Read Online Riddle Gully Secrets by Jen Banyard - Free Book Online Page A

‘It’s a possibility.’
    â€˜Can you feel that breeze?’ said Ash. She had closed her eyes and was floating her arms up and down by her sides. ‘There’s a draught. It’s coming from over there.’ She took the torch and shone it towards the back of the cavern. It curved away, one stone wall behind the other, in a narrow passage.
    They edged towards the bend, Ash directing the torch beam. The closer they shuffled the more distinct was the steady flow of cool air. Ash slid around the curve of rock. When she returned she was smiling, her eyes wide. She handed Pollo the torch. ‘You’ll like what’s in there.’
    Pollo hurried into the passage. Ash, Dan and Will heard excited yelps and scuffles. She returned, panting. ‘There’s a shaft, who knows how deep! And – get this – there’s a ladder made from iron spikes! There’s neverbeen any mining around here. It has to have been put there by –’
    â€˜Bushrangers!’ said Will.
    â€˜This day just gets better and better!’ hooted Dan.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    Huddled in the tiny space, they took turns to peer down the shaft. It looked to have been widened in places by hand, the rock chipped flat by a chisel.
    Will dropped a small rock into the black abyss. It pinged off metal about ten times. They didn’t hear it reach the bottom.
    â€˜Who’s first?’ said Pollo, her voice echoing down the shaft.
    â€˜I want to go check it out,’ said Will, ‘but I don’t want to risk my neck. Not to mention it’s hours past lunchtime and
somebody
ate all my sandwiches.’
    Ash shivered. ‘The thought of getting stuck down there …’
    â€˜And I’m pretty sure,’ said Dan, ‘that we’ve found enough to make Twig change his mind about portals to the cosmos.’
    Will’s stomach rumbled. ‘Let’s come back another time with more torches and some proper equipment.’
    â€˜I guess you’re right,’ said Pollo. ‘This cave’s been untouched since bushranger times. It’s not going anywhere.’
    They were just rounding the curving rock wall back into the cavern when they heard it – a sharp rasping sound from deep in the earth beneath.
    â€˜What was that?’ whispered Pollo.
    â€˜Just a bat or a possum or something,’ said Will. ‘Why have we stopped?’
    â€˜It didn’t sound like a bat or a possum to me,’ said Pollo.
    â€˜It can’t be a person,’ said Dan. ‘The cave where we started only had little animal tracks, remember? No human ones – apart from Ash’s at the entrance.’
    â€˜Is that the only way in here, Ash?’ asked Pollo.
    â€˜As far as I know.’
    There it was again! A harsh, scratching sound from below.
    â€˜Where’s that noise coming from?’ said Pollo. She pushed past them back into the rock passage, leaving them in the dark.
    Again! Scraping, like metal on stone.
    â€˜That’s a spade!’ called Pollo from around the bend.
    Will, Dan and Ash groped towards the torch beam to find Pollo wriggling backwards down into the shaft, the torch sideways under her chin.
    â€˜The couple near my rock this morning had a spade,’ whispered Ash, leaning over her. ‘But this sound is coming from below; it’s a long way from where they were.’
    â€˜All the more reason to check it out!’ huffed Pollo. She stopped, her feet on the first spike of the ladder. She looked up and grinned at the others, her face ghoulish in the torchlight. ‘Who’s coming with me?’
    â€˜It’s a bat or a possum, I’m telling you,’ said Will. ‘Possums screech like crazy when they’re fighting. Anyway, we don’t need to go down there right this very minute … do we?’
    â€˜If we go now we can spring whoever’s making the noise!’
    â€˜Spring?’ said Will. ‘Who says