chapter 16 up the tunnel and into the cellars!

dick held up his torch to the hole, so that the others might see their way. one by one they slid intothe dark tunnel, too excited for words. timmy came too, and so did snippet, but the jackdaw thoughtbetter of it, and remained at the enlarged opening of the burrow, chacking loudly.

the children swung their torches to and fro. 'that must be the way down to the old chapel,' saidjulian, his torch shining down the dark tunnel. no one could stand upright just there except timmy,for the roof was low. he sniffed suspiciously here and there, and kept close to george.

'well - come on!' said julian, his voice shaking a little with excitement. 'we'll go straight up, and seewhere the passage ends. my word - i can hardly wait to see what's at the top!'

they made their way slowly up the passage. there had been roof-falls here and there, but not enoughto matter. tree-roots, withered and twining, sometimes caught their feet. 'funny!' said harry, inastonishment, 'there aren't any trees growing on the hillside here - why the roots, then?'

'they may be the remains of the roots of long-ago trees that did once grow on the hill,' said julian,shining his torch up the passage, hoping against hope that there would be no serious 68obstacle to their journey. 'hallo - what's this at my feet? two feathers! now how in the world didthey get here!'

it was a puzzle! the children examined them earnestly by the light of their torches. feathers -looking quite new too - how did they get there? was there any other way into the passage - and hadthe birds found it?

dick gave a shout of laughter that made everyone jump. 'we're idiots! they're two of the jackdale'sfeathers - they must have dropped out of his bitten wing when he went down the burrow and up thispassage with snippet after him!'

'of course! why on earth didn't i think of that?' said julian. they went on upwards once more, andthen julian suddenly stopped again. a curious humming noise had come down the dark, low tunnel, athrobbing that seemed to get right inside their heads.

'what's that?' said anne, in great alarm. 'i don't like it.'

they all stood there, and felt, like anne, that the noise was indeed inside their heads. they shookthem, put their fingers into their ears - but it was no good. the strange throbbing went on and on.

'this is a bit too mysterious for me,' said anne, scared. 'i don't think i want to go on.'

the noise stopped, and they all felt better at once - but almost immediately it started again. toeveryone's surprise, george began to laugh.

'it's all right! it's only those men at work on the castle-site. it's their drills we can hear - throbbingthrough the hillside, and down this passage right into our ears. they must be back from lunch.

cheer up, everybody!'

they all smiled in relief, though anne's hands were still shaking a little, as she held up her torch toshine through the black darkness. 'there's not an awful lot of air here,' she said. 'i hope we soon getinto the cellars!'

'they can't be far,' said julian. 'this tunnel goes in a pretty straight line, just as we thought it would.

where it curves it's probable that the long-ago men who made it were forced to burrow round tree-roots that blocked their way. anyway, as we can hear the drills so loudly now, we can't be far fromthe castle-site.'

they were nearer than they thought! julian's torch suddenly shone on the remains of a great door,lying on the ground before him - the door that once shut off the cellars from the passage!

the tunnel ceased just there, and the torches shone on a vast underground place, silent, full ofshadows.

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'we're there!' said julian, in a whisper that went scurrying round in the darkness and came back as astrange echo that said 'there-there-there-there-there.'

'that fallen door must have been the one made all those years gone by!' said anne, in awe. shetouched a corner of it with her foot, and the wood crumpled into dust with a queer little sigh.

snippet pushed in front of them and ran into the cellars. he gave a short bark as if to say, 'come on -don't be afraid. i've been here before.'

'oh snippet, be careful!' said anne, half afraid that everything would crumble away at the sound ofsnippet's pattering feet!

'let's go on - but carefully,' said julian. 'everything will be ready to crumble into dust - unless it'smade of metal! it's a marvel that door was preserved like that - it looks good enough - but i'm sure ifany of us sneezed it would be gone.'

'don't make me laugh, please, ju,' said dick, stepping carefully round the fallen door. 'even a laughmight do damage down here!'

soon they were all in the blackness of the underground cellars. they flashed their torches around.

'what a vast place!' said julian. 'can't see any dungeons, though!'

'thank goodness!' said harriet and anne together. they had both dreaded coming across old bones oflong-forgotten prisoners!

'look - there's an archway,' said george, shining her torch to the right. 'a fine, semi-circular arch itis, too, made of stone - and there's another, look. they must lead into a main underground chamber, ishould think. there's nothing much to see just here, except heaps of dirt. it all smells so musty, too!'

'well, follow me carefully,' said julian, and led the way towards the stone archways, his torch shiningbrightly. they came to one of the beautiful rounded arches and stood there, all four torches shiningbrightly into a large underground room.

'no cellars here - but just one great underground store-room,' said julian. 'the roof was shored upwith great beams - see, some of them have fallen. and those stone arches must have borne much ofthe weight, too. not one of those has fallen! they must have stood there for centuries -what wonderful workmanship!'

dick and the twins were more interested in the great mass of jumble scattered about round the walls.

it was covered with dust that rose lightly into the air when timmy brushed against 70anything. snippet ran round happily, sniffing everywhere, and sneezing every now and again as thefine dust went up his nose.

'any treasures, do you think?' whispered anne, and the echo came back weirdly, whispering too.

'whispers seem to echo back more than our ordinary voices!' said julian. 'hallo - what's this?'

they shone their torches on to the floor where lay what looked like a heap of blackened metal.

julian bent down and then gave a loud exclamation. 'do you see what this is? a suit of armour!

almost perfect still. look, though, it must be ages old - and here's another - and another! were theyold ones, thrown out - or spare ones? look at this helmet - grand!'

he kicked it gently with his foot, and it gave out a metallic sound and rolled away a little. 'would thatbe valuable now?' asked harry, anxiously.

'valuable! worth its weight in gold, i should think!' said julian, such excitement in his voice thateveryone felt even more thrilled. harriet called to him urgently.

'julian - here's a chest of some sort. quick!'

they went slowly over to where she stood, for they had already learnt that any quick movementraised clouds of fine, choking dust. she pointed to a great dark chest, its corners bound with iron, andwith iron strapping all round it.

it was made of wood, as black with age as the iron itself. 'what's inside, do you think?'

whispered harriet, and at once her whisper echoed from every corner. 'you think, you think, youthink...'

timmy went to sniff at the chest - and to his amazement it disintegrated at once! slowly, softly, thesides and the great lid fell into dust that settled gently on the ground around. only the iron cornersand strapping were left. it was strange to watch something crumble away before their eyes. 'likemagic!' thought anne.

as the wooden sides of the chest crumbled, something shone out brightly in the light of the torches -something that moved and slid out of the chest, as the sides fell away - fell with a jingling, clinking,sound, curious to hear in that silent darkness.

the children stared in astonishment, hardly believing their eyes. anne clutched julian and made himjump. 'ju! what is it? is it gold?'

julian bent to pick up one of the rolling pieces. 'yes! it's gold. no doubt about it. gold nevertarnishes, it keeps bright for ever. these are gold coins of some sort, treasured and hidden away.

there couldn't have been time to take them, when the lady fled with her children - and no one 71else would be able to get them, for the castle was burnt down and buried by the falling walls!

this hoard of gold must have lain here untouched all these long years.'

'waiting for us to come!' said george. 'twins - your mother and father needn't worry about their farmany more! there's enough gold there to buy them all the tractors they want! and that may be only thebeginning of the treasures down here! julian, there's another chest, look - like this one, but smaller,and beginning to fall to pieces. let's see what's inside that! more gold, i hope.'

but the second chest did not hold gold pieces - it held a different kind of treasure! one side had burstopen, and its contents had dribbled out.

'rings!' said anne, picking up two from the dust in which they lay.

'a golden belt!' said george. 'and look - these tarnished chains must be necklaces, because they're setwith blue stones. this must be where the jackdaw found that ring!'

'we've found something else, too!' called harry, his excited voice making everyone jump. 'look- racks of swords and daggers! some are beautifully carved, too!'

clamped to the wall were iron racks, held in place by great iron rods driven deep into the hard earthof the wall. some had loosened and the racks hung crooked, their knives and swords askew, or lay onthe floor. snippet ran to pick one up - just as he had done before when he and nosey first went intothe cellars by themselves!

'what wonderful swords!' said julian, picking one up. 'my word, this one's heavy! i can hardly holdit! good gracious - what's that?'

something had fallen from the roof of the cellar in which they were standing - a great piece of oldwood, that had originally been placed there as part of the roofing. at the same time the continual humof the drilling above rose to a roar that made the children jump.

julian gave a shout. 'out of here, quickly!' he yelled. 'those men will soon be through the roof, and itmay suddenly fall and bury us! we'll have to go at once!'

he snatched a dagger from the rack, and, still with the sword in his hand, ran back to the entrance ofthe secret passage, pulling anne with him. the twins were last of all, for they had run to get ahandful of the gold, and two of the necklaces and rings. they must show their mother a few of thetreasures, they must!

just as they reached the entrance, more of the roof fell. 'we'll have to stop this excavating,'

panted julian, looking back. 'if the roof falls in, it may destroy many of the old treasures there!'

they hurried into the dark, low tunnel, feeling more excited than they had ever felt in their lives!

timmy led the way, glad to think they were going out into the open air once more!

'what will mother say?' the twins kept saying to one another. 'whatever will she say!'