Riddle Gully Secrets (8 page)

‘We could borrow Bublé from Sherri. He's a budgie, but he'd probably do.'

‘Right. Sure. Off you hop, then, Will. We'll just wait here and chat amongst ourselves.' Pollo's fingers were whitening on the shaft's rim. ‘We know the air in the shaft is good. It felt like a blast of air-conditioning coming into the cave. That's how Ash found it.'

Will looked at Ash. ‘You
were
pretty amazing.'

‘It's nothing that anyone who stops still now and then wouldn't notice,' said Ash.

‘Could one of you anchor me for a bit?' said Pollo.

Dan squatted and wedged his feet against the wall of the shaft. He gripped Pollo's forearms. Ash moved behind Dan and anchored him. Pollo leaned back and tested the iron spike with her full weight. She jigged up and down a little. It didn't move.

‘It feels solid to me, and I'll test each spike before I let go of the one above.'

Dan looked at the others. ‘Well, I don't want to go home yet. I wouldn't mind keeping Pollo company.'

‘I'll come too,' said Ash.

‘Yeah, sure,' mumbled Will.

Pollo lowered herself fully into the shaft, shining
the torch back up. Dan followed, then Ash, then Will. They made slow, careful progress down the steep, dark shaft. Eventually, when Pollo waggled her foot into the blackness below, she scuffed it on solid ground. Gingerly she stepped off the last rung and waited for the others, shining the torch to light their way.

The four huddled at the foot of the ladder, their skin slick with perspiration, the torch light catching chins and noses and shadowing them onto cave walls.

‘Turn off your torch for a bit,' whispered Ash. ‘Let's see if there's any natural light.'

Pollo flicked off the torch. They waited, brushing shoulders, feeling one another's damp breath. But no shapes were discernible. Just deep black nothingness.

‘So much for pupils adjusting to the dark,' said Pollo.

‘Be still for a moment,' said Ash. ‘Can you smell it?'

They stood quietly, breathing deeply.

‘All I can smell is Will,' said Dan.

‘Well you're no bunch of flowers yourself,' said Will.

‘Shsh,' said Ash. ‘Damp limestone. There's water somewhere nearby.'

Pollo turned the torch back on. ‘Let's see what's around that corner, eh?'

They shuffled away from the shaft, staying close, careful not to bump their heads or trip on the nuggets
of hard rock that protruded from the compacted soil of the cave floor.

‘The walls seem to suck up our sound rather than throw it back,' murmured Pollo.

‘They threw back that scraping sound well enough,' said Ash. ‘But I haven't heard anything for a while.'

‘Me neither,' said Pollo. ‘Strange.'

‘Hey, what's that?' said Will. ‘Give us the torch please, Pollo.' Stacked against the cave wall were wooden crates and rows of rusted tin cans. They rushed forward. Will picked up a tin and turned it in the torch beam. It was completely sealed. Any labelling had been nibbled or rusted away. He shook it next to his ear. ‘It's heavy,' he whispered. ‘I think it's food of some kind.' He looked around hopefully. ‘Pity I can't see a can opener.'

‘This could be a genie's lamp!' called Dan. He was holding what looked a bit like an old watering can. It was solid metal, tarnished deep brown, with a fat, straight spout and a handle like a meat hook.

‘Maybe it was a genie who took your ancestor!' said Will.

Ash sniffed the spout. ‘It's had some kind of fuel in it.'

‘I've heard of teapot lamps that miners in the old days used,' said Pollo. ‘They ran on paraffin and mineral oil. It could be one of them.'

‘That looks like a fireplace over there,' said Ash. ‘And look, there's a hook screwed into the rock overhead to hang pots from.'

‘This kitchen's not all that different from Twig's and mine,' said Dan. He began murmuring to himself.

‘What are you muttering?' asked Will.

‘I'm putting landmarks into a song to help us find our way out,' said Dan. ‘Twig taught me to do it when I explore a new place. So far I've got – hang on, I need to sort of sing it – Wallaby Cave, Stinky Tunnel, Whale Mouth, Spike Ladder and Bushrangers' Kitchen.'

‘Not bad,' said Will.

‘Impressive,' said Pollo. She looked around, her eyes gleaming. ‘This has to be where Diamond Jack's gang hung out, don't you think?'

‘No one else would go to this much trouble in a cave,' said Will. ‘I mean, it's no piece of cake to get in and out of.'

‘Not that we've got out of it yet,' said Dan.

Pollo sighed. ‘If only I had my camera.'

‘We don't need one,' said Ash. ‘Not being able to take a picture doesn't make all this less wonderful.'

‘Tell that to my editor at the
Coast
newspaper,' said Pollo.

Ash smiled. ‘I see your point.'

‘It's all neatly packed up,' said Will. ‘It's like they knew they were going to get caught.'

‘Whenever Twig and I leave camp for more than an hour or so we pack up everything. It keeps it safe from mice and bugs.'

‘Maybe when you're a bushranger,' said Ash, ‘you never know when you'll be back.'

‘Not much of a way to live, was it?' said Will. ‘Never knowing when your next meal would be.'

‘No worse than knowing your next meal will be either beans or stew,' grumbled Dan, ‘with maybe a few crickets thrown in.'

‘I wouldn't have wanted to be a bushranger,' said Pollo. ‘I've read most of them were poor to start with and stayed that way. They were desperate. Life was tough back then.'

Will grinned. ‘You sound like Mayor Bullock.'

‘Well, it's good to have a comfy, warm home to go to,' said Ash.

‘Speak for yourself,' muttered Dan.

They moved onward to where a shawl of velvety rock hung from the cave ceiling. Side by side they duck-walked beneath it until they could stand. Will's torch beam swept upwards.

They gasped in awe. They were in a huge cavern. From the soaring ceiling hung curtains of pearly rock, curved in graceful folds. The floor was dotted with pillars of stone, like people on a dance floor frozen in time.

‘It's like a spaceship!' said Will. ‘Or a ballroom … or a ballroom in a spaceship!'

To one side, layers of pink rock, like a stack of giant seashells, formed a wall. In another part of the cavern, pale sugary stone spilled over boulders. Above these, side by side, dozens of ochre-red spears descended like
the pipes of a massive magical organ.

All this was mirrored on the surface of a lake, dead still, that stretched away to the far wall of the cavern.

‘The reflections …' said Ash. ‘There's no right-way up. I feel like I'm floating in midair.'

‘The lake's a good thirty metres across,' said Will. He looked up at the cave roof. ‘It must be fed from that creek at the bottom of the gorge.'

‘We're under the bottom of the gorge?' said Dan. ‘That's a long way down. No one will ever hear us if we have to call for help.'

Pollo patted his shoulder. ‘Let's worry about that when we have to, eh?'

They moved slowly towards the lake, weaving between the stone dancers.

‘It's like they're watching us,' said Dan.

‘Who?' said Pollo.

‘These pillars of rock.'

‘Do you know for sure they're not?' said Ash.

‘Maybe this wasn't a bushranger's hideout,' said Will. ‘Maybe the aliens who kidnapped your ancestor left behind this lot to guard the fort.'

‘They're waiting for human breath to bring them to life,' whispered Ash.

‘Hang on!' said Will. ‘I think I saw one move!'

‘Cut it out!' said Dan. He bent to investigate a pillar. As he did, something wet hit the back of his neck. Splot! ‘Hey! Something just pooped on me!'

‘That's not poop,' said Ash, ‘that's water.'

‘You've just robbed that stalagmite of a week's growth,' said Will.

‘You make stuff up,' said Dan. ‘You're as bad as Twig.'

‘Honest!' said Will. ‘Water seeps through the ground above us and picks up minerals on the way. And then it drips onto the cave floor, one little drop at a time, and builds up into a stalagmite – if you don't get in its way.'

‘We should keep it down,' whispered Pollo. ‘We're trying to find where that noise came from, remember?'

They moved to the edge of the lake. Pollo tossed in a pebble. The mirrored vision shivered then dissolved into ripples.

Ash cupped her hand and dipped it into the water. She lapped a little water first, then took a slurp. ‘It's pure … and icy cold.'

They all drank thirstily, careful not to stir the water.

‘I wonder how deep this thing is,' said Pollo, wiping her mouth. She collected more pebbles and began throwing them into the water, a bit further each time. In the dim distance something caught her eye.

‘Look!' she whispered, pointing. ‘Over on the other
side of the lake! See that old rockslide?' Will trained his torch on the jumble of boulders. The beam wasn't reaching as far as it had when they'd first entered the cave, but it made it far enough.

‘Just to the right, about halfway up – there's a nook in the cave wall. See it? There's something in there!'

Sure enough, on a ledge beside the wall of loose rock was a box about as big as a drink carton.

‘Looks like some kind of chest,' said Will, peering into the darkness. ‘Odd that it's not with the rest of the stuff.'

‘Very odd indeed,' said Pollo. She began taking off her runners.

‘Pollo, what are you doing?' cried Will.

‘She's taking off her shoes,' said Dan.

Will huffed. ‘Yeah, but why – that's what worries me.' Pollo was wading into the water, sending undulations in the gleaming reflection rolling to the other side of the lake.

‘She wants to keep her shoes dry,' explained Dan.

Will sighed. ‘Dan, will you just … just …' He called to Pollo, ‘I'm not coming in after you if you get into trouble!'

Pollo was knee-deep now, gasping with the cold, feeling out the bottom one toe at time. She craned to see
the chest. ‘Shine that torch in front of me, please Will!'

Will trained the waning beam her way.

Suddenly she bellyflopped into the black icy water. She breaststroked with stiff, jerky sweeps of her arms across the lake, her chin skimming the water, her breath coming in sharp gasps.

She slipped and slithered her way up the bank. Shivering, she climbed the rockslide till she reached the nook containing the chest. Ash, Will and Dan heard her huffing and grunting as she tugged. Eventually she banged her fist against the chest and picked her way back down.

Pollo flopped into the inky lake and dog-paddled her way back. Ash and Will took an arm each and helped her up the bank. She scraped water off her legs and began jogging to warm up, weaving in and out among them, her jaws juddering, her arms wrapped tight around her body.

‘Here, put this on,' said Will, yanking off his T-shirt. ‘If you'd really wanted me to, I would've swum over to help, you know.'

‘Th-th-thanks a m-million, p-partner,' said Pollo. She was trying to find the neck hole on Will's T-shirt but her fingers wouldn't work.

‘I jumped into a freshwater pond once,' said Ash,
slipping the top over Pollo's head for her. ‘It was so cold my muscles froze. I went numb all over. I had trouble breathing.'

‘Try washing in a bucket all through winter,' mumbled Dan.

‘What'd you see over there?' asked Will. ‘Do you think the chest is in any way special?'

Pollo looked around the group, her eyes gleaming. ‘It's special alright! It's a strongbox! An old one, by the look of it.'

‘A strongbox?' said Dan. ‘Like … a box for valuables?'

Pollo nodded eagerly, her teeth chattering.

‘Bushrangers,' whispered Will.

‘It has to be!' said Pollo. ‘It has wide iron bands around it and a handle either end. There are old-fashioned clasps on it too. Only trouble is, a film of rock has built up around it and sort of glued the whole thing into the cave wall.'

‘I think that's called flowstone,' said Will.

‘Well, whatever it is, it's stopping us from finding out what's inside.'

‘A hammer and chisel would do the trick,' said Dan, ‘if we had any.'

Will's torch was dimming by the minute. He shook it and it brightened for a moment. ‘I want to find out
what's in the strongbox too, but we can't stay here with only one torch.' His stomach gurgled in support. ‘How about we come back tomorrow? I'm pretty sure the tools we want are in HB's shed and, Pollo, you said you wanted your camera.'

‘I'd like to get out into the open air soon,' whispered Ash.

Pollo looked at Ash. Her skin looked tight across her face. ‘You're right, Will. I guess all this stuff's been here a century or more. Nothing's going to change between now and tomorrow.'

Just then, a small rock rolled down the rockslide, pinged off the strongbox and bounced into the water with a plop. They stared at the water rings widening towards them. Something black flapped across the lake. It dodged them narrowly before settling in a distant dark recess.

‘Bats!' squeaked Pollo. ‘They're not meant to be here in summer!'

‘Different species,' said Will. ‘I told you it could be bats making that noise.'

‘Something disturbed it,' said Ash, ‘along with that rock.'

Dan began murmuring his song, jigging on the spot. ‘We really should go now, shouldn't we?'

‘Look!' whispered Will. He pointed to the rockslide and switched off his torch. A beam of light was threading its way through a slim gap. It hit a stalactite and lurched side to side. Whoever was on the other end of it was looking for something.