فصل 59

CHAPTER 59

THE CAVE

CHEEKY O’NEAL STOPPED in front of the cave. Water gushed from the mouth and tumbled down the mountainside.

“It’s in there,” he told Nerezza. “About a hundred feet. The stream curves to the right, and then there’s a pool. It glows. It’s at the bottom of the pool.”

Nerezza nodded. “We’ll set up here,” he shouted to his men, the hole beneath his wooden nose whistling. “Put the crates over there. You two, put on the suits. Make sure every inch of your skin is covered, if you want to come back out of the cave.”

The men, though exhausted from climbing the mountainside in the mud and rain, set to work.

“The pool is deep,” O’Neal said quietly to Nerezza. “Fifteen, twenty feet.”

“We have rubber hoses,” said Nerezza. “They can breathe through those.”

“It won’t be easy for them, working in those suits,” said O’Neal. “And if a hose kinks while they’re down there …”

“We have more men,” said Nerezza.

“What about the children?”

Nerezza turned his attention to Little Scallop, Slightly, Curly, Tootles, and the twins. They were wet, mud-covered, exhausted, and thoroughly miserable from being half dragged, half shoved up the mountainside, tied together like mules.

“They could still be of value to us. Have the men tie them to that tree over there. Nice and tight. That way, they’ll be close at hand if we need them. If we don’t, we can deal with them later.”

“You mean let them go?”

Nerezza looked at O’Neal.

“I didn’t say that,” he said.