by L K Harcourt
It was a rather spiritual moment and, his heart feeling better, Dan crawled back to the edge of the shelf, about to step onto the ladder.
Then, to his horror, he heard voices, bad tempered voices, familiar voices. It was Zak and Jake. They had returned! Their words sounded muffled from the top of the shelf. But they were coming closer, and more audible.
‘Those students we tied up have escaped,’ fumed Zak as the men turned into the cave. ‘This is ridiculous Jake. How the ’ell did you fall for that ghost nonsense?’
‘I didn’t fall for it any more than you did,’ retorted Jake.
‘Well it was you that was blubbing away, oh sorry, señor, your lordship, your Excellency, grovel, grovel, sorry to disturb your place of eternal rest, your ’oly ghostliness.’
‘Oh you can scoff,’ retorted Jake, but that weird apparition scared the pants off both of us.’
‘It wasn’t an apparition you oaf, and we weren’t wearing any pants. We’re still not wearing any pants,’ pointed out Zak. ‘It’s getting darned cold down ’ere too. And to think we ’ave missed out on a shag and all that treasure ’cos someone pretending to be the ghost of an 18th century sailor managed to dupe us.’
‘We don’t know for absolute sure that it weren’t a real ghost,’ said Jake cautiously. ‘How come those students got ’emselves free then? ’Ow do you account for that, if it weren’t some supernatural power that assisted them? I’ve long ’eard it said that the tunnels round ’ere are meant to be haunted by the ghosts of sailors who perished in these waters. And what’s more, he spoke to us in Spanish.’
With this debate in progress, Dan thought he might have a chance to escape. He inched his way to the edge of the shelf and peered over the top.
‘Anyway, I’ve had enough of this, I’m going up the ladder to see if any of that treasure remains,’ said Zak walking towards the recess just as Dan was about to step down.
‘Oh I don’t think we should be doin’ that,’ said Jake, hesitantly. ‘If that were a ghost we saw, then that shelf be his living quarters. It’d take a braver man than me to go a-climbin’ up there.’
‘Then it’s just as well there are braver men than you, ain’t it Jake, you great wobblin’ jellyfish,’ sneered Zak. ‘Can’t you see, the place is empty. Those bleedin’ students out-manoeuvred us and ’ave cleared off. Make yourself useful and go and pick up our clothes up off the cave floor, assumin’ they ain’t been taken as well.’
‘Oh thank ’eaven for small mercies,’ said Jake, walking to the back of the cave. ‘Just where we left ’em. Christ, they don’t ’alf pong.’
Jake quickly pulled on his own smelly garments and then took Zak’s to him, who was by now standing at the foot of the ladder beneath the shelf.
‘Ah that’s better,’ Zak said as he dressed. ‘I feel a little more dignified now. Now you wait there, at the bottom, I’m going up the ladder to see what, if anything, is left. And let’s just pray they ’aven’t ’ad time to swipe the lot. Shine your torch up so I can see what I’m doin’.’
Dan could feel cold prickles running up and down his back. Zak was about to mount that ladder. When his ugly face peered over the top he would find a rocky ledge stripped almost as bare as he was himself a couple of minutes ago. And he would be extremely displeased to find a third-rate fake of an 18th century ship’s captain. Or perhaps he would actually be delighted, because it would give him a chance to truss him up this time and all Messrs Zak and Jake would need to do would be to follow the chalk lines conveniently left on the walls all the way to the shaft. That would be open, of course, because the others would be expecting to welcome back their returning hero, instead, to their horror, it would be Zak and Jake who would climb out of the hole, thought Dan, miserably.
The men would then grin, smirk, ask if there was any chance of a cup of tea, pretend to be offended by the stunned silence, and then remove, one by one, every single coin and ingot the four of them had sweated so hard to haul back.
And if there was the slightest attempt to stand in their way, they would point out that the ghost of Captain Felipe was lying bound and gagged down the tunnels and if they cared for his welfare, they better not kick up much of a fuss. It would all be delivered with ample grinning, smirking banter, rippling with weak, seedy jokes. Louise would be groped and taunted about her striptease and then off the pair of them would go, back down the shaft with all the treasure.
Damn!, thought Dan, furious with himself. What an idiot I’ve been, what a total, utter stupid prat. How can I, the one who is so sensible and so boring at times, have taken such a crazy risk as this – for a soft, sentimental, illogical reason?
There was only one thing for it, the one thing which might possibly work, he told himself, as he heard the clump, clump of Zak’s boots slowly ascending the ladder. He picked up the cutlass and crouched near the edge, like an angry hermit crab determined to defend its shell.
CHAPTER 16
Zak’s balding head was nearing the top. Dan leaned over, his ghostly grey eyes bulging angrily from his white-streaked face. ‘Do you dare to return once more and disturb my grave?’ he roared, waving his cutlass. ‘You shall be forever accursed! This time you will feel the sharp point of my blade.’
‘Aaaagh,’ screamed Zak in undiluted terror.
Crash! He fell backwards off the ladder which promptly fell on top of him, trapping him beneath. If Zak had begun to doubt that this fearsome, cutlass-waving character in his bicorne hat and centuries-old naval uniform was anything other than the ghost of Felipe, an 18th century ship’s captain, he believed it now.
Zak sprawled on the floor beneath the ladder, trying to wrestle it off. The apparition alighted next to him, with a thud of heavy boots. Zak screwed up his eyes like a baby and yelled, ‘no, no, oh please dear ghost, spare me, oh spare me ghost. I mean you no harm!’
Seeing his chance, Dan legged it from the cave and down the passageway towards the island. Zak fearfully opened his eyes only to see his tormentor fleeing. Dan could have kicked himself. That was a stupid mistake. Felipe’s ghost should have pinned Zak to the floor and sent him back gibbering the way he had come at the point of a cutlass. Instead, the fearsome phantom had made off like a common thief. He could guess what would happen now – the same as when you run from a bull instead of standing your ground. No doubt Jake was long gone, but a very mad, hurt, humiliated, vengeful bull by the name of Zak was now certain to come steaming after him, intent on grabbing him before he disappeared up the shaft.
Keep cool!, Dan told himself as he ran down the tunnel. He was most likely a faster runner than Zak. He would have to out-pace him and hope he still had time to climb the iron rungs to safety. He could feel his heart beating as he raced along as fast as Captain Felipe’s heavy old boots would allow him.
In fact, they were badly slowing him up. They were not easy to run in and the need to shine a torch ahead while holding the cutlass slowed him up further. To his dismay, he heard an angry shout behind him. Sure enough! Zak was tearing after him, clearly a cowardly fake ghost was not to be accorded quite the same deference as a real one.
I’ve still got time, Dan told himself, so long as I keep my nerve and don’t do anything foolish. The beam of his torch oscillated violently as he ran. Dan tried to train it into the distance so he could see any twists and turns in the passageway. But running in such circumstances was risky.
With the light of the shaft dimly visible ahead, Dan tripped on a jutting out lump of rock. He hurled his cutlass forward as he fell so as not to injure himself on it. His torch leaped from his hand and smashed heavily on the cave floor, breaking instantly. There was no time to get up, the light of Zak’s torch came bobbing up and down round the corner. He was almost upon him. All Dan could do was roll himself to the side of the passageway.
The smashing of his own torch gave Dan one crucial advantage. Zak’s eyes would be focussed on the dim light of the shaft ahead. Hopefully he wouldn’t see the dark-clad figure of a fallen phantom. As
he approached, Dan thrust out his leg. Zak’s feet connected. Crash! Down Zak fell like a large, toppled tree. Dan was up in a second. He aimed his foot hard into Zak’s ample belly. He groaned in agony and Dan, remembering to pick up his cutlass, ran off towards the welcoming light of the shaft.
‘Now for the home straight,’ muttered Dan, ‘just a few yards to go and I’ll be safe.’
His terror of Zak imbued him with extra strength and determination, but Zak would not be far behind. Dan was now running with no torch – all he could do was head for the weak pillar of light ahead and pray that he would not stumble over anything else. It was impossible to see anything on the tunnel floor. But as far he could remember, this stretch was reasonably smooth. Please God let me find those rungs easily, prayed Dan, as he arrived below the shaft.
He could see John’s face looking down anxiously at him, but it was unhelpful as it was blocking the light. ‘I’ve got no torch I can’t see the rungs,’ shouted Dan, ‘get out of the light. Zak’s right on my tail.’
John stepped back from the hole and grabbed a torch to help Dan. He tried to shine it down the hole without actually getting in the way of natural light.
Where, where were the rungs? Dan skimmed his hands round the curved sides of the shaft in desperation. His fingers found them before his eyes did, it would not have been a difficult task, even in poor light but for the circumstances. Reluctantly, he let the cutlass drop to the floor rather than allow it to delay him. He needed both arms free to pull himself up. He had a few precious seconds before Zak’s strong sweating hands would be on him. He had to get up fast.
With the strength that comes from pure fear, Dan hauled himself up one rung after the next. His head was almost at the top now and John was waiting with arms outstretched to pull him to safety.
And then Dan felt the most sickening tug at his ankle. Zak must be right behind him! Desperately, he tried to wriggle his trapped foot free, but Zak was pulling on his leg with brute force. Dan, holding on tight with his hands, kicked out murderously with his other foot, seeking to push the toecap of that heavy old boot into Zak’s unshaven jowls. He thought he connected with something but then he felt Zak’s beefy arms close around his outstretched leg like a giant clam. Only the grip of his hands now stopped him from falling as Zak wrenched him downwards.
Dan’s palms were becoming slippery with perspiration. He tried to put a hand up to John who was reaching down as far as he could into the shaft. Their fingers almost met, but not quite. Dan’s arms were being almost dislocated by the downward force applied to them. They simply couldn’t hold out for long. One after another, his greasy fingers gave way. ‘Aaaagh,’ he cried as John looked down in dismay. Dan fell from the shaft wall, taking Zak with him to the tunnel floor.
Dan fought to shake off Zak as they landed hard on the ground, jolting Dan’s hat off. Fortunately, Zak took the worst of it, his fat belly cushioning Dan’s fall, but Zak was up in an instant. ‘I’ll teach you to try and make a fool out of me, you little scumbag,’ snarled Zak at him. ‘Have that for a start,’ and Zak’s clenched fist punched Dan hard in the stomach, winding him and making him double up in agony.
‘I’ll land a few more blows on you later after I’ve had the shag that girl was promisin’ me and taken away your treasure.’
Zak reached into his pocket. ‘Luckily I still got some tape left,’ he said, twisting Dan’s hands behind his back and binding them swiftly.
‘Now for that gob of yours, so we don’t ’ave to ’ear no more nonsense about disturbin’ your tomb and such like. You scared the life out of Jake, poor bugger’s scampered off like a dog. Mind you, you don’t look ’alf so menacing without that daft pirate hat on.’
Zak wrapped the tape tightly around Dan’s mouth and shoved him to the floor.
‘I’ll be warnin’ your friends that if they give me any grief, you’ll be the one who suffers,’ he snarled.
Dan lay on the ground, wriggling and squirming in vain to get free. A raw, visceral anger coursed through him but he was utterly helpless. He was at Zak’s mercy and so were the others. After having been so clever, so brilliant, he had wrecked everything. Their treasure would be stolen and Louise and possibly Emma raped – Dan’s heart went cold at the thought. And all because of a daft, sentimental, utterly unnecessary reason for returning to the danger zone when they should have shut the lid down tight on that shaft and hurled every heavy object they had over the top of it.
Zak flicked his torch over the ground – Captain Felipe’s bicorne hat lay on the tunnel floor. He picked it up and placed it on his own head.
‘Is it sideways on or fore-and-aft?’ asked Zak. ‘I think fashions changed over time. I’ll do as you did and wear it sideways I think. Now, where’s your precious little cutlass disappeared to? Aah, I know, you must ’ave dropped it before you climbed the shaft. Oh yes, ’ere it is!’
Zak grinned at Dan. ‘Will I do, do you think?’ he asked. He then stood over Dan brandishing the cutlass menacingly. ‘Time for some fun, see ya later!’
And with that Zak strode under the shaft and, putting his hand over his mouth to muffle his voice, called up, ‘I’m ok, Zak’s legged it, I’m coming up.’
The voice sounded indistinct to John, Louise and Emma waiting anxiously at the top. John had wanted to go down after Dan but was unwilling to leave the girls alone. And if Dan had been caught, it made no sense for him to be too. He had told the girls to return to the lighthouse and bolt the door but both, bravely, had refused.
John stood ready to slam down the shaft lid and flagstone once Dan was back up. He peered down when he heard that voice, it somehow didn’t sound like Dan’s. But sure enough, there was the now familiar captain’s hat on top of his head slowly ascending, and the cutlass in his hand. It must have been the echoing effect and Dan’s nervousness that caused his voice to distort.
When the cutlass appeared first through the hole followed by the iconic hat, the others cheered and applauded Dan’s return.
Then joy turned to horror! It wasn’t Dan’s smooth, fine-featured face which smiled back at them from beneath the hat but the pudgy, rough-cheeked jowls of Zak. He didn’t attempt to get out of the hole straightaway but just paused with his head sticking out, for maximum effect.
‘Well what a reception, I thank ’ee most kindly,’ said Zak, doffing the hat. ‘Right, shall I take ownership of the treasure straightaway, or do you want a final gaze at it over a cup of tea? I say, don’t it look beautiful in those crates? Will you just look at that? You know I often think I’d ’ave made a good smuggler and wrecker, back in the old days.’ He grinned round at them all.
‘Oh I say, missy! Well how are you? I didn’t recognise you with your clothes on,’ he said, leering at Louise. ‘Sorry we was so rudely interrupted earlier by that loony in fancy dress. Are you still up for some fun?’
Louise glared back at him.
‘Where’s Dan?’ demanded Emma, ‘what’s happened to him?’
‘Dan? Who’s Dan? Oh you mean the ’oly ghost? Dan the ancient mariner?’ hooted Zak. ‘He’s gone back to acting school luvvie, see if they can bring him on a bit. I think it’s a lost cause personally, although maybe he’d ’ave a chance playin’ the pantomime villain at Christmas, with a bit more practice.’
‘Where is he,’ repeated Emma, slowly, and the others were surprised at the cold, steely quality of her voice.
‘Oh ok, ok, I was only jesting. Truth is, I stabbed him luv,’ said Zak, matter of factly. ‘He’s a gonner. I must say this cutlass is jolly sharp considering its age. Don’t worry I wiped it clean on that awful old sailor’s coat he was wearing, I won’t drip blood everywhere.’
‘You killed my Dan, my lovely Dan,’ screamed Emma, her voice contorted with anguish and fury.
‘Well he don’t look very alive to me, with his tongue lollin’ out and all. You can go down and check if you like. Now I don’t like to invite myself in,’ said Zak, beginning to haul himself from the hole, ‘but I could really do
. . .’
‘Aaaaagh you bastard!’ Emma yelled.
Her eyes wild, she grabbed one of the heavy iron spades that John and Dan had used to lever up the flagstone and rushed at Zak. Before he could bring up his hands to protect himself, she raised the spade high above her and brought its rusting blade down with all her might onto his head. The anger and adrenaline which coursed through Emma’s slight arms gave her strength ten times greater than normal and the force she applied was murderous in its delivery.
The age-old bicorne hat promptly disintegrated as the spade smote Zak’s skull with a horrible clang. His eyes crossed weirdly for a second and then rolled. Zak toppled forwards, his body lolling over the side of the hole. Emma nudged his shoulder hard with her foot and he fell with a great thud and clatter of cutlass to the tunnel floor.
CHAPTER 17
For several seconds, no-one spoke. Then John said: ‘Girls, Zak looks like he’s out for the count. I am going down to see what’s happened to poor Dan. Let’s all stay silent for a minute to see if Jake turns up or if there’s any sound from Zak.’
They could hear nothing. Emma was sobbing and distraught but Louise was determined to stay calm. John took one of their powerful new torches and shone it down the shaft. Zak was lying where he had fallen, apparently unconscious. John quickly climbed down, still holding the torch in one hand. He had mastered the tricky rungs by now. He swept the beam up and down the passageway. There was no sign of Jake. But there was Dan, trussed up like a Christmas turkey, just as the others had been, with Zak’s strong adhesive tape. He was alive! Zak had played a cruel trick telling them that he had stabbed and killed him.
John looked around for the cutlass to release Dan. He flashed his torch at Zak and saw it lying alongside him. Blood was trickling from Zak’s head and forming a small pool in a little dip in the tunnel floor. John trained the torchlight directly onto his wound. The sight made him shiver. That was one heck of a blow Emma had delivered. John picked up the cutlass and deftly began to chop his way through the tape binding Dan’s ankles and wrists.