Sam broke the surface of the water and swam over to sit on a rocky outcrop, catching his breath after taking off his air regulator and face mask. Shafts of light pierced the gloom, casting a strange green glow around the cave. The low ceiling was covered in stalactites with steep walls circling all around and a vast tranquil pool in the middle.
He knew they were still underwater—they had emerged into a giant underwater cave in the middle of the sea. Sam pointed his light across the pool to illuminate the other side of the cave. Part of the wall looked to have collapsed in on itself.
‘Dios mió!’ Maria said.
‘It’s incredible!’ Tobias added.
Sam turned around and saw in the midst of the gloom what looked like an ancient pirate ship, marooned on a steep bank of sand.
I don’t believe it … a ship on a beach under the sea?
Sam pulled off his dive gear and stood next to Maria on the rocks opposite the vessel.
‘It really could be an old Spanish galleon,’ Maria said in awe. She shone a flashlight along its keel, sunken into the sand. ‘It looks good as new.’
‘ This is what you dreamed?’ Sam asked.
Maria nodded, her mouth agape.
‘Look here,’ Tobias said, pointing his torch at the sand between the small rock pools that ran along the edge of the cave on the other side.
Sam and Maria hurried over the rocks to join him.
‘Footprints?’ Sam said, looking at them.
Maria crouched down and studied the markings in the sand.
‘My father!’ she said. ‘He must have made it here!’
Sam felt instantly on edge and looked around. There was no sign of anyone else.
Footprints don’t mean it’s her dad. Who else might have been here?
‘Papa!’ Maria called. The sound was gobbled up by the empty space of the huge cave. ‘PAPA!’
There was a rumbling overhead, and dust and debris filtered down from the ceiling near the caved-in section of the far wall.
‘Um, maybe don’t do that again,’ Tobias said quietly and Maria nodded.
‘Where’d you go in your dream?’ Sam asked her.
‘Up there,’ she said, pointing her light up onto the ship at an ancient-looking cargo net made of ropes. ‘I climbed the shrouds.’
Maria said, ‘That’s what they’re called. They hold the masts steady. But see here, they’ve broken away, so now they’re hanging over the hull. Good for climbing up, right?’
Sam looked around. The ceiling was only a few metres from the top of the boat’s deck and there was certainly no room in here for masts.
Where are they?
‘It looks like the boat was stowed away in here, perhaps to weather a storm and it became stuck in here by a cave-in,’ Maria said, shining her torch all about. ‘Let’s get on board.’
‘OK, I’ll give it a try,’ Sam said. He clipped his torch to his belt and reached out to the first rung of rope. The ancient ship felt cold to the touch, the ropes wet and slippery. Sam hoisted himself up onto the first rung which held firm under his weight.
‘Maybe this won’t be so—’
Sam’s foot fell through a rotten rope rung in the ancient shroud net.
‘—bad.’
‘Watch your footing, Sam,’ Maria said, close behind him.
‘Yeah, thanks, nice tip,’ Sam replied. ‘You should take extra care, Tobias.’
‘What are you saying?’ Tobias said with a chuckle.
‘Nothing, you just have the greatest mass of the three of us,’ Sam said, and he heard his old science teacher laughing.
Sam climbed higher until he was level with the first row of cannons. There was another row of hatches above that and then the deck. He flicked on his torch and shone the beam through an open hatch. Inside he could see a long room with a low ceiling. Sam sized up the hatch. He could get through, but it would be a tight squeeze and the timber floor inside might be rotten.
‘Keep climbing!’ Tobias called. ‘Get to the deck.’
Sam looked down and nodded. Tobias stood there with his torch light illuminating the way for Sam to keep climbing up the shroud net. Maria was shining hers around the rocky sand, looking for more footprints.
‘Here I am,’ Sam muttered, ‘climbing aboard a five-hundred-year-old pirate ship in an underwater cave. Another day in the adventures of Sam—’
His hand pulled through a rotten rope and he slipped down before catching himself.
‘—the Great.’
He reached the balustrade at the side of the deck and hauled himself up to it. It seemed sound and he swung his legs around so that he was sitting up then flicked on his torch.
‘Ah, guys …’ Sam said.
‘What do you see?’ Tobias called.
‘Looks old,’ Sam called back. ‘Dry and dusty. Lots of bats were here, I think—now long gone. Maybe there was a small opening somewhere in the cave.’
‘Be careful with your footing,’ Maria called up. ‘The deck may be fragile.’
‘Stick to the edges!’ Tobias said. ‘They’ll be the strongest part.’
‘Got it!’ Sam replied, and he dropped his legs down, his feet crunching through the dry, dusty remains of a long-abandoned but well-used bat toilet. ‘Here I am, on another adventure, ankle deep in centuries-old bat poo …’
‘What’d you say?’ Tobias called.
‘I said,’ Sam called down, shuffling along with his feet, ‘that it seems OK. You guys can come up. I think this is what they call the poop deck.’
Sam went to the side and shone the torch down the rope ladder. Maria put her foot on the first rung, getting ready to climb. He took a step to the side to get a better angle with his light.
CRASH!
Sam fell through the deck.