Sam coughed and kept his eyes shut against the dust, feeling about for his torch. He felt the base of a cannon, which he traced blindly with his hands, feeling the way to the open cannon hatch. He stuck his head out, breathing in the clearer air outside the ship.
‘Sam!’ Tobias said urgently but quietly for fear of triggering a cave-in. ‘Are you alright?’
Sam nodded his head, still settling his heart-rate and breathing. The white-grey dust cascaded from his hair and face with the movement. He continued to suck deeply at the fresh air outside the ship.
‘I fell through the deck …’ Sam said.
‘Yes, we heard,’ Maria said, halfway up the rope net. ‘I’ll come up to your level, climb through a cannon hatch.’
‘Go slowly,’ Sam replied. ‘The air’s thick inside here, dust everywhere. Can’t hardly see, let alone breathe.’
Tobias stayed down below, rummaging through his dive pack and pulling out some stick flares. He broke one and set it upright into the sand, the cave illuminated in its bright red glow.
‘I’ll come up in a minute,’ he said, and he once again held his torch to help Maria with her climb up the net. Maria fitted easily through the first cannon hatch, but she quickly reappeared, leaning out and coughing against the dust-storm still inside. She shone her flashlight down over the net for Tobias to make his ascent. Sam watched as the rope net gave out under Tobias’ weight three times, but he eventually made it all the way up to the deck level above.
‘I’ll scout around up here,’ Tobias called down.
‘Stick to the edges,’ Sam yelled out, ‘where the boards will have more support.’
‘Ha, ha,’ Tobias said with a mock laugh. ‘You two work from the bottom deck up. The Gear could be anywhere but keep a look out for navigational equipment.’
‘On it,’ Sam said, looking down the ship’s length to see Maria still peering out of a hatch like he was. ‘Maria, can you remember where to search for the Gear from your dream?’
‘Not exactly—it looked like a stateroom, but that could be anywhere.’
‘OK. Well, you check that way and I’ll go down here,’ Sam suggested, pointing to the back of the ship.
‘Sure,’ Maria replied, disappearing for a moment, and then emerging again. ‘The dust has nearly settled.’
‘And tell me if you see anything that might be recent,’ Maria said to them. ‘Any sign of my papa.’
‘Got it,’ Sam said.
Sam shone his torch around the ship. He could not see Maria up ahead inside the lower gun level through the haze, but could easily make out the beam of light from her torch sweeping around. Sam inched towards the stern. There were large cannonballs in neat rows in wooden holders, timber crates and lots of tools, and a wooden wall with a door that creaked open.
They put this in a cave to weather out a storm, and what—just left it here? It makes no sense. I mean, where would the crew go without a boat?
By the light of the torch, Sam could see that he was in a storeroom. There were empty barrels and caskets, sacks of dried beans petrified with age, and jars and bowls scattered all over the floor.
The far wall had another door, which led to a room with two smaller cannons, pointing out of the back of the boat. He pushed open a hatch and could see outside to the little rocky outcrop from where they’d come. The flare continued to burn and light up the cave. Beyond the tranquil pool of water, the caved-in part of the wall loomed up into the darkness. The more Sam stared from this closer vantage point, the more detail he could make out. Timbers stretched from one side of the rocky stone wall to the other, tethered together with ropes. Smaller boulders, stones and mortar filled the gaps making up the wall.
That part of the wall looks like it’s man-made.
‘Guess that accounts for the missing masts,’ Maria said, standing next to Sam.
‘Why would they do that?’ Sam said.
‘Run their ship aground in here and then make sure it’s hidden away?’ Maria said.
Sam nodded. ‘And spend all that time and effort to block up the entrance. Even with a full crew, that would take days, weeks maybe.’
‘It’s a mystery,’ Maria said, shrugging. She went to a ladder leading up to the deck above. ‘Come on.’
Sam followed her up the ladder to the next gun deck, which was equipped with more small cannons. At the far end of the deck were the crew quarters. Everything in there seemed stripped bare.
‘Looks like the crew took everything they could,’ Maria said. ‘Maybe they hid the ship here so as not to lose it to an enemy, or sink it, and they planned to come back and get it later.’
‘But how did they get away? On another ship?’
‘Maybe. Many of the early explorers and crew would get sick or die, so they probably had more ships than crew for the return voyage. And for some reason, they never came back.’
They walked along the gun deck to the stern, navigating through a jungle of ropes hanging from the ceiling, and then took the stairs to the upper decks. From the main deck, Maria peered down through the Sam-sized hole that ended two decks down.
‘Maybe you’ve been eating too much chocolate,’ Maria said to him with a smile.
‘Hey!’ Sam replied. They headed for the rear cabin, where the door was open and the glow of Tobias’ flashlight was dancing about inside. ‘So you’re saying I’m heavy?’
‘You are the only one who has fallen through the deck.’
‘Yeah, well, that was a weak point in the wood or somethi—’
Sam’s foot shot through another rotted-out timber deck. He delicately pulled it back through the splintered timber, trying not to make it worse for himself. Maria laughed as they entered the small, dark room.
‘This looks like the first-mate’s cabin,’ Tobias said without looking their way. He was studying the contents of a large cabinet. ‘The captain’s cabin is probably beyond that door.’
Sam looked to where Tobias shone his light. ‘So you haven’t been through there?’ he asked.
‘It’s locked,’ Tobias said. ‘I’m looking around for a key or something we can use to—’
There was an almighty crash and Tobias and Sam snapped their heads around in unison, in time to see Maria kick the door off its hinges.
They both looked at her, speechless.
Maria smiled sweetly. ‘We want to get in, don’t we?’