Swept to Sea (31 page)
Authors: Heather Manning
"Okay, you can all come if you want to, but one at a time down the rope." The descent was only about eight or nine feet. The boys took their time going down the rope and lit their candles from Rex’s already flickering one. When the last boy had made his descent, Gil looked up and saw Amanda and the two girls peering down at them.
"Greta, Gertrude, you can come next, if you want to," Gil said.
"Do we have to come down, Mr. Gladney?" Greta whined.
"If you’d like me to, I’ll stay up here with the girls," Amanda offered.
"Are you sure?" he asked, wondering if she honestly longed to come down into the chamber too.
"Aunt Mandy, there’s no treasure or gold or anything down here," Rex called up to her. The boy’s voice seemed heavy with disappointment.
"And no old bones either," Jerry lamented.
Gil ignored their disappointment and began prying stones from the wall to allow them access to what he hoped was an adjacent chamber. Rex and Jerry lent a helping hand. Soon the other boys were pulling at stones too, until there was a clear entrance into the next chamber. One by one, following his lead, the boys stepped inside. The candle flames flickered in a frenzied manner before blinking out. Young Michael squeaked with distress. The heavy darkness hung around them like thick curtains.
"There’s not enough oxygen in this interior chamber to keep our candles lit," Gil explained in a calm, matter-of-fact tone. "There’s nothing to worry about." Taking one or two slow steps backwards, he returned to the first chamber, took another match from the box in his pocket and relit his candle. The boys pushed forward, eager to relight their own. Once all the candles were burning again, Gil led his young explorers back into the second chamber. This time, there was enough air coming in through the breach in the wall to keep the flames burning.
"Looks like a pile of rubbish to me," Jerry remarked as he held his candle high and peered into one gloomy corner.
As Gil glanced upward toward the ceiling, Rex and Jerry took tentative steps in the direction of the farthest corner. Behind them, Michael shrieked with fright and Jerry, gasping, dropped his candle.
"Look, look there!" Rex stammered. He pointed a shaky finger.
Gil stared at the seated skeleton in the corner. "This is almost too good to be true!" he exclaimed, thrilled with the discovery.
"Is everybody okay?" Amanda called down to them.
"We’re fine!" he called back. "The boys have found some human remains."
Gil ventured forward to study the skeleton. His heart pounded with excitement. This was more than he had hoped for. The body’s flesh had disappeared long ago, but the bones and dried ligaments held the skeleton in its seated position. The empty eye sockets seemed particularly gruesome. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted Michael crossing himself before ducking out of the chamber.
"I’m getting out," the boy announced, making for the rope.
"Anyone who wants to leave can, " Gil told them. He didn’t care if all the youngsters scampered back up the rope. Amanda would keep an eye on them, he knew. Rex, however, remained close to his side. He could hear the boy’s heavy breathing and knew Rex was as thrilled as he was.
"Mr. Gladney, over here. Look!" His voice was hoarse with excitement.
Turning, Gil held his candle high. Another skeleton. This one was lying on the floor with its knees drawn up to its chest and wrapped loosely in some sort of fiber matting. Several fine pottery vessels and an amulet made of turquoise and abalone shell had been placed next to the corpse.
"I’ll bet he was a warrior… or a chief, maybe," Rex conjectured.
"I think you may be right." Glancing up, Gil noticed Jerry standing at the chamber’s rough entrance. The red-haired boy was gaping with disbelief. All of the students hadn’t abandoned him and Rex after all.
"What do you think, Jerry?" he asked. "Could these be the remains of a great chief?"
When Jerry only shrugged and shook his head, Gil stared down at the second skeleton and proclaimed in an awed voice, "I’ve got to write to Phillips." Turning to Rex, he explained, "He’s my friend, the archaeologist, the one I told you about. He’ll want to see this for himself."
From somewhere above the half-buried chamber, Gil could hear Rex’s dog barking accompanied by the faint laughter of the other students.
"Your friend, Mr. Phillips, will he come here to dig for relics?" Rex asked.
"Yes, I’m sure he’ll come," Gil replied, rising to his feet and brushing the dirt off his trousers. Still clutching his candle in one hand, he clapped the other upon the boy’s thin shoulder. "Phillips may even bring in an excavation crew."
"That’s a good thing, right?" Rex asked, uncertain.
Gil laughed. "Yes, it would be a good thing." Even if Nate Phillips did bring a crew to excavate the ruins, Gil reasoned, he’d still hire local men to do some of the heavier digging and hauling of debris. Gil could work on the site after school was dismissed for the day and make some extra money to put toward the ranch he’d told Amanda about. He laughed again, for no particular reason. Picking up one of the pots and the stunning amulet, Gil handed them to Jerry and Rex. "We’ll take these with us," he told the boys. "They are too valuable to leave down here."
"Are we going to take him too?" Rex asked, pointing to the skeleton.
Gil shook his head. "No, just what you’ve got there and this," he added, indicating a fine basket he’d discovered in the corner. "We’ll put them on display in the classroom, along with the other artifacts discovered today. Now, c’mon, boys. I’m hungry. Let’s eat."
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