The air in the tunnel was cool, yet it was warmer than the air outside.
“We may as well follow it,” Sam suggested and they started to walk in the only direction that was left available to them.
The narrow tunnel led to a larger one, followed by a smaller one containing stagnant water. The number of glowworms scattered about on the limestone walls increased as they moved along, and formed the basis of a glow so strong that they were both able to turn off their headlamps.
They clambered over a large rock, perhaps twelve feet high, and lying on its side. Once they reached its other side, Sam saw an image that was as surreal as it was beautiful, and which appeared to be completely out of place.
Stagnant water filled the tunnel and a little wooden boat could be seen floating there; its leather painter still tied off on a rock, looking as though it was waiting for its owner, who’d only left it there a few hours ago. It might have been floating there for a hundred years or more. The glowworms provided just enough light to enable them to see that the subterranean lake stretched ahead for quite a distance.
“It looks pretty old,” Sam said, as he tested the buoyancy of the wooden boat by pushing down on it, and was pleased to note that the old boat seemed to maintain his weight easily enough.
“I wonder how long it has been here?” Aliana said, as her beautiful blue eyes admired the enigmatic place, and then she added, “The limestone in this mountain has made it easy for many tunnels to form naturally. Armies, farmers and travelers alike have used such tunnels to cross the mountains fast, and in secret, as far back as the early 16th century, and perhaps, even earlier.”
“This section of the tunnel must have collapsed many years ago near where we entered it, and this poor boat has remained stranded here, where this cold, dark environment, does not permit even time to pass.”
“But where did it go?” Aliana asked.
“If someone took the trouble to leave a boat this high up and inside of this mountain, I can only guess that it goes somewhere, or at least, once did. I’d say, our chances of survival have just risen — at least a little.”
Sam sat down in the middle of the boat and then gave Aliana a look which said, “Do you dare?”
She climbed aboard and sat down in front of him, and he started to push the boat forward along the underground creek. The waterway continued on much further than he had expected. There were a number of wider sections, followed by a couple of very narrow sections, barely wide enough to allow the boat to pass through.
A pair of ramshackle oars were lying inside the boat. A chain ran along the tunnel wall, and they were able to use it with relative ease to maneuver the small craft along the tunnel, leaving the oars untouched.
After what seemed a considerable period of time, Sam checked his watch and was surprised to discover that they had been aboard the little boat for more than an hour.
The air had changed.
It had warmed significantly, and the draft he felt had increased.
“This is really something, isn’t it?” Sam said.
“It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Aliana replied, the large dilated pupils of her blue eyes displaying a reflection of the tiny glowworms as though they were tiny stars.
It made Sam feel as if he were on the most magical date of his life, rather than fighting for a way to escape with his life intact, and from a woman whose loyalties were at best, uncertain.
In the back of his mind, he struggled with one thought, How is she involved in all of this?
As they continued to float their way through the tunnel, the ambient light seemed to intensify until the tunnel opened up into a gigantic underground cavern containing a lake. More than a million glowworms covered the walls and ceiling, illuminating the entire cavern, as though it were daylight inside.
In the middle of the stilled water of the underground lake, he saw an enormous, silver, structure.
Sam found himself holding his breath involuntarily, as though the mere sound of breathing, were enough to make the image disappear. In the middle of the shallow lake, rested the serene remains of the Magdalena, in all her glory.
As though she had floated inside the cavern, and then, the water had receded, leaving her stuck in the middle of the shallow underground lake. The passenger compartment of her gondola could still be seen, resting completely above the water.
“My God,” Aliana said, staring wide-eyed at him in disbelief, “It’s the Magdalena!”
Chapter Twenty
Aliana’s words broke Sam’s trance in an instant.
Turning to face her, his hands still holding hers, he said, “You know about the Magdalena?”
“Yes, of course, it was a story my father used to tell me as a child. He’s spent a lot of time and millions of dollars searching for her over the years.”
Sam desperately wanted to question her about how her father was involved, and more importantly, if she had been entangled in the attempt on his life. But his first priority was to find a way out of their current mess. He would have to focus on that first, and then return to the problem of her involvement.
“Well, if she somehow found her way in here, we should be able to find our way out.”
“Yes, but out where? I don’t see any other tunnels or crevasses,” Aliana pointed out. “Besides, she’s remained lost to the world for over 75 years! It’s easy to imagine that the passage she took to enter here, may be long gone.”
Sam had already considered that possibility, “The water level must have changed in the past 75 years. It’s the only explanation as to how she made it here in the first place.” Sam said, his gaze returning to the Magdalena once more. “Look at her, she’s aged a bit, but otherwise she’s completely intact. She must have crashed into the icy lake, and then somehow floated into here in the summer, when the ice had thawed. Since then, something must have changed to increase the water level, and block the passage that otherwise might have allowed her to float out of the cavern again.”
“After all this time, she’s been so close to all of us?”
“Yes, but it’s really not all that surprising that she wasn’t discovered. At this altitude, only a few people would go to all the trouble of diving, and even fewer would do so, knowing that they’d have to carry all their equipment up 10,000 feet of rock.”
“If that’s so, and the water level has increased since she crashed, why then is she resting high and dry on almost solid mud in here?” Aliana pointed to the sand-like silt upon which the Magdalena rested.
“That’s a good question,” Sam said, as he looked around the enormous cavern for an answer.
This is what I call real treasure hunting.
And then saw it.
A little subterranean creek, slowly feeding into the subterranean lake.
“That’s why,” he said, pointing to it. “See how the creek is moving the limestone sediment into the lake here? It’s building up and, over time, is slowly making the lake shallower.”
“Hey, I think you’re right, Sam.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Sam checked his watch. “It’s already nearly one a.m. How about we check out what’s inside the gondola in the morning? As far as I'm concerned, we need to get some rest and call it a night. We can make a fresh start on finding our escape route tomorrow morning.”
Aliana slept poorly, as did Sam.
“Are you awake?” she whispered.
“Yes, can’t you sleep, either?”
“No, I just can’t stop thinking about what we’re going to find when we search her.”