SOON the stones of the little room were clear of earth, sand and weeds. The children saw that theywere all the same size— big and square, fitted well together. They went over them carefully withtheir torches, trying to find one that might move or lift.
"We should probably find one with an iron ring handle sunk into it," said Julian. But they didn't.
All the stones looked exactly the same. It was most disappointing.
Julian tried inserting his spade into the cracks between the various stones, to see if by any chance hecould move one. But they couldn't be moved. It seemed as if they were all set in the solid ground.
After about three hours hard work the children sat down to eat a meal.
They were very hungry indeed, and felt glad to think there were so many things to eat. As they atethey discussed the problem they were trying to solve.
"It looks as if the entrance to the dungeons2 was not under this little room after all," said Julian.
"It's disappointing— but somehow I don't think now that the steps down to the dungeon1 started fromhere. Let's measure the map and see if we can make out exactly where the steps do start. It 59may be, of course, that the measurements aren't correct and won't be any help to us at all. But we cantry."
So they measured as best they could, to try and find out in exactly what place the dungeon stepsseemed to begin. It was impossible to tell, for the plans of the three floors seemed to be done todifferent scales. Julian stared at the map, puzzled. It seemed rather hopeless. Surely they wouldn'thave to hunt all over the ground floor of the castle! It would take ages.
"Look," said George, suddenly, putting her finger on the hole that they all thought must be meant torepresent the well. "The entrance to the dungeons seems to be not very far off the well. If only wecould find the well, we could hunt around a bit for the beginning of the dungeon steps. The well isshown in both maps. It seems to be somewhere about the middle of the castle.""That's a good idea of yours," said Julian, pleased. "Let's go out into the middle of the castle—we can more or less guess where the old well ought to be, because it definitely seems to be about themiddle of the old yard out there."
Out they all went into the sunshine. They felt very important and serious. It was marvellous to belooking for lost ingots of gold. They all felt perfectly3 certain that they really were somewhere beneaththeir feet. It didn't occur to any of the children that the treasure might not be there.
They stood in the ruined courtyard that had once been the centre of the castle. They paced out themiddle of the yard and then stood there, looking around in vain for anything that might perhaps havebeen the opening of an old well. It was all so overgrown. Sand had blown in from the shore, andweeds and bushes of all kinds grew there. The stones that had once formed the floor of the bigcourtyard were now cracked and were no longer lying flat. Most of them were covered with sand orweeds.
"Look! There's a rabbit!" cried Dick, as a big sandy rabbit lollopped slowly across the yard. Itdisappeared into a hole on the other side. Then another rabbit appeared, sat up and looked at thechildren, and then vanished too. The children were thrilled. They had never seen such tame rabbitsbefore.
A third rabbit appeared. It was a small one with absurdly big ears, and the tiniest white bob of a tail.
It didn't even look at the children. It bounded about in a playful way, and then, to the children'senormous delight, it sat up on its hind4 legs, and began to wash its big ears, pulling down first one andthen another.
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But this was too much for Timothy. He had watched the other two bound across the yard and thendisappear without so much as barking at them. But to see this youngster actually sitting there washingits ears under his very nose was really too much for any dog. He gave an excited yelp5 and rushed full-tilt at the surprised rabbit.
For a moment the little thing didn't move. It had never been frightened or chased before, and it staredwith big eyes at the rushing dog. Then it turned itself about and tore off at top speed, its white bobtailgoing up and down as it bounded away. It disappeared under a gorse bush near the children. Timothywent after it, vanishing under the big bush too.
Then a shower of sand and earth was thrown up as Tim tried to go down the hole after the rabbit andscraped and scrabbled with his strong front paws as fast as he could. He yelped6 and whined7 inexcitement, not seeming to hear George's voice calling to him. He meant to get that rabbit! He wentalmost mad as he scraped at the hole, making it bigger and bigger.
"Tim! Do you hear me! Come out of there!" shouted George. "You're not to chase the rabbits here.
You know you mustn't. You're very naughty. Come out!"But Tim didn't come out. He just went on and on scraping away madly. George went to fetch him.
Just as she got up to the gorse bush the scraping suddenly stopped. There came a scared yelp— andno more noise was heard. George peered under the prickly bush in astonishment9.
Tim had disappeared! He just simply wasn't there any more. There was the big rabbit-hole, madeenormous by Tim— but there was no Tim.
"I say, Julian— Tim's gone," said George in a scared voice. "He surely can't have gone down thatrabbit's hole can he? I mean— he's such a big dog!"The children crowded round the big gorse bush. There came the sound of a muffled10 whine8 fromsomewhere below it. Julian looked astonished.
"He is down the hole!" he said. "How queer! I never heard of a dog really going down a rabbit-holebefore. However are we going to get him out?""We'll have to dig up the gorse bush, to begin with," said George, in a determined11 voice. She wouldhave dug up the whole of Kirrin Castle to get Tim back, that was certain! "I can't have poor old Timwhining for help down there and not do what we can to help him."The bush was far too big and prickly to creep underneath12. Julian was glad they had brought tools ofall kinds. He went to fetch an axe13. They had brought a small one with them and it would do to 61chop away the prickly branches and trunk of the gorse bush. The children slashed14 at it and soon thepoor bush began to look a sorry sight.
It took a long time to destroy it, for it was prickly, sturdy and stout. Every child's hands werescratched by the time the bush had been reduced to a mere15 stump16. Then they could see the hole quitewell. Julian shone his torch down it.
He gave a shout of surprise. "I know what's happened! The old well is here! The rabbits had a hole atthe side of it— and Tim scraped away to make it bigger and uncovered a bit of the well-hole— andhe's fallen down the well!"
"Oh no, oh no," cried George, in panic. "Oh Tim, Tim, are you all right?"A distant whine came to their ears. Evidently Tim was there somewhere. The children looked at oneanother.
"Well, there's only one thing to do," said Julian, "We must get our spades now and dig out the hole ofthe well. Then maybe we can let a rope down or something and get Tim."They set to work with their spades. It was not really difficult to uncover the hole, which had beenblocked only by the spreading roots of the big gorse bush, some fallen masonry17, earth, sand and smallstones. Apparently18 a big slab19 had fallen from part of the tower across the well-hole, and partly closedit. The weather and the growing gorse bush had done the rest.
It took all the children together to move the slab. Underneath was a very rotten wooden cover, whichhad plainly been used in the old days to protect the well. It had rotted so much that when Tim'sweight had been pressed on it, it had given just there and made a hole for Tim to fall through.
Julian removed the old wooden cover and then the children could see down the well-hole. It was verydeep and very dark. They could not possibly see the bottom. Julian took a stone and dropped it down.
They all listened for the splash. But there was no splash. Either there was no longer any water there,or the well was too deep even to hear the splash!
"I think it's too deep for us to hear anything," said Julian. "Now— where's Tim?"He shone his torch down— and there was Tim! Many years before a big slab had fallen down thewell itself and had stuck a little way down, across the well-hole— and on this old cracked slab satTim, his big eyes staring up in fright. He simply could not imagine what had happened to him.
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There was an old iron ladder fastened to the side of the well. George was on it before anyone elsecould get there! Down she went, not caring if the ladder held or not, and reached Tim. Somehow shegot him on to her shoulder and, holding him there with one hand, she climbed slowly up again. Theother three hauled her out and Tim jumped round her, barking and licking for all he was worth!
"Well, Tim!" said Dick, "you shouldn't chase rabbits—but you've certainly done us a good turn,because you've found the well for us! Now we've only got to look around a little to find the dungeonentrance!"
They set to work again to hunt for the dungeon entrance. They dug about with their spades under allthe bushes. They pulled up crooked20 stones and dug their spades into the earth below, hoping that theymight suddenly find them going through into space! It was really very thrilling.
And then Anne found the entrance! It was quite by accident. She was tired and sat down to rest.
She lay on her front and scrabbled about in the sand. Suddenly her fingers touched something hardand cold in the sand. She uncovered it— and lo and behold21, it was an iron ring! She gave a shout andthe others looked up.
"There's a stone with an iron ring in it here!" yelled Anne, excitedly. They all rushed over to her.
Julian dug about with his spade and uncovered the whole stone. Sure enough, it did have a ring in it— and rings are only let into stones that need to be moved! Surely this stone must be the one thatcovered the dungeon entrance!
All the children took turns at pulling on the iron ring, but the stone did not move. Then Julian tiedtwo or three turns of rope through it and the four children put out their full strength and pulled for allthey were worth.
The stone moved. The children distinctly felt it stir. "All together again!" cried Julian. And alltogether they pulled. The stone stirred again and then suddenly gave way. It moved upwards—and the children fell over on top of one another like a row of dominoes suddenly pushed down!
Tim darted22 to the hole and barked madly down it as if all the rabbits of the world lived there!
Julian and George shot to their feet and rushed to the opening that the moved stone had disclosed.
They stood there, looking downwards23, their faces shining with delight.
They had found the entrance to the dungeons! A steep flight of steps, cut out of the rock itself, leddownwards into deep darkness.
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"Come on!" cried Julian, snapping on his torch. "We've found what we wanted! Now for thedungeons!"
The steps down were slippery. Tim darted down first, lost his foot-hold and rolled down five or sixsteps, yelping24 with fright. Julian went after him, then George, then Dick and then Anne. They wereall tremendously thrilled. Indeed, they quite expected to see piles of gold and all kinds of treasureeverywhere around them!
It was dark down the steep flight of steps, and smelt25 very musty. Anne choked a little.
"I hope the air down here is all right," said Julian. "Sometimes it isn't good in these undergroundplaces. If anyone feels a bit funny they'd better say so and we'll go up into the open air again."But however funny they might feel nobody would have said so. It was all far too exciting to worryabout feeling queer.
The steps went down a long way. Then they came to an end. Julian stepped down from the last rock-stair and flashed his torch around. It was a weird26 sight that met his eyes.
The dungeons of Kirrin Castle were made out of the rock itself. Whether there were natural cavesthere, or whether they had been hollowed out by man the children could not tell. But certainly theywere very mysterious, dark and full of echoing sounds. When Julian gave a sigh of excitement it fledinto the rocky hollows and swelled27 out and echoed around as if it were a live thing. It gave all thechildren a very queer feeling.
"Isn't it strange?" said George, in a low voice. At once the echoes took up her words, and multipliedthem and made them louder— and all the dungeon caves gave back the girl's words over and overagain. "Isn't it strange, ISN'T IT STRANGE, ISN'T IT STRANGE."Anne slipped her hand into Dick's. She felt scared. She didn't like the echoes at all. She knew theywere only echoes— but they did sound exactly like the voices of scores of people hidden in thecaves!
"Where do you suppose the ingots are?" said Dick. And at once the caves threw him back his words.
"INGOTS! Ingots are! INGOTS ARE! ARE! ARE!"Julian laughed— and his laugh was split up into dozens of different laughs that came out of thedungeons and spun28 round the listening children. It really was the queerest thing.
"Come on," said Julian. "Maybe the echoes won't be so bad a little farther in.""FARTHER IN," said the echoes at once. "FARTHER IN!"64
They moved away from the end of the rocky steps and explored the nearby dungeons. They werereally only rocky cellars stretching under the castle. Maybe wretched prisoners had been kept theremany, many years before, but mostly they had been used for storing things.
"I wonder which dungeon was used for storing the ingots," said Julian. He stopped and took the mapout of his pocket. He flashed his torch on to it. But although it showed him quite plainly the dungeonwhere INGOTS were marked, he had no idea at all of the right direction.
"I say— look— there's a door here, shutting off the next dungeon!" suddenly cried Dick. "I bet this isthe dungeon we're looking for! I bet there are ingots in here!"
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1
dungeon
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| n.地牢，土牢 | |
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dungeons
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| n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 ) | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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yelp
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| vi.狗吠 | |
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yelped
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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whine
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| v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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yelping
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的现在分词 ) | |
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smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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