The steps went down a long way. Then they came to an end. Julian stepped down from the last rock-stair and flashed his torch around. It was a weird sight that met his eyes.
The dungeons of Kirrin Castle were made out of the rock itself. Whether there were natural caves there, or whether they had been hollowed out by man the children could not tell. But certainly they were very mysterious, dark and full of echoing sounds. When Julian gave a sigh of excitement it fled into the rocky hollows and swelled out and echoed around as if it were a live thing. It gave all the children a very queer feeling.
"Isn't it strange?" said George, in a low voice. At once the echoes took up her words, and multiplied them and made them louder- and all the dungeon caves gave back the girl's words over and over again. "Isn't it strange, ISN'T IT STRANGE, ISN'T IT STRANGE."
Anne slipped her hand into Dick's. She felt scared. She didn't like the echoes at all. She knew they were only echoes- but they did sound exactly like the voices of scores of people hidden in the caves!
"Where do you suppose the ingots are?" said Dick. And at once the caves threw him back his words. "INGOTS! Ingots are! INGOTS ARE! ARE! ARE!"
Julian laughed- and his laugh was split up into dozens of different laughs that came out of the dungeons and spun round the listening children. It really was the queerest thing.
"Come on," said Julian. "Maybe the echoes won't be so bad a little farther in."
"FARTHER IN," said the echoes at once. "FARTHER IN!"
They moved away from the end of the rocky steps and explored the nearby dungeons. They were really only rocky cellars stretching under the castle. Maybe wretched prisoners had been kept there many, many years before, but mostly they had been used for storing things.
"I wonder which dungeon was used for storing the ingots," said Julian. He stopped and took the map out of his pocket. He flashed his torch on to it. But although it showed him quite plainly the dungeon where INGOTS were marked, he had no idea at all of the right direction.
"I say- look- there's a door here, shutting off the next dungeon!" suddenly cried Dick. "I bet this is the dungeon we're looking for! I bet there are ingots in here!"
Chapter Thirteen. DOWN IN THE DUNGEONS
FOUR torches were flashed on to the wooden door. It was big and stout, studded with great iron nails. Julian gave a whoop of delight and rushed to it. He felt certain that behind it was the dungeon used for storing things.
But the door was fast shut. No amount of pushing or pulling would open it. It had a great key-hole- but no key there! The four children stared in exasperation at the door. Bother it! Just as they really thought they were near the ingots, this door wouldn't open!
"We'll fetch the axe," said Julian, suddenly. "We may be able to chop round the keyhole and smash the lock."
"That's a good idea!" said George, delighted. "Come on back!"
They left the big door, and tried to get back the way they had come. But the dungeons were so big and so rambling that they lost their way. They stumbled over old broken barrels, rotting wood, empty bottles and many other things as they tried to find their way back to the big flight of rock-steps.
"This is sickening!" said Julian, at last. "I simply haven't any idea at all where the entrance is. We keep on going into one dungeon after another, and one passage after another, and they all seem to be exactly the same-dark and smelly and mysterious."
"Suppose we have to stay here all the rest of our lives!" said Anne, gloomily.
"Idiot!" said Dick, taking her hand. "We shall soon find the way out. Hallo!- what's this-"
They all stopped. They had come to what looked like a chimney shaft of brick, stretching down from the roof of the dungeon to the floor. Julian flashed his torch on to it. He was puzzled.
"I know what it is!" said George, suddenly. "It's the well, of course! You remember it was shown in the plan of the dungeons, as well as in the plan of the ground floor. Well, that's the shaft of the well going down and down. I wonder if there's any opening in it just here-so that water could be taken into the dungeons as well as up to the ground floor."
They went to see. On the other side of the well-shaft was a small opening big enough for one child at a time to put his head and shoulders through and look down. They shone their torches down and up. The well was so deep that it was still impossible to see the bottom of it. Julian dropped a stone down again, but there was no sound of either a thud or a splash. He looked upwards, and could see the faint gleam of daylight that slid round the broken slab of stone lying a little way down the shaft- the slab on which Tim had sat, waiting to be rescued.
"Yes," he said,"this is the well all right. Isn't it queer? Well- now we've found the well we know that the entrance to the dungeons isn't very far off!"
That cheered them all up tremendously. They took hands and hunted around in the dark, their torches making bright beams of light here and there.
Anne gave a screech of excitement. "Here's the entrance! It must be, because I can see faint daylight coming down!"
The children rounded a corner and sure enough, there was the steep, rocky flight of steps leading upwards. Julian took a quick look round so that he might know the way to go when they came down again. He didn't feel at all certain that he would find the wooden door!
They all went up into the sunshine. It was delicious to feel the warmth on their heads and shoulders after the cold air down in the dungeons. Julian looked at his watch and gave a loud exclamation.
"It's half-past six! Half-past six! No wonder I feel hungry. We haven't had any tea. We've been working, and wandering about those dungeons for hours."
"Well, let's have a kind of tea-supper before we do anything else," said Dick. I don't feel as if I've had anything to eat for about twelve months."
"Well, considering you ate about twice as much as anyone else at dinner-time," began Julian, indignantly. Then he grinned. "I feel the same as you," he said. "Come on!-let's get a really good meal. George, what about boiling a kettle and making some cocoa, or something? I feel cold after all that time underground."
It was fun boiling the kettle on a fire of dry sticks. It was lovely to lie about in the warmth of the evening sun and munch bread and cheese and enjoy cake and biscuits. They all enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Tim had a good meal too. He hadn't very much liked being underground, and had followed the others very closely indeed, his tail well down. He had been very frightened, too, of the curious echoes here and there.
Once he had barked, and it had seemed to Tim as if the whole of the dungeons were full of other dogs, all barking far more loudly than he could. He hadn't even dared to whine after that! But now he was happy again, eating the tit-bits that the children gave him, and licking George whenever he was near her.
It was past eight o'clock by the time that the children had finished their meal and tidied up. Julian looked at the others. The sun was sinking, and the day was no longer so warm.
"Well," he said, "I don't know what you feel. But I don't somehow want to go down into those dungeons again today, not even for the sake of smashing in that door with the axe and opening it! I'm tired, and I don't like the thought of losing my way in those dungeons at night."
The others heartily agreed with him, especially Anne, who had secretly been dreading going down again with the night coming on. The little girl was almost asleep; she was so tired out with hard work and excitement.
"Come on, Anne!" said George, pulling her to her feet. "Bed for you. We'll cuddle up together in the rugs on the floor of that little room- and in the morning when we wake we'll be simply thrilled to think of opening that big wooden door."
All four children, with Tim close behind, went off to the little stone room. They curled up on their piles of rugs, and Tim crept in with George and Anne. He lay down on them, and felt so heavy that Anne had to push him off her legs.