Chapter 75
I heard the sound of somebody forcing their way through the underbrush and shrubs and a petty officer from the shore patrol appeared a little further up the track, closer to the waterfall. He glanced around quickly, spotted me, “Ah there you are, Marm.” He started to make his way down to me and I glanced quickly at the pool. Undine had vanished and the ripples from where she had entered the pool had all but dissipated. “Is everything okay?” he asked when he joined me.
“Yes, fine thank you, PO, I was just having a quiet break away from all the bustle and excitement in the cave.”
“I’m sorry I’ve disturbed you but Commander Devonshire was a little concerned and asked me to check to see if you were okay. I can understand you’re wanting to escape from the cave, I felt like screaming when I saw the pile of drugs and money.”
“Scream with terror or joy?”
“He smiled. Neither, I wanted to scream with envy when I saw the money and pure hatred when I saw the drugs. I had a niece who got hooked on crack and I remember what she went through to get off it.”
“She’s okay now?”
He nodded, “Been clean for nearly four years and back to the bright kid she was before she got hooked. Doesn’t stop me from hating the bastards, if you’ll excuse my language, who were responsible for getting her on the stuff. I did a tour on an Oz frigate a couple of years back as part of the mutual defence plan and we were in the Indian Ocean watching for drug ships and pirates and I swear if we’d found one I would have opened up on them and killed the lot with or without the Captain’s permission.”
“We are of a like mind, PO.”
“Yea, I love you for what you did to the lot that attacked you a few months back. There’s not a man on any of our ships that wouldn’t throw himself on a grenade if one ever landed near you. Excuse me for being familiar, Marm but I had to say something.”
I smiled, “That’s a lovely thing to know. There is one thing you can do; stop calling me Marm, you’re a petty officer and petty officers are allowed to call me Charlotte, officers can call me Charlie and Will can call me Darling, Gorgeous or anything else nice.”
“I’ll remember next time…” his radio bleeped, “I’m with Commander Charlotte now, everthings fine…wait one,” he turned to me, “Commander Devonshire wants you to join him, but he says to stay here if you need to?”
“No, I’ll come back with you.
“I’ll lead,” I offered, “There’s a clear path.” When we came out onto the grassy slope in front of the cave the leading seaman came out and immediately slung up a crisp salute. “He’s only doing that because you’re here, I’ve told everybody not to salute when I’m not in uniform but they still do, I think they like to see me curtsy.”
He laughed, “I’ll tell the shore patrol lads not to salute unless there’s an officer about.”
“Yes, do that except when I’m coming aboard Aurora and there’s a side party. I’ll curtsy really low if I’m in civvies and salute fast enough to slice my hat in half when I’m in uniform.”
He laughed again and we went into the cave.
“Hullo Uncle Will,” I greeted him. Uncle Captain,” I added and for a moment I was tempted to stand on tip toe and kiss them both on the cheek.
“You were gone a long time, I was worried,” Will explained.
“Sorry but I needed to think for a while.”
“You’ve done it again, Charlotte, “Found more worries to occupy the minds of my crew,” said Andy walking round the pile of drugs to stand and stare at the packets of money.
“Take a packet and share it with them,” I offered and winked at the petty officer behind his back. “It will help to make up for the extra work and worry.”
“I’m sure it would but this lot, drugs and money are being locked in Aurora’s strong room until I have a chance to speak to Auckland.”
“It’s mine, you can’t just go pinching stuff from my island.”
For a moment he took me seriously. “This money may be counterfeit or stolen property and the drugs are most definitely internationally banned substances.”
“Okay, you have permission,” I grinned, “I’m still an officer in the RN and the Empress of the island and I give permission on both mine and the Prime Minister’s behalf.” I stopped fooling and became serious, “Shouldn’t you wait until somebody from the drug agency gets here and we’ll need a forensic team because there might be evidence we could contaminate.”
“That’s a bit of a problem but we do have forensic people over in the labs who, by chance, happen to be working on some of the stuff you discovered a few days ago.”
“This is more important surely. Apart from the seriousness of the find, there’s a question of having to mount a round-the-clock guard over it. Tell them to leave the other stuff and get over to this side until New Zealand can get somebody here. Whilst we’re at it can’t we cancel the Sunderland’s other jobs and get her to fly straight to New Zealand and pick up the people we need. They could be here in a couple of days, three perhaps.”
He nodded. “PO, this stays top secret until I’ve spoken to Auckland and I want you and your men on the job. One of you at the bend in the tunnel the other,” he turned and looked up to the other end of the tunnel, “What’s up there, do either of you know.”
“We think it exits on a ledge at the inlet I told you about but we are only guessing.”
“Could you and the PO go up there and see because we may need to mount a guard up there?”
“I’ll go,” I said, “I have nothing special on this afternoon but Will has a lot of urgent work to attend to. It’s an easy climb and I’ve already explored quite a bit up there and know my way around.”
He looked doubtfully at Will. “Let her go, Andy, Charlotte knows the island and that inlet and I wouldn’t agree unless I was certain of her safety and if the PO is with her I would be.”
Andy turned to the PO, “Is your side arm loaded?”
“Yes sir, full magazine.”
He nodded, “Charlotte if you meet a dangerous animal or any other situation where you and the PO may be at risk, will you agree to accede command to him and follow his orders.”
“Of course I would. I’ll just be a civilian guide but he has to call me Charlotte or Charlie, not Marm.”
Andy smiled, “Got that, PO?”
“Yes sir.”
“Take a torch each. PO keep your radio switched on. If you find anywhere where there’s been a rock fall or there’s a lot of water leaking through, come back here and don’t try to force your way through.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
I took a torch and slipped my backpack on, “Come on, PO, I’ve a first aid kit in here and some chocolate and lemonade as well as compass and maps.”
He held out his hand, “I’ll carry that if you want.”
“Certainly not, my makeup repair kit is in there as well. You carry the gun.”
We started off, I kept the hurricane lamp and let the PO lead with his torch. As we walked I noticed a gentle rise and if it stayed at the same rate of climb it wasn’t going to lead to the ledge because Will had estimated that the height of the ledge was something over forty metres above sea level and our cave only twenty and the tunnel rising at this rate would come out much lower, about ten metres or so. “How far have we come, PO?” I asked.
“Not more than thirty metres.”
“Do you play cricket?”
He looked puzzled, “Yes, what makes you ask?”
“Could you pace out a cricket pitch?”
“Ah, yes, yes I see, you want me to measure our distance travelled?”
“If you would because I think I saw a wall, a natural wall of rock right at the extremes of your torch so the tunnel either turns or comes to a dead end.” He held the torch up to shine down the tunnel and faintly we saw the light glisten on points of shiny rock or lava deposits, You’re right.” He moved the torch to the left but he hadn’t gone far before the light was too weak to follow the wall and simply revealed a continuation of the darkness.
“It’s either an easy curve or possibly a kink. Do you want to go on?”
“We’ve come this far, let’s at least go up and take a look. If it is the end of the tunnel we’ll have to turn back but if it does turn we can take a look. If this rate of climb remains the same this tunnel doesn’t lead to the ledge it needs to increase quite a bit and we might come to a place where we’d have to start climbing up a steep slope.” I looked back to where the money piles were, “I can just see the lights the others are using but not what they’re illuminating so we’d better warn them because if Will looks this way and can’t see our lights, he’s going to come up here looking for me.”
He chuckled, “Doesn’t he trust you?”
“No. He’s not worrying about me going off with another man, he’s scared I might fall down a hole and feint when I discover an iron age android phone .”
He called and got Will and spoke briefly, listened for a moment and looked at me with a grin, “He said not to turn over any big rocks.”
“Tell him not to worry, I’ve lost interest in gems and gold, I’m looking for uranium and dinosaur eggs now.”
We carried on for a while following a gentle curve and then the tunnel curved again back to its original course and after a few hundred metres suddenly grew wider and then opened up into another cave. We walked forward carefully, the PO shining the torch on the roof to make sure there were no rocks likely to fall and I held the hurricane lamp above my head. The light just about illuminated the wall to our right but there was nothing remarkable other than most of it was similar to that which was in the cave and along the tunnel but further on there was more black and very uneven rock and the floor was similar, the black rocks in places reaching the roof to form thick wide pillars. “PO shine the torch over there to the right, the section where all the black stuff is.”
He did so and moved the torch up and down a little and further in and the deeper we went the higher and more consistent the black rocks were until they touched the roof and there the roof itself showed large areas of black. “It looks as if that side was part of a lava tunnel but back here its petered out. In places it almost forms a wall separating that part of the cave from the tunnel.”
The PO shone the torch further to the left, “Look, the further in the blacker the ceiling becomes. I reckon that this was once a lava tunnel and came into the cave and then changed direction and there’s probably a continuation of the tunnel over there in the top left corner.”
He shone the torch but the beam, though it revealed black walls, was not strong enough to detect a tunnel because if there was one, it would almost certainly be the route the lava took on its way out of Devonshire Hill. “Listen,” I placed by hand on his arm and cocked my head, “Can you hear it?”
“Just. It sounds like running water.”
“There must be a waterfall or fast stream over there by the far wall. Is it safe to go over do you think?”
“I’ll go first”
“Okay but take it slowly and shine the torch on the floor.” We walked diagonally across towards the corner and here the floor was covered in dust and sand like the lower end of the tunnel but there were large lumps of jagged lava rock everywhere and there was much more black lava sand on the ground. We reached the far side and there was indeed a fairly fast flowing narrow stream and when we shone the torch down it was tumbling over a series of lava rocks but when it reached the corner it vanished. “Where’s it gone, underground?”
“Looks like it. It hasn’t gone up the tunnel or turned the corner unless it did so underground.” We walked slowly until we reached the spot where the water vanished, “There,” he said pointing, down in the corner, you can just see the route it’s taken off to the right and under the cave floor.”
“Do you think the floor is safe or is it likely to collapse if we stand on it?”
“Safe without much doubt. If you look at the flow, it’s fast and fairly smooth as it goes underground . It might flood this area a little if there was a heavy rainfall but there’s at least two meters of rock and lava between the surface of the river and the floor which makes it strong enough.”
“What then, shall we go on?”
“Up to you but I’ll call Will and let him know what we’ve found.” Whilst he spoke I borrowed the torch and shone the torch along the wall and noticed a number of places where there were pinpoints of reflected light. One was close and stuck on the end of a small piece of lava that protruded from the wall. I studied it for a moment before taking out my knife and chipped it off. The PO stopped speaking, answered a couple of questions and handed me the Radio, “Will want’s a word.”
“Will, what do you think, should we go a little further or come back.”
“Does the tunnel look dry?”
“Yes, the walls are black and I can’t see if there’s seepage or not but where we’re standing the floor is about two metres thick and the stuff on the floor of the tunnel is much the same as where you are. It’s like fine dust or sand, a little darker but it is bone dry. The slope is much steeper but I can’t see evidence of wall or roof falls. I don’t think we can be much more than five or six hundred metres from the ledge cave. The river was veering off to the right when if vanished undergrown so I think this must be the source of the waterfall we saw before we turned at the bottom of the inlet.” I looked at the PO, “How far do you think we’ve travelled since we left Will and the others?”
His lips moved a little and then he said, “Something over a thousand metres but if we allow for the curve and then having to cut diagonally across this cave, probably about nine fifty further west and one fifty to the south.”
“Will, we are over a thousand meters out and looking at the rise in the floor and the direction it’s taken, I think the tunnel must come out onto or close to the ledge and from what I can remember from the maps, we can’t be much more than five or six hundred meters from it. Do you remember, we discussed it and we reckoned that we could walk from the top of Devonshire Hill to our house in an hour or two if we went cross-country.”
“Okay, Charlie but stop if the floor or walls seem wet or a bit shaky and get back here. Let me speak to Val again.”
“Val? I thought your name was Pee-oh,” I said handing him the phone.
He gave me a sickly grin and then listened to Will. “I’ll make sure she’s safe and if anything looks dodgy, we’ll get back. Fine, I’ll call as soon as we decide to return or we reach the ledge which should only take thirty minutes or less.”
“I wish you hadn’t said that,” I said as we started off again, “Now you’ve told him it will only take thirty minutes we’re going to meet a dragon and have to hang around until St. George turns up to slay it. I think I’ll touch up my makeup just in case.”
“You’d probably sweet talk it into giving us a ride back.”
“I always loved reading stories with a dragon in them when I was a child. I still hope that I’ll meet one and try and make it give me a ride on its back. Now what’s all this business about Val or should I call you Valentino?”
“Don’t start that, I had enough trouble when I first joined the navy. It’s Valentine actually, my mother read too many Barbara Cartland novels.”
“And the lads in your mess pulled your leg a bit?”
“Until I pointed out I was bigger than most of them and showed them my fists then they started calling me Val and fortunately it stuck.”
I looked him up and down, “Wise choice, you don’t really look like a Valentino but you might get away with Valentine. Do you take advantage of your name in February and dash around kissing the girls.”
He chuckled, “I would if I could but most of the girls I know can run faster than me.”
“Stop a minute, turn your torch off.” I lifted the hurricane lamp and turn the wick down. He turned the torch off and looked at me, “Something wrong?”
“Don’t you notice it? We can see each other reasonably well. I looked ahead, “Yes look. Just up there, there’s a slight kink in the tunnel an S bend and the tunnel is narrower and well defined, there’s daylight coming in.”
“So there is. He looked around and turned the torch on again and shone it up to where the roof curved down a little to join the left wall, “I can hear water coming from up there.”
I walked over to the wall which was still dark volcanic rock and put my ear to it, “You’re right, it sounds like another stream but it’s higher than the tunnel.” I looked ahead towards the S bend, “The tunnel rises quite steeply at that end, the entrance to the cave must be just beyond the bend because I remember there was the sound of water when Will and I first found the cave. It sounded as if there was a stream running alongside the wall and there were signs that the goats were using it as a watering hole from time to time. Coincidentally there’s a small waterfall and that tumbles down past the ledge, perhaps about two or three metres from the ledge and then becomes a mini rapids and joins the inlet on the far side of the path that Will and I used to climb up to the ledge.
We made our way up to the cave and as we entered I pointed, “There’s the ledge, this is definitely the place because the cave entrance is wide but not very high and Will had to duck his head a couple of times when we came in. When we looked up, it was a bit like the cave down at the lagoon, the roof lifts very rapidly inside the entrance.” We made our way diagonally across to the cave mouth and like Will, Val had to duck a couple of times.
Val studied the hill and the land around the inlet, “From this side it would just about qualify as a mountain but the slopes on the other side, what I’ve seen of them, would demote it to a hill.”
We stood for a few minutes whilst Val studied the slope and the animal tracks, “It’s an easy climb for the most part.”
I pointed off to the right, “The path on the right is the shortest, there are a couple of places where extra care is needed but Will and I didn’t have any trouble getting up there a few days ago. The path that starts on the other side of the cave wanders about all over the place and we think the goats where simply moving from one good grazing site to the next and not bothered by how long it took to get to the top. Up at the top there’s two obvious ways down on the other side and they are easy, not nearly as steep as this and one goes down to the land that was terraced and the other I think goes down to the glade I discovered where the butterflies live and that’s only five minutes from the lagoon cave. We can go back that way if you prefer, it will probably be quicker than going back through the tunnel.”
“I’ll have to check with the captain or Will first. I need to check-in anyway.”
We returned to the cave and he went in whilst I stayed outside and spent the time looking around to see if there were any places to build houses because this was quite a nice spot. When he came out he nodded, “I spoke to Will and he said okay but told me to remind you to go easy.”
I nodded, “He adds that to every message he sends to me. Come on, I’m getting hungry.”
“You lead if you’ve used this track before,” Val said stepping in behind me. I led the way up the path Will and I had taken and as soon as we reached the spot where the climb evened out to a gentle slope I pointed, “Look down there, the top row of the solar panels and further forward and a bit lower the end of the terraced sections and I counted three terraces but it was the lower one that looked as if it had been worked long after the upper two. Did you know we have found an earlier settlement over by Goats Cove?”
“I heard about it, yes. Probably First Millennium AD?”
“As far as we can tell from the digging we’ve done so far but there are two roundhouses which suggest it may have been earlier. From the look of the terraces I’d say they were cut by those people but the lower one was reworked by the people who built the house Will and I have had rebuilt.” I stood looking down paying particular attention to the lower terrace but after a few minutes shook my head, “No luck.”
“What are you looking for?”
“Well I discovered a letter the woman who was marooned here wrote. She said they were leaving the island because her husband had injured himself and couldn’t do heavy work any longer, that was around the late Nineteenth to early Twentieth Century and Larry the bloke in charge of the dig reckons she was an educated women and had probably kept a diary which may have been hidden somewhere on the island and we’re looking for it.”
“What would it have looked like?”
“A crate or casket I expect because they were here a long time and even if she kept one diary for each year, there would still be a lot of them and it would have needed a large casket and if it was lined with lead or some nonferrous metal they could still be in good condition and would probably be a record of their life on the island. We’re hoping it might give us clues as to how the cattle, sheep and goats got here in the first place and the plants and trees because it’s very unusual to see so many trees and mammals on a desert island in the Pacific so far from other land.”
“I’ll get the information around the ship, the lads would love a treasure hunt when they’re having a day off.”
“Tell them if they discover anything that they must not, under any circumstances try to open it or even dig it out of the ground but to let the captain or first lieutenant know and if they can’t do that, to come and tell you. I’ll give a thousand dollars reward regardless of what’s in the casket and if there’s something of great value they’ll get at least twenty five percent probably a lot more of its value.”
He chuckled, “There will be teams of them going on searches. I’ll even take a team myself.”
“Try and stop them until we’ve given them a lecture on what to look for and where the best places might be but anyway tell them not to go round digging trenches everywhere or they could destroy a lot of priceless history. I’ve spoken to the captain and he’s arranging for a series of lectures soon but it is important that they don’t go around bulldozing, digging or blowing holes in anything.”
“I will and don’t worry, they’re a good bunch and if I tell them it’s a request from you, they’ll be extra careful.”
“Thanks.”
We started to walk up the rise towards the trees at the top of the hill and came across a couple of radar domes one of which was turning slowly. “What are they, radar? I know they were putting one up here and an uplink for the internet and telephones?”
“The moving one is the radar dish and the one pointing into the sky is the Uplink for the telephones.”
“We won’t be fried by the radio signals will we.”
“No they’re too tall and focused too high and the row of yellow markers are where the signal cables and the power supply for the dishes are buried. The large boxes at the base conceal all the other equipment and the hut is where there are a few spare parts and tools for maintenance. The rectangular box standing on its own is the main cable set up ready for laying the electrical supply and cable service to the various areas. It’s going to be fenced off when the job’s finished to prevent people fooling with them.”
We stopped and looked around and I spotted a slight mound. “Get them to fence that off if you can. I think it’s probably the spot where a beacon stood and we will want to excavate that sometime soon.” I turned back to look at the radar dishes and aerials and then back to the mound. “We have probably one of the oldest forms of signalling standing right next to the most modern, it’s virtually a museum to mankind’s desire to communicate with each other.”
“All you need is a conch shell, a couple of signal flags and a semaphore arm and you’d have a complete set.”
“Come in handy if the high tech stuff broke down as well.” I pointed, “That’s the way down towards the track that cuts across the island and then on to Revelation Bay and Goats Cove,” and I turned “And that path leads down towards the cave and it looks as if it branches off when it gets to the trees so I think that’s the path that leads to our house.”
We started making our way down but I stopped, “Hang on a minute,” and I shook the shoulder straps of my backpack off and took out the compass and map case and started taking a few bearings and making notes, “This is for the maps until a proper survey is done. I have a set of charts and air photos that the AWAC took so they’ll do for the time being.”
“Familiar with a prismatic compass, I’m impressed.”
I smiled, “Good with navy charts as well, I learned that when I used to go scuba diving and the skipper of the trawler taught me the basics of conning a small trawler and how to use the stars for navigation. Nobody has taught me how to use a sextant and chronometer though. If I could get the hang of them I could ask to be promoted to rear admiral and take charge of a carrier battle group.”
“Probably make a decent job of it. I’ll teach you how to use a sextant and navigate by stars if you wish. Where did you learn cartography?”
“I was working on some cartographic programs for a land development firm once and one of their draughtsman showed me the basic stuff so I’d understand a bit more of what they needed and what the programmes they were using were weak on. I learned quite a bit more as I worked. It’s a good education working to improve and safeguard computer programmes because you have to learn and read up on all sorts of skills. The downside is when you really get into something, you have to stop because you switch to a completely knew subject. One minute you’re going hammer and tongs on mineralogy and then a couple of months later, working on systems for calculating feeding programmes for livestock. I’ll have to go back to that soon when Will and I adopt loads of children. At the moment I don’t even know how often to change a nappy.”
“I think the baby lets you know.”
“They probably do. Come on, do you want to go to my house, Auntie Kate may still have some lunch left.”
“I’d better get back to the cave but you go home if you wish and I’ll let Will know.”
“No, I’ll come with you, it’s a bit quicker to the cave and I’m starving. I just hope somebody thought to take some sandwiches there for the men and they left some for us.”
When we arrived back at the cave we saw Will and Andy standing outside and the low loader buggy appeared carrying what I presume was the money and drugs concealed under a tarpaulin. I asked Andy, “Why the tarpaulin?”
“Secrecy, for the moment I want as few people as possible to see that stuff and New Zealand has asked me to keep it under wraps until it can be sent to them for investigation.”
“Bloody cheek, I won’t even get the chance to count it.”
Will chuckled, “Never mind. If it’s not counterfeit or stolen property and nobody steps forward to claim it, we’ll get it back.”
“And if somebody does claim it?”
“They will be the bosses of the cartel responsible for the entire drug operation and we’ll get a reward that will probably equal the value of the money as soon as they are arrested.”
“That’s okay then, if it passes through New Zealand banks and into our account, we won’t have to bother with laundering it. They can have the drugs for free. Andy, that tarpaulin is a waste of time because you’ll need to take it off to unload the buggy lorry.”
“Nope, the stuff is on pallets and we’ll lift it onto Aurora and forklift the pallets straight into the strong room.”
“He thinks of everything,” I complained to Will. “If I’m no longer needed up here I want to go back home and have lunch, how long will you be?”
“Ten minutes. Now the stuff is on Aurora we don’t need a guard on the tunnel so we can get back to normal.”
“I’m not so sure of that but I’ll tell you later.” I turned to Val, “Did they save a few sandwiches for you, if not come back with us and we’ll share ours, Auntie Kate always prepares extra.”
“No, I’m fine thanks they wouldn’t have dared not to save me something.”
“I’ll see you later today at the naming of the tunnel ceremony. I’m going to call it Valentine’s Tunnel because of the heroic manner in which you frightened off all the dragons and kept me safe.”
He nodded and smiled, “I had to scare ‘em off so you were free to keep me safe.”
Andy interrupted the banter, “That’s it Will, all done.”
“We’ll shove off then, I still have unfinished business with Geoff Roman, what about you Charlie?”
“I’ll go back to Pacific Wanderer after lunch and draw up the day’s discoveries on the chart. Andy do you want me to send the master copy over to you or shall I send it down to the south side?”
“Me first because we’re likely to need it before they do and I’ll make copies and send the master copy down to Orca. Don’t forget Tamati is waiting to speak to you.”
“I’ll see him as soon as I’ve finished the maps then I can take my time getting ready to play hostess at my first dinner party.”
I will post another one or two chapters but will have to end there or I’ll upset Amazon but for those of you who want to read on, see the paragraph below for guidance on how to buy the complete volume. This I can tell you, Charlotte has ambitions to gain a private pilot’s licence and there may be danger approaching the island from South America.
Footprints in the Sea Volume 4 is available on Amazon Kindle and may be ordered through the Top Hat link in the right hand column of this page. Doing it that way earns a small commission for the site.
