A Light through the Cave E-Book

Gordon Saunders

• Herausgeber: mediaropa
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: The Verduran Pentology
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 329

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Kentucky, 1836. Joshua and Marie were only going to tour Mammoth Cave. Amanda and her Daddy’s slave, Steven, were only going for a picnic in the cave. Only the way out didn’t lead out. It led in. In to another world where they were desperately needed to save the lives of dozens of women and children. But it wasn’t what they thought. It wasn’t against an army. The army only wanted them to fight… something else. Something worse. Something worse than their worst nightmares. Will they defeat it? Can it even be defeated? Will the rocks cry out to help them? And where is that glowing bird, the one they saw killed, the one who lit up the sky not long after? The only one who can get them back home. Will he come? 

Join Joshua, Marie, Amanda and Steven in their first Verduran adventure. Or maybe their last adventure. Anywhere.

Leseprobe

A Light through the Cave

A Light through the Cave

Gordon Saunders

Published by mediaropa press

A Light through the Cave

revised edition

Copyright © 2021 by Gordon Saunders

Ebook ISBN: 987-1-7338727-0-6

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7338727-1-3

Hardback ISBN: 978-1-7338727-4-4

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in information storage and retrieval systems, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, mediaropa press. Reach us at: [email protected].

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover art by Anna Coleman

Cover design by Gordon Saunders

gordon-saunders-writer.com

To my students at Trinity International University

who motivated me to provide a concrete illustration

of the truths I was teaching

1

MAMMOTH CAVE

The stagecoach swayed heavily and suddenly the occupants saw Joshua’s head appear upside down in the window. “Can we stop for a...”

“Joshua!” his mother interrupted, almost shrieking. “Get back up there before you fall and break your neck!” The stage stopped rather abruptly and Joshua’s body flew by the window. There was a thump and a muffled “oomph.”

“Get up and see what happened to him, George,” Joshua’s mother said.

“He’s all right,” said the driver, clambering down the side. “Jes’ a little winded’s all.”

Joshua appeared again, right side up, looking at least eleven of his thirteen actual years of age, and smiled into the window. “Can we stop for a minute to see a sinkhole?” he asked, eyes pleading with his father. His mother shot a hard look in the direction of his father and then turned away. She glanced at the velvet trim of her wool cape and brushed it off even though there was nothing on it.

“It’s bad enough we have to jolt through this wilderness,” she said, “without having to stop every five minutes.”

Joshua’s dad winked at Marie from his seat beside their mother. He pushed the dust flap all the way up and stuck his head through the window.

“Driver,” he said pleasantly. “Why are we stopping?”

The horses stomped and the stage rocked from side to side as the driver fiddled with something under it.

Joshua jumped up on the step and stuck his head and one arm through the window in the door. “He says that since we’re the only ones riding with him today we can stop and see a sinkhole if we want. He has to adjust the hitch or something.”

Joshua’s mother glared at Joshua’s father again, and then turned to stare out the other window. The driver poked his head far enough out from under the stage to be seen.

“This won’ take long,” he said. Joshua bounced on the stair and made the stage rock.

“He says it’s so big that four horses once fell into it.” Joshua turned and waved his arm toward the hilly grassland off to the left of the stage. “The whole area’s covered with these sinkholes and underneath it’s filled with caves.” Then he looked back at his father. “Can we go father? It will only take a minute.”

“S’just a short piece, sir,” said the stage driver, backing out from under the stage and straightening up. “Might like to stritch your legs some.”

“Want to go, Emily?” asked Mr. Duncan of his wife. She gave him a stony look.

“Marie?”

Even though she was two years older than Joshua, and becoming a young lady, she didn’t hesitate for a moment. “Sure!” she said, standing and jerking the door open.

The driver helped her and Mr. Duncan out.

“You keep track of Joshua, George,” said Mrs. Duncan. “See he doesn’t fall in.”

“Yes, dear,” he said.

Taking the hands of both Joshua and Marie, he followed the driver into the field.

When they had gone a few hundred feet the driver pointed. “Right over there,” he said. “That’s a big ‘un, but the barrens is dotted with ‘em. Got some mighty big caves hearabouts, too. Fact, right by the next stop’s a big ‘un. Jes’ put up a new hotel, too.”

“What’s it called?” asked Marie.

“You ain’t heared’ve it?”

“Well,” said Mr. Duncan, “we’re coming from Boston, and we don’t always get news from the west.”

The stage driver looked at him and nodded. “Figured you for eastern folk,” he said, “seein’s how yer all gussied up an’ all.”

Mr. Duncan flushed and looked away. He took his hand from Joshua’s and awkwardly adjusted the bow of his cravat.

“S’called Mammoth Cave,” the driver went on. “Ya stop at Bell’s Tavern, up here, an’ have to take a wagon t’ the cave. But’s worth the trip.” He pulled out his watch. “‘Scuse me. We got to be goin’ ‘cause I cain’t be late. Y’all take a look an’ please come right back.”

“Thank you,” said Marie.

“Can we go to the cave, father?” asked Joshua after the driver had left. “We’ve never seen inside a real cave.”

Mr. Duncan pursed his lips as they wandered over and looked into the sinkhole. It was about thirty feet wide and very deep, with almost vertical sides of gray stone. Here and there plants grew in the cracks between layers of stone.

“We’ll see,” said Mr. Duncan after awhile. “I’ll have to talk it over with your mother. We were hoping to get further today.” He looked over at Marie. “But a stop might do her good.”

Marie nodded vigorously.

“Boy,” said Joshua, gazing into the depths of the sinkhole, “I’d hate to fall in.”

“And it’s just the sort of thing you’d do,” said Marie, laughing. Joshua looked at her sideways, and took his father’s hand silently. They started back.

“Can I sit up with the driver this time?” asked Marie when they had returned.

“Absolutely not!” said a voice from inside the stage. “You’ll get dust all over your bonnet and ribbons that we took so much trouble about last night.”

Marie placed both hands on her ruffled, be-ribboned bonnet, with a face of mock fierceness, and made as if she would tear it off. But when the driver opened the stage door, she smiled sweetly and allowed him to help her in.

“This new hotel,” asked Mr. Duncan, “is it a good one?”

“Not as good as Bell’s, they say. Fella name ‘a Gorin bought it, bin fixin’ it up, I’m told. Got a slave boy takin’ people through the cave. Boy’s bin findin’ new passages an’ caverns, I hear.”

After Joshua and the driver had returned to the seat and the stage was underway again, Mr. Duncan spoke softly with his wife for a few moments. Marie watched the expression on her mother’s face to see if she was softening.

Suddenly Mrs. Duncan blurted out, “Oh, George, really!” She shook her head as she looked at him in irritation. “On a wagon? Isn’t it bad enough we have to leave Boston for some God-forsaken French city...”

“It’s been American for thirty-five years now,” Mr. Duncan interrupted quietly.

“...some God-forsaken French city...New Orleans - why it even sounds French -and we can’t take a clipper or even a river steamer because Marie gets sick, so we have to bump, rattle, and jolt through the wilderness on a stage -- and why Marie doesn’t get sick on this monstrosity is a mystery to me -- and now you want me to ride in a wagon? Oh, George, really. It’s too much.”

“Well maybe you could stay at this Bell’s Tavern and Joshua and I could go,” said Marie quickly.

“Out of the question,” said Mrs. Duncan.

“Emily,” said Mr. Duncan softly, “when will they ever again have the opportunity to see a cave?”

Mrs. Duncan looked at him for a moment. “Well,” she said in a softer tone of voice. Then she buried her face in his coat and the rest of what she said was muffled. The brim of her bonnet against his shoulder completely hid her face, but Marie thought she was crying. After a few moments she raised her head a bit.

“Oh, George,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry to be so contrary. But this is....” She broke off, stifling a sob.

Mr. Duncan put his arm around her and spoke gently. “It’s difficult for all of us, dear, but it’s a great opportunity.”

“Yes, I know,” she said, barely audible over the creaking, rattling stage.

“How about taking Marie’s suggestion? I think you could use a little extra rest tonight, anyway.”

“Is the cave safe?”

“I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be.”

It was shortly after their mid-day meal that Joshua and Marie found themselves on a buckboard which had been fitted with benches, on their way to Mammoth Cave. All three benches were full of would-be cave visitors like themselves. The four horses were being driven by a black boy about their own age.

“Do you suppose he’s a slave?” whispered Marie to Joshua.

“Could be,” said Joshua. “Remember the driver said that there was a slave showing people the cave? Maybe it’s him.”

Marie looked off into the scrub pines, with here and there a stand of walnut, chestnut, beech, and ash trees. Birds flew languidly among them, chattering. Marie held tightly to the front of the seat with fingers extending from the long white gloves which went up under the flounce of her enormously puffed sleeves. They jolted and banged along. Sunshine smiled warmly on them, brightly emphasizing the corkscrew patterns of dust which rose behind the wagon’s wheels.

“I wonder what it’s like to be a slave,” she said softly. “Always having to do someone else’s work.”

Joshua pulled his wide, starched collar away from his neck on both sides and took off his short green jacket, laying it across his pantaloons. “Always having someone telling you what to do, like, ‘You have to wear that shirt, Joshua,’ ‘No, you can’t leave your jacket at the tavern, Joshua,’ ‘You stay right with Marie, Joshua, and don’t go off on your own...’“

Joshua did such a good imitation of his mother’s voice and facial expressions that Marie had to laugh.

“Well,” she said, “you may be glad to have that jacket before long. I forgot they said it’s only about fifty-four degrees inside the cave. I’m afraid I’ll wish I had my cape.”

“That’s a switch,” said Joshua tartly. “You forgetting something. I thought you were perfect.”

“Very funny,” she replied. After a moment she said, “Though sometimes I wish I could forget. I wish I could forget all my friends back home so I wouldn’t miss them so much.”

Joshua nodded. “I know what you mean. Only our home is gone, now. We’ll have to make a new home when we get to New Orleans. Right now we don’t have a home.”

“And,” said Marie, “I wish I could forget how much mother hates traveling on a stage.”

“Oh, I love it!” said Joshua, turning toward Marie.

“But Mother and Father still consider you a child, and you’re a boy, anyway, so you usually get to ride up with the driver,” Marie said.

Joshua snorted.

Then, turning from him, Marie continued, “And mother doesn’t keep saying it’s because you get sick that we have to take the stage.”

Joshua nodded. “It’s too bad,” he said. “I’m sure you don’t want to get sick.”

“Well, I don’t think mother really means it,” Marie said, brightening. “She’s sick of the stagecoach. And I know she’s homesick. It’s not so bad for us.” Marie looked over at Joshua. “We’ve only been there almost fourteen and sixteen years. She’ s been there thirty-four years.”

“True. And we’ll probably be able to get back there someday if we want, but she might not. And her whole family’s there. I guess it’s awfully hard.”

They continued up the heavily rutted trail, straddling stumps and boulders, shaking jarringly as they went.

“It would be nice for mother to see the cave,” said Marie. “But if she doesn’t like the stage, she certainly wouldn’t like this ride.”

After more than an hour, the wagon arrived at a rough looking building mostly composed of newly hewn logs. Split rail fences set off new corrals and made boundaries for the roads. The Mammoth Cave Hotel was the result of putting several previously built buildings together with a new center section.

As they came up to the door, they were greeted by several young uniformed serving men who helped them down. They were ushered into the wood-planked lobby and the whole group stood in a little knot in one corner.

Suddenly a girl who looked to be just a little older than Marie came stomping into the lobby from a side room.

“Steven,” she said, whirling back to the room from which she had come and placing her hands belligerently on her hips, “you git in here this second an’ git the basket an’ go! Daddy said you could take me an’ I don’ care what Mr. Miller says.” No response was forthcoming.

“Oh, how quaint!” said Marie to Joshua. “A country girl.” Marie pointed at the girl. “Look! A taffeta dress with a muslin apron and pockets. And little curls under her bonnet!”

“Who you pointin’ at?” asked the girl, turning swiftly on Marie. Marie was too startled to reply. The girl looked her up and down thoroughly. “My,” she said sarcastically, “ain’t we the prettified one.”

A black boy a few inches shorter than Joshua but who seemed to be a few years older, came striding swiftly into the lobby, looking worried. He carried a wicker basket covered with a red and white checkered cloth.

“It be ready now, Missy Amanda,” he said quickly.

She turned without a word and stomped out the front door, the boy hot on her heels. The group watched, immobile.

“Well!” said Marie. “The gall of that girl!”

Joshua grinned slightly. “Maybe she didn’t like being pointed at and called ‘quaint’,” he said.

Marie gave him a disgusted look. “Well that’s no excuse for rudeness.”

“Ah, Ladies and gentlemen,” said a man’s voice. “So nice to have you here. Do hope your stay will be pleasant.”

Joshua and Marie turned to see a clerk approaching them rapidly from the same room from which the girl and the black boy had come.

“Hope you’ll pardon that, ahem, unfortunate outburst,” he said. “So sorry we won’t have the inestimable Steven as our guide, this afternoon.” He paused long enough to smile brightly, and then his smile fell as if he’d dropped it. “But as it was I, myself, ah,” he continued, “who taught Steven the routes, you can be sure that your, uh, tour will be every bit as good.” He wiped his brow with a handkerchief. “Steven was, ah, unfortunately, called away.”

“Dragged away is more like it,” whispered Marie to Joshua. “Ooh! I really don’t like that girl!”

2

CAVE PASSAGES

The group went down the crude wooden stairs behind the hotel into a ravine which curved as if it were a letter ‘J’ engraved into the earth. Around the curve was the mouth of the cave. Suspended over it was a cloud, jagged and uneven at the top, and completely flat along the bottom, as if sliced. As they approached the entrance, a blast of cold air greeted them.

“Brrr,” said Marie, hugging herself. “I wish I had my cape.”

They descended the rickety stairs into the cave, and the guide told them about the saltpeter mining operations which had been conducted here during the war of 1812, about twenty-five years earlier. They examined the hollowed out tulip trees which had been used to pipe water into the cave for the leeching vats. They found the vats themselves in a huge cavern called the Rotunda, which the guide told them had been carved from the rock by a whirlpool.

“That’s one whirlpool I’m glad I never saw,” said Joshua to Marie. “It must have been enormous!”

“It makes me sick just to think about it,” said Marie.

The Rotunda was two to three-hundred feet across and probably sixty feet from floor to ceiling at the highest point. From there, two very large passages went off in different directions, forming a ‘Y’ with the passage through which they had come in. The guide’s torch threw light a short distance down each passage, and a little light could still be seen through the entryway. Even so, it was quite dismal.

“It’s so gray,” said Marie. “I wish I could see some color.

“But, I suppose since it’s all rock...” she trailed off.

However, gray or not, it was certainly worth the trip. They went off along the left hand passage, and here and there the guide would explain some aspect of the mining operation or show them a place where ancient Indians had put a torch or taken gypsum from the ceiling or walls. Most of the little group stayed with the guide in the center of the passage, which was covered with sand and gravel and so was fairly smooth. Joshua, however, decided to jump from boulder to boulder in the rubble that had fallen, ages past, beside the smooth area.

“Be careful, Joshua,” said Marie. “You know how clumsy you are.”

“Marie,” he replied tartly, “don’t you start. I get enough of that from mother.”

“Well, I’m only saying it for your own good.”

“Why don’t you join me, instead. It’s fun!”

Marie wrinkled her nose and looked carefully at the rocks ahead of Joshua. “Well,” she said, “I guess I could.”

She lifted her skirt and petticoats above her ankle and jumped lightly toward Joshua. He reached a hand out to her and she caught it as she made a final hop to where he was. Suddenly, the torch went out. Marie screamed, lost her balance, and fell into Joshua; toppling them both. They heard the guide muttering something about an unexpected gust of wind, he’d get the torch relit in an instant, and then there was silence.

Joshua and Marie expected to see a light shortly, so the said and did nothing. But after too much silence and darkness, Joshua spoke.

“Would you mind getting off my stomach?”

Marie moved. “Sorry,” she said. “Where’s the guide?”

“I don’t know,” Joshua replied. “You would think he could have the torch lit by now.”

“And you would think that the other people would make a little noise, too, wouldn’t you?”

“Um hm,” agreed Joshua. “Well, I have a few matches. I’ll light one to see what’s going on.”

He lit a match. They were sitting on gravel and it seemed as if the boulders on which they had been jumping were now beside them, rather than under their feet.

The match went out.

“That’s strange,” said Marie. It didn’t look like that to me when we were on top.”

“No it didn’t,” said Joshua, standing and striking another match. He moved the match back and forth in front of himself.

“Hello! Hello! Guide?” he called. There was no reply.

Marie got to her feet and brushed off her full white skirt. “What on earth is he doing?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” answered Joshua. “Hello? Hello?”

No response.

He lit another match and they looked around more carefully.

“There shouldn’t be a ceiling here,” said Marie, pointing. “We were in a very high passage.”

“Maybe we fell into a hole.”

“Did it seem like it to you?”

“Ow!” exclaimed Joshua, shaking out the match. Darkness. “No, it didn’t.” He lit another match and they continued to look around.

“Joshua,” whispered Marie, grabbing his free arm. “I’m getting scared. What if we’re trapped?”

“Well,” said Joshua, matter-of-factly, “they have to start looking for us soon. They’re bound to find us.”

“But what if they can’t?” Panic was rising in Marie’s voice. The match went out. “Light another one, Joshua,” she said. “Please!”

“I don’t have too many, Marie. Shouldn’t we wait?”

“Help! Help!” Marie shouted.

Silence.

“Oh, no,” she whimpered, and sat down once again.

After awhile she asked, “What time is it?”

Joshua took his watch from his pocket and lit another match. “A little after three,” he said.

“What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know,” said Joshua as the match went out. He sat down with his back against Marie’s shoulder. “I didn’t see anything near like a hole big enough for us to have fallen through.”

“Neither did I,” said Marie.

“And no one answers our yells. They should at least answer our yells.” They sat quietly for a few minutes and then yelled again. There was no response.

“Seems like it’s been forever, Joshua,” said Marie after awhile. “What time is it now?”

Joshua lit a match. “Five o’clock? It can’t be! It can’t be that late!” He got to his feet and pushed against the rocks and ceiling with his free hand. “Help! Help!” he yelled.

Silence.

“We’ll just have to find the way out,” he said.

Joshua lit another match and examined the space behind them. He thought he saw a promising opening.

“Come on,” he said. “This might be a way out. But we’d better get on our hands and knees because it isn’t very high. And I’ll have to take your hand so we won’t get separated.”

As the match flickered, Marie looked mournfully at her skirt and then back to Joshua. The two dropped to their hands and knees as the match went out.

“Joshua,” Marie said softly, “I’m sorry for all the mean things I’ve done to you. If we should die or anything, I want you to know that.”

“Marie, we’re not going to die. I know you don’t mean those things, and neither do I.” He found her hand in the dark and clasped it. “Right now, let’s get started finding our way out.”

“I know we’re not going to die or anything,” she said. “But just in case I fall into a pit or a pile of rocks falls on me, I want you to know.”

They began to crawl.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” asked Marie.

“Well, I think so,” he answered. I’ll be keeping my hand on one wall, like you’re supposed to do in a maze so we don’t go around in circles.”

They got through the opening and went forward slowly. Even though it was completely dark, they were able to go on rather easily for some time. After awhile they stopped to rest, sitting in silence for a moment.

“Joshua?”

“What?”

“Is that you?”

“Is what me?”

“That feeling of someone being here with us.”

“I don’t think I understand,” he said. “What do you mean?”

“Well, do you feel it?”

He sat quietly for a moment. “Feel what?”

“Just....something. I can’t explain it.”

“N-n-o-o,” he said slowly. “I’m sorry. I don’t.”

“But I’m sure there’s someone here!”

Joshua lit another match.

“Hello? Hello? We’re down here!”

They looked around until the match went out. Complete silence. Complete darkness.

“Hm,” said Joshua. “Maybe you just hoped someone was here.”

“No,” she said very quietly. “I know someone was here. I felt someone. I still feel someone.”

“Well,” said Joshua kindly, but clearly not convinced, “maybe we’ll find him if we keep going.”

“Um hm,” said Marie, knowing he didn’t believe her. “Maybe.”

He took her hand again and they started off. This time they found themselves making turns, climbing occasionally, and going downward occasionally. Shortly, Marie stopped them.

“Is that a light up ahead?” she asked, quickly adding, “I know the guide said your eyes play tricks on you in the dark, but doesn’t that look like a light to you?”

Joshua squinted and strained, but at last he said, “No, I’m sorry. I don’t see anything.”

“Maybe I’m going crazy,” Marie whispered to herself.

But when they rounded another curve in a few moments, the light was unmistakable.

“You were right!” shouted Joshua. “Hello!” he yelled. “We’re here! We’re here!”

There was no response.

“Well, if we keep on, we can’t miss them.”

Marie sighed with relief. “See!” she said. “There was someone. And there was a light!”

They found one another’s hands again, and went on at a much faster pace. In a moment they came out of their rather small passage into a much larger area. The light came from near it’s center. Joshua began to run toward the light.

“Joshua,” cried Marie. “It’s not safe to run in here.”

Not stopping, Joshua looked back and said, “I can see all....”

Marie didn’t know what Joshua said after that, because he wasn’t there.

“Joshua!” she screamed, moving as fast as she dared to the place where he had disappeared.

3

LIGHT FROM OUTSIDE

“What we got here?” exclaimed Steven Bishop.

“So it’s you!” said Amanda Gorin. “Why are you sneakin’ up on us?”

“I...I fell through that hole up there,” said Joshua, pointing. “And am I glad to see you! We slipped off a rock into a side cavern or something, and couldn’t get back to the guide.”

“We?” asked Amanda gesturing upward with her head. “You mean that stuck up girl ‘s up there?”

“That’s my sister, Marie,” he said. “And she’s not stuck up.” He turned his head and yelled. “Marie! Marie! It’s all right. There’re some people here...Marie? Can you hear me?”

Marie was approaching the funnel of light very cautiously.

“Joshua?” she said weakly. “Joshua?”

She had heard nothing since he had disappeared, and was petrified that he would be smashed to bits at the bottom of some almost bottomless pit. It was a great relief to her when she heard voices calling her name out of the hole through which the light was coming.

“Here!” she cried. “I’m here!”

“And we’re down here,” yelled Joshua as Marie knelt to peer through the hole.

The slave boy she had seen in the lobby, and the rude girl, stood beside Joshua. A black shawl was thrown over the girl’s shoulders, but otherwise she looked the same. The slave was holding a smoky lamp high above his head and looking up at her.

“Come on down, Missy,” he said, only he said “on” like “own”.

“How do I get down?” she asked?

“Guess you has to jump, Missy,” he said. “We try to catch you.”

My he’s dressed queerly, Marie thought. She hadn’t really noticed before. He wore a dark brown, floppy hat, a rumpled, green jacket, a red rag around his neck and another around his shoulder, on which hung a huge tin can. His pants reached only to his knees, and were too small even on his slim frame. Despite the hard, stony floor and the cool temperature, he was barefoot. And it really was hard to guess his age. He could have been any age from twelve to twenty.

“Jumping’s better than falling, like I did,” Joshua shouted.

“I’ll lower myself as far as I can and let go,” Marie called down. She gathered all her skirts and petticoats so they would be small enough to fit through the hole. “Ooh, the dirt!” She winced, and squeezed through, flopping onto the three who had huddled beneath her. They were all sent sprawling to the floor.

“Thanks,” she said when she got her breath. “We sure are glad to see you.” She gave Amanda a cool glance as she said that, and was not terribly convincing.

Then everyone started talking at once until Amanda shouted, “Shush up!” There was instant silence.

“One at a time,” she said more quietly. “And don’t you introduce yourselves to folks whin you’re traipsin’ around on their proppity?”

“Well we didn’t mean to be here,” said Joshua. “If the torch hadn’t blown out and Marie hadn’t slipped...”

“You mean you was on the tour?” interrupted Steven.

“Steven!” said Amanda curtly. “You will speak only when spoken to. I shall have to tell father how bigified you’re gittin’ if you ain’t very careful from now on.”

“Yes, Missy,” said Steven, looking at the ground.

“How can you speak to him that way?” cried Marie.

Amanda looked puzzled for a moment and then answered. “Why shouldn’t I speak to my daddy’s slave any way I like?” she asked, turning her gaze on Marie. “An’ you still ain’t introduced yourself.”

“I’m...”

“Don’t trouble yourself none ‘bout it, though. I know who you are.” She looked directly into Marie’s face. “You’re one o’ them dandified city folks’s always comin’ through here to look down your fancy noses at us country folk.”

“I am not!” said Marie.

“Well ya should’a stayed back in yer ol’ city!” Amanda placed her hands on her hips. “Lookit yer dress! Them puffy newfangled sleeves is all gone flat, you got a rip in your snowy white skirt, an’ it ain’t even snowy white no more nowhere else!”

Marie looked at her outfit, aghast. “I didn’t want to leave my old city,” she whispered. Sobs threatened to choke her and she turned quickly away.

“Now what did you have to go and say all that for?” asked Joshua, going quickly to Marie and putting his hand on her shoulder. “There was no call to be mean.”

Marie rubbed her eyes briskly with her knuckles.

“You...you didn’t want to leave?” asked Amanda weakly.

“No, she didn’t want to leave,” said Joshua sharply. “We had to leave. Father’s going to be in charge of a big cotton processing factory in New Orleans like the one they just finished in Waltham.”

“Where’s Waltham?” asked Amanda.

“Near Boston,” he answered. “Surely you’ve heard of Boston.”

“Course I’ve heard of Boston,” said Amanda. “Jes’ cause I live way out here in the west don’t mean I ain’t heard of Boston.” She looked around Joshua toward Marie.

“I jes’ had to move ‘cause my daddy’s movin’, too.”

Marie turned toward her slightly. “You did?”

“Uh huh,” she replied. “Father just bought the cave an’ built up the hotel. An’ mother’s sick, so he had to bring her an’ me here ‘cause he couldn’ look after us an’ the cave both if we were in Glasgow. But he’s gonna make us a house near Bell’s.”

“Your mother’s sick?” Marie ventured, looking cautiously toward Amanda, who nodded.

“Mine’s sick of stagecoaches.”

Joshua laughed lightly.

“They are powerful dusty,” said Amanda.

Steven looked nervously around and cleared his throat a few times.

“All right, Steven,” said Amanda. “What is it?”

“‘Spose we best be goin’, Missy?” asked Steven. “Yo’ Pa be mad fit to spit logs we not back whin he say.”

“You’re probbly right, Steven,” she relied. Then she curtsied to Joshua and Marie. “I’m Amanda Gorin. Everybody ‘round here, least everybody in Glasgow, knows my daddy, Franklin Gorin, the lawyer. This boy is Steven, one of our slaves. You may say ‘Hello’, Steven.”

Steven bowed his head in their direction. “Steven Bishop,” he said quietly. “Hello.”

“We’re pleased to meet you,” said Marie. “We’re Marie and Joshua Duncan. We’ve never met a slave before.”

“My daddy got him from his daddy, Colonel Gorin. He was in the war.”

“The revolution? With President Washington?” asked Joshua.

“No, with General Greene, in South Carolina,” said Amanda. “He was from Virginia, an’ when the war was over they gave him this land in Kentucky. An’ his slaves came with him.”

“How old are you Steven?” asked Marie.

“He don’t know his birthday,” said Amanda, “but Daddy reckons it was about twenty-two, the year after I was born.”

“Can’t he speak for himself?” asked Marie.

Amanda squinted toward Marie. “Does your dog or horse speak for itself?” she asked.

Joshua could see Marie’s ire rising. Quickly he said, “Maybe we should get back, like Steven said. They’ll be missing us. We don’t want them to have to look for too long.”

“It a long piece to git the way we comed in,” said Steven.

“All the more reason to begin at once,” said Amanda, as if it had been her idea.

“By the way,” said Joshua, “do you know what time it is? I think my watch is broken.”

“Well, I ‘spose it should be ‘roun’ four o’clock,” said Amanda, pulling her watch from the pocket of her apron. “A quarter past six!” she squealed. “Ooh, we’re in for it now! C’mon,” she said, beckoning. She started quickly toward the opening behind them.

After they had gone for about an hour Amanda said, “If we’re goin’ to git it anyways, might’s well not be hungry, too.” She stopped to look at Joshua and Marie. “You hungry?”

“I could eat a horse,” said Joshua. Marie said nothing.

“How far we got to go?” Amanda asked Steven.

“‘Bout a half a’ hour, I reckons.”

“Then let’s eat right here,” she said.

Steven opened the basket he’d been carrying and spread a red and white oilcloth on the floor. On it he set plates. From his basket he produced smaller boxes in which were fried chicken, sweet potatoes, biscuits, apples, and little half pies, to which they all helped themselves. There was very little conversation for awhile.

“I still cain’ figure what happened to the time,” said Amanda, licking her fingers and looking at her watch in the light from the candles Steven was lighting. He snuffed out his lamp.

“Didn’t I say it was about three-thirty when you saw the light down this way an’ turned?”

“Yes, Missy, I b’lieve it were,” said Steven.

“What light?” asked Joshua.

“I were wonderin what you done with it, young Massah,” said Steven.

Amanda, responding, cast a severe glance at Steven. “We saw a light in this passage,” she said, “otherwise we wouldn’t’ve found it at all.”

“But we never had a light,” said Marie with her mouth full. “Excuse me.” She swallowed. “You were the ones with the light.”

“You did think you saw one, though, Marie,” said Joshua, waving a drumstick at her, “long before we came to the big cavern where their light was shining up from the hole in the floor.”

Marie sat thoughtfully, forgetting the biscuit she held. “It couldn’t have been the same light, Joshua,” she said. “Look how far we’ve come.”

“An’ we best wint on,” said Steven rising. He began to collect the eating things.

This time Amanda ignored him.

“More pie?” she asked Joshua. “Apple?”

Joshua stood up. “No thanks,” he said. “I think Steven’s right. But thanks for the dinner. I feel much better now.”

Amanda rose next and held out a hand to Marie. Marie looked up at her cautiously and took the hand.

“Sorry I was so...so...”

“It’s okay,” said Marie, on her feet now.

Amanda clasped her hand awkwardly, then let it drop.

“Come, Steven,” she said. “Move along.”

Steven moved forward slowly, though without hesitation. They had to stop to refill the lamp from his tin can once, and what with stumbling and ducking and stooping, and talking, it was somewhat more than half an hour before they got to the larger caverns near the entrance through which Amanda and Steven had come in earlier that day. The final cavern they entered was the size of a cathedral. To everyone’s surprise, it glowed faintly with every color imaginable.

“Steven?” Amanda said with menace in her voice. “Did you lead us wrong?”

“No, Missy,” he said. “I be sartin this be the right way.”

“Well, then, you’d better find the way out, an’ find it quick!”

Joshua and Marie were sick with the thought that they were in the wrong place, so they could barely enjoy the glorious beauty around them. Yet they did steal a glance at the cavern’s awe-inspiring ceiling now and then.

“There!” called out Steven shortly, pointing ahead. “See, Missy? There be light from the outside. Di’n’t I tell you?”

“Yes, Steven,” said Amanda, “you did tell me. But I was so worried whin I didn’t reco’nize the cavern that I doubted you. Me an’ Marie will go first, an’ you all cin follow.”

Amanda motioned for Marie to go on, waiting, herself, since the passage was not wide enough for both girls to go together. In a moment she began to follow. Almost immediately she was pushed backwards, however, as Marie hurried back in much more quickly than she had gone out.

“It’s not right out there,” she said, her voice quavering. “The sky’s... green!”

4

EXPLORATIONS

Marie plopped down in a heap beside the others, who watched her but didn’t say a word. She stared at the ground in the dim light, not seeing anything. Steven looked at her briefly, and went outside himself. In a few moments he returned.

He knelt by Amanda and whispered. “Missy,” he said, “Missy Marie right.” He paused for a second looking at Joshua and Marie. “But it don’ seem dang’rous, an’ we cain’ look fo’ no other way out in the cave no more. Oil’s gone was in the can, an’ we burnt up all the candles. We has to fin’ sumpin’ for a light.”

Amanda sat considering for a moment, and then stood. “Well,” she said, looking toward Joshua and Marie, “‘pears like we’re some place we never bin before, an’ don’ know how to git back.”

Marie was shaking her head. “This is just awful.”

“Till we git back,” continued Amanda, “we all gotta help each other an’ stick together if there’s trouble.”

Marie glanced at Steven and then back at Amanda and sighed. Then, suddenly, she sat up and spoke. “Um, if this really isn’t where you started and we probably won’t get back right away, and we only have each other as helpers,” she looked at Joshua for support, “do you have to boss Steven around so much?”

Amanda looked shocked. When she finally spoke, she said, “But he’s a slave.” She looked over at him, not without affection. “He wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’ tell him.”

“But it was he who led us through the cave,” said Joshua.

“An’ look what he led us to!” said Amanda.

“Well, you’re right. But did you know the right way out?” Joshua asked.

“No-o.”

“Then,” Marie went on, “we probably should listen to him. He’s the only one here who might have any idea how to get back.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” shouted Amanda. “I’m goin’ to see if this whole thing is true.” She pushed through the narrow passage to the outside.

After a few moments of silence, Steven spoke. “P’raps we best wint, too, Massah Joshua,” he said.

“Please just call me Joshua,” said a subdued Joshua.

“Yessuh, Massah Joshua,” said Steven. And with that he started out. “An’, ah, could you please fetch the lamp whin you come?”

“We will,” said Joshua.

Marie turned to Joshua. “What will we do now?”

“What can we do?” he replied. “Guess we’ll just have to go out and see what’s up.” Joshua took the lamp. Pushing against an outcropping of rock, he heaved himself up and began to walk toward the passage.