chapter 20 in the heart of the hill

it seemed like a bad dream to the four children, making their way over the rocky edge of theunderground river. their torches had good batteries, fortunately, and gave a bright light, so that theycould see their way alongside the river. but at times this rocky 'path' they had to walk on grew verynarrow indeed!

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'oh dear!' thought anne, trying to keep up with the boys, 'i know i shall slip! i wish i hadn't theseheavy snow-boots on. what a noise the river makes, booming along, and how fast it goes!'

some way in front of the two boys and anne was george, still calling for timmy. she was veryworried because he didn't come back to her, as he always did when she called him. she didn't realisethat timmy couldn't hear her! the river made such a noise in the enclosed rocky tunnel that timmyheard nothing at all but the sound of the churning waters!

quite suddenly the tunnel widened tremendously - the river making a big, broad pool before it toreon down the tunnel again. the walls opened out into an enormous cave, half of which was water andthe other half a stretch of rough, rocky floor. george was most astonished. but she was even moreastonished at other things she saw!

two rafts, sturdy and immensely strong, were moored at the side of the deep pool! and on the floorof the cave were what looked like tin barrels, standing in rough rows - presumably waiting to bepacked on to the rafts.

at one side of the cave were stacked great heaps of tins and bottles and cans, none of them opened -and on the other side an equally vast heap of discarded ones - all opened and thrown to one side. bigwooden crates stood about too - though george could not imagine what they were for.

the cave was dimly lighted by electricity of some kind - probably from a battery fixed upsomewhere. nobody seemed to be about at all! george gave a call, hoping that timmy wassomewhere there.

'timmy! where are you?'

and at once timmy came from behind one of the big crates, his tail wagging hard! george was soglad that she fell on one knee and hugged him tight.

'you naughty dog,' she said, fondling him. 'why didn't you come when you were called? did you findthe others? where is aily?'

a small face peeped from behind the crate near by, the one from which timmy had appeared. it wasaily. she looked terrified, and tears were on her cheeks. she clasped her lamb to her, and dave wasat her heels. she ran straight across to george, crying out something in welsh, pointing back up thetunnel. george nodded.

'yes. we'll go back straightaway! look - here come the others!'

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aily had already seen them. she ran to julian with a cry of delight, and he swung her up in his arms,lamb and all. he was very glad to see george and timmy too.

they all had a good look round the strange cave.

'i see what the idea is,' said julian. 'jolly clever too! they are mining that precious metal down heresomewhere - and putting it on those rafts there, so that the underground river can take it right down tothe sea. i bet they've got barges or something waiting down at some secret creek, to take the stuffaway at night!'

'whew!' said dick. 'very ingenious! and they count on the queer noises and shudderings and thingsto frighten people and keep them away from this hill - nobody dares to come prying round to seewhat's up!'

'the nearest farm is magga glen farm, where the jones's live,' said julian. 'they would really be theonly people who could find out anything definite.'

'which they obviously did!' said dick. 'i bet morgan knows all about this, and is in with the son whosold the precious metal to the men who came after it - though it was his mother's.'

'there's no queer noise or anything down here - no noise at all except the sound of the river,' saidjulian. 'do you suppose the works aren't going just now?'

'well,' began dick, and then suddenly stopped as dave and timmy began to growl, timmy in a deepvoice and dave in a smaller one. julian at once pulled aily and george behind a big crate, and dickpushed anne there. they listened intently. what had the dogs heard? was there time to rush back tothe tunnel and make their way out before they were seen?

timmy went on growling in a low voice. the children's hearts began to beat fast - and then theyheard voices. where did they come from? dick peeped cautiously round the crate. it was in a darkcorner and he hoped he could not be seen.

the voices seemed to come from the direction of the great pool, and dick looked over to it. he gavea sudden exclamation.

'ju! look over there! do you see what i see?'

julian looked - and was filled with astonishment. two men had come up the tunnel, from the sea- evidently walking on the rocky edge of the river, just as they themselves had done - and were nowwading in the shallows of the pool.

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'one is morgan!' whispered julian. 'and who's the other man! gosh - it's the shepherd - aily'sfather! would you believe it? well - we always thought morgan was mixed up in this - but i didn'tthink the shepherd was.'

aily had seen both morgan and her father. she made no move to go to the shepherd - she was far tooscared of morgan!

morgan and the shepherd stood and gazed round a little, as if looking for someone. then, keeping tothe shadows, they made their way across the great cave right to the back of it, where another tunnel,very wide, led downwards into the hill.

as they went, a strange noise began.

'the rumbling!' whispered george, and timmy growled again. 'but oh - doesn't it sound near.

what a terrific noise - it's got right inside my head!'

it was no use whispering now! they had to shout if they wanted to say anything. and then theshuddering began! everything shuddered and vibrated, and when the children touched one another,they could feel the vibration in the other's hands and arms.

'it's as if we're being run by electricity ourselves!' said dick, astonished. 'i wonder if it's anything todo with that strange metal that is under this hill - that makes steel things heavy, so that ploughs won'tplough, and spades won't dig!'

'let's follow morgan and the shepherd,' said julian, so excited now that he felt he must seeeverything possible. 'we can keep well in the shadows. nobody would ever guess we were here!'

'aily - you stay here,' said julian. 'big noise, big big noise frighten fany and dave.'

aily nodded. she settled down behind the crate with her pets.

'aily wait,' she said. she had no desire at all to go any nearer that strange noise! in her simple mindshe imagined that possibly the thunder itself came from this hill and was made here. yes, perhaps thelightning too!

morgan and the shepherd had now disappeared into the tunnel right at the back of the cave, on theopposite side to the great pool. the five went quickly over to it and looked down. it was very wideand very steep - but rough steps had been cut in it, so that it was not difficult to go down.

they trod warily down the steep tunnel, astonished because it was dimly lighted - and yet there wereno lamps of any sort to be seen.

'i think it's the reflection of some great glare far below,' shouted julian, above the rumbling. thenoise was so loud that it was almost like walking in the middle of thunder.

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down and down they went, and the tunnel curved and wound about, always steep, rocky and dimlylit. suddenly the noise grew louder, and the tunnel grew lighter. the children saw the end of it, theexit outlined in brilliant light - a light that shimmered and shook in a most curious way.

'we're coming to the works - the mine - where that strange metal is!' shouted dick, so excited that hefelt his hands trembling. 'be careful we aren't seen. ju! be careful we aren'tseen!'

they went cautiously to the end of the tunnel and peered out. they were looking into a vast pit oflight, round which men stood, working some curious-looking machines. the children could not makeout what they were - and, indeed, the light was so blinding that it was only possible to look with theireyelids almost closed. all the men were wearing face-guards.

suddenly the loud rumbling stopped and the light disappeared as if someone had turned off anelectric switch! then, in the darkness, a glow formed, a strange glow that came upwards andoutwards, and seemed to go right through the roof itself! dick clutched at julian.

'that's the kind of glow we saw the other night!' he said. 'my word - it begins down here, goes rightup through the hill in some strange way, and hangs above it! that shimmering must come from heretoo - some kind of rays that can go through anything - like x-rays or something!'

'it's like a dream,' said anne, feeling george to make sure it wasn't! 'just like a dream!'

'where are morgan and the shepherd?' said dick. 'look - there they are - in that corner, not far off.

look out - they're coming back!'

the four children moved back quickly into the tunnel, afraid of being seen. they suddenly heardshouts, and stumbled up the rocky steps even faster. had they been seen? it sounded like it!

'i can hear someone coming up the tunnel behind us!' panted dick. 'quick, quick! i wish that noisewould begin again. i know we can be heard!'

someone was climbing swiftly up behind them. there were shouts and yells from below too. itsounded as if all the men were disturbed and angry. why, oh why had they followed morgan and theshepherd? they could so easily have gone back to the cellars!

they came to the top of the steep rocky tunnel at last, and ran to hide behind the crates, hoping to slipinto the river-tunnel without being seen. they had to get aily before they fled! where was she?

'aily, aily!' shouted julian. 'where's she gone? we daren't leave her here. aily!'

it was difficult to remember exactly where they had left her, in this great cave.

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'there's the lamb!' cried julian, thankfully, as he saw it on the other side of a crate. 'aily!'

'look out! there's morgan!' shouted george, as the big farmer came out of the tunnel and ran acrossthe cave. he saw the children and stopped in the utmost amazement.

'what are you doing here?' he roared. 'come with us, quickly! you're in danger!'

the shepherd now appeared too, and aily ran from behind her crate to him. he stared as if he couldnot believe his eyes, and then picked her up, calling something to morgan in welsh.

morgan swung round on julian again.

'i told you not to interfere!' he roared. 'i was handling this! now we shall all be caught! fool of a boy!

quick - we must hide and hope that the men will think we've gone down the tunnel. if we try toescape now, they will overtake us, and bring us back!'

he swept the astonished children into a dark corner and pulled crates round them.

'stay there!' he said. 'we will do what we can!'