Jack tried to stand up to show Jo-Jo that he was not afraid, but his knees wouldn’t hold him. He was afraid, very much afraid. And so was Philip. Only Bill kept a really brave front. He laughed.
Well do your worst. You won’t escape so easily as you think. More is known about you and this gang and its bosses than you imagine.
One of the men said something to Jo-Jo. He nodded. The boys felt certain that the time was soon coming when the sea-bed was due to be blasted open and then the waters would roar down and find their way into every nook and cranny.
Well goodbye, said Jo-Jo, grinning and showing his amazingly white teeth.
See you soon, replied Bill, in just as polite a tone. The boys did not say anything. Kiki, out in the passage, gave a cackling laugh.
I should have liked to kill that bird before I left, muttered Jo-Jo, and went out of the cave with the others. He slammed the door and locked it.
There was the sound of retreating footsteps and then silence. Bill looked at the boys.
Cheer up, he said. We’re not dead yet. We’ll give those fellows time to get some distance away, and then I’ll open this door and out we’ll go.
Open the door? How? asked Jack.
Oh, I’ve my little way, grinned Bill, and pulled out a queer collection of files and spindly keys. After a minute or two he set to work on the door, and in a very short time it was swinging open.
Now for the shaft, said Bill. Come on, before it’s too late.
They made their way to the main passage and then half walked, half ran towards the big shaft. It took some time to. get there.
Just as they reached it, and looked upwards to where the faintest gleam of daylight showed, there came a curious sound.
It was a muffled roar, deep, deep down in the mines. It echoed round and about in a queer way.
Well Jo-Jo spoke the truth, said Bill soberly. That was the dynamite going off. If it really has blown a hole in the sea-bed, the waters will even now be rushing up that undersea passage to the mines.
Come on, then, said Philip, eager to get up into the open air. Come on. I want to get into the sunshine.
I must tie my nugget round me somewhere, said Jack, who was still manfully carrying the heavy piece of copper. Why what’s the matter, Bill?
Bill had given a sharp exclamation that startled the boys. Look there, said Bill, shining his torch on to the first few feet of the shaft-hole. Those men have gone up the shaft and have carefully hacked away the ladder near the bottom, so that we couldn’t climb up, even if we did escape from the cave. They were leaving nothing to chance. We’re done. We can’t escape. There’s no way of climbing up without a ladder.
In despair the three of them gazed at the smashed-up rungs. Kiki gave a mournful screech that made them jump.
Bill I believe we might find some kind of a ladder in that big open cave where the boxes and crates of food were, said Jack desperately. I believe I saw one. Shall we go back and see? I don’t expect the men have done more than smash up the beginning rungs of the shaft-hole ladder they’d know we couldn’t use the ladder higher up if there was nothing to climb on lower down.
Are you sure there was a ladder in that cave? asked Philip. I don’t remember one.
Well it’s our only chance, said Bill. Come on back we go to find it.
But they didn’t reach the cave. They only went down the main passage a little way and then they stopped in horror. Something was swirling towards them something black and strange and powerful.
The waters are in already, yelled Bill. Come back. Get to the highest part. My word, the whole sea is emptying itself into the mines.
The gurgling sound of water trickling down all the passages and into every cave was now plainly to be heard. It was a greedy, sucking sound, a sound that frightened even Bill. The three of them ran back to the main shaft at once. It was higher than the rest of the ground round about but soon the water would reach there too.
It will find its own level, anyway, said Bill. All these shafts go down below sea-level, a long way below and the mines will certainly fill up to the level of the sea. I reckon it will half-fill these shaft-holes too.
But, Bill we shall all be drowned! said Jack, in a trembling voice.
Can you swim? asked Bill. Yes of course you both can. Well, listen, there’s just one hope for us. When the water fills up this shaft, we must rise with it let it take us up. We can keep afloat all right, I think, if we don’t get panicky. Then, when we reach the part of the ladder undamaged by the men, we can climb up. Now, do you think you can keep your heads, and, when the water comes, go up the shaft-hole with it?
Yes, said the boys pluckily. Jack turned and looked nervously down the passage. He could see the black water in the distance, gleaming in the light of Bill’s torch. It looked very horrible, somehow.
That’s the end of these mines, then, Bill, isn’t it? said Philip. No-one will ever be able to come down here again.
Well, they were worked out anyway, said Bill. Jack was lucky to find a nugget to take back to show everyone. It was probably hidden by a long-ago miner who forgot where he had hidden it and years and years afterwards Jack found it.
I must take it back with me, said Jack. I simply must. But I know I can’t hold it and swim too. It’s too heavy.
Bill stripped off his jersey and his vest. He wrapped the nugget in his vest, knotted it, then tied a thick piece of string round it. He put his jersey on again and then hung the nugget round his neck.
Bit heavy, said he, with a grin, but quite safe. You carry Kiki, I’ll carry the nugget.
Thanks awfully, said Jack. Sure it won’t drag you down under the water?
I hardly think so, said Bill, who was immensely strong.
The water’s coming nearer, said Philip uneasily. Look!
They all looked. It was advancing near to the little bit of rising ground under the shaft where they stood.
Isn’t it awfully black? said Jack. I suppose it’s the darkness that makes it look so black. It looks simply horrid.
It will take a bit of time to get to our shaft, said Bill. Let’s sit down and rest a bit whilst we’ve a chance.
They sat down. Philip’s mouse ran out of his sleeve, and then sat up on its hind legs, sniffing. Kiki saw it and gave a squeal.
Wipe your feet, I tell you! she said.
Now, don’t you frighten Woffly, said Philip. The three of them watched the antics of the mouse whilst they waited. The water lapped nearer, sucking and gurgling in the passages.
It must be absolutely pouring down the hole in the roof of the undersea passage, said Philip. I say, Bill will the water rush the other way too down the undersea passage to Craggy-Tops and make the well salt?
Well, yes I suppose it will, said Bill, considering. The well is below sea-level, of course so the sea is bound to pour into it, through the entrance in the well-shaft. That’s bad, Philip. It will mean that you and your people won’t have well-water any more I can’t think what you’ll do.
Here comes the water to our feet now, said Jack, watching a wave sweep up to them. Kiki, do sit still on my shoulder. Tufty, where’s Woffly?
Down my neck now, said Philip. Ooh, isn’t the water cold!
The mines were hot, so the water did feel cold icy-cold. Philip, Jack and Bill stood up and watched it swirling round their ankles. It rose gradually to their knees. It rose above them.
The three were standing right under the shaft, waiting for the moment to come when the water would lift them up, enabling them to swim, or tread water.
I’m frozen, said Philip. I never knew such cold water.
It isn’t really cold, said Bill, but we feel so hot down here that the water strikes us as very cold. It hasn’t had time to warm up yet.
The water rose to their waists and then more rapidly to their shoulders.
God save the King! said Kiki, in a horrified tone, looking down from Jack’s shoulder at the restless black water below her.
Soon Bill and the boys were lifted off their feet, and swam with difficulty on the surface of the water in the shaft. There’s so little room, panted jack. We’re all on top of one another.