Cave? I have to write about a cave? Oh well, I'll see what I can do I suppose....
Cave The torches turned out to be a bit whiffy; Josie clearly used her cooking oil until she had no choice but to throw it out. I was a little suspicious of that when we'd soaked the rags in it the night before and it had been a reddish-black, but when we lit the torches and the first plumes of black smoke had made us cough before dissipating, there was a strong smell of fried fish. "That's going to confuse anyone coming in and out of there after us," said Ben. "Wonder when we get fried fish from Josie?" "I didn't see any fish in the gulch," said Jimmy. "You think she gets them from round here?" "If she doesn't then I'm not eating them, fried or boiled or whatever," I said. "The sea's hundreds of miles away." We swept the torches inside the cave, and when nothing went boom Ben suggested that we draw straws to see who would go in first. He pulled some of his matches out, broke one in half, and then offered them round. Exactly as I expected, Jimmy got the short one. He huffed and puffed just a little, but then he lay down and shimmied under the overhang, and Ben passed a torch through to him, and then we waited. "Can you hear me?" His voice was faint, but clear. "Ayup," said Ben. "You're not loud though." "Come on through," said Jimmy. "There's not much here, but you probably want to see what there is." We looked around, making sure that no-one was heading in our direction, but the mountain-side was quiet and still, so we shimmied under ourselves, Ben going first and me second. The rock overhang dipped down a bit, so that it got just a little tight in there going in, but then the cave opened out. Jimmy was stood in the near-centre of the cave holding his torch up high. It's light cast dancing shadows around the cave, but illuminated some copper tubes that wound in and around some copper cannisters and cylinders, and there was a metal bucket sitting overturned on a wooden bench nearby. Firewood, neatly corded and stacked, was against the wall, and there was a small wooden crate holding kindling -- sawdust, wood shavings and bits of old paper. On the other side of the cave was an opening in the wall that looked rather like something had split the rock; it was sharply triangular and the edges were stepped as though long strips of rock had peeled away. There was only darkness beyond it, which I suppose was to be expected. Against the wall between these two things were several more wooden crates, and when Ben wandered over to look in them, he didn't sound surprised when he said, "bottles." "A still," I said. "Moonshine or rotgut, I guess." "Not a bad place to hide it," said Ben. "We were hunting for a hiding place and we could have gone past it. But it's not exactly a city of gold, is it?" "If the city of gold was that close to Elizabethtown I think they'd all be gold-miners," I said. "I'm slightly happier that there's no bones in here." "Bones?" Jimmy's face creased slightly, and he looked around sharply, almost nervously. "Why would there be bones?" "We're supposed to be looking for a chupacapra," I reminded him. "Bones would tell us that there either was one, or that this is where the locals were intending to kill us." Jimmy shuddered. "You keep talking like you think that is their plan," he said.
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Cave? I have to write about a cave? Oh well, I'll see what I can do I suppose....
Cave
The torches turned out to be a bit whiffy; Josie clearly used her cooking oil until she had no choice but to throw it out. I was a little suspicious of that when we'd soaked the rags in it the night before and it had been a reddish-black, but when we lit the torches and the first plumes of black smoke had made us cough before dissipating, there was a strong smell of fried fish.
"That's going to confuse anyone coming in and out of there after us," said Ben. "Wonder when we get fried fish from Josie?"
"I didn't see any fish in the gulch," said Jimmy. "You think she gets them from round here?"
"If she doesn't then I'm not eating them, fried or boiled or whatever," I said. "The sea's hundreds of miles away."
We swept the torches inside the cave, and when nothing went boom Ben suggested that we draw straws to see who would go in first. He pulled some of his matches out, broke one in half, and then offered them round. Exactly as I expected, Jimmy got the short one. He huffed and puffed just a little, but then he lay down and shimmied under the overhang, and Ben passed a torch through to him, and then we waited.
"Can you hear me?" His voice was faint, but clear.
"Ayup," said Ben. "You're not loud though."
"Come on through," said Jimmy. "There's not much here, but you probably want to see what there is."
We looked around, making sure that no-one was heading in our direction, but the mountain-side was quiet and still, so we shimmied under ourselves, Ben going first and me second. The rock overhang dipped down a bit, so that it got just a little tight in there going in, but then the cave opened out.
Jimmy was stood in the near-centre of the cave holding his torch up high. It's light cast dancing shadows around the cave, but illuminated some copper tubes that wound in and around some copper cannisters and cylinders, and there was a metal bucket sitting overturned on a wooden bench nearby. Firewood, neatly corded and stacked, was against the wall, and there was a small wooden crate holding kindling -- sawdust, wood shavings and bits of old paper.
On the other side of the cave was an opening in the wall that looked rather like something had split the rock; it was sharply triangular and the edges were stepped as though long strips of rock had peeled away. There was only darkness beyond it, which I suppose was to be expected. Against the wall between these two things were several more wooden crates, and when Ben wandered over to look in them, he didn't sound surprised when he said, "bottles."
"A still," I said. "Moonshine or rotgut, I guess."
"Not a bad place to hide it," said Ben. "We were hunting for a hiding place and we could have gone past it. But it's not exactly a city of gold, is it?"
"If the city of gold was that close to Elizabethtown I think they'd all be gold-miners," I said. "I'm slightly happier that there's no bones in here."
"Bones?" Jimmy's face creased slightly, and he looked around sharply, almost nervously. "Why would there be bones?"
"We're supposed to be looking for a chupacapra," I reminded him. "Bones would tell us that there either was one, or that this is where the locals were intending to kill us."
Jimmy shuddered. "You keep talking like you think that is their plan," he said.
Greg - I'm sure it was a terrible burden to bear, but I'm glad you managed...
That opening sounds rather claustrophobic. I expect that feeling will only intensify with further caving.
Intrigued by the discovery of the still, by the way.
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