Read Online Wishing Well by Trevor Baxendale - Free Book Online Page A

report back what you find. If there's the slightest problem, yell and we'll pull you up sharpish.'
    'It'll be cold down there,' cautioned Angela. 'Don't you want to put something warmer on?'
    The Doctor said he was fine as he was and then swung his long legs over the parapet of the well-shaft. Martha looked down into the inky depths and shivered. 'You will be careful, won't you?'
    "Course I will,' he replied cheerily, as if he was never anything but. 'Don't worry, I'm only popping down for a quick look. I'll be back in five minutes.' He checked the rope by giving it a hard tug, and then looked at her. Again, there was that seriousness back in his dark eyes and Martha felt an intense pang of worry. 'Listen,' he said, quietly. 'If anything goes wrong – go and see Henry Gaskin.'
    Martha frowned. 'What? Why him?'
    But the Doctor had already swung himself off the wall and was dangling over the well-shaft. He swung gently to and fro, and Angela began to squeeze the winch grip. Slowly the rope began to move through the pulley hanging from the windlass and the Doctor was lowered into the well.
    'Good luck!' Sadie called down after him. He looked up and grinned, already disappearing into the cool shadows. 'Be careful!'
    After a very few seconds Martha saw the Doctor switch his torch on and a bright white beam stabbed into the shaft wall. She caught a glimpse of crumbling brickwork as the light swivelled erratically; the Doctor was beginning to turn on the rope. The torchlight described a complete circle and the last thing Martha saw of the Doctor was a brief glimpse of his long, pale face looking back up at her. Then he was submerged in a pool of darkness and all she could make out was the distant glow of the torch. He had been completely lost from sight in a remarkably short time.
    She forced herself to look up at the winch. There was still an awful lot of rope on the drum to play out. He had a long way to go.
    Duncan and Ben were working their way past a large rock embedded in the earth. It took several big hits with the pickaxe to split the thing, but eventually they were able to pull the broken pieces out and discard them. They were taking less care with the loosened soil now because they knew they were nearly at the end of things; there was no need to ferry it all back up to the entrance and keep everything tidy.
    'Watch out for our friend,' said Ben, as Duncan threw a chunk of rock across the tunnel and narrowly missed the skeleton.
    'Sorry, mate,' Duncan grinned at the skull. 'I wonder who he really was?'
    'I told you, it was the highwayman,' said Nigel. He was leaning against the tunnel wall, hands on his knees, feeling very unwell. The others put it down to claustrophobia. He knew it was something far worse.
    'I mean, what was his name?' wondered Duncan.
    Ben said, 'We'll have to call him John Doe.'
    'Nah, too American. He's English: Joe Bloggs.'
    'Joe Bones, you mean.'
    'Hah! Yeah, Joe Bones. Hello, Joe, nice to meet you!' Duncan bowed to the skeleton. 'Hey, Joe, you've lost a bit of weight.'
    They laughed together, starting to feel a bit drunk on the prospect of being so close to the end. Treasure or not, they both wanted this digging over.
    'Hey, look at this,' Duncan said, when they had calmed down a little. He was pointing at the cavity in the earth where the big rock had been. Immersed in the soil was a tangle of pale and fibrous vegetable matter. 'What's that?'
    'Roots or something, I suppose,' said Ben.
    'I'd have thought we were a bit far down for roots,' Duncan remarked. 'There aren't any trees near enough which could have a root system running this deep.'
    Ben shrugged. 'I don't know. There could be some old growth down here, I suppose.' He bent down to have a closer look. The tendrils were so pale they were almost white, straggling through the soil like thin wires. 'It looks very pale – starved of sunlight. No photosynthesis. Probably dead.'
    'Weird!' Duncan moved the torch closer and the roots almost seemed to