yet if Jack was in need of help she would have no hesitation in jumping down and following him.
Better go and tell Jo-Jo and get him to come and help, said Dinah. He’d better bring a rope, I should think. The boys would never be able to climb up through the hole back into this cave, without help.
No, don’t let’s tell Jo-Jo, said Lucy-Ann, who disliked the black man thoroughly, and was afraid of him. We’ll wait a bit longer. Maybe the passage was a very long one.
It was far longer than the boys expected. It twisted and turned as it went through the cliff, going upwards all the time. It was pitch-dark, and the candle did not seem to light it very much. The boys bumped their heads against the roof every now and again, for it was sometimes only shoulder-high.
It grew drier as it went up. Soon there was no seaweedy smell at all, but the air felt stale and musty. It was rather difficult to breathe.
I believe the air is bad here, panted Philip, as they went on. I can hardly breathe. Once or twice I thought our candle was going out, Freckles. That would mean the air was very bad. Surely we shall come to the end of this passage soon.
As he spoke, the passage went steeply upwards and was cut into rough steps. It ended abruptly in a rocky wall. The boys were puzzled.
It’s not a real passage, then, said Philip, disappointed. Just a crack in the cliff rocks, as you said. But these do really look like rough steps, don’t they?
The light of the candle shone down on to the steps. Yes someone had hewn out those steps at one time but why?
Jack held the candle above his head and gave a shout.
Look! Isn’t that a trap-door above our heads? That’s where the passage led to that trap-door! I say let’s get it open if we can.
Sure enough, there was an old wooden trap-door, closing the exit of the passage, above their heads. If only they could lift it! Wherever would they find themselves?
Chapter 8
IN THE CELLARS
Let’s push at it together, said Philip, in excitement, I’ll put the candle down on this ledge.
He stuck the candle firmly into a crack on the ledge. Then he and Jack pushed hard at the trap-door just above their heads. A shower of dust fell down, and Philip blinked his eyes, half blinded. Jack had closed his.
Blow! said Philip, rubbing his eyes. Come on, let’s try again. I felt it move.
They tried again, and this time the trap-door suddenly gave way. It lifted a few inches, and then fell back again, setting free another cloud of dust.
Get a rock or big stone and we’ll stand on it, said Jack, red with excitement. A bit more of a push and we’ll get the thing right open.
They found three or four flattish stones, put them in a stout pile, and stood on them. They pushed against the trap-door, and to their delight it lifted right up, and fell backwards with a thud on the floor above, leaving a square opening above the heads of the boys.
Give me a heave up, Jack, said Philip. He got such a shove that he shot out through the trap-door opening and landed on a rocky floor above. It was dark there and he could see nothing.
Hand up the candle, Freckles, and then I’ll haul you up, said Philip. The candle was handed up, but went out suddenly.
Blow! said Philip. Oh glory, what’s that?
Kiki, I expect, said Jack. She’s flown up.
Kiki had not made a sound or said a word all through the secret passage. She had been alarmed at the dark strange place, and had clung hard to Jack all the way.
Philip hauled Jack up, and then groped in his pocket for matches to light the candle again. Where do you suppose we are? he said. I simply can’t imagine.
Feels like the other end of the world, said Jack. Ah that’s better. Now we can see.
He held up the lighted candle and the two boys looked round.
I know where we are, said Philip suddenly. In one of the cellars at Craggy-Tops. Look there are boxes of stores over there. Tins of food and stuff.
So there are, said Jack. My word, what a fine store your aunt keeps down here! Golly, this is quite an adventure. Do you suppose your aunt and uncle know about the secret passage?
I shouldn’t think so, said Philip. Aunt Polly would be sure to have mentioned it to us, I should think. I don’t seem to know this part of the cellars very well. Let me see where is the cellar door now?
The boys wandered down the cellar, trying to find the way out. They came to a stout wooden door, but, to their surprise, it was locked.
Blow! said Philip, annoyed. Now we shall have to creep all the way back down that passage again. I don’t feel like doing that, somehow. Anyway, this isn’t the door that leads out of the cellars into the kitchen. You have to go up steps to that one. This must be a door that shuts off one part of the cellars from the other. I don’t remember seeing it before.
Listen isn’t that somebody coming? said Jack suddenly, his sharp ears hearing footsteps.
Yes it’s Jo-Jo, said Philip, hearing the familiar cough he knew so well. Let’s hide. I’m not going to tell Jo-Jo about that passage. We’ll keep it to ourselves. Shut the trap-door down quickly, Jack, and then we’ll hide behind this archway here. We could slip out quietly when Jo-Jo opens the door. Blow out the candle.
They shut the trap-door quietly and then, in the pitch darkness, hid behind the stone archway near the door. They heard Jo-Jo putting a key into the lock. The door swung open, and the black man appeared, looking huge in the flickering light of his lantern. He left the door open, and went towards the back of the cellar, where the stores lay.
The boys had on rubber shoes, and could have slipped out without Jo-Jo knowing anything at all but Kiki chose that moment to imitate Jo-Jo’s hollow cough. It filled the cellar with mournful echoes, and Jo-Jo dropped his lantern with a crash. The glass splintered and the light went out. Jo-Jo gave a howl of terror and fled out of the door at once, not even pausing to lock it. He brushed against the two boys as he went, and gave another screech of fright, feeling their warm bodies as he passed.
Kiki, thrilled at the result of her coughing imitation, gave an unearthly screech that sent Jo-Jo headlong through the other part of the cellars, up the steps and through the cellar door. He almost fell as he appeared in the kitchen, and Aunt Polly jumped in astonishment.
What’s the matter? What has happened?
There’s things down there! panted Jo-Jo, his black face looking as pale as it ever could look.
Things! What do you mean? said Aunt Polly severely.
Things that screech and yell and clutch at me, said Jo-Jo, sinking into a chair, and rolling his eyes till nothing but the dazzling whites could be seen.
Nonsense! said Aunt Polly, stirring a saucepan vigorously. I don’t know why you wanted to go down there anyway. We don’t need anything from the cellars this morning. I’ve plenty of potatoes up here. Pull yourself together, Jo-Jo. You’ll frighten the children if you behave like this.
The two boys had collapsed into helpless laughter when they had seen poor Jo-Jo running in alarm from the cellar, yelling for all he was worth. They clutched each other and laughed till they ached. Well, Jo-Jo is always trying to frighten us by tales of peculiar ‘things’ that wander about at night, said Jack, and now he’s been caught by his own silly stories and been almost frightened out of his wits.
I say he’s left the key in the door, said Philip, who had now lighted his candle again. Let’s take it. Then, if ever we want to use that passage again, we can always get out this way if we want to, by unlocking the door.
He put the big key into his pocket, grinning. Maybe the black man would think it was one of the things he was always talking about that had gone off with his key.
The boys went into the part of the cellar they knew. Philip looked with interest at the door through which they had come.
I never knew there was another cellar beyond this first one, he said, looking round the vast underground room. How did I never notice that door before, I wonder?