CHAPTER 18
"Come on Rod, let's go down," said James. "Give me the lamp."
He lowered himself carefully through the door, which was just below his height, and got onto the steps, holding the wall with one hand and the lamp with the other. Once he was down a step or two, he could stand up and take stock of the situation.
The dankness of the passage closed around him. When he took his hand off the crumbling wall, it was wet. Ahead, beyond the beam from the lamp, utter darkness lurked. Rodney followed him down, carrying the torch, but this did not help, since it cast James's shadow on the walls before him to very unpleasant effect.
"These steps go on for ever," complained Rodney after a while. "And the tunnel's so narrow, I feel I can't breathe!"
"They stop just down here," replies James, his voice muffled by the walls on either side. "The passage seems to open out at the bottom as well."
They reached the foot of the steps and their feet sank into soft dust or sand. James shone the lamp around them. Overhead, the roof was arched with coarse stone, as crumbly and damp as the walls. Moisture glittered in the torchlight. Ahead, the light shone on to a blank wall of rough brick.
"A dead end," said Rodney.
"Let's go and see." James was not going to be put off yet.
They stumbled along the dusty floor, carefully avoiding the stony lumps which stuck out of the soil.
"The floor is fairly dry, at least," said Rodney, "which is more than be said for the walls. But that musty smell is really getting to me now." He coughed.
James got to the blank wall first. "It's not a dead end," he cried. "It turns to the left. There's a narrow passage here that goes on."
Rodney followed closely. Faint twilight had been visible behind them from the open door at the top of the steps, but once they had turned the corner, they were totally dependent on the torches.
"Another blank wall ahead," said James later, "but there must be a way through. At least," he continued cheerfully, "there haven't been any rock falls."
"Just as well," Rodney responded. "I don't like this at all, and I certainly don't fancy being trapped here!"
"This next dead end isn't dead, either," said James. "A right turn this time."
The atmosphere was really close and stuffy now. James thought he could feel the weight of the earth above them. He didn't allow himself to think too much, or he might yield to the desire to escape which he felt mounting up inside him.
Suddenly, the wall to the right of him opened up. He shone the lamp into the gap. Another narrow passage. "Look, Rod," he said. "Shall we go down there?"
"So long as we don't get lost," said Rodney anxiously.
"We'll just see where it goes then," said James.
But it did not go far. They soon came up short at a blank wall. "So that's that," said Rodney.
"No-oo, it's not," said James, looking closely at the stone wall before him, lamp held high. "This is a door. Look at the arch around it. It's a stone door! We just need to find out how to open it!"
"Do we?"
"Of course! This is where the treasure is!"
"So, do we just knock and enter?" said Rodney sarcastically. He came up beside James and tapped with his knuckles in the middle of the door.
There was a grinding sound, similar to the one they had heard earlier when the passage door opened. The stone moved inwards, and amazingly, a rim of light appeared round the edge.
The boys gasped. They set down the lamp and torch, and putting their shoulders to the edge of the door, both pushed together. The stone shifted, then opened with a rush, and they both half-fell into a vaulted stone chamber, and into a flood of brilliant light.
When they had got their breath, they looked around them. "I can't believe this!" cried James. "The eternal light! We've found Abbot William's treasure! We've found it! Now we just look for the gold!"
The light appeared to come from a glowing sphere, suspended from a chain, in a niche in the wall opposite the chamber door. Beneath the sphere, an altar, made up of a slab of stone supported on four carved pillars, held a gilded box with a domed lid. James and Rodney dashed up to examine it. It was made of some kind of hard wood, probably oak, and covered in weird patterns. They could not open it - it was locked with an enormous iron padlock.
"Well," said James. "We can at least take the box. The light will have to wait until we can come with a ladder."
"We'd better not touch that anyway," said Rodney sensibly. "If it's been burning for hundreds of years, it might be hot! I guess we'll have to get Mr Bates to come and look at it, to see what he thinks."
"No need for that!" said a voice behind them. "I'm here now!"
"Mr Bates!" cried both boys together, spinning round to face the owner of the voice. "But how ... "
"How did I know you were here? You made enough noise. I just followed you."
James and Rodney stood open-mouthed. They couldn't think of anything to say. The situation seemed so ridiculous. Here they were, standing in Abbot William's eternal light, talking to their science master - who had no time for such things!
Rodney recovered first. "Now you can see we were right, Mr Bates!" he said, somewhat absurdly. For that moment it did not occur to him to wonder why Mr Bates should have followed them. "Abbot William had this secret all along!"
James was looking over Mr Bates' shoulder, into the dark door to the passage. "Who's that man behind you, Mr Bates?" he suddenly asked. "What is he doing here?"
A tall man came out of the shadows into the white unflickering light. The boys gasped - he was wearing a black balaclava on his head! He was also carrying a pistol, fitted with a silencer.
"Yes, Rodney," Mr Bates said. "I knew Abbot William had a secret - I didn't want you to find out before I did. Then it seemed a good idea to let you do the hard work, and me take the benefit of it, so I watched what you got up to. It was obviously a very good idea. I've been on this trail for a very long time. Oh, and James" - gesturing to the tall man behind him - "this is my good friend. We'll call him Mick."
"He's masked, I see," said James boldly. "Up to no good, the pair of you! Why aren't you masked?"
"Mick likes it that way. He used to be a mercenary in South Africa before he found the antique business more profitable." Mr Bates put his hand in his coat pocket, and brought out a similar mask. "I've got one, too, but I shan't need it. You've seen me, that's enough. It's the last thing you will see, I fear! Sorry about it, but there it is!"
Mick sniggered and waved his gun. "Back up, boys," he snapped. "And don't try to be heroes!"
"That's it," said Mr Bates. "Be good pupils, now. Let your teacher get the goodies. That light now," he said to Mick, "the Japs will pay us a fortune for the secret of that. Just imagine the value on the world market of a light that doesn't need electricity and burns for four hundred years!"
"Too right," said Mick.
The two men moved forward, pushing James and Rodney back against the stone altar. "Get the rope, Mick. Give me the gun," said Mr Bates.
He kept the boys at gunpoint while Mick returned to the passage. James considered the possibility of tackling Mr Bates while he was on his own, but had only half worked out how to do it when Mick returned with a length of coiled rope.
Mick produced a knife and cut the rope into several lengths. Mr Bates grabbed James by the arm and held him firmly. He put the gun to his head. Mick made for Rodney, who tried to run away, but was overpowered.
"Silly," said Mr Bates. "I could have shot your friend."
Mick tied Rodney hand and foot, and then tied him firmly to a pillar of the altar. Mr Bates handed James over, and he received the same treatment, being tied to the opposite pillar.
Mr Bates inspected Mick's work, and pronounced himself pleased with it.
"Do I gag them?" enquired Mick.
"Not necessary. They can yell all they like, but no-one will hear them down here, will they?"
Mick reluctantly agreed.
Both men came up to the altar , not bothering about squashing James and Rodney against their pillars, and greedily examined the carved box. They snarled a little over the padlock, but Mick took some kind of tool out of his pocket and knocked it off. The boys heard the lid creak as Mr Bates opened it.
"Gold!" cried Mr Bates.
"Bars of it!" announced Mick.
"Right," said Mr Bates. "We take this, and that lamp as well. Then we shut up this passage and no-one will be any the wiser. These two pests won't ever be found! Get the lamp down, Mick. I'm not tall enough!"
Mick stretched up over the altar, putting his knee on the stone slab, and managed to unhook the chain from its bracket with one hand. He supported the mysterious sphere with the other hand, and the weird light glowed red through his flesh, showing up the bones.
"It's not as hot as I would've thought," he said. "Just warm."
"Here, Mick," said Mr Bates. "We'll wrap that up in my coat before we get out, or we'll be seen for miles! Still, it will light our way out before then." He took off his coat and draped it over his arm, and then made for the altar and picked up the box.
"This is heavy," he complained. "I'll need both hands. You carry the light, Mick, and we'll sort ourselves out at the bottom of the steps. All ready? Right-o, off we go. Bye, bye, boys. It's been really useful knowing you. You can spend your last hours enjoying the fact that your teacher will be very very rich. And famous as the man who discovered the energy-saving light!"
So, with Mick carrying the wonderful light by its chain like a lantern, and Mr Bates staggering under Abbot William's box of gold, off they went. The white light gradually faded, and then was not visible at all. Total darkness, unknown in that strange chamber for centuries, rushed in gratefully to take its rightful place.
"What did we do with the torches, Rod?" asked James after a while.
"They were in the passage outside the door, but I can't see any light. I expect those two took them," said Rod. "It's awfully dark, isn't it? I can't breathe. Oh God, we're going to die in the dark!" He sniffed a little.
James said nothing. He was trying to control himself. He was too old to cry, but he wanted to. What a dreadful mess he had got them into - and where was Mandy?
"MANDY!" he yelled. But Mandy didn't come.
A little later he said. "Can you move your ropes at all?"
"No."
"Nor can I."
Silence. Then James asked, "Can you remember any prayers from when we went to church? That might help, mightn't it?"
"Maybe. I remember seeing in the Prayer Book something about "Lighten our darkness, O Lord."
"That will do. Let's say that."
"OK."
When they stopped talking, the stifling darkness between them and the world of sound, light and fresh air which they would never see again, engulfed them utterly.
