The Legend of the Black Monk

by Nigel Cubbage

  A few minutes later they crested a rise in the rocky path and found Rebecca and Rupert sitting on the edge of the path.

  ‘Strangers by night!’ said Rupert, his spirits now restored.

  ‘Have you just come from the manor?’ asked Rebecca, quickly. ‘Who were the two guys?’

  ‘What two guys?’ said Drew, puzzled.

  ‘The two guys who just came back on Rupe’s boat. They went off along the beach towards the manor.’

  ‘So the boat is back? We must have just missed them,’ said Laura. ‘Who were they?’

  ‘Don’t know – that’s why we asked you!’ said Rupert.

  ‘Yes, the boat came back but we’re too far away to see who had pinched it.

  Then Becks got a message from Von K to meet him at the chapel at dawn, or rather, meet ‘them’.’

  ‘So was it him, do you think?’ asked Drew.

  ‘I’d say he’d been out to pick up our friend from the wreck,’ said Rebecca.

  ‘Come to think of it,’ said Rupert, ‘VK did go a strange colour when he saw those numbers. He knew they were map co-ordinates right away. Sky thinks he picked the lock to escape but he must have come out through the tunnel and just made it look like that.’

  Rebecca looked at her watch. ‘So, kids, we have a few hours to kill till dawn. No point in going back to the farm. Don’t know about any of you but I’m too wired to sleep. Any ideas?’

  ‘Obvious,’ said Rupert, getting to his feet. ‘Come on.’

  ‘Where?’ said Laura, getting up.

  ‘Beach party.’

  * * *

  The four friends sat in the dunes above the little cove, Drew poking absently with a stick at a fire crackling away in front of them.

  ‘Are you sure this fire isn’t a bit of a giveaway of where we are to Daedalus and his cronies?’ Rupert darted nervous glances up at the cliffs and along the beach in both directions.

  ‘Relax, Rupe,’ said Drew, putting a friendly arm round his shoulders. ‘The monks’ll all be off chanting somewhere. Now, tell us about this thing in the water again.’

  ‘Yes, what a surprise! First I saw just a light and then there’s this great disturbance in the water. The light turned out to be a boat which went alongside and, well it was too far away and too dark to see much, but it looked like somebody got onto the boat from this bigger vessel. Boat went back towards the coast and I lost sight of it.’

  ‘Going towards Druid’s Rock?’

  ‘Don’t know. Could have been.’

  ‘Was it the same boat you saw in the cavern under Druid’s Rock?’

  ‘The Mary Jane? Don’t know.’

  ‘Hold on,’ said Drew.

  ‘Did you say Mary Jane? Mary Jane – McOwan, that was the name of the boat those two guys in St Morwenna the other day were sailing. Captain Billy Brough and his mate.’

  ‘I know. I remembered what you said about how they tried to warn you off going anywhere near the monastery. What are they doing, mixed up with a bunch of Nazi monks?’

  ‘Do you think they are part of whatever is going on as well?’ asked Laura.

  ‘I’d put nothing past anybody at the moment,’ murmured Drew.

  ‘Becks saw something a tad odd, too,’ said Rupert, looking expectantly at Rebecca.

  ‘Didn’t you?’

  Rebecca dug away at some sand with a stone, grimacing.

  ‘Our friend the Black Monk,’ she said, reluctantly. She looked up. The others were agog, waiting for her to go on. ‘Look, I … Baverstock gave me these papers. Did you know tomorrow, well, today now, is the anniversary of the hanging of Nathan Trevellyan?’

  There was a stir.

  ‘Well, it is. I think this is why people think they have seen him … why I have seen him and been spoken to by him. We are all obviously disturbing something from the past, something precious to him. Whatever Daedalus is up to, it’s all linked somehow. You remember that bit in the parish records that said he was buried alive? If you believe in ghosts and the supernatural, some people would say that means his soul is in eternal unrest.

  Well, tonight I saw him on the cliff path, running straight towards me. I tried to hide away and he vanished but a split second before, I think I felt his hand on my face.’

  Laura shuddered.

  ‘But the strangest thing is it wasn’t frightening. It was the sort of gentle touch on your face your Mum might have done.’

  ‘I’m hungry,’ announced Drew after a pause. ‘If we’ve got to see VK and this mystery man, I want something to eat first.’

  ‘You could demonstrate your fabulous ranger skills and catch us something,’ said Rebecca sweetly. Laura’s eyes opened wide. Drew hovered indecisively.

  ‘Are you a hunter too, Drew?’

  ‘Don’t, Gilmour. The only thing he’ll catch is a cold. Come on, we can raid the farm kitchen on the way. Gaston will be up by now to milk the cows.’

  As they walked off over the dunes, Rebecca thought she saw a figure high up on the cliffs. But whatever it was, it melted into the darkness.

  ‘Pull yourself together, girl,’ she muttered under her breath, angry at herself. ‘You’re seeing ghosts everywhere.’

  Chapter 30

  From Beyond the Grave

  The first shafts of bright daylight were streaming in through the stained glass window of the Smugglers’ Chapel. Finding the door unlocked, the four had gone inside and sat down in the pews, awaiting the arrival of Von Krankl. Drew was still munching away on bread and bacon they had cooked up at Five Muskets farm. Gaston had been astonished to see all four apparently up so early but was much preoccupied with milking the herd and had not hung around.

  ‘To think this has been staring me in the face every Sunday for the last sixty years and I never noticed.’ Everyone turned to see a hooded figure standing next to Von Krankl in the doorway of the chapel, looking up at the great window and shaking his head. ‘I am too hot.’

  The man pulled off the hood and monk’s habit and stood before them now clad in more normal clothes.

  Rebecca instantly recognised the old man from the wreck.

  ‘Rupe?’ A note of concern in Laura’s voice prompted everyone to look at Rupert, whose face had turned deathly pale. His bacon sandwich dropped from his hand to the floor.

  For a few seconds he simply stood, staring at the man in utter disbelief, before he ran over and threw his arms round him, clinging on as if his life depended upon it.

  ‘Grandpa!’ he cried. The sudden intense emotion in his voice and the tears of joy which now streamed down both his and the old man’s faces brought forth an involuntary cry from Rebecca. Laura clung onto her friend’s arm, tears welling in her eyes. It was left to Drew to speak. He looked in amazement at Von Krankl.

  ‘This is the Admiral ? Isn’t he supposed to be dead?’

  Von Krankl wiped a tear from his own eye, smiling as he watched Rupert and his Grandfather embracing. ‘He had to go into hiding or heaven knows what those devils would have done to him. And the only way to do it was to go along with the faking of his death.’

  The Admiral was holding his grandson by the shoulders. ‘Can you ever forgive me, Rupert, lad? There was no other way, believe me. If anybody had known I was still alive, both they and I would have been in great danger. The Nazis could not tell anyone I had escaped, because they had already told everyone I was dead. Their “doctor”, so-called, had sent a death certificate to my solicitor. And in truth I would have been dead, but for my good friend here …’ He turned to look gratefully at Von Krankl. ‘With Werner’s help I escaped and hid out on the wreck.’

  Rupert turned quickly to Rebecca and Drew. ‘But you guys went to the wreck!’ He closed his eyes, realisation dawning. ‘Of course! You wouldn’t have recognised him.’

  ‘And you, young lady, I think, have suspected something for a while, haven’t you?’ The Admiral raised his eyebrows at Rebecca.

  Rebecca looked at Rupert apologetically. ‘I couldn’t say anything, Rupe. Wh
at if I had been wrong? But I was doubtful from the moment you told us about what had happened the night the Admiral was taken away. You got that message … I did wonder who could have sent it other than your Grandpa. Then you told us nobody saw his body; there was the dodgy doctor who you later saw at the monastery; you weren’t allowed to hold the funeral for two weeks … Something didn’t ring true. And the message was so carefully put together. I had a suspicion he might put in an appearance at some stage.’

  ‘I needed you all to be my eyes and ears and to solve the mystery,’ said the Admiral. ‘I am so grateful.’

  ‘God, though Gramps, what about Mum? She’s going to have a heart attack when she finds you are back from the dead!’

  ‘My turn to apologise,’ said Von Krankl, gravely. ‘The reason for your mother’s sudden departure was because I went and told her what had really happened. But we could not let on to another soul and she said there would be no way she could keep it from you or anybody else, so she went off for a few days with Guinevere.’

  ‘I hate to break this up,’ said Rebecca gently, ‘but we are going to have to move fast now. There is no time to lose.’ She briefly explained everything that had happened in the last few hours. Admiral Dewhurst- Hobb went over to the stained glass window and stood gazing at it. He shook his head again. ‘The map reference is the exact location where the U-boat went down, near the Horns of Lucifer. I think Kraus is telling us where to find the gold.’

  The door of the chapel slammed shut, startling everybody. They heard the sounds of footsteps running off down the gravel path outside.

  Drew leapt over a pew and dashed out of the door in pursuit.

  ‘Catch them!’ cried the Admiral. ‘Whoever it is knows everything now!’

  Chapter 31

  Wrong Guy

  Leaping over the ivy-covered wall of the graveyard, Drew caught a split-second glimpse of somebody running off through the woods towards the cliff path. ‘Got you!’ He scowled, sprinting after them. Rebecca, Rupert and Laura rushed outside in time to see Drew disappear over the wall.

  ‘Get after them!’ shouted Rebecca. ‘We need to talk to him before the mad Scotsman gets his hands on him!’

  Drew was gaining fast on the fleeing figure. He was now within a few yards of him, running flat out down the smugglers’ path to the cove. As they came to a narrowing of the path, the hooded man ahead suddenly stumbled. This was all the opportunity Drew needed and he launched himself in a full-blooded rugby tackle, bringing the man crashing to the ground. Sensing the fall had winded his adversary, he seized the chance to turn him over and pull back his hood.

  ‘You!’ he shouted, shaking him roughly.

  ‘Campbell!’ shouted Rebecca, arriving as fast as she could and almost falling over them.

  ‘Leave him be!’

  Drew sat back. He wiped a trickle of sweat from his brow but did not take his eyes off his adversary. ‘The office boy! What was it? Guy! Why the costume, Guy?’

  ‘Please! I never meant any harm! Mr Baverstock made me! He told me to follow you.’ Although older, Guy was a slight figure and shorter than the sturdy Drew. And he was obviously quite intimidated by him.

  ‘Grendel?’ said Laura in surprise, arriving with Rupert behind Rebecca.

  ‘No, Rockford, the solicitor,’ said Rebecca. ‘Grendel’s not so squeaky clean brother, about whom he was somewhat less than complimentary.’

  ‘He said I should dress like the Black Monk so nobody recognised me. I think he found the idea funny.’

  ‘Hilarious,’ said Drew, coldly.

  ‘Was it you on the cliff path last night?’ asked Laura.

  Guy looked puzzled and shook his head ‘No … no.’

  ‘So who were you off to see in such a hurry then?’ said Rebecca caustically. ‘Daedalus?’

  ‘Who?’ said Guy.

  ‘You catch on even slower than you run, Guy!’ Drew glared at him.

  ‘Really, I don’t know who you mean! Mr Baverstock said to follow you then meet him at Druid’s Rock once I’d found out what you were up to.’

  ‘Did he now?’ The Admiral regarded him suspiciously. ‘Druid’s Rock indeed? My solicitor is consorting with my enemies. How interesting.’

  ‘He wants Morbed Manor for himself,’ Guy blurted out. ‘I overheard a meeting in his office late one night. That fellow Sky said he could make it happen if he helped.’

  ‘Oh, I’ll bet he did,’ growled Rupert.

  ‘Right, office boy,’ said Drew, grabbing his arm. ‘You can rest up in Gaston’s cowshed for a few hours and then we might let you get yourself back to Tregenna. But if we see you anywhere near Druid’s Rock …’

  Drew shoved him roughly and Rupert grabbed his arm and led him off down the path. ‘See you back at the boathouse in ten,’ he shouted over his shoulder. The rest of the group followed the path down towards the boathouse, Rebecca falling in to step beside Drew.

  ‘Been to Guantanamo Bay since I saw you last?’ she said, acidly. ‘You were going to hit him.’

  ‘No I wasn’t!’ Drew protested unconvincingly. He paused and looked out across the bay. ‘Not hard, anyway.’

  * * *

  From a vantage point high up on the cliff path, Daedalus observed the group go into the boathouse. The two Dobermans strained at their leashes. He smiled a thin smile. ‘So the Admiral returns from the dead,’ he said to a monk next to him. ‘Let’s be sure to welcome him back properly.’

  * * *

  Drew steered them out of the boathouse and set a course for the Horns of Lucifer through a gentle swell. Behind them, the cliffs and rolling hills of the Cornish coast basked in the unexpectedly warm autumn sunshine. Rebecca dangled a hand over the side into the cold water and touched her fingers to her lips, enjoying the salty taste.

  ‘So I suppose I owe you all an explanation, having got you here on false pretences and led you so badly and unforgivably astray,’ said Admiral Bertram Dewhurst-Hobb, sitting down in the back of the boat.

  ‘Indeed you do, Gramps!’ smiled Rupert, sitting down alongside him.

  ‘Okay. When the Second World War ended in 1945, in all the confusion and celebration General Karsten Himmel escaped from the POW camp here and took secret refuge in the Monastery of St Morwenna. He bought the monks off and established a link for the Nazi Komrades organisation that has endured for over sixty years. He managed to escape abroad, presumably through the Komrades network. Having been repatriated to Germany at the end of the war, in 1948, Kapitan Kraus came back here to help me search for the gold. I had released the uranium to the British authorities after the incident at the Horns of Lucifer in ’45, which they believed was the complete cargo. I told them nothing of the gold. I should probably have done so.’ He paused to look at Von Krankl, whose face registered surprise. ‘Yes, Werner, I knew about it too. But … I didn’t tell and what is done cannot be undone.’

  The Admiral sighed. ‘Pretty soon after Kraus arrived, Himmel also reappeared, presumably tipped off by the Monks that Kraus was back and suspecting that we were going to recover the loot. Unaware he was back, Kraus and I went out to the Horns but you have seen how treacherous the sea is there. Our boat got holed, and we had to call for rescue. We arranged to meet up and go back the following night.

  ‘Well Kraus never showed up. I never knew why but guessed the Monks and Himmel must have captured the poor blighter. Himmel must have demanded Kraus take him out to the Horns to retrieve the gold for himself that night. They came back, went to the chapel. There was a fight and I’m guessing Kraus killed Himmel. He must have hidden the body and moved it into the little crypt.

  ‘Afterwards, he was kept prisoner by the monks and worked on the window, as we know but what became of the gold? It was always our intention to hide it away and get rid of it. Now we have read this clue in the window, I think he went back to the U-boat again and was waiting for an opportunity to talk to me … But that never happened. In 1955, we know he was alive and being held prisoner in the crypt. I think t
hat he bricked it up with Himmel’s body inside, escaped and something happened which meant he could not find me again.’

  The old man paused. ‘That’s as far as I can go … we don’t know the end yet … But I want to know what happened to my friend.’

  Rebecca had been watching Von Krankl as the Admiral spoke and now noticed tears in the old man’s eyes. She put her hand on his arm. He smiled weakly at her.

  ‘You are kind – and a remarkable young woman, Rebecca. You remind me much of my little sister, Inga.’

  ‘Not so little now, I expect?’

  ‘Sadly forever little … She died in the war.’

  ‘Oh I’m sorry!’ Rebecca winced but Von Krankl smiled kindly.

  ‘It was a long time ago … but sometimes it is only yesterday. She was so spirited, vivacious, beautiful … my best friend. Such memories never fade. We used to spend our summers at the seaside, chasing through the dunes, just like here. She had long black hair that used to flow behind her, curly like your own. She could run like the wind, that girl.’

  ‘How did she die?’

  ‘A bomb hit her school in the air raids before she could get into the shelter.’

  ‘One of our bombs?’ asked Drew.

  ‘Yes.’

  Drew shook his head slowly.

  ‘I don’t know if I could forgive anyone if they killed my brother or sister.’

  ‘War killed her.’ Von Krankl spoke softly, his eyes far away.

  ‘And politicians make war, not ordinary people,’ said Rupert.

  Drew grimaced. ‘I don’t think politicians are people. They live in a parallel self-important universe.’

  ‘Don’t get him started,’ said Rebecca, with an air of resignation.

  The Admiral smiled. ‘There is a career ahead of you there, young Drew. But you must remind yourself of one thing. Who elects the politicians? The ultimate responsibility is ours.’