Saturday, April 15, 2006

101 The End

Spelunking...This is the name for the practice of diving in underwater caves.

And they were stuck. It was a life or death sort of thing to do. So they decided between them that Gabi and Lucs would do the diving so that if anything happened, Richie could fly the plane. Suzanna was to stay at base camp with him.

They got suited up with a schedule for resurfacing and then descended into the bowels of the earth. They hoped against hope that there would be some sign or clue to point them towards the treasure, otherwise it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

A few minutes after Gabi and Lucs went under, there were some suspicious tremors coming from the earth. Richie and Suz exchanged worried glances as there had been no previous warning.

Richie attempted to radio them to abort the mission, but without success - the seismic activity must have interfered with the signals.

All they could do was sit and hope their friends would come out. After half an hour the earthquake hit full blast. It was violent, almost as if it had been waiting for centuries. The earth was like to split in two.

******

Meantime, in the water caves, Gabi and Lucs felt the tremors. They did all they could not to panic and use up their oxygen, and by this time they were becoming disoriented with the magnetic activity.
Through one passage, up one hole, down one shaft, in another cave....Where were they?

**********

Then suddenly BOOM! The earth split, the cave opened - Gabi had never seen water drain away so fast. And they found themselves blinking in the daylight...They heard a scream, looked up and there were Richie and Suz standing on a ridge looking down at them in a huge cauldron, newly opened up by the quake.

All they wanted to do was get out of there, forget the treasure. It would take some climbing now - quick switch from diving to mountaineering, so Richie with great presence of mind threw down a rope while Gabi and Lucs struggled out of their oxygen tanks and flippers.

Another holler from Suz, that sharp-eyed girl, and everyone turned to follow her pointing finger. Sticking out of the newly-formed valley a few yards away was the corner of a great brass-studded chest.

More quick thinking from Richie - he was rappelling down the slope with more ropes and slings and grips, following Gabi and Lucs who were running towards the goal. They dug it out of the rocks and sand, secured it with rope and slings, and formed a pulley system to get it up to the top and drag it back to Suz at the basecamp.

Back in camp, they just had to open it. Richie and Gabi set to with great gusto, using rocks and heavy branches, and pretty soon the locks were broken from the old wood and they'd broken through the tar sealed lead lining. They held their breaths. What was inside?

As Lucs was the lucky pirate descendant, she had the honour of opening the lid. She slowly lifted...and was confronted with the sight of damp peppercorns. In a panic, they all stuck their arms in and started digging around. Their eyes were watering with disappointment and the evaporation from the spicy peppercorns.
Someone shouted.
All their hands converged to pull out a smaller enamelled jewellery chest. It was heavy and they were sure there was something inside it but they just HAD to get off that island.

They ran back to the beach and boarded the plane. Richie made a water takeoff and in a couple of hours they landed only he knew where. It was tropical, they could see the sea, and the people looked friendly.

They hired a taxi and asked for the best hotel in town. Once in a room at the Costa Royale they sat around the bed and opened the exquisite jewel-encrusted, enamelled box.

Inside was a message on parchment wrapped around a small inscribed golden key.

In wonderfully scrolling letters, the note read:

Congratulations, O brave Explorer!

Thou hast uncovered a treasure and being as it is, I must assume thou art my worthy descendant.
Half of thine treasure is the box, which I claim'd as my personal Memento from capturing a Ship in the Year of our Lord 1588. Great is the acuity of he who can explain wherefore a Box displaying the Royal seal of Guillaume le gagnant was carried aboard a ship in a Spanish fleet with courses set for Ynglande.

Ye brazen key was delivered to me by a Courrier of the Court of Elizabeth - God rest her soul - who harkened of my Triumph as soon after my capture, the Armada was scattered by Ye mighty Hand of God.

Owen Tryfor Glyndwr
anno domini 1603

The stunned three "Explorers" and one "descendant" then turned their wide eyes to the inscription on the key which read in Latin:

To the bearer of this key and to his descendants is granted access, on application, to any royal household in the Kingdom.

Gabi, Lucs, Richie, and Suz stared at each other in awed silence, their minds full of possibilities that their lips could not yet utter.

The End

2 Comments:

Blogger michelle said...

woh! Now how about a restart...something new.....

shall we try codebreaking?

Sunday, 16 April, 2006  
Blogger Olivia said...

Did anyone guess who Guillaume le gagnant is and get the dates 1688 and 1603???

Huh? Huh?
:P :P :P

Sunday, 16 April, 2006  

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