Overboard!

by Michael White

  “Get down!” screamed Daisy as Neep heard several shots explode above his head. He did not need a second reminder and dropped to the floor of the tunnel as if he were made of stone. Bones merely stood at the entrance to the chamber as if torn over what to do. He looked up the tunnel and then into the chamber before suddenly releasing a wordless roar and turning from the tunnel he ran into the lava filled cavern and raced across the bridge, rounding the corner of the opening on the other side before disappearing from view altogether.

  “Bones!” screamed Daisy as more shots flew through the air from further up the tunnel.

  “Surrender you rat drizzled whore sons of a badginous weevil worm!” Came the call from up the tunnel followed by more shots. The pirates above were obviously rotating their reloading.

  “Jenkins!” hissed Daisy, returning fire. Smoke filled the tunnel as several of Daisy’s crew followed suit.

  Neep lay as flat on the floor as he could, almost willing himself smaller. He looked at the prone body of Jones alongside him, blood making the tunnel floor slick slippery. He was not breathing.

  “Jones is dead.” whispered Neep and he heard Daisy curse, followed by several more shots from both directions. There was a sudden shout and one of Daisy’s men spun to one side, a hole in his chest. He groaned aloud and then went still.

  “Damn it!” he heard Daisy say from in front of him and then saw her slowly crawling back towards him.

  “What has happened to Mister Boom?” asked Neep.

  “Assume he is dead.” said Daisy. “Jenkins is not in the habit of showing leniency.” Daisy reloaded her pistol and fired it up the tunnel, the light briefly showing several bodies lying about the tunnel, and several more reloading. “Seven men left.” she announced, “and of course you too, Mister Neep. I promote you to first hand now that Mister Bones seems to have jumped overboard so to speak.”

  “Thanks.” smiled Neep, “but I rather feel that we have to get out of this tunnel alive yet.”

  “Classic standoff.” muttered Daisy as more pistol shots could be seen from above and then returned from below. There was a loud scream from up the tunnel.

  “Good shot!” shouted Daisy before turning back to Neep.

  “We cannot head up and they cannot come down. It will be a series of lucky shots in the dark until one of us has the advantages of numbers and decides to rush the other.”

  “So a case of luck?” sighed Neep.

  “I don’t believe in luck, Neep.” She said, “Or at least I don’t put any faith in it.”

  “Right.” said Neep in the dark.

  “Congratulations on the promotion.” called one of the pirates from nearby.

  “Aye.” said several other members of Daisy’s crew and Neep found himself blushing in the dark.

  ***

  Boom sat on the cave floor with his arms tied behind his back, the ropes knotted through the spokes of one of the wheels of the gunpowder cart. He was completely unable to move. Despite the fact that the cart had obviously been left where it was for a very long time indeed, to his disappointment Boom found that the spokes on the wheels were in perfect condition. He could not move them at all.

  Sighing deeply, he looked across the small cave in which he was now incarcerated, the wide tunnel leading both up and down. Jenkins and what was left of his crew had disappeared down into the tunnel to what seemed like hours ago to Boom, and as they had raced down into the depths of the volcano their voices had soon faded and were then gone. There was however a dull rumbling noise rising from the tunnel that led downwards and from time to time the floor would tremble before settling again.

  He cursed himself aloud under his breath. How could he have been so stupid? Yet here he was, tied to a gunpowder truck whilst below down in the tunnels his friends were by now no doubt under attack from Jenkins.

  There was a sudden tremor that shook the whole cave violently, the torch held in a dusty sconce on the furthest wall sputtering and blowing as the tremor increased in strength. There was a loud cracking noise like a rock being split in two and shale and debris fell from the roof at Boom’s feet. With a groan he struggled against the ropes once more as the tremor passed but he knew by now that he was wasting his time.

  He looked down at his feet to see some of the debris that had fallen from the roof was now within reach of his feet. His heart beating faster he stared into the torch lit cave and saw a thin piece of what looked like slate now lay within reach of his feet.

  Stretching out he dragged the thin piece of rock towards him, then holding it between his feet he raised his legs and dropped the rock onto his chest. He hardly dared to move as he bent his back and shuffled himself as far down away from the wheel to which he was tied as he was able. His arms cramped, bolts of pain shooting up his arms as he made himself as flat against the floor as he could, then leaned his head forward, grasping the thicker edge of the stone in his mouth, the thin blade or rock jutting out before him.

  Slowly but surely he turned his head to a right angle and with slight deft strokes began to saw at the ropes that secured his arms, resisting the urge to grin as he did so.

  ***

  “Thurgalistic butter spoons of a damson encrusted dairymaid!” Shouted Jenkins as he fired another shot down the tunnel, hastily reaching to reload his pistol once again. Of the six men he had set out with he knew that already two had been taken down, but the four others were continuing to shoot down into the tunnel below them, working in rotation so that as two of them were reloading the other two were aiming and firing. Not that they could actually see anything down the tunnel of course. When they had first spotted Daisy and her crew the cavern that was behind them had lit them from behind had given them a perfect opportunity, but Jenkins had become carried away and fired without aiming, allowing Daisy and her crew to drop to the floor out of the glare of the light from behind them.

  It had taken several of Jenkin’s crew to persuade him from lighting the now somewhat wilted candle in his battered hat at that point, but persuade him they had. The definite deciding point was when one of the pirates arguing for him not to light it suddenly lost his nose, followed by most of his face in a burst of pistol shots from Daisy’s crew below.

  “Whoreson’s jacknifed plate of pastry, pie and guzzlenuts!” shouted Jenkins down the tunnel, and then in a rare moment of lucidity, “Surrender Daisy and I’ll promise you safe passage!” he shouted.

  “Up yours, Jenkins!” came Daisy’s voice from below and Jenkins snarled, firing his pistols once again.

  ***

  As if I would surrender!” snorted Daisy, firing another pistol, “How are we doing for ammunition?”

  There was a momentary pause followed by a definite silence. “Right.” said Daisy, “we had better make every shot count then!”

  “We could try fleeing across the bridge.” shouted Neep above the sound of the gunfire.

  “The minute we tried they would be able to see us against the light of the chamber.” said Daisy, “we wouldn’t last a minute, never mind make it across the bridge!”

  “Well Jenkins’s ammunition can’t last forever either.” said Neep, “It may come down to swords perhaps?”

  “He has access to the upper tunnels so he could send men for fresh supplies.” Said Daisy, “A luxury that sadly is not available to ourselves.”

  There was a fresh round of pistol shots and Neep saw one of Daisy’s crew to his right suddenly jump, screaming and then was still.

  “We need to do something!” shouted Neep, panic racing through his veins.

  “I know that!” Shouted Daisy, pausing slightly as if considering all of her options, “I just don’t know what yet!”

  ***

  Blood ran down Boom’s chin as he continued to saw at his bonds, the rock gripped tightly in his lips, his jaw screaming in pain, blood filling his mouth as he hacked at the rope. There was another violent tremor and he paused, not daring to continue unless he dropped the rock.

  For what seemed li
ke hours but was probably only minutes he cut at the rope and then suddenly his left arm lurched forward, the rock falling from his mouth onto his chest. The rope was cut!

  Spitting blood, he seized the rock with his now free arm, twisting his whole body to face the last remaining rope. Almost sobbing in pain from the cramps that filled his aching body, and the ruin of his mouth he hacked at the rope until with a groan he suddenly stumbled forward and fell to the ground, wailing in agony as he hit the warm stone floor.

  He was free!

  He lay there for a few seconds, breathing heavily. He felt as if he deserved a rest but he knew he could not. He crawled across to the cave wall that held the torch and dragged himself to his feet. He stood with his back up against the cave wall, panting as blood ran down his chin and dripped onto the floor. Taking a deep breath Boom removed the torch from the sconce on the wall and staggered towards the tunnel that led downwards. He held the torch as high as he could, and the light from the flames illuminated the passage for a good thirty feet as it sloped downwards. Boom thought that perhaps the slope was not as steep as before, but it was still considerable.

  Beyond the reach of the light of the torch there was nothing but darkness. He thought perhaps he may have heard a very faint sound that sounded like pistols being fired from below but he could not be certain.

  He dragged himself back into the cave, looked at the wagon loaded with barrels against the far wall and placed the torch back in the sconce. He knew the cart was in good order, but as he approached it he was surprised at just how large it was. The flat bed on the back of the truck held a considerable number of barrels of gunpowder, and the front of the carriage consisted of a raised driving seat with the wheels on the chassis sitting on a cross beam that made the truck extremely steerable. He jumped up onto the seat and noticed a long wooden handle that connected with a wooden set of levers that controlled two wood brake shoes on the two back wheels. Boom smiled to himself. It made sense of course for a carriage that was operating in narrow steep tunnels such as these to have brakes, but these looked well maintained and still in good order. He jumped down from the driving seat and examined the wooden brake blocks. They seemed to be mostly unworn, though they had obviously been used, the wood being smooth and well-worn in places.

  Boom gave an experimental push on the wagon and although it was heavy he was surprised to discover that the coach moved a little in the direction he had pushed it. Grunting he pushed it a little more and again it moved forward easily. He was pleased to see that the barrels stacked on the wagon did not move either, so tightly were they stacked. Slowly a plan dawned on him.

  Boom pushed the wagon back, throwing all of his remaining strength against the truck, backing it up against the tunnel wall. He then see-sawed it forward, moved to the front of the truck and moved the wheels in the opposite direction before pushing the truck back and forth once again. He paused, gasping for breath, his entire body aching as he slowly but surely manoeuvred the truck backwards and forwards slowly aligning it with the tunnel facing downwards.

  Finally he was done. He Carefully he took the torch down from the wall and held it before him, as far away from the truck and the gunpowder as he could place it. He pushed the cart from behind with a final shove and racing to the front of the truck he jumped up on the driving board and grasped the thin wooden pole that guided the wheels with one hand, the other grasping both the braking lever and the torch at the same time.

  Slowly the truck began to gain momentum. Luckily the tunnel was a straight line, and the slope not as profound as it had been further up the cave when he had gone to look. Despite this the wagon quickly gained speed and began to roll ever faster down into the darkness of the tunnel before him.

  “Hang on Daisy!” he shouted aloud. “I am coming!”

  ***

  Jenkins resisted the urge to set fire to his beard one more time, reloading his pistol and firing down into the dark once he had done so. He had crept forward slightly, shielding himself with the still warm corpse of one of his crewmates that was sprawled out in front of him.

  “Thantaginous molly coddled buckets of worm droppings!” Screamed Jenkins, “Let ‘em have it lads!” Further pistol volleys followed, and another scream rose from the fire tinged tunnel exit that lay below them. Jenkins roared with laughter. “That’s the spirit, me lads! Out with their eyes and let the worms have ‘em!”

  There was a brief pause as more shots rose from Daisy’s crew below and the pirates above reloaded, having fallen out of sequence somehow.

  “What’s that?” said a voice near to Jenkins, a slight edge of fear finding its way into it.

  “What’s what?” asked Jenkins suspiciously, looking around him in all directions, “I can’t see anything me lad, so what do you mean with, “What’s that” then?”

  “That.” said a different voice from the dark nearby, and Jenkins strained his ears to listen.

  At first he could hear nothing at all apart from the deep background rumbling noise of the volcano itself, which was always present. Then slowly he became aware of something else. He squinted up the tunnel that led up to the surface and became aware of a loud noise slowly drawing nearer. It sounded like an avalanche, or something rolling towards them.

  “Lads!” he shouted to his few remaining crew almost in desperation, “Ladddddssss!”

  ***

  Daisy cursed aloud as another member of her crew slumped to the ground before her, screaming in pain and then lying still. She was down to just her, Neep and two other crew now, and still Jenkins kept up his onslaught from above. They returned fire, Neep reloading a pistol clumsily next to her. Resisting the urge to tut Daisy fired again. They could keep Jenkins at bay of course, but equally they were pinned down too.

  “Just keep your head down, Neep.” she said and Neep obliged. There was a moments silence as neither side fired.

  “That’s strange.” whispered Daisy.” they have alternated their volley so far.”

  “What’s that?” whispered Neep beside.

  “What?” demanded Daisy, and then she heard it too. It sounded like wheels. Wooden wheels getting nearer. It could only be coming from up above. Daisy gulped. “Neep?” she said, and Neep was surprised to hear fear in her voice.

  “Yes?”

  “Your lithographic memory.” whispered Daisy as the sound from above became even louder. It seemed also that there was a sound of someone making a whooping sound accompanying it.

  “What about it?” whispered Neep.

  “How many barrels of gunpowder were on that trolley truck in the last cave we passed through?” Neep did not even skip a beat.

  “Thirty.” he said, and the effect on Daisy was instant. To Neep’s horror she leapt to her feet and turning on her heels began to run across the bridge of the chasm beyond. From above came a loud scream that to Neep sounded like Jenkins's voice.

  “Ladddddssss!” the voice screamed.

  “Runnnnnnnn!” screamed Daisy, sprinting across the thin stone spar that crossed the lava flow far below.

  Neep did not need telling a second time. He jumped to his feet and ran alongside the the two remaining members of Daisy’s crew as they raced across the bridge.

  ***

  Boom whooped in excitement as saw through the torchlight several people in the tunnel ahead. He barely had time to register that one of them was Jenkins before the truck hit them, bodies flying into the air as the truck scattered them. Boom subconsciously gripped the brake, slowing the truck’s speed, but it did not matter. What was left of Jenkins and his crew were scattered and smashed as Boom descended upon them, crushing them all under his wheels or against the cave wall. He saw briefly a look of outrage on Jenkins's face before he disappeared under the wheels of the cart.

  Glancing up he saw Daisy, Neep and three other pirates racing across what looked like a stone bridge up ahead, and he slammed on the brake again just as the slope of the tunnel revealed the exit to the tunnel and the chamber beyond.

&
nbsp; His mind stopped as he grasped the brake, the truck slowing significantly. He saw the lava flowing across the chamber, the smoke and flames, the sheer ferocity of a contained sea of fire and melted rock.

  “Oh my.” he gasped, vaguely registering Daisy and her crew reaching the tunnel on the other side of the bridge and rounding the bend, moving out of sight. He knew in an instant that the truck he was sat upon was far too wide for the thin spar of the bridge, but he still had the brakes to slow the vehicle down. The heat hit him as the truck skidded down the last few yards of the tunnel, the barrels of gunpowder behind him now swaying as he looked into the heart of fire.

  “The biggest explosion ever.” Whispered Boom dreamily, “A shame I shall not see it… and yet…” He was lost in dreams of fire and flame and as he sighed he released his hold on the brake, a broad smile crossing his face just as the truck shot out of the tunnel before skidding on the bridge and falling over the edge of the thin stone spar and plummeting down into the flames.

  Chapter 34

  ~The Lost Treasure of El Bongo~

  Daisy, Neep and the two remaining pirates spun on their heels as they reached the far side of the bridge, moving slightly inside the tunnel to prevent being shot at from the passage above. Yet there were no shots. As they watched a small truck shot from the tunnel and skidded on the bridge. Daisy’s eyes widened as she saw the barrels of gunpowder now swaying unsteadily on the back of the truck.

  “Mister Boom…” shouted Neep but the bombardier did not seem to notice. Almost in slow motion the cart skidded on the bridge and then fell down into the flames below. The last glimpse he had of Ensephilephtor Boom seemed to show that he was in fact grinning wildly and screaming with what seemed to be excitement at the top of his voice.

  “Get down!” screamed Daisy as the cart and barrels of gunpowder hit the lava. Neep and the remaining two pirates threw themselves to the floor at exactly the same moment that the gunpowder exploded. Neep reeled as he was thrown like a rag doll into the air, the floor of the tunnel rising up to meet him. There was a deafening sound and the tunnel filled with smoke and a loud, deep rumbling sound that grew in volume as the floor threw him around again. There was a loud crashing sound and rock fell into the tunnel. Neep managed to dodge several of the larger fragments but one of the other pirates was not so lucky, and he screamed as large boulders rained down upon him. Neep tried to stand but the ground shifted and bucked once more, throwing him backwards into Daisy.