Can this be the wide passage we saw on the map? he thought. It may be. If only I had a brighter torch! I hope to goodness it’s not going to fade out. It doesn’t seem so bright as it was.
He went down the passage, and saw some rough-hewn steps in the rock, leading upwards. Out of curiosity the boy climbed them, and came to another passage, which evidently led to yet another working. He stumbled and fell against the wall, dislodging a stone or small rock, which fell down with a crash. Jack held up his torch to see where it had fallen from, afraid that the roof was caving in.
But it wasn’t. His torch gleamed on to something that shone coppery-red a large, irregular kind of stone, thought Jack. And then he suddenly realised that it wasn’t a stone it was yes, it must be a large copper nugget! Golly, what a beauty! Could he possibly carry it?
With trembling hands the boy prised the nugget carefully away from its place. It was on a kind of shelf made by a crack in the rock just there. Had someone hidden it there, years ago? Or had it been placed there by one of the men working the mines now? Or was it there naturally, a real nugget in the depth of the earth? Jack didn’t know.
It was heavy, but he could carry it. A nugget of copper! The boy kept repeating the words to himself. Almost as good as finding a Great Auk not quite as thrilling, of course, but almost. What would the others say?
Jack thought he had better keep out of the way of the miners more than ever now. They might take the nugget from him. It might legally be theirs, of course, but he did want to have the thrill of showing it to the others as his find before he gave it up to anyone.
The boy went back to the main passage with the nugget in his hands. He had to put his torch into his belt now, as he could not carry it as well as the copper, and it was difficult to make his way along, because the torch shone almost directly downwards instead of forwards.
Hallo! said Jack, stopping suddenly as he heard a noise in the distance. I rather think I’m coming towards that clattering noise we heard before where the men are working. Perhaps I’m near the other children too.
The boy crept forward. He went into a passage that turned suddenly round a corner and there before him was the brilliantly lighted cave again. Last time he had seen it, it had been empty this time there were men there. They were undoing the boxes and crates that the children had seen there before. Jack watched, wondering what was in them.
I’m in the same passage as I was when Kiki flew off and I went after her, thought Jack. I do wonder what has happened to the others. Golly, but it’s good to sec a bright light again. If I crouch back here, behind this jutting rock, I don’t believe anyone will see me.
Kiki was absolutely quiet. The brilliant light frightened her after being so long in the darkness. She crouched on the boy’s shoulder, watching.
There were tins in the boxes and crates tins of meat and fruit. Jack felt very hungry when he saw them, for he had had nothing to eat for a long time. The men opened a few of the tins, poured the contents out on to tin plates, and began to eat, talking to each other. Jack could not hear what they were saying. He felt so hungry that he almost walked out to the men to beg for some of their food.
But they didn’t look very nice men. They wore trousers only, belted at the waist, and nothing else. It was so hot in the mines that it was impossible to wear many clothes. Jack wished he could wear only shorts, but he knew he would not like Kiki’s claws on his bare shoulder.
The men finished their meal, and then went down a passage or gallery at the further end of the cave they were in. There was no-one there now. The clattering, banging noise began again. Evidently the men were at work once more.
Jack crept out into the brilliantly lighted cave. The light came from three lamps hung from the roof. Jack looked into the open tins. There was a little meat left in one and some pineapple chunks in another. He finished them up quickly. He thought that never in his life had he tasted anything so delicious as the leavings in those tins.
He decided to creep over to the passage down which the men had gone back to work. It would be exciting to see how men worked in a copper-mine. Did they use pickaxes? Did they blast out the copper? What were they doing to make all that noise? It really sounded as if it came from some big machine busily at work.
He crept down the passage, and then found that he was looking into another cave. He was most astonished at what he saw. There were about a dozen men there, busy with a number of machines that clattered and banged, making quite a deafening noise that echoed round the cave. There was an engine of some sort which added to the din.
What queer machinery! thought Jack, staring. How ever in the world did they get it all down here into the mines? They must have brought it down in pieces, and then put them together here. Golly, how busy it all is, and what a noise it makes!
Jack watched in wonder. Were they extracting copper by means of this machine? He knew vaguely that many metals had to be roasted or smelted or worked in some way before they were pure. He supposed they were doing that. It was plain, then, that the copper in these mines was not usually found in big nuggets, such as the one Jack was even now holding.
One of the men wiped his forehead and came from the machine towards Jack’s hiding-place. The boy darted away, and went into a small blind passage to wait till the man had passed. He came back carrying a mug of water. Jack waited in the little blind passage for a minute or two, leaning against what he thought was the wall. But suddenly the wall gave way a little, and the boy slipped backwards. Then, putting his torch on, he found that it was no wall but a strong wooden door, leading into a cell-like place rather like the one in which the other children had been imprisoned.
Hearing footsteps, he hurriedly went into the cell and pushed the door shut. The footsteps went by. Jack switched on his torch again to see what was in the cave.
It was stacked with bundles upon bundles of crisp papers, the same sizes put together and the same colours, tightly fastened together. Jack looked at them and then he looked again, blinking his eyes in amazement.
In that cell-like cave were thousands of bundles of paper money. There were bundles of one-pound notes, bundles of five-pound notes, bundles of ten-pound notes there they were, neatly stacked together, a fortune great enough to make anyone a millionaire in a night.
Now I really must be dreaming, thought Jack, rubbing his eyes. There’s no doubt about it. I’m in a very extraordinary dream. In a minute I shall wake up and laugh. People simply don’t find things like this treasure in a cave underground. Why, I might be in the middle of some wonderful fairy story. It’s quite impossible I’d better wake up immediately.
Chapter 26
A BAD TIME AND A SURPRISE MEETING
But Jack didn’t wake up and for a very good reason too. He wasn’t asleep.
He was wide awake and staring at this colossal fortune in paper money. It didn’t make sense. Why was it all stored here, in this cave underground? Who did it belong to? Why didn’t they put it into a bank in the usual way?
Perhaps the men working this mine are finding a lot of copper and selling it secretly, and keeping the money here that they get for it, thought Jack. He was so lost in amazement at the sight of such a fortune piled up there in front of him that he did not hear someone coming to the door of the cave he was in.
The man who opened the door and saw Jack in the cave was even more surprised than Jack himself. He stood staring at the boy with his mouth wide open, and his eyes almost falling out of his head. Then he dragged the boy roughly out of the cell, and pulled him to the room where the machine was working.