John Stanley – 28 September 1355

The celebrations were a little premature. There were only four of them and the ball of rock was wedged in position by tons of loose shale. They wasted a lot of time undermining the ball but realized in time that if the ball did move it would probably fall all the way to the valley below. This would mean that the entrance to the cave would be unguarded. This was something they did not want. They therefore excavated around one edge of the ball.

Helios and Selene played their part. Stones were picked laboriously from the ever widening gap between the artificial ball of rock and the adjacent natural cliff face. They ended up piled in a heap on the path. The pile of stones then proved a significant obstacle. John fashioned a makeshift plough to pull stones away down the path after they had been excavated. The use of the ploughs would have been impossible without the availability of such willing and able horses.

As they progressed the work became steadily more dangerous. The cliff face above the cave was unstable. There were inevitably rock falls. On the third day just before the time when they normally ate breakfast there was a major rock fall. Both Thierry and John were partially buried. If Estevan had not been on hand they migh not have been able to extracate themselves. They counted themselves fortunate not to suffer a serious injury. Just as serious was the fact that much of the excavation they had carried out had been refilled.

It was nearly twenty-four hours before they could start digging again. John and Thierry worked together to build a substantial shelter out of tree branches. Then all three men took turns at digging. John found himself begrudgingly admitting that Thierry was certainly not afraid of hard work.

Then on the fifth day Thierry cried out in triumph.’There is a fissure behind here, we must now enlarge the opening.’

Frustratingly it took another full day to achieve the desired opening. They then rebuilt the shelter to ensure that the passageway they had made was safe to access. Once Thierry was inside he lit a flare and the others joined him. The fissure stretched no more than ten feet in front of them but was much wider than they had envisaged it would be. It seemed to terminate in a blank wall. Struggling to overcome their disappointment they progressed towards the far end examining every inch of the walls.

There was increasing evidence that what they saw was man made or at least fashioned by man. The fissure had been opened up to be an almost perfect arch. At either side, hidden from view until the last couple of feet, were two flights of stairs. Both flights led to the same platform. From here it was possible to look back into the arched fissure.

Theirry beamed with delight. ‘It’s a loading bay.’

At the other side of the platform there was another set of steps, this time centrally located, which led down into inky blackness.

They were obviously now in a large cave, which their single flare illuminated very poorly. John lit another flare and was almost immediately rewarded with some reflections. As he turned round and round he became aware the behind them just above the platform was a conspicuous flickering light .

He pointed it out to Thierry, who immediately reached for his compass. ‘Oh!Why am I surprised, the North Star or at least a simulation of it!’

It was Ximene’s turn to shout.She had moved ahead of the others.’Water!’

‘Not just water but an underground lake’ pronounced Thierry, bending down so that he could see the reflection from the water’s surface.

He pointed out that at either side of the central steps the water extended past them to the vertical face of the platform. ‘And this is a dock as well as a loading platform.’

He turned to look at the lake again.’It is very large and the walls of the cave rise directly out of it. It looks as though we will have to swim!’
‘No, I don’t think so.’ said Estevan
‘That’s a big lake and we do not know if there are dangerous currents. How would they ever have got boats up here? If they did use boats they would have to be built in this cave and perhaps sunk after they had been used. But if it was intended to come and get the treasure then there could well be boats pulled out of the water at this side of the lake. We came down these steps because they were in front of us, we should go back to the platform and see if there are other exits!”

John smiled to himself. Estevan was now assuming that there was treasure!

Obviously the other two shared that view. They rushed back up the steps and explored the platform thoroughly. At first they found nothing but then Estevan had another thought.

“We have been provided with the North Star to tell us where north is. Just suppose the angles of the triangle have a meaning in here as well as outside! Theirry can you mark out the line which points towards the church at Brenac?’

Thierry concurred and by the light of the flare marked out the angle on the platform. It was then easy to extend the line until it reached the wall of the cave.

They looked extremely carefully at the point were the line met the wall. Suddenly they could see a hairline crack in the shape of an arch.
‘How has that been done?” John asked. ‘It looks as though a whole section of the cave wall has been cut out and replaced’

He scratched at the area within the arch tentatively with the point of his sword. The point of the sword instantly cut through a waxy covering and on a second thrust cut deep into a soft stone underneath.

They returned outside for more flares and an hour later they had cut through the arch. On the other side of the arch they found a boatyard and harbour. They soon discovered that the harbour gave access to the main lake via a low arch which faced away from the platform and therefore was invisible from both platform and steps.

Pulled up out of the water were half a dozen boats. Theirry made a cursory examination and pronounced them seaworthy.

The boats were mounted on a steep wooden slide. They knocked out chocks which held the boats in position and managed to drag one of them down the ramp and into the water. As Thierry had predicted the boat floated well. They rowed out through the archway onto the main lake and using the North Star and Thierry’s compass headed due south from the steps. They initially worked on the assumption that anything of interest would be found on the north south “Devil’s line”.

The lake proved to be quite narrow and in no time, thanks to Theirry’s navigation, they arrived at another set of steps, almost identical to those on the north side of the lake and above them a platform.

They set off to climb the steps and explore the platform. They soon saw that it was totally different from the platform on the north side. It stretched at least a hundred feet from the platform’s edge and was filled with boxes of every shape and size. John and Thierry managed to prise the lid from one of them, Estevan tackled another and Ximene a third, then another and another.

What they found was the most incredible treasure, gold, silver and jewels. Some of the treasure was in the form of artefacts but most was metal bullion and stones.

Even whilst they were celebrating their success they realized the enormity of their discovery. It was Estevan who voiced their mutual concern.

‘The world is full of people who would kill to take possession of such a treasure.’