I spread my arms, took two steps forward, two backward. The opening was at least two yards wide.
“Yes! We can all fit!”
Hi belly-crawled forward, flashlight bobbing. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him to his feet. Together we helped Shelton and Ben.
Packed in tight, we panted in unison. Then the boys aimed their beams into the gloom.
“Wow,” I said.
Our heads were poking through the floor of a cavern measuring about twenty feet square. Wooden beams supported a fifteen-foot ceiling. Straight ahead—in the general direction we’d been crawling—a low passageway wound from sight.
No one needed an invitation. We scrambled from our hole like escaped convicts.
Hugs. Backslaps. We’d have lit cigars. Right then, open space—any space—was the most wonderful thing in the world.
“Thank the Lord,” Shelton breathed. “I couldn’t take much more!”
Got that right. Everyone had been close to the edge.
“Let’s see those elbows,” Ben demanded. “You left a bloody streak in the shaft.”
I let him inspect my wounds, glad he’d forgotten to be mad at me.
“Not too bad. Next time wear long sleeves.”
“Yikes!” I winced. “Know your own flare strength, buddy.”
“This chamber is man-made,” Shelton said excitedly.
“What tipped you off?” Hi joked. “The ceiling, or the tunnel?”
I pulled the lantern from my backpack and powered it on. Light filled the room, more than enough for canine eyes.
“Look!”
Hi pointed to a line of narrow wedges cut into one wall. Arrayed vertically, the indentations marched upward toward a hole in the ceiling.
“Steps,” Ben guessed. “This must be how the builders entered and left.”
“Out we go!” Shelton said. “Follow my lead!”
“Hold on!” I grabbed his arm. “We must be standing in Anne Bonny’s treasure tunnel. We found it! We need to go that way!” I pointed to the opening on the chamber’s far side.
Shelton looked like I’d offered a swim in a shark tank. “We don’t know this was Bonny’s tunnel. Or where it leads.”
“We’re in the right place,” Ben said. “This cavern must be directly under East Bay Street.”
“See how smooth these walls are?” Hi said. “Water did that. At some point, this chamber was completely submerged.”
“Sea cave?” I asked.
Hi nodded. “I think this is it. There might be chests of diamonds right down that passage! We’re all gonna own private islands!”
“Okay!” Shelton surrendered. “We’ll keep going. For a bit, anyway.”
“What’s that?” Ben trained his light halfway up the primitive ladder.
A horizontal wooden beam crossed the ladder’s path, its far end attached to a rusty iron hinge. Three feet to the beam’s left was a massive iron spring. Above the spring hung a frayed rope.
Using the foothold indentations, Ben climbed up and gave the beam a tentative tug. The hinge screeched as the timber swung out from the wall.
“God in heaven.” Ben’s eyes went round as golden soccer balls.
Attached to the beam’s wall-facing side was a three-foot metal blade.
“Booby trap,” I whispered.
“Had to be.” Shelton’s brow glistened. “Pirates don’t give up their treasure without a fight.”
“That’s some serious Goonies action right there.” Hi whistled. “Trip that spring release and the blade cuts you in half. Bad day.”
“Ben, please come down from there,” I said.
He dropped to floor level.
“The mechanism was triggered but never reset,” Ben said. “Maybe the other traps are disarmed, too.”
“Others?” Hi said.
“You think that’s the only one?” Shelton’s voice was back in the stratosphere. “That whole passage is probably a death trap.”
“Keep your flares lit,” Ben ordered, “no matter what.”
“We’ll proceed slow and steady, like the turtle.” I sounded like a high school coach prepping his team. “Our senses will detect the traps before they activate.”
Would they? They had to. No way I was quitting. These pirates weren’t going to outsmart me.
“You still want to go in there?” Shelton. Incredulous.
“Of course,” I said. “If something’s hidden in that tunnel, I intend to find it.”
“Treasure,” Hi said. “Mucho dinero. I’m so in.”
“Then we better hustle,” Ben said. “It’ll be dawn in a few hours.”
At the mouth of the passage, cool air washed over me. I sniffed, straining for clues of what lay beyond.
Stone. Mildew. Salt water. No help there.
The others gathered behind me.
Deep breath.
I stepped into darkness.
THE SECOND TUNNEL was wide enough for two to walk side by side.
Well constructed, the passage had semi-smooth walls and a level floor. Stout oak crossbeams braced the ceiling at regular intervals.
Yet the passage was clearly ancient. Despite air movement, the atmosphere was musty and sour. Slimy mud coated the ground.
Slowly, we edged forward, clumped close, our flare senses on high alert.
Hi was beside me, holding the lantern. Its halogen bulb illuminated a ten-foot radius, allowing my pupils to register details with remarkable clarity.
As we crept along, the beam-and-blade trap dominated my thoughts.
I remembered the verse on the treasure map. Not the first line. I was sure we’d bypassed the tunnel entrance, making “Lady Peregrine’s roost” a moot point. My focus was on the second line.
“Begin thy winding to the dark chamber’s sluice.”
Dark chamber’s sluice? What could that be?
My mind sifted possibilities. Came up empty. I was forced to admit that, without more, the rhyme was too vague to be useful.
And the map’s other stanza? What did those words mean?
I felt Hi grab my arm. My head turned. He was staring at the ground.
“Don’t. Move.”
Ever so slowly, Hi knelt, then lay flat on his belly, eyes glued to a spot at my feet.
“What is it?” Shelton’s face had drawn level with my ear.
Hi’s gaze rolled to the ceiling. Gingerly, he eased back to his feet.
“No one move. There’s a tripwire ahead, and it might not be alone.”
“Tripwire?” Shelton quavered. “For what?”
“For whatever’s above our heads. Snap the wire and something nasty’s coming down.”
My eyes darted upward. Hi was right. Three vertical slots split the ceiling, spaced at one-yard intervals.
Ben’s flashlight probed the far left opening.
“Metal grates, hanging by ropes.” His beam worked its way right. “Spikes along the bottom.”
Gulp.
“Everyone stay still,” Hi said. “I’ll check for other wires.”
“Go slowly,” I warned. “Please be careful.”
Hi studied the ground, rotating the lantern in a circular pattern. Finally, he began inching forward.
Step. Pause. Step. Pause. Then he lifted his knee in a long stride.
I stared at the space Hi had high-stepped, stretching my flare vision to its limit.
And saw it.
A strand no thicker than fishing line. The filament crossed the passage at knee level, virtually invisible in the murky light.
Without Hi’s sharper eyes, we’d have tripped it. A chill passed through me.
So close.
“There’s only one wire.” Hi was barely breathing. “I’m straddling the sucker to show where it is.”
Sweat dripped from Ben’s chin. “Don’t screw up.”