B.D. REEVES

B.D. REEVES

An adventure story writtenespecially for my friend Cavell

with lots of love from Elizabeth

xxxx

www.myveryowngift.co.uk

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Chapter One

It had been a beautiful start to the summer. Elizabeth and Cavell had spent endless days happily playing together. Cavell was one of

Elizabeth’s best friends and the pair loved to play together whenever they could. So when Elizabeth’s parents asked her if she’d like to spend a few days at the beach with Cavell and her family towards the end of the summer holidays, Elizabeth had been absolutely thrilled.

The families had arrived at the two tiny, ancient stone cottages in Sennen Cove the day before and had quickly settled in. The cottages clung together at the edge of the pretty Cornish village looking out towards the beautiful sandy beach and sapphire blue sea beyond. The holiday brochure had explained that the cottages were hundreds of years old and had once been used by smugglers to bring their stolen goods in from the sea via secret passages. It all sounded very mysterious and quite thrilling to Elizabeth and Cavell who were keen to explore as soon as possible.

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The cottages huddled together looking much the same as they would have done hundreds of years ago. Inside however, an internal wall had been knocked down to create one large sitting room that was shared by the two buildings, effectively turning the two cottages into one. It was the perfect arrangement and, even if the lowered doorways did occasionally bash an unsuspecting adult on the head, it seemed to be largely appreciated by everyone.

Just after tea on the second day, an ice-cream van pulled up outside the cottages playing its jangly tune. Elizabeth and Cavell pleaded for a lolly. After much discussion, their parents handed them some loose change and watched from the sitting room window as the girls queued excitedly for their treats. When they returned, Elizabeth and Cavell offered the change to their parents who smiled kindly and told them they could keep the money for their piggy banks.The girls were delighted and had pocketed it immediately!

Once they had finished their lollies, the girls decided to play a game of hide and seek. Cavell offered to count to twenty first whilst Elizabeth

scampered off to find somewhere to conceal herself. The cottage had lots of interesting nooks and crannies to hide in but Elizabeth had spotted a door next to the pantry earlier on and decided that now would be the perfect time to find out what lay behind it.

She twisted the knob and heaved open the heavy door to find a set of stone steps leading down to a darkened cellar area beneath. Elizabeth flicked a switch just inside the door and a bare bulb sprung to life overhead illuminating the staircase and making the cellar below look a lot less scary.

As she hesitated uncertainly in the doorway, she heard Cavell counting from the hallway “thirteen, fourteen...” and knew she would have to hide herself soon or risk being found instantly. She carefully made her way down the steps, brushing aside the cobwebs as she went.

It was obvious that the cellar had not seen any visitors in a very long time. The room itself was rather small and was piled to the ceiling with all manner of storage boxes and crates. The air smelled stale and dust carpeted every surface.

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Spiders had created their delicate webs wherever they could and the cellar felt quite creepy. In the far corner stood several large barrels; The type that might be used to store beer. As Elizabeth squeezed herself in behind them and crouched low to the stone floor, she heard Cavell calling from above,

“Twenty, coming, ready or not!” followed by the sound of her friend’s footsteps on the flagstones overhead.

It wasn’t long before Cavell discovered the open door to the cellar. She peered down the stone staircase and called tentatively,

“Elizabeth, are you down there?” not really expecting to receive a reply. When her call was met with silence, Cavell decided to take a look for herself and carefully began making her way into the unknown room below.

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Chapter Two

Cavell didn’t have to search for long before she discovered her friend crouching behind the barrels in the corner. “Found

you!” she called with a giggle and the two girls hugged each other in delight.

“Isn’t this room amazing?” Elizabeth said, taking in her surroundings. “I bet this is where the smugglers used to hide their treasures in the olden days!”

“Yes!” breathed Cavell, her eyes alight with wonder. “Let’s explore and see if we can find any!”

“Good idea,” Elizabeth agreed. However, as she tried to squeeze from her hiding place, Elizabeth’s top snagged on something behind her.

“Oh Cavell, I’m stuck and I can’t get out! Please can you help me?” she cried.

Cavell peered behind Elizabeth and exclaimed, “Your top is hooked around a door handle! Let me see if I can unhook it.” Once Cavell had freed Elizabeth’s top, the two girls examined the ancient looking handle. It was attached to a small

door buried deep within the wall. They turned to each other, their eyes filled with excitement. “Shall we try the handle and find out where the door leads to?” Cavell asked excitedly.

“Do you think we should?” Elizabeth replied warily.

“Yes! It could be where the smugglers stored their treasure. Maybe they left some behind – come on!” Cavell said enthusiastically.

Elizabeth tried the handle but it was stuck fast. “Oh, it’s too difficult!” she wailed. “I can’t do it!”

“Let me try,” offered Cavell but she too was unable to make it budge.

“I know, why don’t we try and do it together? We’ll be stronger if we work as a team,” Elizabeth explained sensibly. Cavell grinned in agreement.

They both gripped the handle tightly and slowly, slowly it began to turn and sure enough, the door creaked open.

On the other side, a dark tunnel carved into the rock sloped away from them. The familiar tang of the sea filled the air. In the distance, the girls could see a mysterious orange glow and

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hear the faint sound of gruff voices.“Shall we go and see what’s down there?”

Elizabeth asked Cavell nervously, half hoping that her friend would say no.

“Yes! This could lead us to the smugglers’ treasure!” Cavell exclaimed. “Maybe that’s why the tunnel is orange at the end – perhaps there’s a crate of gold down there!”

“Ooooh,” Elizabeth gasped, all fear forgotten. “Come on, let’s go and find out!”

The girls stepped into the dark tunnel, both feeling a little afraid but neither one wanting to admit it to the other. They held hands and crept towards the light but Elizabeth tripped on the rough surface and nearly fell, making the coins in her pocket jangle noisily. The voices up ahead stopped and for a few seconds, everything fell silent. Elizabeth and Cavell held their breath; were they about to be discovered?

“What was that Jack?” said a man’s deep voice ahead of them.

“Probably just bats Georgie. Come on, give me an ‘and ‘ere will ya?” the second man replied irritably.

The conversation ahead of them resumed and the girls looked at each other, relieved not to have been discovered by the scary sounding men.

“Shall we go back, Cavell?” Elizabeth asked in a shaky whisper. “I’m a bit frightened.”

“No, we’ll be fine if we’re quiet,” Cavell said reassuringly. “Let’s hold our coins in our hands so they don’t make a noise. If we go back now, we’ll miss the chance of finding some real treasure,” Cavell pointed out to her friend.

So, each holding their change from earlier in a tightly balled fist, they crept along the passageway quietly towards the ever brightening orange glow feeling the excitement growing inside them.

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Chapter Three

There was a sharp bend at the end of the tunnel. This prevented the girls from seeing who or what lay ahead but also rather

helpfully hid the two of them from view. The men’s voices were now just a few metres away so the girls carefully peeked around the bend of the tunnel, anxious not to be seen. They saw that it opened out into a cave with a gaping mouth which looked out over the vast, glittering ocean. A huge orange sun was blazing its way south to the horizon bathing the cave in its beautiful amber glow.

The voices belonged to three stocky men who were busily unloading crates from a small old-fashioned rowing boat. The men had their backs to the girls and were deep in conversation as they heaved one crate after the other from the boat and stacked them in an untidy pile alongside. The girls turned towards each other and both startled with shock, Cavell clapping her hands over her mouth so as not to make a sound.

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“You’re wearing funny clothes!” Elizabeth gasped, nodding towards Cavell’s old-fashioned brown smock and pinafore.

“I’m wearing funny clothes? What about you?” Cavell replied looking utterly confused. “What’s happening Elizabeth? I don’t understand how we could both be wearing these weird things when we didn’t change our clothes!” Cavell wailed.

A second later, each girl was grabbed at the back of the neck by a fierce-looking bearded man who scowled at them and lifted them from their feet as they screamed in terror.

“What do we have ‘ere then eh?” he roared, “a couple of pairs of spying eyes ready to report our business to them what ‘as no business knowing it!” The man’s breath reeked of old tobacco, his clothes of rotten fish and his hands, as big as dinner plates, were shaking the girls until their teeth clattered.

“We’re not spying on you!” protested Elizabeth indignantly. “We’re staying at the cottages and we found this tunnel and thought it might lead us to some treasure! We’re really sorry. Please can we go back home now?” She sobbed with big, fat

tears rolling down her cheeks, not feeling nearly as brave.

“You ain’t staying at them cottages! The old widow Murgatroyd lives in the one what you came from and Sam ‘ere be her neighbour on the other side! You ain’t lyin’ to me girl! Who sent ya? Who’s paying ya both to spy on us!” the man demanded shaking the girls again for good measure.

“Go easy on ‘em Jack,” the third man chipped in, sounding slightly more kindly than the other two who were both snarling menacingly at the girls. “Them’s only kids, what ‘arm can they do?”

“I ain’t taking no chances ‘ere Sam,” said Jack as he reached for a length of thick rope from the boat. “I’m taking ‘em out to sea and dumping ‘em overboard. Let’s see how much they wanna say ‘bout what they seen ‘ere tonight when them’s in Davey Jones’ locker!”

Neither girl knew what Davey Jones’ locker was but they did know that it was starting to get dark now beyond the cave and the prospect of being taken out to sea and dumped overboard was utterly terrifying.

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Jack looped the scratchy rope around the pair and tightened it roughly, pinning the girls together and making Elizabeth drop the coins that, until that moment had still been clasped tightly in her hand.

“What’s this then eh?” demanded the man whose name must be Georgie, swooping upon the coins. “These the guineas you been paid for spying on us eh?” he asked squinting at them nastily.

“That’s my change from the ice cream van!” Elizabeth challenged bravely. “Give it back!”

Georgie was peering at the coins strangely as Jack pushed the girls into the small boat. It began to rock precariously.

“Forget Davey Jones’ locker Jack,” Georgie cried in obvious fear. “What we got ‘ere’s a pair of witches! Take a look!” and he tossed a coin to the first man who snatched it from the air.

“That ain’t no guinea Georgie! I ain’t never seen a coin like that before,” Jack said scratching his head in confusion. “Some kind of foreign thing I’d wager. It ain’t got the head of our king on it anyways so it ain’t one of ours that’s for sure.”

“The year Jack, take a look at the year!” Georgie cried in exasperation.

Jack peered at the coin again “2014? Well now, how can that be when we’s only in the year of our Lord 1742?” he frowned trying to put it all together.

“Witchcraft Jack!” Georgie whispered, glancing fearfully at the two girls. “Them two don’t need to be paying no visit to Davey Jones’ locker. What they need is to be burned at the stake!” Let’s get ‘em round to the mainland and get it done!”

With that, the three men leapt into the small boat with the girls and paddled furiously out of the cave.

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Chapter Four

Elizabeth and Cavell clung to each other in terror. How on earth had they managed to find themselves back in the year 1742?

What were the men talking about witches for? And surely they didn’t plan to burn the two of them at the stake? They had no idea what was going on but they both knew that they had never been so frightened in all of their lives!

As the boat emerged from the cave into an ever darkening world, the girls searched the shore for a sign of familiarity but found none. Aside from a handful of cottages and what looked like an old coaching inn, the area they were approaching was deserted. No sign of the Post Office they had passed on their way into town the previous day or of the village shops. It was hard to believe they were in Sennen Cove at all as nothing seemed as it had earlier that day. There weren’t even any street lights!

“What’s going to happen to us Elizabeth?” Cavell asked fighting back tears. “I’m so scared, I

just want to go home!”“I don’t know Cavell. I’m really scared too,”

Elizabeth replied with a forlorn sob.As the boat rocked its way towards the shore,

the third man quietly watched the girls from beneath dark bushy brows. Sam was not a good man; he was a thief and a scoundrel but he would never knowingly harm a child. He couldn’t explain where these girls had come from but in his heart, he knew that they were not witches. Sam shuddered for he feared that their wrongful deaths could leave them all cursed and that was something he for one was keen to avoid. What they needed Sam decided was some time to think about what to do with the youngsters before they were disposed of in a manner they could live to regret.

As the boat scraped against the sand signalling their arrival on the beach, Sam leapt from the boat and dragged it onto the shore.

“Let me deal with these girls,” he offered. “We got booty in them there caves what’s gonna be gone before sun up if we don’t take it in. Why don’t you sort that out and I’ll sort them out,”

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he said darkly, gesturing to Elizabeth and Cavell who were still huddled together in the bottom of the boat. “It ain’t gonna take more than one to do what needs to be done ‘ere,” he added. “I’ll see ya in the Inn later!”

The two other men nodded before roughly grabbing the girls and throwing them over the side of the boat towards Sam. Then, using their oars, they pushed the vessel back into the deeper water and the shadowy boat made its way back towards the cave again.

“Oh, please don’t hurt us!” squealed the girls weeping inconsolably. “We promise we’re not witches and we’re not spies! We just want to go home! Please help us!”

“I’m not sure you is witches and I don’t think you is spies either but I can’t make out just what you is or what to do with ya. So, I’m gonna take you to the old widow Murgatroyd tonight whilst I has a think about it. I’ll be back to see ya again in the morning!” Sam added ominously.

The girls were dragged up a dark incline towards two cottages; The one on the right was in darkness, but the other had candles flickering

within. Outside, Sam pulled a knife from his belt and slashed through the rope that bound the girls.

It was only when Sam hammered on the door of the cottage on the left that Cavell suddenly recognised their surroundings.

“This is Smugglers’ Cottage Elizabeth!” she whispered urgently.

“Oh my goodness, you’re right!” Elizabeth agreed. “Whatever is happening to us?”

Just then, the door cracked open a fraction and an elderly lady with a kindly face framed by wispy white hair appeared in the opening.

“Who goes there?” she asked into the darkness.“Widow Murgatroyd,” Sam began “It is I,

Sam from next door. I found these two crying for their muvvers nearby but they ain’t able to tell me where to return ‘em for the night. Would you be so kind as to keep ‘em ‘ere this night and I’ll come by for ‘em again on the morrow?”

“Of course,” the widow beamed, opening the door wider for the girls to enter. “Come inside me dears and let’s warm you through with some broth.”

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Chapter Five

The cottage looked nothing like it had when they had been there that morning. It was lit purely by candles which created flickering

pools of light but also darkened corners which the girls found scary. The hallway was narrow and there was no large sitting room to connect it to the cottage next door. At the end of the hallway was the door to the kitchen and pantry which was, broadly speaking, the same room as they had played in that morning. Only, this morning’s cottage had a lovely fitted kitchen which was painted cream and cornflower blue whereas this one simply had a large oak table in the centre of the room and a fireplace which was hung with all manner of herbs and copper pans. In the corner, stood an old-fashioned dresser on which stood row upon row of tiny bottles hand-labelled in the widow’s spidery writing.

The widow sat the girls at her table and ladled some steaming broth into wooden bowls. Elizabeth was about to protest that she didn’t

She looked steadily back at Sam with bright, blue, crinkly eyes and assured him “They’ll be safe as houses ‘ere tonight Sam, don’t you worry,” and then, with a protective arm around each girl, she ushered them inside, closing the door behind them.

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like soup but the delicious smell of it made her tummy rumble and she and Cavell tucked in hungrily. Between mouthfuls, the girls told the widow Murgatroyd of their adventures that day. When they explained that Smugglers’ cottage was actually the same cottage they had been staying in for their holiday but in the year 2014, the old lady raised an eyebrow and smiled, seeming strangely unsurprised.

As the girls ate and talked, the widow took two small muslin squares and added some lavender and chamomile to the centre of each before tying them up with a short length of string and attaching a hand-written label. Then she took some fresh milk from the pantry and warmed it in a pan over the fire. She added some carefully chosen herbs to the mixture from her vast supply and offered a cupful to Elizabeth and Cavell.

“Drink this me dears,” she said soothingly “and hold these within your hands” she added handing them each a lavender and chamomile pouch. “They’ll help ye sleep and bring ye sweet dreams. On the morrow, all will be well in your world again.” She smiled kindly at the girls who

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Chapter Six

The next day dawned slowly and painfully for Elizabeth. Her whole body ached from the ordeal of the day before and her eyes

felt scratchy and sore from her endless crying. She didn’t want to open them and discover the horror of being away from her family again and in a time where there was no chance of ever being reunited with them. Once more, she felt the tears welling up and spilling down her cheeks.

“What’s the matter Elizabeth?” asked Cavell, “Why are you crying? Did you have a nightmare?”

Elizabeth’s eyes snapped open and she gasped as she realised that she was back in the bedroom that she shared with Cavell in the holiday cottage once more. She leapt from her bed and threw her arms around her friend.

“Oh my goodness Cavell! I had the most awful dream! It felt so real, it was absolutely terrifying!” Elizabeth exclaimed.

“I had a really frightening dream too!” Cavell said. “You were with me and we ended up back

sipped on the sweet, milky mixture and soon felt their eyelids growing heavy. As they rested their heads on their forearms on the tabletop and closed their eyes, widow Murgatroyd sang them a lilting lullaby:

Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,Smiles await you when you rise.Sleep, pretty darlings,Do not cryAnd I will sing a lullaby,Lullaby, lullaby,Sleep, pretty darlings,Do not cry,And I will sing a lullaby.

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in the year 1742 and we were taken by smugglers who wanted to burn us because they thought we were witches!” Cavell’s eyes filled with tears at the recollection.

“Yes! That was exactly what happened in my dream!” Elizabeth agreed. “How could we both dream the same dream on the same night?

Maybe the tunnel that leads from the cottage to the sea really did take us back in time!”

“Don’t be daft Elizabeth, it was only a dream,” laughed Cavell “Although I don’t think I want to play hide and seek in this cottage again, just in case!” she added playfully.

“No, me neither!” agreed Elizabeth. “Come on, let’s go and have breakfast and then we can find a new adventure but this time, no smugglers and I think I’d like to stay right here in the year 2014 please!”

The girls laughed and headed downstairs to a new day, neither one of them noticing the small muslin bags of lavender and chamomile that had become entangled in their bedding, each one bearing a hand-written label scrawled with the widow’s spidery writing...

B.D. REEVES

www.myveryowngift.co.uk

When Elizabeth and Cavell went on a seaside holiday with their families, they could never have imagined the adventure that awaited them! An innocent game of hide and seek revealed a secret passage in the cellar that would lead the girls on a mysterious and thrilling journey back through time.

Would Elizabeth and Cavell ever be able to find their way back to the Smugglers’ Cottage of today and to the safety of their families?