Medusa

‘I thought I heard somebody call out,’ I said. ‘And before that there was something like the murmur of voices. It could have been the sea. Or it could have been squatters.’ And I started to tell him about the villa near Binicalaf Nou.

‘Voices,’ he said. ‘That’s what you heard. There’s somebody in there. I came up to warn you.’ Instead of waiting in the bush-shadowed dark of that track, he and Soo had decided to drive down to the cove. They had left the car and were walking down through the loose sand of the beach towards the sea when they had seen a light on the cliff face away to the left. ‘We were just at the point where somebody had made a little trough in the rock and put up a notice to say the water in it was from a spring and good to drink. You know where I mean?’

‘Yes, of course. But where exactly was the light? In one of the cave entrances?’

‘Yes, and it wasn’t there long. It wasn’t very bright either, more like a hurricane lamp, or even a candle. A slightly yellowish light, and low down, only a little above the sea.’

I asked him whether it could have been the riding light of a ship, or perhaps the masthead light of a sailing boat, but he said definitely not. With the moon so bright it would have been impossible for them not to have seen a vessel if there had been one there. ‘Even with the cliff face in shadow, the dark hole where we saw the light was plainly visible. And then suddenly it wasn’t there any more.’ He didn’t know whether it had been snuffed out, switched off, or whether somebody had moved it away from the aperture. ‘I was looking seaward at the time, so was Soo. We both thought somebody must be signalling a boat in through the entrance. But there was nothing coming into the cove. Then, when I looked back at the cave, it was gone. That’s when I decided to come up here and warn you. They’re in one of the caves, but whether it’s this one …’

‘Only one way to find out.’ I started wriggling through again, using my elbows, but he stopped me.

‘No. If they knew we were here …’ could see his face in the diffused light of our torches. It was shining with sweat and his mouth was moving uncontrollably.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘Nothing. It’s just …’ He reached out, gripping hold of my shoulder. ‘Leave it till morning, man. Please. Then we can come back — with one or two of your employees, or the police. If you go in now — ’ He shook his head, his voice trembling.

Christ! The man was scared. ‘They’re only squatters,’ I told him. ‘Nothing to worry about. And if this is the cave they’re in, then they’ll have heard us. I’m going in,’ I said again. ‘Soon find out if there’s anyone here or not.’

‘What about your wife? And Petra here? If they know you’re in the cave …’ He stopped there, the rest of his words bitten back and his face set. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll come with you.’

‘You don’t have to.’

‘Yes, I do. I’ll come with you,’ he said again, his voice quite obstinate now. He seemed suddenly to have made up his mind, and when I suggested he go back to the car and wait with Soo, he shook his head. ‘If you’re going to try and reach the cliff entrance, then I’m coming with you. It’s my duty.’ It seemed an odd way of putting it, but I didn’t think about it then. I was already working my way in over the roof fall and he was coming after me headfirst.

The fall was only about ten metres through and then we were crouched low and moving down a steep incline, the breeze quite strong on our faces and our torches showing a low arched tunnel swinging away to the right. As soon as we rounded the bend we could see the cliff-face entrance, a pale rectangle of moonlight, and we could stand upright, for here, at the sea-worn end, the cave was much larger. There were camp beds ranged against the walls, four of them with sleeping bags, wooden packing cases for tables and seats and a paraffin stove that looked as though it had come out of some derelict fishing boat. The stove was for heating as well as cooking, and there were dishcloths, a couple of shirts too, hung on a line above the pipe that carried the fumes out to the cliff face. The whole place was equipped for living in, quite comfortably equipped, and propped against the wall was a heavy timber frame covered with plywood that had been tailored to fit the entrance. It had a little window and great iron bolts that slotted into sockets drilled in the rock so that even in a sou’westerly gale the place would be quite snug.