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

anyone’s doing anything wrong?’
    â€˜Put it this way,’ said Pollo, ‘if the noise stops before we get to it, I don’t like our chances of finding out who or what is making it.’
    â€˜Shouldn’t we at least send a test canary down there?’ said Will. ‘You know, like they did in the old coal mines?’
    â€˜Where do you suggest we get a canary from?’ saidPollo, still standing on the iron peg, clutching the edge of the shaft.
    â€˜We could borrow Bublé from Sherri. He’s a budgie, but he’d probably do.’
    â€˜Right. Sure. Off you hop, then, Will. We’ll just wait here and chat amongst ourselves.’ Pollo’s fingers were whitening on the shaft’s rim. ‘We know the air in the shaft is good. It felt like a blast of air-conditioning coming into the cave. That’s how Ash found it.’
    Will looked at Ash. ‘You
were
pretty amazing.’
    â€˜It’s nothing that anyone who stops still now and then wouldn’t notice,’ said Ash.
    â€˜Could one of you anchor me for a bit?’ said Pollo.
    Dan squatted and wedged his feet against the wall of the shaft. He gripped Pollo’s forearms. Ash moved behind Dan and anchored him. Pollo leaned back and tested the iron spike with her full weight. She jigged up and down a little. It didn’t move.
    â€˜It feels solid to me, and I’ll test each spike before I let go of the one above.’
    Dan looked at the others. ‘Well, I don’t want to go home yet. I wouldn’t mind keeping Pollo company.’
    â€˜I’ll come too,’ said Ash.
    â€˜Yeah, sure,’ mumbled Will.
    Pollo lowered herself fully into the shaft, shiningthe torch back up. Dan followed, then Ash, then Will. They made slow, careful progress down the steep, dark shaft. Eventually, when Pollo waggled her foot into the blackness below, she scuffed it on solid ground. Gingerly she stepped off the last rung and waited for the others, shining the torch to light their way.
    The four huddled at the foot of the ladder, their skin slick with perspiration, the torch light catching chins and noses and shadowing them onto cave walls.
    â€˜Turn off your torch for a bit,’ whispered Ash. ‘Let’s see if there’s any natural light.’
    Pollo flicked off the torch. They waited, brushing shoulders, feeling one another’s damp breath. But no shapes were discernible. Just deep black nothingness.
    â€˜So much for pupils adjusting to the dark,’ said Pollo.
    â€˜Be still for a moment,’ said Ash. ‘Can you smell it?’
    They stood quietly, breathing deeply.
    â€˜All I can smell is Will,’ said Dan.
    â€˜Well you’re no bunch of flowers yourself,’ said Will.
    â€˜Shsh,’ said Ash. ‘Damp limestone. There’s water somewhere nearby.’
    Pollo turned the torch back on. ‘Let’s see what’s around that corner, eh?’
    They shuffled away from the shaft, staying close, careful not to bump their heads or trip on the nuggetsof hard rock that protruded from the compacted soil of the cave floor.
    â€˜The walls seem to suck up our sound rather than throw it back,’ murmured Pollo.
    â€˜They threw back that scraping sound well enough,’ said Ash. ‘But I haven’t heard anything for a while.’
    â€˜Me neither,’ said Pollo. ‘Strange.’
    â€˜Hey, what’s that?’ said Will. ‘Give us the torch please, Pollo.’ Stacked against the cave wall were wooden crates and rows of rusted tin cans. They rushed forward. Will picked up a tin and turned it in the torch beam. It was completely sealed. Any labelling had been nibbled or rusted away. He shook it next to his ear. ‘It’s heavy,’ he whispered. ‘I think it’s food of some kind.’ He looked around hopefully. ‘Pity I can’t see a can opener.’
    â€˜This could be a genie’s lamp!’