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Chapter Sixteen DOWN TO THE CAVES
GEORGE went cautiously down the stone steps. They were steep and narrow.
'I should think they run right down in the middle of the stone wall,' thought George. 'Goodness, here's a narrow bit!' It was so narrow that she had to go sideways. 'A fat man would never get through there!' she thought to herself. 'Hallo -- the steps have ended!'
She had got her rug round her shoulders, and had picked up her bag on the way down. In her other hand she held her torch. It was terribly dark and quiet down there. George did not feel scared because she was hoping to see Timmy at any moment. No one could feel afraid with Timmy just round the corner, ready to welcome them! She stood at the bottom of the steps, her torch showing her a narrow tunnel. It curved sharply to the left.
'Now will it join the dungeons1 from here?' she wondered, trying to get her sense of direction to help her. 'They can't be far off. But there's no sign of them at the moment.' She went on down the narrow tunnel. Once the roof came down so low she almost had to crawl. She flashed her torch on it. She saw black rock there, which had evidently been too hard to be removed by the tunnel builders long ago.
The tunnel went on and on and on. George was puzzled. Surely by now she must have gone by all the dungeons! Why - she must be heading towards the shore of the island! How very queer!
Didn't this tunnel join the dungeons then? A little further and she would be under the bed of the sea itself. The tunnel took a deep slope downwards2. More steps appeared, cut roughly from rock.
George climbed down them cautiously. Where in the world was she going?
At the bottom of the steps the tunnel seemed to be cut out of solid rock - or else it was a natural passage, not made by man at all. George didn't know. Her torch showed her black, rocky walls and roof, and her feet stumbled over an irregular rocky path. How she longed for Timmy beside her!
'I must be very deep down,' she thought, pausing to flash her torch round her once more. 'Very deep down and very far from the castle! Good gracious - whatever's that awful noise?' She listened. She heard a muffled booming and moaning. Was it her father doing one of his experiments? The noise went on and on, a deep, never-ending boom. 'Why - I believe it's the sea!' said George, amazed. She stood and listened again. 'Yes -- it is the sea -- over my head! I'm 68
under the rocky bed of Kirrin Bay!' And now poor George did feel a bit scared! She thought of the great waves surging above her, she thought of the restless, moving water scouring3 the rocky bed over her head, and felt frightened in case the sea should find a way to leak down into her narrow tunnel! 'Now, don't be silly,' she told herself sternly. 'This tunnel has been here under the sea-bed for hundreds of years -- why should it suddenly become unsafe just when you are in it, George?' Talking to herself like this, to keep up her spirits, she went on again. It was very queer indeed to think she was walking under the sea. So this was where her father was at work! Under the sea itself.
And then George suddenly remembered something he had said to them all, the first time they had visited him on the island. What was it now? 'Oh yes! He said he had to have water above and around him!' said George. 'Now I see what he meant! His workroom is somewhere down here --
so the sea-water is above him -- and it's all round the tower, because it's built on an island!'
Water above and water around -- so that was why her father had chosen Kirrin Island for his experiment. How had he found the secret passage under the sea, though? 'Why, even I didn't know of that,' said George. 'Hallo -what am I coming to?' She stopped. The passage had suddenly widened out into an enormous dark cave, whose roof was unexpectedly high, lost in dark shadows. George stared round. She saw queer things there that she didn't understand at all --
wires, glass boxes, little machines that seemed to be at work without a sound, whose centres were alive with queer, gleaming, shivering light.
Sudden sparks shot up now and again, and when that happened a funny smell crept round the cave. 'How weird4 all this is!' thought George. 'However can Father understand all these machines and things! I wonder where he is. I do hope those men haven't made him prisoner somewhere!'
From this queer, Aladdin's cave another tunnel led. George switched on her torch again and went into it. It was much like the other one, but the roof was higher.
She came to another cave, smaller this time, and crammed5 with wires of all kinds. There was a curious humming sound here, like thousands of bees in a hive. George half-expected to see some flying round.
'It must be these wires making the noise,' she said. There was nobody in the cave at all, but it led into another one, and George hoped that soon she would find Timmy and her father.
She went into the next cave, which was perfectly6 empty and very cold. She shivered. Then down another passage, and into a small cave. The first thing she saw beyond this tiny cave was a light!
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A light! Then perhaps she was coming to the cave her father must be in! She flashed her torch round the little cave she was now standing7 in and saw tins of food, bottles of beer, tins of sweets, and a pile of clothes of some sort. Ah, this was where her father kept his stores. She went on to the next cave, wondering why Timmy had not heard her and come to greet her.
She looked cautiously into the cave where the light came from. Sitting at a table, his head in his hands, perfectly still, was her father! There was no sign of Timmy.
'Father!' said George. The man at the table jumped violently and turned round. He stared at George as if he really could not believe his eyes. Then he turned back again, and buried his face in his hands.
'Father!' said George again, quite frightened because he did not say anything to her. He looked round again, and this time he got up. He stared at George once more, and then sat down heavily.
George ran to him.
'What's the matter? Oh Father, what's the matter? Where's Timmy?'
'George! Is it really you, George? I thought I must be dreaming when I looked up and saw you!'
said her father. 'How did you get here? Good gracious, it's impossible that you should be here!'
'Father, are you all right? What's happened - and where's Timmy?' said George, urgently. She looked all round, but could see no sign of him. Her heart went cold. Surely nothing awful had happened to Timmy?
'Did you see two men?' asked her father. 'Where were they?'
'Oh Father -- we keep asking each other questions and not answering them!' said George. 'Tell me first -- where is Timmy?'
'I don't know,' said her father. 'Did those two men go to the tower?'
'Yes,' said George. 'Father, what's happened?'
'Well, if they've gone to the tower, we've got about an hour in peace,' said her father. 'Now listen to me, George, very carefully. This is terribly important.'
'I'm listening,' said George. 'But do hurry up and tell me about Timmy.'
'These two men were parachuted down on to the island, to try and find out my secret,' said her father. 'I'll tell you what my experiments are for, George - they are to find a way of replacing all coal, coke and oil - an idea to give the world all the heat and power it wants, and to do away with mines and miners.'
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'Good gracious!' said George. 'It would be one of the most wonderful things the world has ever known.'
'Yes,' said her father. 'And I should give it to the whole world - it shall not be in the power of any one country, or collection of men. It shall be a gift to the whole of mankind - but, George, there are men who want my secret for themselves, so that they may make colossal8 fortunes out of it.'
'How hateful!' cried George. 'Go on, Father -- how did they hear of it?'
'Well, I was at work on this idea with some of my colleagues, my fellow-workers,' said her father. 'And one of them betrayed us, and went to some powerful business men to tell them of my idea. So when I knew this I decided9 to come away in secret and finish my experiments by myself. Then nobody could betray me.'
'And you came here!' said George. 'To my island.'
'Yes -- because I needed water over me and water around me,' said her father. 'Quite by chance I looked at a copy of that old map, and thought that if the passage shown there -- the one leading from the little stone room, I mean - if the passage there really did lead under the sea, as it seemed to show, that would be the ideal place to finish my experiments.'
'Oh Father -- and I made such a fuss!' said George, ashamed to remember how cross she had been.
'Did you?' said her father, as if he had forgotten all about that. 'Well, I got all my stuff and came here. And now these fellows have found me, and got hold of me!'
'Poor Father! Can't I help?' said George. 'I could go back and bring help over here, couldn't I?'
'Yes, you could!' said her father. 'But you mustn't let those men see you, George.'
'I'll do anything you want me to, Father, anything!' said George. 'But first do tell me what's happened to Timmy?'
'Well, he kept by me all the time,' said her father. 'Really, he's a wonderful dog, George. And then, this morning, just as I was coming out of the entrance in that little room to go up into the tower with Timmy to signal, the two men pounced10 on me and forced me back here?'
'But what happened to Timmy?' asked George, impatiently. Would her father never tell her what she wanted to know?
'He flew at the men, of course,' said her father. 'But somehow or other one of them lassoed him with a noose11 of rope, and caught him. They pulled the rope so tight round his neck that he almost choked.'
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'Oh, poor, poor Timmy,' said George, and the tears ran down her cheek. 'Is he -- do you think -
he's all right, Father?'
'Yes. From what I heard the men saying afterwards I think they've taken him to some cave and shut him in there,' said her father. 'Anyway, I saw one of them getting some dog-biscuits out of a bag this evening -- so that looks as if he's alive and kicking -- and hungry!'
George heaved a great sigh of relief. So long as Timmy was alive and all right! She took a few steps towards what she thought must be another cave.
'I'm going to find Timmy, Father,' she said. 'I must find him!'
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dungeons
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| n.地牢( dungeon的名词复数 ) | |
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downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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scouring
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| 擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤 | |
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weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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noose
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| n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑 | |
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