by L K Harcourt
‘I suppose,’ she said, ‘we better help you get rid of that before we do anything. You can’t go around like that, you’ll knock something over. I think you better ram it in me again.’
Meanwhile, one floor below, there were signs of life. ‘Oh, my head hurts,’ moaned John. He looked about him and noticed that daylight was seeping in below the curtains. He glanced across the room to where he assumed Dan was asleep. ‘Oi mate, you don’t fancy going downstairs and getting us a cup of tea do you, and maybe a headache pill or something. I think there’s some in the cupboard.’
But an absent Dan didn’t reply. The room was spinning slowly and John wasn’t even attempting to actually see him. Then he became aware of something warm and human curled up under his own duvet. ‘Dan, what are you doing in bed with me?’ he muttered, throwing the covers back. It was Louise of course. That was a pleasant surprise. John scratched his head seeking to work out how that had happened.
Eventually, the memories of their night of celebration came back to him, and his wonderful, romantic chat with Louise as they went to buy the drinks and how, fuelled by joy at their amazing find, the two of them found themselves on the same wavelength and wanting to be together.
Had they done anything last night, or just fallen asleep? John really couldn’t remember but Louise was still fully clothed, as was he, so it didn’t look like it.
He glanced at his watch – 8.45am. Well, it wasn’t exactly late and they were on holiday after all. That treasure had waited for them for more than 230 years, it could surely stay put for another hour or two.
Louise began to stir. ‘Oh my head,’ she said. John grinned down at her. ‘That’s how I feel,’ he said. She looked at him and all around the unfamiliar bedroom. ‘Where’s Emma, why am I in bed with you?’
She smiled as it all came back to her. ‘Oh John, look at the pair of us still in our clothes. That will teach us to drink so much. And now I’ve got a terrible hangover.’
‘Me too,’ said John. ‘The funny thing is, hangovers can make me feel incredibly horny. How about we make up for last night? I would love to see that gorgeous Amazonian body of yours.’
‘Amazonian, I think the Amazons might disagree,’ said Louise as John began to peel her layers off her.
‘Mmmm, I love your smooth, supple olive skin. I just couldn’t take my eyes off you the other day when you were in your swimming cossy,’ purred John.
‘I know you couldn’t, your eyes were all over me,’ said Louise, sitting up so John could unhook her bra. She had the most amazing, full breasts which John cupped in his hands and gently squeezed.
‘Your breasts are adorable,’ said John as he caressed them. ‘Have you any idea how much I’ve wanted to get my hands on them?’
‘Mmmm, oh that’s good, that’s so good. Stroke my nipples, and bite them,’ instructed Louise.
‘First I want to see the rest of you, every single bit,’ said John. ‘May I pull your knickers down?’
‘Get on with it,’ said Louise, smiling.
John did so, delighting at the neat triangle of matted, dark brown hair crowning her bulging mound of Venus. He pushed her gently down onto the mattress and, after stripping off himself, got on top of her, bringing her legs up and pushing them back to her shoulders as he mounted her. It was his favourite position, allowing deep penetration and she gasped as he slid inside her. There was nothing romantic about it, this was a hard, animal-like performance to rival Dan’s but it suited Louise just fine.
~~~~~
The kettle was barely warm by the time John staggered down to the kitchen. He boiled the water up and scrabbled about for some headache pills. The sex had been great, but it had not in fact, put paid to either of their hangovers. As theories went however, it had been well worth a try. He met Dan on the stairs upon his return. ‘I’ve left the hangover pills out if you’ve got a bad head,’ he said.
‘No,’ said Dan, ‘I’m feeling ok now. Look John, between you and me, I don’t want us to delay for too long getting back down that tunnel.’
‘Oh come on old chap, it’s been there for . . .’ began John, forgetting exactly how long it had been there for.
‘230 years, yes I know,’ said Dan, impatiently. ‘And if it’s been there for that long, another few hours won’t make much difference. It would be a very valid point if it weren’t for the fact that after 230 years, four loud-mouthed idiots then went and talked about it down the local smuggler’s pub. I’m worried we were overheard and we must get down as soon as poss and bring the treasure back where it will be safe.’
John yawned. He had that tiredness and lassitude one always gets the morning after a drinking session. ‘In any case Dan,’ he mumbled, we are the proud owners of the tunnel entrance, which can only be reached through the outbuilding and that’s safely locked up.’
‘That isn’t the end of the tunnel I’m most worried about,’ said Dan. ‘Anyway look, drink your tea, and get Louise down into the lounge by 10am ok and I’ll get Emma down at the same time and we’ll get organised.’
~~~~~
‘Bloomin’ ’eck Zak,’ huffed Jake. ‘I’m losing the will to go on with this. Four solid hours and we’ve managed to make a hole the size of a grapefruit. At this rate, we’ll be here all week.’
‘We don’t need to drive a bus through it you oaf, we just need to make it big enough to crawl through. If you ’adn’t got such a big beer belly, it would be a sight easier,’ retorted Zak. ‘Here, give me the ’ammer, let’s ’ave another bash. We’ve got to just keep worrying at that hole, chipping away at the sides, and we’ll be through.’
‘My belly,’ retorted Jake, somewhat offended, ‘ain’t no bigger than yours. Maximum capacity one gallon, I think you might say.’
‘And then piss it all up the wall,’ chuckled Zak. ‘I tell you this, the amount of money we get through, what with my boozin’ and all what me missus wastes down the high street, I could do with a good few gold and silver coins like those four twerps were parading around last night. That’s why it’s worth a bit of elbow grease this morning. Just got to hope we’re in time. Hey now just take a look at that, is it my imagination, or has that ’ole just got a good deal bigger? Shine your torch in Jake, what can you see?’ said Zak, straightening up.
‘Hmmm, we’re definitely winning Zak, if we weren’t so fat we’d be able to crawl through already,’ said Jake.
‘Well we’re as God made us,’ said Zak, pointing upwards with the lump hammer. ‘Him in the sky far above and the alehouse down the road, you might say. Point is, we ain’t got time to diet our way into that hole, we’ll have to keep smashin’ and bashin’ till it’s wide enough and I don’t wanna get stuck ’alf way.
CHAPTER 12
‘Right,’ said Dan, as the four of them all sat down to mugs of coffee around the kitchen table. ‘It’s 10am and the sooner we get back down that tunnel the better. I think it would be wise to draw up a quick checklist of what we need to take with us, to save any delays.
They all thought carefully. ‘Ok so I’ve written down: torches, spare batteries, the small ladder, and a couple of empty crates that we will need to transport everything back with us,’ said Dan. ‘Anything else?’
‘I nearly forgot to mention – chalk to mark the walls to and from – just in case there is any chance of us accidentally wandering into different tunnels,’ said Emma. ‘I bought some yesterday from the hardware store.’
‘Fantastic, that was a very good idea,’ said Dan. ‘The tunnel down to the nearest cave is fairly straightforward as we found out yesterday, but it’s best not to take any chances.’
‘Oh I’ve just thought,’ said Emma. ‘I know we’ve got torches, but what about taking a couple of lamps that we can just place on the ground or on the ledge?
‘Yes, good point. We forgot to buy any. I suppose we can take a couple of oil lamps down, can’t we Louise?’ said Dan.
Louise nodded. ‘Shall we take some snacks down or anything like that?’ she asked, a touch flippantly.
Dan detected just the hint of a smirk and he snapped at her, ‘Louise please try and take this seriously. Either we fetch that treasure up from the cave or before long, somebody else will and then it will be too late.’
Dan suspected that beneath her cavalier attitude, Louise was embarrassed about her loud and boorish behaviour the previous night – as well she might be. They had all been naïve and incautious but Louise was by far the worst offender. The important thing now was to make sure the safe removal of the treasure went to plan. But there was only so much that he could do without appearing rude. They were Louise’s guests, and when she insisted on having another round of coffee, he had no choice but to sit there and drink it.
‘Oh Dan, don’t pull faces at me,’ said Louise, reproachfully, spotting his irritation. ‘It’s just that I’ve got a stonking hangover and I want to try and cure it a bit with caffeine and pills before I go plunging down tunnels.’
Eventually, with the clock ticking towards 11am, the four of them finally emerged from the lighthouse and walked the short distance down the path to the outbuilding.
‘Oh blow, I’ve forgotten the key to the door,’ said Louise and the others all glared at her. She really hadn’t got her head on the right way that morning at all. She scurried back to get it and then opened up. Dan was relieved to see that everything inside looked as they had left it. Clearly no-one had attempted to force entry over night and that at least was reassuring.
‘Right folks, our best bet is simply for two of us to go down the shaft, one to wait half-way down and we play pass the parcel until we’ve got all our stuff down,’ suggested Dan. ‘And when we return with the treasure, we’ll try and tie it up with rope and then winch it up.’
It took longer than they had expected to get back to the caves having to lug the baggage and equipment along the tunnel.
Dan used the chalk that Emma had bought to carefully mark a line along the walls. It wasn’t a complex route but it was better than taking any risk of getting lost. For all they knew there might be a network of underground tunnels.
‘Ok,’ said Dan, looking at his watch once they were all safely inside the cave. It was midday – far later than he had intended. He placed the small ladder up to the shelf in the hidden recess and climbed up, taking an oil lamp with him which would allow him to keep both hands free.
Nothing whatsoever had been touched. The gold and silver looked rather more understated in the dimmer lamplight but everything was still there, just as he had left it – indeed, just as Captain Felipe had left it, all those countless years ago.
‘Everything’s fine,’ he shouted to the others down below.
‘Hey Dan,’ said Louise, ‘I know I’m being a pain, but do you think, now we’ve got the ladder, that the rest of us could possibly come up one by one and have a look before you move it?’
Dan cursed inwardly, drat you Louise! Nonetheless, it was a fair point. The others were bound to want to see the treasure in its original state and indeed, he ought to take two or three photographs of it with his mobile phone to show the archaeological people. In fact it occurred to him that the authorities would probably prefer them not to shift the hoard at all as an historical site. Well too bad, it would be far too risky to leave it down here now. They had to recover it, and he would not sleep another wink until they had.
‘Ok,’ he said, reluctantly. ‘Well look, if you’re careful, we can all squeeze up here, I just don’t want us to take too long over it.’
The other three all went up the ladder, anxious to see the precious belongings of Captain Felipe in their natural state, just as he had left them.
‘Oh look,’ cried Dan. ‘Right in the far corner, some sort of clothing! He aimed his torch to the back of the ledge. ‘A jacket, and boots – was this his spare set perhaps? And what’s that alongside? Oh crikey, an old sailor’s hat, look at it – the old-style two-cornered hats like Nelson would wear! And would you believe it – a cutlass, a real sailor’s cutlass!’
The others were so overcome at the sight of the gold and silver coins and gold ingots that they glanced across before turning their attention back to the huge chest of treasure.
But for Dan, this was an emotional moment and he felt a lump form in his throat. In one sense, finding the captain’s clothing stored here pending his safe return, was the most astonishing thing of all. He felt again, a powerful connection with the past, to this unfortunate sailor who preserved all that was of value from his wrecked ship, hoping to return one day, only he never did. And his secret died with him. And here they were, the four of them, effectively plundering a site that in a sense ought to be considered a shrine to Felipe and his crewmen, all of whom undoubtedly lost their lives either through drowning or possibly, a worse fate ashore.
‘The poor buggers,’ muttered Dan, under his breath.
‘Are you ok Dan?’ asked Emma, realising he was struggling a bit with it all.
‘I’m fine,’ he replied, softly. ‘I just had a moment that’s all. You know, I don’t think we should take everything. Let’s take the treasure, because after so long, we are the legitimate finders of it and it’s too dangerous to leave it down here. But you know, I don’t wish to take his personal effects. Let’s leave his long black jacket, and his boots with those amazing buckles on and this incredible Spanish sea captain’s hat and cutlass.’
‘Of course Dan, we should leave his personal effects as a memorial to him and to the crewmen who perished,’ said Emma, pleased that her new-found love should be so sensitive about such matters. ‘And why don’t we take a coin each, you and me, and make a wish and then place them inside his jacket pocket, as an offering to him.’
Dan rubbed Emma’s arm appreciatively, she understood him, that’s why they were so good together. They both chose a coin, blessed it, and placed it in one of Felipe’s pockets.
‘You have given me an idea, something I would like to do for him,’ said Dan softly. ‘You know, I would like to nip back to the lighthouse and fetch Felipe’s diary that he took so much care over and which clearly meant so much to him. And I’d like to place that inside his jacket so that it is somehow reunited with him. Does that make sense?’
‘Yes it does, it’s a wonderful idea, he would be so touched by it,’ said Emma.
‘I’d like to get it now if that’s ok, I want to do right by him before we help ourselves to that treasure,’ said Dan stepping from the ledge onto the ladder.
The others fell silent at Dan’s words. John and Louise did not fully get Dan and his need for such reverence, although they respected the sentiments behind it. But now they were finally on the case and their hangovers had virtually disappeared, they were keen to get on with things. They were getting stiff on the cramped shelf and followed Dan down the ladder. Emma offered to return with him to the lighthouse but he pointed out that he would be quicker by himself. She and the others went to sit in the cave while they waited for him.
‘Shall we make a start boxing up some of the booty?’ asked Louise.
‘No Louise,’ replied Emma, sharply. ‘Have some sensitivity. Dan wants to get the sailor’s diary first and place it inside his jacket before we begin plundering.’
Emma hoped Dan had not entirely lost his sense of urgency. While she deeply respected his wish to do the right thing, she also felt it would be good to complete their mission speedily and get out of there. Seeing him leave the cave and disappear made her feel a little vulnerable and uneasy.
She, John and Emma all sat around on the cave floor. They avoided the temptation to sit down on the old crates which still looked quite sturdy after years in perfectly dry, stable conditions.
Louise held aloft two gold coins which she hadn’t been able to resist pinching from the chest. Emma frowned at her and reflected on how infinitely better suited she was to Dan. And that had nothing to do with him being male rather than female, but being compatible and like-minded when Louise was so different.
‘Oh you beauties,’ called out Louise, star
ing in admiration and wonder at the coins she held up. ‘You glittering pair of beauties.’
‘Well now, it’s a long time since anyone has called us that, ain’t it, Jake?’ came a harsh, uneducated voice behind them.
CHAPTER 13
‘You betcha Zak my man, but hey, it’s nice to know we can still turn ’eads. It does wonders for your self confidence don’t it?’ said another voice.
John, Louise and Emma swung round in horror.
‘Sorry we took a while getting down ’ere but some fool ’ad gone and blocked up the other end of the tunnel,’ said Jake, grinning a toothless grin that looked ghoulish in the dim lamplight. ‘Anyhow, thanks for waiting for us, we were worried you’d ’ave been up and cleared the place out hours ago. But then, I daresay it took y’all a while to sleep off that skinful you had last night, ain’t that right missy?’ he said, grinning at Louise. ‘Hey, I hope there’s no ’ard feelings about me squeezing that nice ass of yours as you walked past last night, it was just too hot to resist,’ said Jake.
‘He’s always been one for the ladies, ’as our Jake,’ said Zak. ‘And he’s more of a bottom man. Now I go more for boobs, but Jake ’ere, he likes to get his hands around a good firm backside. In fact,’ Zak said, eyeing up both Louise and Emma, ‘did you pair want to have a little fun together down ’ere before we take away the long-lost treasure? It’s kinda romantic under the soft lamp light, wouldn’t you agree?’
The students all stared in silent dismay at the sickening sight of Jake and Zak. Each of them felt angry and stupid to have been so foolish. Louise felt like hurling herself from the top of the lighthouse. Emma sat trembling.
‘Talking of the treasure,’ said Zak, looking around, ‘where is it exactly?’ He strolled around the cave, shining his torch in all directions. Then he noticed the lamp placed in the recess and walked over. ‘Aaah,’ he said. ‘Jake, come ’ere a minute. Ain’t it strange the way the cave extends back like this – it’s almost like a fake wall ain’t it? And then if you look up there, above that ladder our friends have put up, there’s a natural shelf in the rock.
