The Plug at the Bottom of the Sea (15 page)

Just then the tiny voice came again. ‘I will stay here to tell you what to say. Don't worry and don't shout… whisper and you will be obeyed.'

At that same moment Moses and his group saw the plug and started over to it around the side of the cave. Noah explained, ‘We tried to prise it loose with masts and anchors. We tried to melt it with fires but nothing seemed to move the plug an inch.' They kept walking around the walls till they came to the bottom of the plug where the little fire was.

‘Now,' said Moses. ‘I have been thinking all the way from the time I first met you and Cindy of a way to open the plug if it should be closed. You, Craig, gave me the idea.' Moses' red beard glowed in the firelight. Everyone looked at Craig without any idea of what Moses was talking about.

“It's the lightning that started the sails of the windmill,' explained Moses. Craig laughed and everyone laughed after him because they thought this must be a joke. There is no lightning underground. Captain Tiny, as always, was the first to point this out.

‘Lightning? Down here? You must be crackers!'

‘Lightning is electricity,' answered Moses, ‘And there must be a great deal of electricity in the electric eels, electric moss, and electric seaweed, not to mention what's on the ships. If we gathered it all together we would have an enormous spark, as great as lightning.'

‘It sounds good.' Noah nodded. ‘But how can you make the lightning open up the plug?'

‘Craig gave me this idea too.' Moses pointed at a steel mast of a ship. ‘If we put this in the crack and put the blasting powder in a pile at the end, with the mast going straight through it, then we touch the spark to the end of the mast and … bang!' He opened his hands like an explosion.

‘Well, if you want my opinion,' began Captain Tiny, not waiting for anyone to shake their head. ‘I think we ought to use that missile back there.' There was silence.

‘A missile is the newest thing. Why, I've exploded many mis …' But he looked around and saw that no one believed him. ‘Well, there must be someone down here that knows how …'

But everyone had turned to Moses, who was shouting up to Cindy. ‘I am going to give you instructions, one by one, and you relay them.'

Moses called up to Cindy and she began to boom out over the cavern. ‘Now, everyone, we are going to try and get out of the cave, and bring all the water back to the other side of the earth by cracking the plug open using electricity. Moses has asked me to ask you for your help. If you promise to help, we will be out soon and the world will be saved. If you agree with the plan please say “Aye”.'

A mighty shout went up. ‘Aye, Aye,' cried all the sailors, captains, pilots, and crews.

‘Now,' said Moses, ‘I shall give the instructions to you, Cindy.' Cindy swallowed. She knew that the success of the entire operation depended on her.

Far below, Craig knew it too. He was burning with envy.
How had she been able to get up there? Why? And then he had to laugh to himself as he thought, it was probably a complete accident, like everything else Cindy does.

Moses' voice came floating up to Gindy, thin and wispy. She automatically repeated what he said. ‘We must collect everything electric. All the fish who are electric must get together over there by the temple!' Cindy suddenly saw a flurry in the water as the glistening bodies began to move. Some flying fish began to jump to get there faster. Soon the water round the temple was almost solid silver with fishes' bodies, led by Mrs Mermaid.

The voice came floating up to Cindy again.

‘Ships, bring all your electrical and metal things over to the bottom of the plug!' Cindy repeated. At once, captains and mates began to pull at the masts and electric wires of their ships and carried them over, like a procession carrying banners, to the plug.

‘Now, a special order for Mrs Mermaid. Would she please organize the fish so they are holding on to each other, tail to head!' Cindy saw the slim figure of the mermaid slip through the water till the mass of silver round the temple became a long chain, reaching almost to the plug.

In the meantime, Moses, Craig, and the others had been piling blasting powder, bullets, and bombs round the bottom of the plug.

Cindy boomed out the next order.

‘Would a few people from each ship go out and collect as much electric moss and seaweed as they can and pile it around the masts!' Immediately men began to climb up and down looking for moss and seaweed that glowed. After they had built a pile round the masts, Moses ordered them to pile it on top of the explosives.

There was only one more order to be given. The most dangerous moment had almost arrived.

Craig was frightened as he carried the last box of explosives towards the plug. He had felt very important a few minutes
before, telling the sailors where to put the masts and seaweed. Now he wondered if Moses' plan would really work. What if they blasted too big a hole and the water came pouring down, drowning them all? He shivered, wondering how many fathoms down they were. The last box of dynamite was very heavy as Craig reached the great pile of boxes leaning against the dull gold of the giant plug. Craig was tired as he began to lift the box up into place.

Just then, while reaching high to rest the box on top of the pile above his head. Craig felt the leather map drop from inside his shirt down onto the wet rock floor.

Moses had been standing by the pile and he saw the leather map fall. Their eyes met. Craig swallowed.

‘Craig,' Moses said slowly, ‘I know you didn't mean to take the map. I dropped it. But people can lie or steal by saying nothing just as easily as by telling a lie or taking what someone else needs.'

Craig's throat stuck in the middle of a swallow and he couldn't make a sound. He nodded.

‘If I punished you, then you'd remember the punishment and forget what you did. I want you to remember what you have done. Do you still want to keep the map?' Craig shook his head and reached down to the soft leather. As Craig rose to hand the map to Moses, he was deeply sorry. He didn't mean to steal or hurt anyone; his urge to collect things had just been too strong. It had made him forget their need of the map.

Moses was busy with some last minute check of wires. Captain Tiny was very quiet and said nothing—very unusual for him. Noah was standing looking at the plug. Only the little old man was busy. He was scribbling away in his notebook. Perhaps he is writing down the last moment of our lives, thought Craig, feeling more and more upset.

Above them stood Cindy on the balcony, feeling very alone. The whole chamber was deathly silent. Everyone sensed the danger, Cindy knew she had to give one more order. She waited, tense, for it to come.

There was a delay as Moses pushed the masts into the cracks under the plug. It seemed to take forever.

Finally the order came; Cindy took a deep breath and repeated:

“All electric fish must be joined together and led to the big mast just out of the water!' This was to be the flash that set off the explosion.

The cave began to glow, brighter and brighter as the fish obeyed.

‘Now touch the mast!' cried Moses.

‘NOW TOUCH THE MAST!' cried Cindy.

Crash!
came the explosion.
Crash! Crash!
… the sound echoed round the walls, shaking the entire cave. A blinding light came from the steel mast. The light flashed like lightning and touched off the blasting powder, bullets, and bombs.

Explosion followed explosion as flames tore up around the plug. The great golden rim shone fiercely through the smoke.

Slowly, very slowly, a crack appeared underneath it. A spray, and then a waterfall of water spurted out.

‘HOORAY!' a giant shout went up from all the people down below. Cindy joined in. They had done it. They were bringing back the water to the other side of the earth.

But by now the waterfall had become a torrent. The cave was filling up fast.

As the cave filled with water, Moses, Craig, the old man, and the others climbed quickly into a boat as it began to float.

Moses shouted to Cindy still high above on the balcony, ‘Tell everyone to get in line so that we can all get out, one after the other, without any accidents. Big ships first, so they don't crush the little ones.'

‘Get in line, everyone,' boomed Cindy's voice. ‘Big ships first; little ones last.'

Suddenly Cindy realized
she
was stuck. Everyone was leaving the cave and she would be left behind. There did not seem to be any stairs to climb down by.

‘Help!' she shouted and everyone in the cave stared up at her immediately.

Moses and Noah looked up and tried to stop their boat. Craig grabbed the first pile of rope he could find. ‘Here, Cindy,' he cried as he threw the end in an arching coil through the air. The rope fell short of the balcony by a few inches.

Cindy leaned over the railing but could not reach it.

‘Don't worry, Cindy,' Craig called as he coiled the rope again.

Moses shouted to her, ‘Tell everyone to push themselves away from the walls and mind the doors and their heads going up through these caves. We may be going pretty fast.'

Cindy called out what Moses told her, but her gigantic voice
was shaking. She was terribly frightened. The rope came up towards her this time, higher and higher, till the last few feet flipped over the railing. Cindy grabbed it.

‘Wow!' her voice exploded, crashing round the walls.

‘I'm sorry,' she whispered very softly.

Craig called out, ‘Tie the rope around the railing and climb over the side. Terrified, she obeyed. Down through the darkness she swung, feeling strange to be losing her booming voice, but happy to be returning to Craig and the others. They helped her down, while Moses held the rope steady.

The water was gushing loudly and coming through faster. Millions of fish were moving about, splashing with happiness. At the end of the boat, where Cindy found herself and the others, was the old man still writing in his book, waving his feather for an idea, then tapping and scratching it down. Cindy wondered how long that long white beard had been growing. Had he been a boy playing down in these caves?

But there was no time to wonder for they were sliding through the water towards the great door to the War Chamber.

‘Hold your boats back,' called Moses. ‘Hold on to the walls till the War Chamber fills up or we'll get crushed in the corkscrew shells!' But his voice was drowned in the far-echoing cave. Fires and the candles on the ledges were pinched out by the rising water.

They were almost in total darkness as they approached the threshold of the War Chamber. Everyone strained to hold on to the wall or to some rope tied across the door, but finally it snapped. In a rush they felt themselves slipping forward through the black water.

Suddenly in the dark they were falling and turning. Turning. This was it. The twist of the War Chamber. Oh, thought Craig, this twist is far worse in the dark than it was just looking down on it. He held on tightly to the rudder of the broken boat as they swooped down.

Then, just as suddenly, they felt themselves rising upwards, still twisting around. They could see three lights ahead. Craig
supposed they were the lights from the three chambers of Peace, Art, and Plenty. But the boat was twisting so much they couldn't tell which was which, or where to steer. Steering in any case was impossible, as Craig discovered when the rudder snapped off on a rock.

‘What shall we do?' shouted Craig. ‘The rudder's broken.' The lights spinning round made him dizzy.

‘We'll make for the middle light. It must be the Peace Chamber!” cried Moses. ‘I'll throw the anchor around the door and we'll pull ourselves through.'

Moses held a rope with the anchor and Noah lifted it in the dark as they took it to the side and waited. It seemed an age to Craig, who heard the thumping of many boats, hitting together in the whirlpool.

‘Now!' shouted Moses. Craig watched the anchor like a strange bird, heavy and jagged, reach out beyond the boat with a tangled rope trailing behind. Suddenly the boat jerked. The rope whipped with a loud ‘crack' and became taut. They were anchored to the doorway of the Peace Chamber and Moses and Noah were pulling the boat through the hole. The water was so high now and the entrance was so low, Craig was sure they wouldn't make it but would whirl round and round this corkscrew forever, until they were crushed at the top. But …

Swoop
—a wave of circling water pulled them down and many cracking ships and broken masts slid under the door and into the pale blue cave of Peace.

‘I hope the others made it under there,' spluttered Cindy, her mouth full of water.

There were thousands of ships in the Peace Chamber. Great humps of boats jammed next to one another flowed along with the rising water. Pale blue lights from the water mingled with candle flames as everyone tried to see their way towards the door to the Chamber of Questions at the far end.

Boats had to steer round the statues' heads sticking up above the water to avoid being ripped open. A raft with a bamboo
cabin and a square-rigged sail got stuck between two statues. In the distance a giant ship rose above the rest and scraped the ceiling of the cave with a loud,
Sssccc.

Next to their small boat, Craig saw a group of galley cooks hanging out of the portholes of a steamer. They were singing happily and banging pots together. They looked very funny.

The black forms of statues' heads in the lighted pool looked ominous to Craig, but Cindy laughed as she pointed to their narrow squeeze between two beards behind them.

Just then Cindy thought of something not funny at all but horrible. ‘The door to the Entry Chamber is bolted!' she cried out. ‘And we'll be drowned if we don't open it before the water rises to the roof of the cave.'

But no one heard her.