The Mystery of Smugglers Cove (The Mystery Series, Book 1) (3 page)

After stepping closer to the entrance, he peered out. His two sisters were walking away from him and heading farther away every second. He shouted their names as loud as he could.

A few moments later, he heard the girls reply. He yelled back and waved his hands.

They ran in the direction of his voice and paused as they reached the point where the water was almost lapping at their feet.

“How did you find me?” Joe asked.

“I noticed that your binoculars and torch were missing,” Amy said. “I thought you had gone for a walk. But I didn’t imagine that you would have tried exploring the caves by yourself.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Joe said. “Will came over early this morning to say that he was going to his grandmother’s house for a few days as she was sick—”

“And you couldn’t wait that long,” Sarah broke in.

Joe nodded. “I was exploring and, before I realised it, the tide had come in.”

Deciding that he may as well get out as his trousers were already partly wet, he slowly waded through the waist-deep water. As he did so, he shivered.

“You do look cold,” Sarah said.

“We’d better get you home as soon as possible,” Amy said. “We don’t want you to catch a cold.” She took off her cardigan and draped it over her brother’s shoulders to keep him warm as they hurried home.

~

Their mother rushed out to greet them as they approached Rose Cottage. She scolded Joe as she got two blankets from the cupboard and wrapped them around him. She then hurried upstairs to run a hot bath.

Five minutes later, Joe was soaking in the hot water. A while later, he climbed out and dried himself. He headed downstairs after dressing in clean clothes. Now warm, he was looking like his old self again. He sat down in the sitting room as his mother handed him a steaming cup of cocoa. He sipped it as he told her and his sisters everything that had taken place that morning.

As Joe started sneezing, his mother said, “You were very foolish. You’ll not be given any pocket money this week, plus I want you to stay away from the caves for the next two days.”

“Do I really have to?” Joe asked. “I feel fine.”

“Rubbish!” his mother said. “I know a sick boy when I see one, and I happen to be looking at one right now. Before you went on your little escapade, you were beginning to get a cold, and now you’ve probably made it worse. I want you close so I can keep an eye on you.”

“But I—”

His mother smiled. “Don’t argue. I’m only doing this because I want you safe and sound. God knows what could have happened to you in the caves by yourself, so maybe this will remind you to always tell someone where you are going before you set off. Cheer up. I’ve made you your favourite, apple pie.” She headed into the kitchen.

For the next two days, it rained almost constantly. There were a few dry periods, but the rain always resumed soon afterwards, and the children were forced to stay indoors and play games. Monopoly was their favourite, so they played that one often.

On the second wet day, Will came over. He had just returned from his grandmother’s and was eager to see if the children wanted to go exploring the following day since the weather was supposed to improve. After tossing options back and forth, they agreed they would search the caves.

The sun shone down upon them as they met up at
noon
the next day. They headed straight for the cave that Joe had got himself trapped in a few days earlier.

After they had all had a look around, Joe showed them where he had been moving the rocks. “I have a gut feeling there may be something behind those.”

“Why don’t we split into two groups?” Will said. He turned to the girls. “Joe and I can move the rocks while you two put them into a pile.”

For the next twenty minutes, the children worked enthusiastically as they applied themselves to their respective jobs in an effort to find a tunnel. But, at the end of this time, they still hadn’t found anything.

They decided it was time to have the picnic lunch that Mrs Mitchell had prepared for them and left the cave to sit down on the sand. Joe handed out a sandwich for each of them and they all hungrily munched on the food.

Once they had eaten everything, they returned to the cave. They went to work and, before long, their hard work paid off.

“Gosh!” Will shouted. “A hole!”

“Where?” the girls yelled. They rushed closer to investigate.

“Here, in the gap,” Will said. “Joe and I were moving a big rock and suddenly it fell through a hole. I looked and discovered it on the ground on the other side of the wall.”

Amy put her face close to the hole. “I can feel a slight breeze.”

“There must be a hole farther up,” Joe exclaimed excitedly. “The tunnel must come out somewhere up there and that’s where the fresh air is coming from.”

“I think you’ve hit the nail on the head,” Will said. “Let’s hurry up and remove the rocks around it, so we can make the hole bigger. Then we can explore the tunnel.”

Agreeing that this was the best thing to do, all four children started to remove the rocks that surrounded it and, before long, had made a hole that was large enough to squeeze through. Eagerly, they climbed through the narrow space.

Once everyone was on the other side, they started walking down the tunnel. It was quite tall in some places, but in some parts it was so small that they were just able to stand up straight without bending down.

For the next five minutes, as the tunnel twisted and turned, the children smiled, thrilled that they had just discovered something that was at least a hundred years old.

The smiles on their faces disappeared as they rounded a corner and stopped dead. Ten feet ahead, the tunnel came to a wall.

“Oh no!” Will exclaimed as he raced forward. “It can’t end here!” But it did. There were no gaps or holes that he could see, and the wall was rock solid.

“It certainly looks like it must,” Joe replied after a moment’s hesitation.

“But what’s the purpose of the tunnel if it just ends here?” Amy asked.

Sarah agreed with Amy. “Only a madman would build a tunnel that ended in a blank wall.”

“Hold on a minute,” Will said. He tilted his head. “I’m sure I can feel a breeze coming from somewhere.”

Joe pointed his torch around the area and saw what they had been missing. Straight above Will was a black hole.

“Imagine that,” Amy laughed. “Golly, no wonder we missed that before. It looks like the tunnel goes straight up.”

“It sure does,” Joe said.

“But how do we get up there?” Sarah asked, a puzzled expression creeping onto her face.

“You might have to use a rope,” Joe suggested.

“Joe, shine the light over here next to the wall,” Will called out. “I may have found something.”

“What?” Joe asked, as he moved over to where Will was standing.

“I thought so!” Will exclaimed. “Girls, come over here.” The girls moved closer. “This dent looks manmade.”

“It could be a handhold,” Amy said.

Will shone the torch up, revealing more dents. “This must be how you get up the hole.”

“Don’t you think that may be a bit dangerous?” Amy asked, concerned. “It looks a long way up.”

“Don’t worry,” Will said, giving her a reassuring smile. “I’ll go up first to make sure it’s safe.” He gave the torch to Joe and started the climb. Soon, he was up and through the hole. He looked back down. “Come on. It’s a breeze. It’s only ten feet or so.”

“I’ll go next,” Amy said. She took a deep breath and started climbing. When she was safely up, she yelled down and Sarah started the climb.

Joe waited for his turn to come. He tried to memorise where the holes were. As he needed both hands to climb, he would have to put the torch in his pocket.

Sarah yelled down that she was up, so Joe moved to the wall. He put his hands on the upper footholds and started the climb. A minute later, he had reached the hole.

After taking the torch out of his pocket, he shone it around the large cave. There was a natural window in the side of the wall letting a small amount of light enter the space.

 
Everyone looked in surprise at the sight in front of them. They had never expected to find anything in the cave, but it was just the opposite. There was a wooden table and chairs in the centre, with a lamp and matches on the table. On the far side, there were a number of wooden boxes that looked as though they had been there for years. An old wooden door was built into the rock on the left side of the cave.

Amy was the first to speak. “Golly!”

“I wonder who put all this stuff here?” Will said. “The wood would have rotted away by now if it had been used by smugglers years ago, and this packet of matches seems new.” He walked over and picked them up.

“Hold on,” Joe said. “I don’t think we should touch anything until we find out who put all this stuff here.”

“You’re right,” Will agreed, putting the matches down. “I didn’t think of that.”

“You think someone comes here regularly?” Sarah said.

“I don’t know,” Joe answered, “but this stuff can’t have been here that long.”

Will nodded as he glanced around. “If someone does come here regularly, you can bet that they’re up to something illegal. They wouldn’t come here for any other reason.”

Amy looked at Will. “Are you saying that smugglers still come here?”

“Maybe,” Will said.

The children walked over to where light entered the cave. Looking out, they could see the beach.

“I reckon that we’re about seven hundred feet or so from where we started,” Will said, after looking out the window for a few moments.

“I think you’re right,” Joe said. He stiffened at a sudden noise. He quickly ran to the hole and listened. The sound of men’s voices coming up the passage was getting louder as each second passed.

“Quick!” he whispered to the others. “Find somewhere to hide. Someone’s coming!”

Will ran over to the door and tried to open it. “It’s locked.”

“Let’s try the boxes,” Amy suggested. She and Sarah hurried over and tried to open them. “No good,” she cried in desperation a few moments later. “They’re nailed down.”

The men were getting closer. The children could now see a lamp light in the passage below.

“Blow!” Joe whispered. “There’s nowhere else left to hide. We’ll be caught! We may as well give ourselves up and just hope they let us go.”

“No!” Will whispered, his eyes defiant. “We can’t let that happen.”

They watched as the first man emerged from the hole. As he leaned down to grab the lamp from someone, Joe realised that in a few more seconds they were going to be discovered!

Joe suddenly spotted some boxes near the wall. “Hey, we can hide here.”

Everyone hurried over and bent down. A moment later, the room was flooded with light as the first man to climb up put the lamp on the table and sat down. Through a gap in-between the boxes, they could see that he was thin, small, clean-shaven, and wearing fisherman clothes.

Shortly, another man, who was tall and had a beard, and dressed the same as the first fellow, joined him at the table.

Before they could start talking, the door opened from the other side and another man walked in. The bald fellow was dressed in a suit and had big, broad shoulders. He nodded curtly to the others. “Jake, Louis.”

The tall man, Louis, looked up as the newcomer sat down opposite him. “Good to see you Rocky, what’s new?”

“I just got word from the boss,” Rocky replied. “He’s coming tonight.”

The thin man, Jake, stared. “Tonight? I thought he wasn’t coming for a few days.”

“He’s moved up the deadline,” Rocky said. He’s coming here to make sure that all the details have been finalised since the boat is coming tomorrow. It will be our biggest haul yet.”