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1	Chapter 21 THE STRANGE CAVES JACK went down the hole first. He lowered himself right in, and only had to drop about a foot to the ground below. "Lucy-Ann, you come next," he said, and helped her down. Then came the others, excited and eager. Had they really found the treasure cave? "It simply must be the hiding-place for the treasure!" said Jack. "There isn't another hole or cave anywhere. Now, let me flash my torch round a bit." At the back of the hole, as Dinah had thought, there was a passage — quite a wide one, and fairly high. A very tall man could have walked down it with ease. "Come on!" said Jack, his voice shaking with excitement. "We're getting warm!" They followed him down the passage, Kiki sitting on his shoulder. Lucy-Ann held on to his sleeve, half fearful of what they might find. The passage was wide and high all the way along, but wound about a little. It went downwards, and kept more or less in the same direction, for all its windings — that is, towards the heart of the mountain. Suddenly the passage came to an abrupt end. Jack paused, and gasped. In front of him was a most extraordinary sight. His torch shone brightly on to an unending mass of brilliant white columns, hanging from the high roof of a cave. Whatever could they be? Lucy-Ann clutched his arm and gasped too. She stared at the shining white things. She saw that other white columns were growing up from the floor of the cave too. Some had met the hanging ones, and had joined, so that it seemed as if the cave roof was being supported by pillars. "Jack! What is it? Is it the treasure?" whispered Lucy-Ann. "It's icicles, isn't it?" said Dinah in an awed tone. "I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life! Look at them hanging down — so still and white and lovely!" "No — they're not icicles," said Jack. "They are stalactites — at least, the hanging ones are. They're not made of ice, either — but of limestone, I think. My word — what a sight!" The children stood quite still and gazed their fill at the silent, beautiful cave. Its roof was as high as a cathedral, and the graceful stalactites hung down from it in dozens, gleaming in the light of Jack's torch. "The ones growing up from the floor are stalagmites, I think," said Jack. "Aren't they, Philip? Do you know anything about them? I've never in my life seen anything like this before!" "Yes — they're stalagmites," said Philip. "I remember seeing pictures of them. Stalactites and stalagmites. Gosh, what a sight!" Kiki tried to say the two words and couldn't. Even she seemed to be awed by the amazing and unexpected discovery. "Oh, look!" said Lucy-Ann suddenly, and pointed to what looked like an old old shawl, carved in ivory. "Look — this has grown here too — it's just like a shawl — even to the pattern in it! And look at that sort of gate over there — all carved too! Surely somebody made them — surely they didn't just grow!" "Well — they formed," said Jack, trying to explain. "You know — just as the crystals in a snowflake form. They don't grow because they're not alive — they form." Lucy-Ann couldn't quite understand. Secretly she thought that all the marvellous hanging pillars had grown, and then got frozen in their beauty. "I thought this must be the treasure!" she said, half laughing. "I'm not surprised," said Jack. "It's too beautiful for words. Fancy finding a cave like this! It's like an enormous underground cathedral — it just wants an organ to begin playing a grand and magnificent hymn." "There's a kind of path down the middle," said Dinah. "I don't know if it's just a natural path, Jack, or whether it has been made by man. Do you see what I mean?" "Yes," said Jack, flashing his torch along it. "Bit of both, I think. Well — shall we go on? There's no treasure here." They went along the middle of the great silent hall, surrounded on all sides by the hanging icicle-like pillars. Lucy-Ann pointed out many that had joined with columns growing from the ground. "The drops of water from the stalactites must have dripped to the ground, and made stalagmites form there, growing up to meet the column above," said Philip. "They must have taken ages and ages to form — hundreds of years. I say — no wonder this cave feels awfully old to us. I feel as if there is no Time here at all — no years, or days of the week or hours — just nothing." Lucy-Ann didn't like that very much. It gave her a queer feeling of being only a dream, and not real. She took hold of Jack's arm and was glad to feel its nice, solid warmth. They walked slowly to the end of the enormous cave. A great archway stood there, and that too was set with stalactites, which, however, did not hang far down. The children could walk under them with ease. "This archway is quite like a tunnel," said Philip. His voice sounded big and hollow there and made them all jump. Kiki gave a mournful cough, which was magnified to a hollow giant-cough that startled everyone very much. They came to another cave. The roof of this was not so high as the one before, and only small, icicle-like stalactites hung from it. "Do those stalactites shine in the dark?" asked Dinah suddenly. "I thought I saw something glowing in the corner over there." Jack switched off his torch — and immediately the children gasped. For up in the roof and over the walls there glowed thousands of tiny stars. They were green and blue, and shone and flickered in a most enchanting manner. "Gracious! What are they?" whispered Dinah, amazed. "Are they alive?" The boys didn't know. They watched the shimmering, flickering stars, that seemed to go in and out like elfin lights. "Might be a kind of glowworm," said Jack. "Aren't they lovely?" He put on his torch again and the roof shone brightly in the yellow-white light. The stars disappeared. "Oh, do put your torch out!" begged Lucy-Ann. "I want to watch those stars a bit longer. I never saw anything so fascinating in my life! They shine like phosphorescence — all blue and green and green and blue; look how they flicker off and on. Oh, I wish I could take a hundred home and put them on my bedroom ceiling at home!" The others laughed at her, but they too thought that the shining, flickering stars were most entrancing to watch. Jack did not put on his torch again until each had gazed his fill. "That's two simply wonderful caves," said Lucy-Ann with a sigh. "What will the next one be? I really do feel as if we'd discovered Aladdin's Cave, or something like that!" A long passage, leading downwards, led out of the cave of stars, as Lucy-Ann named it. "We found a cave of echoes, a cave of stalactites and a cave of stars," she said. "I like this part of our adventure. Now I'd like to find a cave of treasure." The tunnel they were in was wide and high like the first passage they had entered. Jack's torch suddenly shone brightly on something on the floor. He stopped. "Look at that!" he said. "What is it?" Dinah bent to pick it up. "It's a brooch," she said. "A brooch without its pin. The pin's gone. It must have broken and the brooch fell off whoever was wearing it. Isn't it perfectly lovely?" It certainly was. It was a large gold brooch, about three inches wide, set with brilliant red stones, as red as blood. "Are they rubies?" said Dinah in awe. "Look how they glow! Oh, Jack, do you think this is a bit of the treasure?" "Probably," said Jack, and at once excitement caught hold of the children again, and their hearts began to beat fast. A ruby brooch, set in carved gold! What would the other treasure be? Wonderful visions arose in the children's minds, and they stumbled on their way eagerly, their eyes searching the ground for any other gleaming jewel. "If we could find a cave of jewels," said Lucy-Ann. "Oooooh — all gleaming like stars and suns! That's what I would love." "We might find something like that," said Dinah. "If we do, I shall deck myself from head to foot with them and pretend I'm a princess." The passage went on and on, still leading downwards, but, when Jack looked at his compass, he saw that he was no longer going into the heart of the mountain, but in the opposite direction. He hoped they wouldn't suddenly come out into the daylight without finding the cave of treasure. Suddenly they came to steps that led downwards. They were carved out of the solid rock, steep, wide steps that curved as the passage curved. "Almost a spiral stairway," said Jack. "Where are we coming to now?" There were about twenty of the steps. Then came an enormous door, made of some kind of stout wood, set with iron studs. The children stood and stared at it. A door! What was behind it? Was it locked and bolted? Who had put it there, and why? Was it to shut in the treasure cave and guard it? There was no handle to turn. There was not even a lock to be seen. There were great bolts, but these were not shot into place. "How can you open a door without a handle?" said Jack in despair. He pushed at the door, but it remained quite firm. "Kick it, like you did the door of the hut," said Philip, and Jack kicked it hard. But the door did not open. They stared at it in despair. To come so far and then to be stopped by a door! It was too bad. Jack shone his torch all over the door, from top to bottom. Lucy-Ann's sharp eyes noticed something. "See that iron stud?" she said, pointing. "It's much brighter than the others. I wonder why." Jack shone his torch on it and saw that it was slightly bigger than the others — and also, as Lucy-Ann said, it was brighter, as if it had had some handling. He pressed it. Nothing happened. He banged on it with a stone. No result at all. "Let me try," said Philip, and pushed Jack aside. "Shine your torch on it closely. That's right." Philip took hold of the iron stud and shook it. It seemed to give a little. He shook it again. Nothing happened. Then he thought of twisting it. It twisted round very easily indeed. There was a loud click — and the door swung slowly open. Jack switched off his torch, afraid that anyone in the cave might see them — though if anyone had been there surely they would have heard the bangs and kicks at the door. The door now stood wide open. A dim light shone beyond, showing another cave. Lucy-Ann clutched Jack's arm in fright. "It's full of people," she whispered. "Look!"
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