They opened the shutters of the lanterns and moved cautiously about the hillside. Darwin knew that the Thaxtons would be watching from Heartsease, and puzzling over what they had seen. He interrupted his search long enough to send a signaclass="underline" four lantern flashes—all goes well.
“Here’s the answer.” Jacob Pole had halted fifty feet away, in the very fringe of the Helm. “I ought to have guessed it, after the talk that Thaxton and I had earlier. He told me yesterday that there are old workings all over this area. Lead, this one, or maybe tin.”
The mine shaft was set almost horizontally into the hillside, a rough-walled tunnel just tall enough for a crouching man. Darwin stooped to look at the rock fragments inside the entrance.
“It’s lead,” he said, holding the lantern low. “See, this is galena, and this is blue fluorspar—the same Blue John that we find back in Derbyshire. And here is a lump of what I take to be barytes—heavy spar. Feel the weight of it. There have been lead mines up here on the fells for two thousand years, since before the Romans came to Britain, but I thought they were all in disuse now. Most of them are miles north and east of this.”
“I doubt that this one is being used for lead mining,” replied Jacob Pole. “And I doubt if the creatures that we saw are lead miners. Maybe it’s my malaria, playing up again because it’s so cold here.” He shivered all over. “But I’ve got a feeling of evil when I look in that shaft. You know the old saying: iron bars are forged on Earth, gold bars are forged in Hell. That’s the way to the treasure, in there. I know it.”
“Jacob, you’re too romantic. You see four poachers killing a sheep, and you have visions of a treasure trove. What makes you think that the Treasure of Odirex is gold?”
“It’s the natural assumption. What else would it be?”
“I could speculate. But I will wager it is not gold. That wouldn’t have served to get rid of the Romans, or any invader. Remember the Danegeld—that didn’t work, did it?”
As he spoke, he was craning forward into the tunnel, the lantern held out ahead of him.
“No sign of them in here.” He sniffed. “But this is the way they went. Smell the resin? That’s from their torches. Well, I suppose that is all for tonight. Come on, we’d best begin the descent back to the house. It is a pity we cannot go farther now.”
“Descent to the house? Of course we can follow them, Erasmus. That’s what we came for, isn’t it?”
“Surely. But on the surface of the fell, not through pit tunnels. We lack ropes and markers. But now that we know exactly where to begin, our task is easy. We can return here tomorrow with men and equipment, by daylight—perhaps we can even bring a tracking hound. All we need to do now is to leave a marker here, that can be seen easily when we come here again.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Pole shrugged, and turned disconsolately for another look at the tunnel entrance. “Damn it, Erasmus, I’d like to go in there, evil or no evil. I hate to get this far and then turn tail.”
“If the Treasure of Odirex is in there, it has waited for you for fifteen hundred years. It can wait another day. Let us begin the descent.”
They retraced their steps, Jacob very reluctantly, to the downward path. In a few dozen paces they were clear of the fringes of the Helm. And there they stopped. While they had examined the entrance to the mine, the cloud cover had increased rapidly. Instead of seeing a moon shining strongly through light, broken clumps, they were limited to occasional fleeting glimpses through an almost continuous mass of clouds.
Jacob Pole shrugged, and looked slyly at Darwin. “This is bad, Erasmus. We can’t go down in this light. It would be suicide. How long is it until dawn?”
“Nearly four hours, at a guess. It’s bad luck, but we are only a week from winter solstice. There’s nothing else for it, we must settle down here and make the best of it, until dawn comes and we have enough light to make a safe descent.”
“Aye, you’re right.” Jacob Pole turned and looked thoughtfully back up the hill. “Since we’re stuck here for hours, Erasmus, wouldn’t it make sense to use the time, and take a quick look inside the entrance of the mine? After all, we do have the lanterns—and it may well be warmer inside.”
“—or drier, or any other of fifty reasons you could find for me, eh?” Darwin held his lantern up to Pole’s face, studying the eyes and the set of the mouth. He sighed. “I don’t know if you’re shivering with excitement or malaria, but you need warmth and rest. I wonder now about the wisdom of this excursion. All right. Let us go back up to the mine, on two conditions: we descend again to Heartsease at first light, and we take no risks of becoming lost in the mine.”
“I’ve been in a hundred mines, all over the world, and I have yet to get lost in one. Let me go first. I know how to spot weak places in the supports.”
“Aye. And if there’s treasure to be found—which I doubt—I’d not be the one to deprive you of the first look.”
Jacob Pole smiled. He placed one lantern on the ground, unshuttered. “Let this stay here, so Richard and Anna can see it. Remember, we promised to signal them every three hours that all is well. Now, let’s go to it—fiends or no fiends.” He turned to begin the climb back to the abandoned mine. As he did so, Darwin caught the expression on his face. He was nervous and pale, but in his eyes was the look of a small child approaching the door of a toy shop.
On a second inspection, made this time with the knowledge that they would be entering and exploring it, the mine tunnel looked much narrower and the walls less secure. Jacob, lantern partially shuttered to send a narrow beam forward, led the way. They went cautiously into the interior of the shaft. After a slight initial upward slant, the tunnel began to curve down, into the heart of the hill. The walls and roof were damp to the touch, and every few yards small rivulets of water ran steadily down the walls, glistening like a layer of ice in the light of the lantern.
Thirty paces on, they came to a branch in the tunnel. Jacob Pole bent low and studied the uneven floor.
“Left, I think,” he whispered. “What will we do if we meet the things that live here?”
“You should have asked that question before we set out,” replied Darwin softly. “As for me, that is exactly what I am here for. I am less interested in any treasure.”
Jacob Pole stopped, and turned in the narrow tunnel. “Erasmus, you never cease to amaze me. I know what drives me on, what makes me willing to come into a place like this at the devil’s dancing-hour. And I know that I’m in a cold sweat of fear and anticipation. But why aren’t you terrified? Don’t you think a meeting with the fiends would carry great danger for us?”
“Less danger than you fear. I assume that these creatures, like ourselves, are of natural origin. If I am wrong on that, my whole view of the world is wrong. Now, these fiends hide on the fell, and they come out only at night. There are no tales that say they kill people, or capture them. So I believe that they fear us—far more than we fear them.”
“Speak for yourself,” muttered Pole.
“Remember,” Darwin swept on, “when there is a struggle for living space, the stronger and fiercer animals drive out the weaker and more gentle—who then must perforce inhabit a less desirable habitat if they are to survive. For example, look at the history of the tribes that conquered Britain. In each case—”
“Sweet Christ!” Jacob Pole looked round him nervously. “Not a lecture, Erasmus. This isn’t the time or the place for it. And not so loud! I’ll take the history lesson some other time.”