‘Come on,’ said Louise to Zak and Jake, ‘I’m down to my underwear now, why don’t you pair show willing and strip off as well. If you’re going to have your way with me, I might as well see the goods.’
Well done, Louise, thought Dan. She was using her feminine wiles to get the men undressed so they would be at their most vulnerable.
‘Fair enough,’ said bachelor Jake, flattered that a woman finally seemed to be taking an interest in him after so many barren years, ‘I’m game.’
‘Take off your bra first,’ said Zak, coldly.
Louise reached her hands behind her and fiddled with the clasp. Dan, his heart thumping, watched in grim fascination as the garment sagged downwards and her breasts swung free. The men’s eyes widened at the sight. They had never seen such a perfect bosom beyond the pages of grubby magazines.
They started pulling off their clothing, until all they had on were pairs of white Y-fronts. Louise looked at them in disgust, glad that the light wasn’t strong enough to show up the inevitable yellow stains. A rank smell akin to mouldy oats and bacon filled the cave from the men’s unwashed clothing, now lying messily on the cave floor. No right-thinking woman would go within a hundred miles of this pair.
‘Now don’t leave a girl in suspense. Take those sexy pants off,’ she commanded.
‘Take your sexy panties off first,’ said Zak, a pronounced lump showing in his briefs.
Dan was nervous now. He didn’t want poor Louise to have to strip naked in front of them. But it would suit his purposes if she could get that dirty pair starkers. They would soon get the shock of their lives, and it would be good if they wore no more than their flabby pink skin.
‘Come on, age before beauty,’ countered Louise, desperate not to have to remove her underwear. ‘I asked first.’
The men looked at each other, nodded, and pulled down their Y-fronts, their erections just visible beneath a salt and pepper forest of mangy looking pubic hair and a car tyre of low-hanging belly. Dan started to move forward and Louise caught his eye. The moment had arrived.
‘Aaaaagh,’ screamed Louise, pointing behind her adversaries. They wheeled round and were struck dumb by what they saw. A ghost! It had to be! They had often heard it say that these tunnels were haunted. Zak and Jake stared in horror at the terrifying figure of an 18th century naval officer in buckled boots, bicorne hat, long-skirted black coat, and cutlass held aloft. His face was an unearthly white. No human had skin of such pallor.
The phantom uttered a spine-chilling cry, then spoke, in Spanish followed by English: ‘Who tramples upon the final resting place of Felipe, captain of the Providencia! Am I to have no peace? Do you dare to fornicate on my grave and rob me of my last few possessions? You must die for this desecration!’
Dan towered over the naked men now cowering on the floor beneath the point of his cutlass.
‘Oh forgive me, señor,’ whimpered a blubbering Jake. ‘We meant no offence. We had no idea this was your place of eternal rest. I’d never believed it when folk said these tunnels were haunted but I do now. Please dear captain, Zak and I, we are both sea-farers like you. Spare us and we will never disturb your peace again.’
‘Be gone!’ shouted el capitano and the men staggered to their feet and fled unclothed from the cave back down the tunnel towards the shore. Dan grabbed an oil lamp and ran after them, holding it above his head in one hand and brandishing the cutlass like a demented grim reaper in the other, yelling blood-curdling threats in Spanish.
Chapter XIV
Once satisfied he was rid of them, Dan turned and raced to the cave. His cutlass quickly hacked through the tape binding the wrists and mouths of first Emma, then John. Emma crumpled into his arms and embraced him, tears welling in her eyes. Dan kissed her fondly on the forehead.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘We’re still in danger and so is our treasure. Those chumps may realise they’ve been duped and return. We need to act fast.’
‘Aye aye cap’n,’ said Louise, quickly pulling her clothes on. ‘Let’s get moving.’
‘Girls, you go up the ladder onto the shelf and start handing things to John and me,’ instructed Dan. ‘We must pack things into the crates we brought as quickly as we can. Start emptying the chest containing the gold and silver, then anything else worth taking.’
‘What about those men. What if they get out or get people to ambush us on the island?’ asked Emma.
‘They’re stark naked remember – they haven’t got a stitch on, or any means to communicate,’ said Dan. ‘My guess is they will lie low until nightfall then sneak out under cover of darkness, or possibly come skulking back here for their things eventually. For now at least, they will be far too scared of bumping into a very angry ghost.’
Louise and Emma went up the ladder and onto the shelf. John followed with a crate. The girls started scooping the coins and ingots and transferred them to the create. John strained to lift it down the ladder. Dan meanwhile, stayed on guard below, cutlass at the ready should the men return.
They filled their two robust crates. John and Dan staggered off with one along the tunnel. The girls came too, carrying lighter items. When they got to the foot of the shaft, the boys carefully tied their cargo up with the rope. John, being strongest, climbed into the outbuilding and hauled it, helped by Dan pushing from below. It was surprisingly heavy, time-consuming work. They repeated the process with the second crate and the four of them climbed the shaft into the outbuilding.
‘Is there anything left worth bringing?’ asked John.
‘I don’t think so,’ said Emma, ‘there are a few small items from the ship but nothing that would be of much use to Jake and Zak if they return. They might get a few pounds for them on eBay, but that would be all and I don’t think it’s worth the risk going back down there to get them.’
Dan smiled and said, ‘let that be their miniscule consolation prize!’
‘Fine,’ said John, ‘look, why don’t we get these crates safely to the lighthouse then have ourselves a well deserved cup of tea? I’d suggest something stronger but for our over-indulgence last night.’
The others agreed. Even without slightly fuzzy heads, a mug of strong, freshly-brewed tea sounded perfect.
‘Hang on,’ said Dan, his brow furrowing. ‘Captain Felipe’s diary – did you girls pick it up? If you remember I had intended to place it inside his jacket which I was going to leave there with his personal effects. But because I ended up wearing his things, to scare the men off, I pushed the diary to the back of the shelf where it would be safe. Now that most of Felipe’s stuff has been brought to the island, I don’t think I should leave it abandoned. It doesn’t seem right somehow. I think I threw my fleece on top of it, which I took off before putting on the jacket.’
‘I’m sorry, Dan,’ said Emma. ‘I picked up your fleece, it’s here look, but I never noticed the diary under it. It was poor light and I didn’t see it.’
‘Don’t worry about it now, Dan, it won’t come to any harm,’ said John, ‘let’s not take unnecessary risks. We can fetch it another day when we’re certain those men have gone.’
‘It’s just that I would hate those men to find it and take it,’ objected Dan. ‘It’s a valuable historic document which ought to be an integral part of the collection – after all, without it, we would never have found the treasure. I can’t bear to leave it down there. It belongs with Felipe’s things and as we have gathered them all up, I shouldn’t leave that diary by itself. I feel I ought to pop back and get it. I won’t be long. After all, we haven’t brought the ladder back, have we?’
That was true, they had left the ladder where it was – but precisely because it wasn’t worth the risk of returning to fetch it. Even Emma was struggling to empathise with Dan on this occasion. She didn’t see the point of making a further unnecessary journey into the tunnels after everything that had happened. But she knew Dan had a sentimental attachment to Felipe’s diary. If his mind was made up, the sooner he went and got it the bett
er.
‘Be as quick as you can, Dan,’ she said to him, looking strained and weary.
Realising he wasn’t to be dissuaded, John said to him, ‘ok, the rest of us will wait here for you. As soon as you return, the pair of us must close off this shaft so it can’t be accessed from below and get the treasure moved into the lighthouse. None of us is going to leave this outbuilding until you are back safely. Please don’t hang around.’
Dan nodded. He cut an incongruous figure standing there still dressed as Captain Felipe with his naval hat, cutlass, and chalk-streaked face. ‘I’ll be quick, I promise,’ he said.
Then, cutlass tucked under his arm, he climbed down the iron rungs of the shaft. When he got to the bottom John threw him a torch.
Right, here goes, Dan thought to himself, wishing with all his heart that he wasn’t below ground again – as did the others. On his own this time, he felt strangely vulnerable. But he’d scared those men witless, surely they wouldn’t be so foolish as to return to the cave haunted by the angry and restless ghost of a Spanish naval captain?
Mind you, not having a stitch of clothing to wear can do funny things to people, mused Dan as he strode along. If sheer embarrassment at their unclothed state, not to mention feeling jolly cold overcame their fear, they might return. It was also possible that, having calmed down and recovered from their shock and unsatiated lust for Louise, they might realise they’d been hoodwinked.
None of it mattered, so long as he had time to get back to the shelf, retrieve Felipe’s precious diary and return. It was something Dan had to do, before he could relax and feel pleased about their amazing escape and rescue of the treasure. He shone his torch along the tunnel walls for the reassuring chalk lines although he knew the way perfectly by now.
He turned into the cave and looked about. A lantern left there still emitted a suitably ghostly glow. He climbed quickly back up the ladder.
The shelf looked strangely bare and forlorn now that no coins and ingots greeted the torchlight. Dan put the cutlass down and crawled on all fours into the far corner where the rock shelf met the sloping roof. The diary was as he had left it. He picked it up gratefully and pushed it into the inside pocket of Felipe’s coat, where it belonged – where, perhaps, the Spaniard himself had often secreted it.
Dan flicked the torch around briefly to see what remained. Nothing of any great value. If Jake and Zak eventually took it, it would be of little worth to them. Dan ran his hands over the tapering cave wall above him, and whispered softly, ‘I’m sorry we plundered your goods in this way, Felipe, but it was better than for your wealth to fall into the wrong hands. We will take good care of everything.’
It was a spiritual moment and, his heart feeling better, Dan crawled 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 shelf, although they were coming closer, and more audible.
‘Those youngsters we tied up ’ave escaped,’ fumed Zak as the men turned into the cave. ‘This is ridiculous, Jake. ’ow the ’ell did you fall for that ghost nonsense?’
‘I didn’t fall for it any more than you did,’ retorted Jake.
‘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.”’
‘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. To think we ’ave missed out on a shag and all that treasure ’cos someone pretending to be the ghost of a centuries-old ship’s captain managed to dupe us.’
‘We don’t know for absolute sure that it weren’t a real ghost,’ said Jake cautiously. ‘‘Ow 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. 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 lip of the shelf and peered over.
‘Anyway, I’ve ’ad enough of this, I’m going up the ladder to see if any of that treasure’s still left,’ said Zak walking towards the recess as Dan was about to step down.
‘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.’
‘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 off the cave floor, assumin’ they ain’t been taken as well.’
‘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 pulled on his own smelly garments and took Zak’s to him. He was 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. Let’s pray they ’aven’t ’ad time to swipe the lot. Shine your torch 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 nearly as bare as he had been himself a couple of minutes ago. 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.
It would be open, of course, because the others would be expecting to welcome 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 remove, one by one, every single coin and ingot the four of them had sweated so hard to haul back. If any attempt was made to stand in their way, the crooks would point out that the ghost of Captain Felipe was lying bound and gagged in the tunnels and if they cared for his welfare, they better not kick up a fuss.
Damn! What an idiot I’ve been, what a total, utter, stupid prat,’ cursed Dan, furious with himself. How can I, the one who is so sensible and boring at times, have taken such a crazy risk – for a soft, sentimental, illogical reason?
There was only one possible solution to this mess, 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 XV
Zak’s balding head was nearing the top. Dan leant 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 collapsed on top of him, trapping him beneath. If Zak had begun to doubt the veracity of this feisty, cutlass-brandishing ghost of an 18th century ship’s captain, he believed now.
Zak sprawled on the floor, trying to wrestle the ladder off him. Dan alighted next to him, with a thud of heavy boots. Zak screwed up his eyes like a baby and yelled, ‘no, no, oh please ghost, spare me, oh spare me ghost. I mean you
no harm!’
Seeing his chance, Dan legged it from the cave and along 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. He should have pinned Zak to the floor then sent him gibbering back shorewards at cutlass-point. 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 mad, 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 through 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 speedily 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 hindered him 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 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 to see any twists and turns lying in wait along 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 leapt 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 round the corner. He was almost upon him. All Dan could do was roll himself to the side of the passageway.
Wreckers Island (romantic suspense) Page 11