Doug had stopped in the center of the room. One by one, the others came up to stand beside him. Straight ahead was a huge crevasse that ran the entire length of the room, and the only way across it seemed to be a piece of wood no wider than the balance beam used in gymnastics.
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Sebastian exclaimed. “I’m not gonna try and cross that canyon on that thing.”
Emma had to agree with Sebastian. The crevasse looked to be about twenty feet across. Only a tightrope walker or an Olympic gymnast would feel comfortable crossing on a thing like that. Surely there had to be another way to get to the other side than that tiny beam. With that in mind, Emma began looking around and spied another treasure chest in the corner to her left. Maybe there would be something in it that they could use. By that time, the others had seen the chest too. Taking the key out of his pocket, Doug knelt beside the chest and inserted the key in the lock. As with the others, the key fit perfectly, and within seconds, Doug had the chest open and was looking inside.
“What’s in there?” Sebastian asked.
“There’s a length of rope and another folded piece of paper,” Doug answered as he pocketed the key. Opening the paper Doug read aloud:
First, one must walk the plank alone.
On the other side is a clock of stone.
When the clock reads the hour of two,
A secret will be revealed to you.
“What the heck does that mean?” Sebastian asked, frustration evident in his tone. “Why can’t the guy just come out and say what he means?”
“What would be the fun of that?” Martha asked.
“Do you think this is fun? I don’t consider walking a tightrope a good time,” Sebastian retorted angrily.
“Well, I think the first part is self-explanatory,” Emma said hastily before Martha could reply. “One of us is going to have to cross on that beam.” Then before the others could comment, and before she lost her nerve, she added, “And I think it should be me.”
“No way,” Doug said with a shake of his head. “I’ll do it. It was my idea to come, so I should be the one to take the risks.”
“I don’t remember you forcing any of us to come along. We all knew this was going to be dangerous.”
No one said anything for a moment. Emma was right. They had all chosen to come of their own free will. They were in this together, whether they liked it or not.
Breaking the silence, Emma said as convincingly as she could, “I’ve always had a really good sense of balance and I think—I know I can do this.”
“She’s right,” Martha said, remembering that day when Emma had walked down the narrow stream bank with the poise and grace of a ballerina.
The others must have been remembering that day as well, because no one argued with Martha. As much as they hated to admit it, Emma really was the best choice for this particular task. Doug didn’t like the idea of Emma walking the plank; but if she insisted on doing it, he intended to make darned sure she did it as safely as possible.
Frowning, he said, “Okay, but we’re going to tie a rope around your waist just in case.”
“That’s fine with me,” Emma readily agreed.
“What about the rest of the riddle?” Sebastian asked.
“We’ll figure it out when I get to the other side,” Emma answered.
Without a word, Doug brought the rope over to where Emma was standing and began tying it around her waist. After checking to make sure that the knot was tight, he wrapped the other end of the rope around his own waist. If she lost her balance, he would have to bear her full weight. Bracing himself, he gave Emma a nod.
Feeling that she would do better if she went across barefoot, Emma took off her shoes and socks. After stuffing her socks in her shoes, she tied the laces together and hung them around her neck. With her torch in one hand and her other arm out for balance, she set off across the beam. Trying to keep her focus on the beam and not the dark abyss below it, Emma carefully put one foot in front of the other. All was going well until, in her nervousness, her feet began to sweat. With each step it was becoming more and more difficult to keep them firmly on the beam. She began to wonder if taking her shoes off had been a good idea after all. Despite the coolness of the cave, beads of perspiration began to form on her upper lip. Emma finally paused about halfway across and took a deep breath. She had to relax, or she was never going to make it. The others looked on in concern but remained quiet, not wanting to risk breaking her concentration. Emma took another step and felt her foot sliding off the beam. With all of her weight forward, she couldn’t recover her balance. She felt herself falling, and the rope around her waist tightening as Doug prepared to catch her, but it wasn’t necessary. She landed astraddle of the beam, somehow managing to hang onto her torch.
“Emma, are you okay?” Doug called anxiously.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Emma answered as she sent up a prayer of thanks. Then it occurred to her that instead of getting up again she could just scoot across the rest of the way. With one hand still holding her torch, she used the other to pull herself along the beam. In no time, she was stepping off the beam and onto solid ground once again. With a sigh of relief, which was echoed by the others, she quickly untied the rope around her waist and began reeling it in. As soon as she had finished with the rope, she put her socks and shoes back on. Then she looked over at the others and asked, “Okay, what was the rest of the riddle?”
“There should be a clock of stone over there somewhere,” Martha answered.
Emma began looking around and quickly spotted a stone pedestal sitting not far from the edge of the crevasse. On closer inspection, Emma could see that the top of the pedestal was circular with a vertical fin rising from its center. The numbers one through twelve were written in Roman numerals around the outer edge of the circle. She immediately recognized what it was from pictures she’d seen. It was a sundial.
“I’ve found it,” Emma called to the others. “It’s a sundial.”
“What’s a sundial doing in a place where the sun never shines?” Sebastian asked.
“I have no idea. I’m just telling you that’s what it is. Now what was the rest of the riddle?”
“When the clock reads the hour of two, a secret will be revealed to you,” Martha said.
“Okay. If I remember how these things work, the tip of the fin points to the celestial north. I’ve just got to figure out where the sun would be at two o’clock. Since, as Sebastian has so kindly pointed out, there is no sun down here; my torch will have to do.” With that, Emma moved into what she hoped was the correct position and lifted her torch high above her head. The light from the torch cast a shadow on the sundial, but it wasn’t the sundial that had Emma’s attention. “Well, what do you know about that?” she said in amazement.
“What do we know about what?” Sebastian asked.
“There’s a bridge.”
“Where? We don’t see any bridge.”
“You can’t see it?” Emma asked. Maybe she was imagining it. Emma closed her eyes for a second then opened them again. No, she wasn’t imagining it. The bridge was still there. Emma was puzzled for a moment. Then she realized why the others couldn’t see it. It was painted in such a way that it blended in with the crevasse wall. She could only see it because she was looking at it from an angle. To those on the other side, it was invisible, an optical illusion of sorts. “You’re just going to have to trust me on this one. There is a bridge there.”
“How wide is it?” Doug asked.
Bless Doug, Emma thought. While the others stood there doubting, Doug believed her without question. If she’d been able, she would have given him a big hug right then. It was probably best that the width of the crevasse prevented it. She would have no doubt been embarrassed after such a mushy display. Realizing that Doug was still waiting for an answer, she said, “It’s about three feet wide. You’ll have to cross in single file, and since you can’t see it, I’ll have to guide you across.”
> Without hesitation, Doug said, “I’ll go first. Martha, you follow me and make sure you walk directly behind me. Don’t veer right or left. Sebastian, you follow Martha. We’re gonna take it slow. Ready?”
“Ready,” the other two replied in unison.
“Okay, Emma. Lead us.”
“You’re going to have to move about two feet to your right first,” Emma instructed. When Doug was in the correct position, she continued, “The bridge is directly in front of you now, and it’s a little step down, I’d say about six inches, so don’t be surprised.”
Doug stood on the edge of the crevasse and looked down. Taking that first step was going to feel like stepping off into empty space. It was definitely going to be a leap of faith. Keeping all of his weight on his right foot, Doug hesitantly lifted his left foot and swung it out over the abyss. Then, with a deep breath, he shifted his weight forward, nearly stumbling as his left foot suddenly encountered something solid. Relief flooded through him, even though in his heart he’d never doubted Emma for a second. After all, the mind believes only what it sees, while the heart has faith in things unseen.
Once Doug had both feet planted firmly on the bridge, Emma guided him step by step with Martha and Sebastian following behind. It was slow going because Emma had to approve each of Doug’s foot placements. As soon as everyone was safely across, Emma lowered the arm that had been holding the torch. In order to see the bridge herself, Emma had had to keep the torch in the correct position above her head. The torch had gotten heavier and heavier with each passing second, until she’d felt like she couldn’t hold it any longer. The only thing that had kept her arm in the air was the knowledge that her friends’ lives depended on it.
The others came to stand beside her, and she briefly lifted her torch once more so that they could see what she had seen. That which had been invisible suddenly became visible, and they gasped in astonishment.
“Well, what do you know,” Sebastian said in awe. “We never would have known it was there if it hadn’t been for the riddle.”
“Yeah, good old Dinswood,” Martha agreed.
Feeling that they might have further need of the rope, Doug picked it up from where Emma had left it and hung it over his shoulder. With torch in hand, he began looking for the spot where the passage continued. Moving to the far corner of the room, he found an opening about six feet wide and seven feet high. Looking back at the others, he said, “We’d better keep moving. Something tells me we’re still a long way from the treasure.”
Before anyone could move, however, Sebastian pointed to the passage from which they’d just come and whispered loudly, “Someone’s coming!”
All heads turned simultaneously in the direction Sebastian had indicated. Sure enough, they could see a beam of light penetrating the darkness and getting brighter as it came their way. Doug was just about to suggest that they get out of there fast when they heard a female voice say, “Will you stop stepping on my heels, Susie? That’s the second time you’ve done it. Honestly, you don’t have to walk so close to me.”
There was no doubt about it. Incredible as it seemed, Clarice and Susie had somehow followed them into the passage. The urge to leave them behind was strong, but Emma wouldn’t have felt right about it. Besides, Clarice and Susie wouldn’t be able to get across the crevasse safely without the riddle. Martha had been keeping all the riddles in her front jean pocket, just in case they needed them later, she’d said. Similar thoughts must have been going through the minds of the others, because they all waited unmoving for Clarice and Susie to emerge from the passage. They were surprised again when Reggie was the first to appear. He was carrying a lantern and was followed closely by Clarice with Susie bringing up the rear. When they saw Doug and the others standing across the room with torches, it was their turn to be surprised.
Susie, who had been chattering nervously, stopped talking in midsentence. The silence didn’t last long, however.
“Hey, where’d you get those cool torches?”
Clarice shook her head in disgust. Of all the things Susie could have noticed, the torches were what had caught her attention. Before they could answer Susie’s ridiculous question, Clarice asked the more obvious ones. “What in the world are you guys doing in here, and how did you know about this passage in the first place?”
Reggie surprised them once again when he answered the second part of Clarice’s query. “They found out about it from that book they’ve got, the one about the history of the castle.”
Before Clarice could ask Reggie how he knew about the book, Doug interrupted. “Look, it’s a long story, and we don’t have a lot of time, so I’m going to give you the short version. There was a riddle hidden in that book that said there was a treasure somewhere around here. We’re trying to find it, so the school can stay open.”
“The school’s going to close?” Susie asked in dismay.
“Not if we can help it,” Sebastian answered.
Continuing his explanation, Doug said, “Lord Dinswood left us riddles and clues to the location of the treasure. You guys can come along and help us or you can go back the way you came. It’s up to you. But if you wouldn’t mind, please don’t tell anyone where we are until morning. If we haven’t found the treasure by then, it won’t matter if we get in trouble or not.”
Reggie, Clarice, and even Susie were quiet for a moment as they absorbed what Doug had just told them. It was hard to believe that the school was having financial trouble, but as the dean’s son, Doug would surely be in a position to know. Although they hated to admit it, they loved Dinswood Academy too, even if it was a little strict and old-fashioned.
If it was left up to Reggie, he’d go along with Doug and the others, but he wasn’t going to go without Clarice. Looking over at her, Reggie asked, “Well, Clarice, what do you want to do? Go along or go back?”
With a gleam of excitement in her eyes and without hesitation, she answered, “Go along.”
Susie let out a soft groan. She would have chosen to go back. Tramping around in damp, dark caves was not her idea of a good time. However, she wasn’t about to tell Clarice that. If Clarice wanted to continue this madness, then she would go along.
This time it was Doug who guided the others across the bridge. They had been as incredulous as Doug, Martha, and Sebastian had been to learn of the bridge’s existence. Reggie, however, had been unwilling to step out in faith and had had to verify it was really there by reaching down and touching it first.
As soon as Reggie, Clarice, and Susie joined them on their side of the crevasse, Doug set off down the opening he had found earlier. The others followed with Reggie, bringing up the rear. After a time, the passage began to widen, and soon they were standing in an area about the size of one of their dorm suites. Ahead there were two passages. Doug stopped and waited for the others to catch up.
“Which passage are we supposed to follow?” Sebastian asked upon seeing the two openings.
“Maybe the answer’s in that treasure chest,” Martha said, pointing to the spot in the room where another chest sat.
Without a word, Doug took the key from his pocket and quickly opened the chest. He was surprised to discover that the only thing in it was a folded piece of paper.
“All that’s in here is a riddle,” Doug said with a frown.
“What’s it say?” Reggie asked. Although he wasn’t very athletic, Reggie was good at solving riddles and knew that this was one area in which he could be of some help.
Opening the paper, Doug began reading:
Right or left?
Which way should you choose?
Starboard you win.
Port you lose.
“Well, starboard is the right side of a ship as you face the bow,” Sebastian said, surprising Reggie who had been about to say the same thing.
“Can we assume that we are facing toward the bow now?” Reggie asked, and then with a sheepish grin said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to rhyme.”
The others all agre
ed that that was most likely the case, and so without any further discussion, they started off down the right-hand passage. It narrowed for a while but was still high enough and wide enough for one person to walk through comfortably. Emma was glad. She didn’t think that after her near fall off the beam she could deal with a bout of claustrophobia. Emma didn’t know how long they’d been walking before the passage opened up once again into a huge room only slightly smaller than the one with the crevasse. Instead of a canyon, this one contained a large pool of water. The light from their torches and Reggie’s lantern reflected brightly off the glassy surface, making it possible for them to see the entire room all at the same time. Curiously, there seemed to be no way out of the room except the way they had come. A treasure chest sat on the edge of the pool directly in front of where Doug was standing. When it had been opened, they found that, just like the last chest, it was completely empty except for a piece of paper.
“Another riddle,” Doug said with a sigh. He was beginning to get a little tired of all the riddles. Where was the treasure? He just hoped that when they found it—if they found it—it would be worth all the trouble they’d gone through. With another sigh, Doug began reading:
In these depths
A passage doth hide.
A rope will guide you
To the other side.
Doug walked down to the very edge of the pool and began looking around. He quickly spotted a large metal peg. Looped around it was a rope that led down into the water before disappearing altogether.
Emma began to feel sick. It was clear from the riddle that to get to the next part of the passage they were going to have to swim through an underwater tunnel with only the rope to guide them. They had no way of knowing how long the tunnel was or how long they’d have to hold their breath. Even assuming it was just a short swim, if they were to accidentally let go of the rope, they would be lost in the dark water and would most likely drown.
The Secret of Dinswood Page 29