A to Z Mysteries: The Deadly Dungeon

by Ron Roy

  Dink put his hand in his pocket and felt the three green parrot feathers.

  Taking a deep breath, he put a foot on the top step. “I’m going down,” he said.

  Dink walked down the steps, feeling along the cold stone walls. He tried not to think about slimy things that hung out in damp tunnels.

  Then his hand touched something square and hard. A light switch! He flipped it up, and the space was suddenly flooded with light.

  “It’s a long tunnel!” he yelled.

  Ruth Rose hurried down the steps. She turned to Josh. “Coming?”

  “All right,” Josh sighed. “But if anything touches me, I’m out of here!”

  The tunnel was cold and narrow. They walked along the dirt floor. Small, cobweb-covered light bulbs hung from the ceiling. The air smelled rotten.

  The tunnel went straight for a while, then turned a corner.

  “Listen,” Ruth Rose said. “I hear water.”

  “I hate this,” Josh said. “I really do.”

  Dink turned the corner and found himself standing in water. Something let out a screech, and Dink froze.

  Josh grabbed Dink around the neck. “What the heck was that?” he squeaked.

  “Josh, you’re strangling me!” Dink croaked.

  “Sorry,” Josh said.

  “Where are we?” Ruth Rose asked.

  They were standing at the entrance to a cave. The rock walls oozed, and the floor was under water. Off to the left, another tunnel continued out of sight.

  “I think I know where we are,” Dink whispered.

  “Me too,” Josh said, “We’re in the dungeon. I’d better not see any skeletons!”

  “I think if we’d kept going through the cave yesterday,” Dink continued, “we’d have ended up here.”

  “It’s one long tunnel,” Ruth Rose said. “From the playhouse to the ocean!”

  Then something behind them made a loud squawk.

  Josh jumped, nearly knocking Dink over.

  “Look, guys,” Ruth Rose said. “Over there!” She pointed to a dark mound up against one wall.

  Dink walked over, splashing through the cold water.

  “It’s a tarp,” he said.

  Holding his breath, Dink grabbed one corner and yanked it away. Under the tarp were two cages, one on top of the other. Each cage held four large green parrots.

  The birds panicked, beating their wings against the cage bars. Their screams echoed again and again off the cave walls.

  “So much for the ghost of Emory Scott,” Ruth Rose said.

  Josh laughed. “Good! I don’t know what I’d have done if I’d bumped into him!”

  Dink pulled the feathers from his pocket. He held them next to one of the parrots.

  “They’re the same,” he said.

  “What the heck is this place?” Ruth Rose asked. “Who’d hide parrots in a cave?”

  “I don’t know,” Dink said.

  “Guys!” Ruth Rose said. She was looking down. “The tide must be coming in. The water is getting deeper!”

  Dink and Josh looked down. The water was up to their ankles!

  “The parrots!” Josh said.

  The bottom cage was getting wet. The parrots shrieked at the rising water.

  “Let’s get them outside!” Dink said, grabbing the top cage. He lugged it into the dry tunnel.

  Josh and Ruth Rose took the other cage. They hurried back along the tunnel with the parrots squawking in fear.

  Dink stopped at the bottom of the stone steps and looked up. “Uh-oh.”

  “What?” Ruth Rose gasped.

  “I thought we left the trapdoor open,” Dink said.

  “We did,” Josh said.

  “Well, it’s closed now.” Dink set his cage on the floor. He walked up the steps and pushed on the door. It didn’t budge.

  Josh climbed the steps, and they both shoved against the door.

  “It’s no use,” Dink said. “The door must have fallen, and the lock snapped shut.”

  “What can we do?” Ruth Rose asked. “If the tide floods this tunnel…”

  Dink walked back down the steps. “There’s another way out. But we’ll have to swim.”

  “Where?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “We can go back to the cave and swim out through the tunnel,” Dink explained.

  “But there are bats in there!”

  “It’s our only way out,” Josh said.

  The kids lugged the two cages back through the tunnel. The parrots screeched and beat their wings.

  In the cave, the water was almost up to their knees, and rising.

  “We better get out of here fast,” Josh said.

  Ruth Rose peered into the other tunnel. “I wonder how far it is to the beach,” she said.

  “It can’t be that far,” Dink said. “We’re probably right under the castle.”

  “How are we gonna swim and carry these cages at the same time?” Josh asked. He glanced around the dark cave. “We need a raft or something.”

  “If the water’s not too deep, we can walk out,” Dink said.

  He handed his cage to Ruth Rose, then stepped into the deeper water. It came up to his waist.

  “It’s kind of cold,” he said, shivering, “but it’s not very deep. We can carry the cages out.”

  “But what if it gets deeper?” Josh asked. “We can’t carry the cages on our heads!”

  “I have an idea,” Ruth Rose said. “I read it in a Girl Scout magazine. It showed how to use your jeans as floats. You can make water wings by tying knots in the ankles and legs.”

  “You mean get undressed?” Josh said. “No way!”

  “That’s a great idea,” Dink said. He climbed back out of the deep water, then kicked out of his sneakers and wet jeans. He tied knots in his jeans and put his sneakers back on.

  Dink looked at Josh. “Come on,” he said. “The water’s getting deeper.”

  “Okay, but I feel weird,” Josh muttered, pulling off his sneakers and jeans. The water reached just below his boxer shorts.

  Dink tied knots in Josh’s jeans, then dropped both pairs into the water. The air-filled jeans floated!

  “Ready?” Dink said. They stepped into the water and balanced the two cages on top of the floating jeans.

  “It works!” said Ruth Rose.

  “This water’s cold and yucky,” Josh said.

  “At least we can touch bottom,” Dink said. “Okay, let’s go.”

  The tunnel grew darker as they waded away from the cave. The water reached their chests, but got no higher.

  The parrots were quiet, as if they knew they were being rescued.

  “Do you think there are sharks in here?” Josh said. His voice echoed.

  “No,” Dink said. “Just a few man-eating lobsters.”

  Suddenly they heard a whispery sound in the darkness around them.

  “What’s that?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Calm down,” Josh said, giggling. “It’s just bats. We must’ve scared them.”

  “Are they friendly?” asked Ruth Rose.

  “Not if you’re an insect,” Josh said.

  Finally they saw daylight. Ahead was the ocean end of the tunnel.

  “We did it, guys!” Dink said. They dragged the cages and soggy jeans to the beach near where they’d eaten their picnic.

  “Boy, does the sun feel good!” Josh said, flopping down on the sand.

  The kids rested and caught their breath. Dink and Josh took the knots out of their jeans and spread them out to dry.

  “I was thinking about these parrots,” Josh said. “I have a book about endangered birds, and I think these guys are in it.”

  “Why would anyone hide endangered parrots in a cave?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “Poachers,” Josh said, pulling off his soaked sneakers. “Poachers catch rare animals and sell them for a lot of money.”

  “But who?”

  Josh shrugged. “Someone who knows about the tunnel.”

  “I think I
know who it is,” Dink said.

  Josh and Ruth Rose looked at him.

  “Who?” Josh asked.

  Dink looked sad. “Walker Wallace.”

  “WHAT?” Ruth Rose yelled. “That’s crazy!”

  Dink shrugged. “I found one of the feathers in his Jeep and another on his boat.”

  Josh nodded slowly. “And when we had our picnic here yesterday Wallis said Walker had been in the cave. Maybe he found the trapdoor in the playhouse.”

  “The footprints on the rug were big enough to be his,” Dink said.

  Ruth Rose stood up and wiped sand off her wet jeans. “I don’t believe you guys. Walker wouldn’t break the law! And he sure wouldn’t use his sister’s house!”

  “I hope not,” Dink said. “Anyway let’s get the parrots up to the castle.”

  Dink and Josh tugged on their damp jeans and grabbed the cages. A few minutes later they burst into Wallis’s kitchen.

  She was writing at the table.

  “We found out what’s making those noises!” Dink blurted out.

  The kids told Wallis about the tunnel to the cave and the parrots.

  “A trapdoor in the playhouse!” Wallis exclaimed with wide eyes. “And a tunnel? How incredible!”

  “It’s like a secret passageway,” Josh said. “Maybe pirates hid gold down there!”

  “Well, I don’t know about pirates,” Wallis said. “But now I know how Emory Scott got all that marble and stuff up here!”

  “What should we do with the parrots?” asked Ruth Rose.

  “Show me,” Wallis said.

  They all trooped into the mud room. When the door opened, the parrots began flapping around in the cages. Their shrieks filled the room.

  “Poor things,” Wallis said. “Should we feed them? What do parrots eat?”

  “Got any fruit?” Josh said. “That’s what they’d eat in the rain forests.”

  Wallis went to the kitchen.

  “I wonder where these guys came from,” said Ruth Rose.

  Josh studied the parrots. “Probably Africa or South America,” he said.

  “How would the poachers get them all the way to Maine?” Dink asked.

  “By boat,” Josh said. “Then a smaller boat would bring them into the cave.”

  “A boat like Walk—”

  Dink stopped talking as Wallis came back with two peeled bananas and a bunch of grapes. They dropped the fruit into the cages. The parrots grabbed the food in their beaks.

  “They were starving!” Wallis said. She placed a bowl of water in each cage.

  “I’m kind of hungry too,” Josh said. “We missed lunch.”

  “Well, we can’t have that!” Wallis said. “Come into the kitchen.”

  While she made sandwiches, Dink explained about the light he’d seen in the woods the night before. “I bet there were more cages. They must take them out through the playhouse at night.”

  “We should hide down there and see who it is!” Ruth Rose said.

  Wallis shook her head. “Absolutely not. Those people could be dangerous!”

  She brought out plates and napkins. “Today is Sunday, but tomorrow morning I’m going to call the state capitol. They must have someone who deals with poachers.”

  Wallis looked at the kids. “Promise me you’ll stay out of that tunnel and cave.”

  Dink kicked Ruth Rose and Josh under the table.

  “We promise,” he said.

  After lunch, the kids went back to the playhouse. They cleaned the dishes and swept the rug.

  “I wish we could get these poacher guys,” Dink said.

  “I think we should sleep in the playhouse,” Josh said. “Then if anyone comes, we’ll grab them!”

  “Josh, they’d grab us and stick us in a cage,” Ruth Rose said.

  “Besides, Wallis would never let us stay down here,” Dink said. “But I have another idea!”

  At one-thirty in the morning, the kids were crouched by the window in Dink and Josh’s dark room. They were fully dressed.

  Josh yawned. “Maybe no one is coming tonight.”

  “Maybe they know we found the cages,” Dink said. “Walker could’ve seen us from his boat.”

  “I still don’t think it’s Walker,” Ruth Rose said. “But whoever it is will have to come to feed the parrots, right?”

  “Right,” Dink said. “Let’s take turns watching. I’ll go first. You guys can snooze.”

  “Wake me up if you see any bad guys!” Josh said, flopping on his bed.

  “Well, I’m not tired,” Ruth Rose said. “I hope they go to jail for a hundred years!”

  She and Dink stared out into the darkness. The alarm clock counted away the minutes.

  Josh began snoring.

  “Look,” Ruth Rose whispered a while later. “A firefly.”

  Dink saw a light moving slowly through the darkness. “Wake Josh,” he told her. “That’s no lightning bug!”

  The kids tiptoed past Wallis’s room, then hurried down the steps and out through the mud room door. Creeping silently, they approached the playhouse.

  Moonlight fell on the clearing. A few yards from the playhouse, a dark car stood in the shadows.

  Dink grabbed Josh and Ruth Rose and pointed. It was Walker’s Jeep!

  “I guess you were right,” Ruth Rose whispered sadly.

  The kids inched forward. Suddenly Dink saw a light coming from the playhouse.

  A man was bent over, pulling open the trapdoor! A glowing flashlight lay on the floor next to his feet.

  The man stood up. In the flashlight’s beam, Dink recognized who it was.

  Ruth Rose grabbed his arm. “Ripley Pearce!” she whispered.

  A moment later, Rip disappeared down the steps into the tunnel.

  Suddenly Josh bolted around the corner of the playhouse and through the open door.

  Before Dink could say anything, Josh slammed the trapdoor shut. Dink heard the spring lock snap into place.

  “What’s Operation Game Thief?” Dink asked the next day.

  “It’s an 800 number you can call in Maine to report poachers,” Wallis explained. She brought more hot pancakes to the table.

  No one had gotten much sleep. After locking the trapdoor, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose had run back to wake up Wallis. She’d called 911 and reported poachers on her property.

  The police had come and arrested Rip. The officers gave Wallis the Operation Game Thief phone number.

  Wallis had then driven Walker’s Jeep to his house and brought him back to the castle.

  “The Maine Fish and Game Department will have plenty of questions for Rip,” Walker said. “Trading in endangered animals is a federal crime.”

  “How did Rip get the parrots?” Josh asked.

  “He must have contacts in the countries where they were captured,” Walker said. “The police will be checking his phone bills to see whom he called.”

  “He probably used his own lobster boat,” Wallis said, shaking her head. “No wonder it always looked so clean.”

  “Why did he have your Jeep?” Josh asked.

  Walker speared another pancake. “Rip’s car conked out a few days ago, so I let him borrow mine.”

  “It was a perfect set-up,” Wallis said. “Rip needed money, and he had contacts who would pay a lot for rare parrots.”

  “I wonder if he sold any other animals,” Josh said, “like monkeys or snakes.”

  “We may find out yet,” Walker said. He winked at Josh. “What made you decide to shut the trapdoor on Rip?”

  “I got mad!” Josh said. “I wanted him to see how it felt to be in a cage.”

  “So that green feather on Josh’s sneaker came from Rip, right?” Dink asked.

  Walker nodded. “He probably brought it into the Jeep on his foot. And the one you found on my boat got there the same way.”

  Josh blushed. “For a while we thought you were the poacher,” he told Walker.

  “Well, I never did!” Ruth Rose said.

>   Walker grinned at Ruth Rose. “Thanks! What made you so sure?”

  “You’re too busy,” she answered. “And you wouldn’t be mean to parrots. You threw those little crabs back in the water yesterday.”

  “What will happen to the parrots?” Dink asked.

  “I assume they’ll go back to where they came from,” Walker said. “And Rip will most likely go to jail.”

  “And thanks to you kids, I won’t have to hear any more strange noises,” Wallis said.

  She grinned shyly “But to tell the truth, I think I’ll miss the ghost of Emory Scott. I kind of liked living in a haunted castle!”

  Just then a loud screech came from the mud room.

  Text copyright © 1998 by Ron Roy.

  Illustrations copyright © 1998 by John Steven Gurney.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

  Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York.

  http://www.randomhouse.com/

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Roy, Ron. The deadly dungeon / by Ron Roy; illustrated by John Gurney.

  p. cm. — (A to Z mysteries) “A Stepping Stone book.”

  SUMMARY: While visiting Wallis’s castle, Dink and his friends investigate strange

  noises that lead them to a dangerous secret.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-51961-0

  [1. Castles — Fiction. 2. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Gurney, John, ill. II. Title.

  III. Series: Roy, Ron. A to Z mysteries.

  PZ7.R8139De 1998 [Fic]—dc21 97-27566

  A STEPPING STONE BOOK is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  A TO Z MYSTERIES is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

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