Bushes and trees hindered their progress as Annabelle and Josh moved upward along a narrowing path. Sounds of birds escalated as they moved away from the water. Annabelle explained that they were hearing gulls, razorbills, gannets and puffins. “I think there’s a marsh somewhere on this island and a good variety of birds.”
Josh lost his footing and Annabelle glanced back to see if he was alright. He had to use his hands to grab rocks along the way, while his partner in this new adventure moved deftly up the side of the mountain.
After about twenty minutes of climbing, Annabelle stopped. “The cave is just around this bend. Stop here.”
She took the spyglass from her bag and extended it to look at the beach. They were safely hidden behind tall bushes.
“They’ve just reached the shore. Don’t seem to be in much of a hurry, so they must not have seen us.” Although she spoke English, she had an accent.
“Italian?” Josh questioned.
“What?” Annabelle said, looking confused.
Josh continued, “Italian. You seem to have an Italian accent.”
Annabelle answered. “Yes, an Italian accent. I was born in Italy, but grew up in Portugal. I speak Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French and English. All quite well, I might add. We live in Spain right now. I’ll explain where we are and what we need to do when we are safely in the cave. I will tell you though, that Mummy and Papa and my uncle are getting ready to sail with Christopher Columbus in three weeks. We were picking up supplies when these cursed pirates surrounded us and boarded our sloop. Normally, we can outrun them as our vessel is quite swift, but the wind died down and we were dead in the water.”
“Christopher Columbus?” Josh questioned, eyes wide open.
“Yes, yes, Christopher Columbus. You’ve heard of him?”
“Definitely. Everyone’s heard of him. He one of the most famous people in history.”
Annabelle looked quite pleased. “How wonderful. I just knew this expedition of his to find a short route to the spice islands would be successful. Mummy and Papa will be so excited to hear this.”
“Well, that’s not exactly where he landed. He found a whole new world. It took more than one expedition.”
Annabelle looked confused again. “Let’s go. We need to get to the cave and hide until dark. I have been lucky so far. The pirates that brought us to the island must still be asleep from all the grog they drank last night. I have not been missed yet. We have to save Mummy and get her to one of the ships they left behind. We’ll talk once we’re safely in the cave.”
Josh followed along, still wondering where he fit into the plan. He was also thinking he didn’t think being in a cave would be all that exciting or safe.
As they reached the top of the mountain, they proceeded along a path that led into the shadows. Josh put on his jacket which he had removed on the hike up. Annabelle stopped short and Josh nearly ran into her.
“Here we are.” Annabelle announced.
Josh looked around. “And where might that be?”
“At the cave!”
Again, Josh looked around. “I don’t see anything.”
Annabelle laughed and Josh was once again reminded of someone he knew.
“It’s right here.” Annabelle pulled back brush that obscured the cave entrance.
“Wow, how’d you find this place?”
“Wow?” Annabelle repeated. “Strange word. When I escaped from the pirates last night, I found my way up here since we are not far from their camp.” She was pointing down where Josh could see a curl of smoke rising from a close cropping of trees. “It was windy and the bushes had blown aside. Otherwise I would never have found it. Come along.”
The cave was cold, damp and dark. Annabelle struck a match she had retrieved from her sack and lit a torch that had been laying on the dirt floor of the cave. The air smelled of oil.
“Let’s move further into the cave. I found this torch last night. It means that the cave was used by someone.
Hard-packed dirt made up the floor of the cave. As they walked, Josh could feel small pebbles beneath his shoes. As they moved to the interior, the beauty of the place revealed itself. Many shapes of stalactites hung from the high roof while tall stalagmites rose up from the floor. Colors bounced off the walls as Annabelle led the way, holding her torch high above her.
“There’s rumored to be a lake in one of the caves on this island.” Annabelle said as they slowly made their way over the uneven rock formations on the floor of the cave. “I have never explored any caves before. Usually, it’s too dangerous.”
Josh repeated, “Dangerous?”
“Yes, pirates. They use these caves as their dens between voyages out to sea.”
Josh questioned, “How do you know that those pirates won’t be coming here?”
Annabelle looked over her shoulder at Josh and said, “I don’t. But the weather is quite mild and they have their camp set up already.”
Josh continued to follow Annabelle further into the cave. He didn’t like confined spaces, but the cave proved to be huge and spacious. They moved from one large chamber to another, connected by sizable openings.
After about fifteen minutes, the cave seemed to be shrinking and the rocks and formations lost their luster.
Josh whispered, “Annabelle, don’t you think we’ve gone far enough?”
“Oh, my, yes.” Annabelle sounded surprised to hear him. “I was taken up with the beauty of the cave and my thoughts about how to save Mummy.”
“Let’s sit here on these flat rocks and I’ll tell you about our experience.” Annabelle motioned to several rocks that stacked up to look like a bench.