Caves That Time Forgot Read online

  The shopkeeper took the coins, weighed them carefully in his hand, then said, “Going on an ocean voyage, I take it! May a man ask where you’re going?”

  “We’re going to a place called the Isle of Mordor,” Dave replied.

  “Mordor!” The man’s eyes blinked with surprise—and something else.

  Why—he looks scared out of his wits, Sarah thought.

  The shopkeeper stared at the group of young people, then shook his head. “Well, good fortune be with you.” But he sounded doubtful.

  “Partner,” Reb asked, “what’s the matter with that place? You looked a little bit skeery when you heard the name.”

  The man clamped his lips together. He would say only, “I got nothing to say about the land of Mordor. Thank you kindly for your business.”

  “That’s a strange thing,” Sarah murmured as they left the shop. “I wonder what gave him such a scare?”

  “Don’t know,” Josh replied. “One thing for sure—you wouldn’t get him on a ship going to Mordor.”

  The Sleepers made their way down to the shore and looked at the boats anchored there.

  “I don’t know which one to go to first,” Dave said, “but that’s a nice-looking ship there.”

  The ship he indicated was the largest of the vessels bobbing at anchor. It had three masts and a comfortable width. On deck, sailors were mending sails, swabbing the deck, doing the things that sailors do when a ship is in port.

  “I’ll just go give them a hail,” Dave said confidently.

  As Dave walked toward the shore, Jake ambled over and said to Josh, “I can tell you one thing—this is not going to be a lucky voyage. Did you see the look on that shopkeeper’s face when we mentioned the Isle of Mordor?” He shook his head dolefully. “I don’t know what we’re going into, but it’s not going to be Disney World. There’ll be something more there than a few rides. That’s what I say.”

  They wandered up and down the beach until finally Dave’s call drew them back. When they came up to him, he was looking highly satisfied.

  “It’s all taken care of,” he said. “They’ll drop us off on the Isle of Mordor, but it costs a pretty penny for our passage.”

  “Did the captain say anything about the place?” Sarah asked anxiously.

  Dave’s expression changed, but he merely said, “Well, he said it’s a little off the beaten track, and he seemed surprised that we were going there. But he guaranteed to take us. And what’s more, he said he’d bring his ship back to take us off. He passes by there on a regular basis.”

  Reb said, “When’s he leaving? We’ve got to get our gear on board.”

  “First thing in the morning. He said if we could board tonight, he’d give us our quarters. So let’s get our stuff loaded.”

  The next morning the ship sailed out of the harbor. There was much excitement among the Sleepers as they stood on deck watching the land disappear.

  Abigail was wearing a new dress. It was a shade of light blue that matched her eyes and seemed very fragile after the rough clothing she had been wearing. She touched her hair and said, “I was glad that shop had some shampoo and some cosmetics. I don’t feel ready for anything until I’ve done my face.”

  Reb grinned at the pretty girl. “Well, Abbie, you done it up nice. Shucks—you look good enough to be buried right now! We wouldn’t have to do a thing to you.”

  “Reb! What an awful thing to say!” But then Abigail laughed and put her arm through his. “Let’s go to the front of this old boat. I’ve seen all I want to of that harbor. Let’s see where we’re going.”

  Dave watched them go. “I think that girl would flirt with a stone statue,” he said. Still, he looked rather envious.

  Sarah whispered to Josh, “I think Dave’s jealous. He always did like Abigail.” She looked up at him. “Just like you did. Remember the first time you saw her? I thought you’d fall over in a dead faint of admiration.”

  Josh blushed, but he said, “Aw, I didn’t either. I’d rather have somebody with brains—like you—anytime, Sarah.”

  Somehow this compliment didn’t please her, and she sniffed and drew away. “Come on, Jake, let’s take a walk around the ship. We can talk to some of the sailors.”

  They had plenty of opportunities to talk to the sailors, for the voyage went on day after day. The food was good, and their sleeping accommodations were better than usual. After the long trek through the woods, a sea journey was a good time to rest up. They found the sailors jolly and very friendly. However they soon discovered that none of the mariners was willing to talk about the Isle of Mordor.

  On the sixth day out, Josh and Sarah were sitting on kegs watching the cook, a small gnomelike figure named Bentley, who had, it seemed, traveled all over Nuworld. The pair had come to listen to his tales several times before.

  Finally Josh said, “Look, Bentley, none of you on this ship will talk about the land of Mordor. What’s wrong with it? Is there some kind of monster on it? Come on, level with me.”

  Bentley screwed his face into a scowl and scratched his sparse gray hair. “Well, now, lad,” he said, “it’s not the kind of place a man wants to talk about, if you catch my meaning.”

  “I don’t catch it,” Sarah replied instantly. “It must be a frightening place if you won’t even talk about it. Have you ever actually been there, Bentley?”

  The cook was peeling potatoes. He carefully pared away a long scrap, dropped it in a bucket, then tossed the potato onto a small mountain beside him.

  “When I was a boy—no more than fourteen or fifteen, as I remember—I was on an old freighter. We hit a storm in those latitudes and had to put in. It tore the rigging out, so we had to stay until we got the sails repaired. Some of us had to go into the woods hunting for food. I went with them one time.” He fell silent, picked up another potato, and began to peel it, his eyes moody. “There’s things in that place.”

  “Things,” Josh repeated. “What kind of things are you talking about? Wild animals?”

  Bentley lifted his eyes. They were dark brown and deep-set. “Well, now, I’d seen wild animals afore, lad, but nothing like the things I saw there. Big things. Things like I ain’t never seen since. Don’t know how to talk about them. There’s people in that place too—but they was crafty, they was. Two of our men got took.”

  “Got took?” Sarah asked in surprise. “What does that mean—‘got took’?”

  “I mean they just disappeared. Went off and never came back. We thought we heard them hollering once, and then it was cut off sudden, like someone had … had …” Then he snapped, “Don’t like to think about those times.”

  “Is that all you can tell us?” Josh asked.

  “Don’t like to talk about it.” Bentley had grown moody, and he said only, “Don’t like to tell folks what to do, but you young folks are fools for going to the Isle of Mordor! People go there, and the funny thing is,” he said, “they go in but most of the time they never come out again. Don’t like to talk about it!” Then he turned his back on them.

  Sarah and Josh went back on deck.

  “He makes my flesh creep and shivers go up my back,” Sarah said. “It’s like going to a horror movie.”

  “It’s worse than that,” Josh agreed wryly. “It’s the things I don’t know that scare me. If you can see something, at least you know what it is you’re afraid of—but the way all these sailors talk—even the captain—there’s some things on the Isle of Mordor that must be awful.”

  “But we know there are people there that need our help,” Sarah said. “So we’ve got to go, and that’s all there is to it.”

  Two days later the ship docked in a little harbor. Reb and the other Sleepers were getting into a small boat for going ashore when Captain Shaw came to say good-bye.

  “Good luck to you,” he said rather grimly. “I’ll stop off here the first of every month until I find out—” He broke off abruptly and then shook hands with them all. “Be careful now. Watch yourself, for that’s
a dangerous place. Wish you wouldn’t go, but I see your mind’s made up.”

  “Yes, we have to go, Captain Shaw,” Dave said. “Be sure and check the shore for us. We’ll be stuck here if you don’t come and get us. Don’t know how long we’ll be, but it shouldn’t be too long.”

  An hour later the Sleepers were standing on the beach, watching the sails of the ship grow smaller in the distance.

  Everyone seemed reluctant to move, but finally Reb shrugged. “Well, she’s gone. Let’s get this here show on the road. Are you ready, Captain Dave?” He winked at Jake, for the two of them had given that name to Dave because he was so proud of his leadership position.

  “Don’t call me that!” Dave snapped. He pulled the map out of his pocket and stared at it. “Here,” he said, “look at this.”

  They gathered around Goél’s map. It showed a line of mountains and one large river running down to the ocean. “We’ll have to follow the river. See, Goél has marked this area here—I guess that’s the village where we’re supposed to meet the people he’s sending us to.”

  “Sure wish that river was going up, so we could just ride. We’ll have to follow along the bank, I guess,” Josh said. He looked at the sky. “It’s about noon. You ready to start?”

  Dave nodded and folded the map. “Yes. We’ll find a camping spot before night so we can cook us a good meal. We’ll have to do some hunting, though. The food we brought with us won’t last very long. And we don’t know what they’ll have at the village. So let’s go!”

  They divided up the knapsacks containing their food, bedding, clothing, and equipment. The girls carried the smallest loads. They started walking along the east side of the river and soon discovered a path.

  “Look here,” Jake said, “this thing’s been traveled. People must come from the village to the sea.”

  “That or animals,” Reb guessed. “All animals like to go to water, but I guess it’s probably both.”

  All afternoon they hiked. The jungle grew more dense as they made their way inward. Now huge trees towered overhead, sometimes shutting off the light of the sun and sometimes arching over the river from both sides until it was like walking down the aisle of a dim cathedral.

  Late in the day Dave drew to a halt. “That’s some nice ground over there and plenty of firewood. Let’s camp here for the night.”

  “Suits me!” Reb said. “What do you want us to do, Captain Dave?”

  Dave glared. “You can go gather firewood. You girls can get ready to cook a little something.”

  “What about you, Dave?” Josh inquired.

  “I’m going to scout around—see what I can find out while the rest of you set up camp.”

  Dave walked farther upstream, and Wash said, “Well, we got our orders from Captain Dave. Let’s get busy.” He looked about at the towering trees. “Sure is quiet in here. I don’t like it when it’s too quiet. Makes me think something’s ready to jump on me.”

  “Wash! Don’t talk like that,” Abbie said, shivering. “Let’s get a fire built—a big one.”

  Soon they had a fire going and meat roasting on spits over it.

  Dave came back, shaking his head. “Can’t tell a thing about this place,” he complained.

  He sat down, took the meat Sarah offered him, and put it between two slices of bread. He waved the sandwich toward upstream. “This area turns into almost a swamp,” he said. “I hope the path holds out. I went on a tour once in the Everglades. There were alligators and snakes and everything else.” He shuddered. “I hate snakes!”

  “So do I,” Abigail said and moved closer to him. “What if we have to turn back?”

  He looked at her in surprise. “That’s the one thing we won’t do. We’ve got to go on, no matter how hard it gets. If it gets too bad on land, we’ll make a raft and pole our way up the river. It would be hard going, but we could do it.”

  “That’s the way to talk, Dave,” Josh said. “You’re right—we’ve got to go on. Goél wouldn’t be sending us on a foolish mission. It’s important, whatever it is.”

  “What kind of people can they be, I wonder?” It had been a hard day, and Sarah was growing sleepy. “We’ve seen some strange varieties in our journeys—snakepeople, and giants, and dwarfs, and Gemini Twins.” The thought of the twins they had encountered on their first adventure made her smile. “I wish Mat and Tam were with us now. They were a lot of fun.”

  Reb grinned. “You couldn’t get them to go on a trip like this. They liked their comfort too much.” He looked upriver. “I wish we had some hosses to ride. It’d sure beat walking through this old swamp. But we’ll make it.”

  Jake looked around. “We’ve gotten real close, haven’t we, the seven of us? Back in Oldworld we didn’t even know each other, and now we’re closer to each other than anybody else. I guess that’s the way it is when you go on adventures with people. I hope we always stay close together.”

  His words reminded Sarah of the uncertainty of their future.

  Finally Dave said, “We better roll up in our blankets. I want to get an early start tomorrow.”

  As usual the boys had brought along a small, lightweight tent for the girls. When the two of them had crawled into it and pulled up their blankets, Abbie said sleepily, “I wish we had a boat like we had back home. We could just get in it and go skimming up this old river. We’ll never have that again, I don’t suppose.”

  Sarah looked over at the girl’s face. The light of the campfire flickered, and dimly she saw Abbie’s beautiful features. She wished for the thousandth time that she had this girl’s beauty, and she thought of Josh’s remark. I’d rather have someone smart—like you. As she drifted off to sleep Sarah thought, I’d trade all my smarts for Abbie’s long eyelashes!

  Next day the Sleepers paused at noon to eat a brief meal, then continued along the riverbank. If anything, the trees grew larger and closer together here, so that the sky was simply closed off at times.

  For three days they trekked. Fortunately the path was well worn. They were able to trap animals without any trouble—mostly rabbits, although something like a possum got into one of Reb’s snares.

  They carried no weapons, not even bow and arrows, for that had been one of Goél’s instructions. Reb, however, had managed to form a slingshot out of a piece of elastic cord. He was a dead shot and could hit a target fifty feet away with such force it would bring down small game.

  He came in one afternoon after a hunting trip and held up his bag. “Look what I got here!” he said, a smile on his face. When they gathered around, he said, “They look like squirrels, but look at the size of them! Why, these scamps—they’re three times as big as any squirrels I ever saw in Arkansas!”

  Josh held up one. “This thing is as big as a small dog. And look at the claws and teeth! Funny kind of squirrel.”

  “Well, we’re gonna see if they’re any good to eat!” Reb said. “Sure wish I had some dumplings. Nothing better than squirrel and dumplings. Save me some of the brains,” he said, winking at Josh. “You ever eat squirrel brains, Abbie?”

  “No!” Abbie shuddered. “And I’m not going to start either!”

  They pressed on for another two days. Late the second afternoon, when they stopped for camp, Reb went out looking for game while the rest made a fire and set up the tent. He came back in less than ten minutes, a strange look on his face. “Better come and take a look at this,” he said. “I ain’t never seen nothing like it.”

  “What is it?” Dave asked.

  But Reb only motioned for them to follow.

  He paused at a cleared space beside the river and said, “Notice how the ground is kinda trampled? Well, look at this.” He led them to the water and pointed to the ground.

  Josh looked and said, “What is it? I don’t see anything.”

  “Don’t you see that track?” Reb demanded. “Look at it!”

  Josh then saw that the track was so big he had missed it. It was at least a foot wide and more than three feet long. He h
ad mistaken it for some sort of small crater.

  Reb said, “He comes to the river to drink, whatever he is.”

  Josh stepped back, and the rest gathered around to stare.

  Wash peered at the huge track and said, “Look at the claws on that critter’s foot!” He shivered. “Whatever it is, I sure don’t want to meet up with him!”

  Dave frowned at the print. “I don’t think any of us wants to see a thing like this—whatever it is.”

  “Bentley, the cook,” Josh said. “Remember, he told us there were strange things on the Isle of Mordor. I don’t like the looks of that.”

  “Let’s get back to camp,” Dave said. “I don’t like being out in the open like this.”

  At the campsite, Wash said, “I think I’m gonna find me a different place to sleep tonight.”

  “Like where?” Dave demanded.

  “Like up in a tree somewhere. Way up.” He pointed at a tree where there were huge branches. “Maybe I’ll climb up there and sleep.”

  “You’d fall out and break your neck,” Dave said in disgust. “We’ll be all right tonight. And we’ll keep a sharp eye out tomorrow. We ought to be at the village in another two or three days.”

  But late that night Reb heard a strange thrashing about as if trees were being shoved aside, and Wash whispered, “You sure we don’t want to go climb that tree, Reb? I don’t want that big thing to come visiting.”

  “Aw, I’ll pop him off with my slingshot.” Later, however, he looked up at the tree and said, “Before this thing is over, we might all be up a tree, Wash.”

  3

  The Lost World

  I don’t know how long we can keep going like this,” Dave said, gazing out across the swamplike territory that stretched before them.

  The Sleepers had been traveling for two days, and the going had been difficult. At times they had to wade through bogs where the mud sucked up around their ankles. They had seen little game on the way, so food was scarce.