Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Jack Ryan's Credits

Jack Ryan and three of his fellow wounded companions were carried to a room at Mellows Grange, where they were immediately and intensively treated. Jack, Ryan, was the worst injured, as rough waves slammed him onto the reef as he jumped into the ocean with a rope tied around his waist.In fact, he was almost dead when his companions brought him back to shore. The brave lad was thus obliged to stay in bed for several days--which made him very irritable.But when he was allowed to sing as long as he liked, he held back the pain, and all day long the farm of Melos resounded with his merry, sonorous voice.But the only thing Jack Ryan took from this adventure was to be more afraid of these ghosts and other goblins, who for their amusement made trouble with the poor world, and who were responsible for the disaster of "Motara".It was difficult to convince Jack Ryan that the Lady of the Lighthouse did not exist, and that the light that had shot so suddenly among the ruins could only be attributed to some physical phenomenon.No reasoning could convince him.His companions were more stubborn in superstition than he was.According to them, one of the ladies of the lighthouse led "Motara" to the coast with malice.As for if you want to punish it with this, you have to punish the storm in the same way!Judges can issue whatever warrants they deem fit.There's no way to imprison a ray of light and chain a fellow out of reach.And, if it must be said, future searches seem, at least on the surface, to justify this superstitious interpretation of things.

Sure enough, the judge responsible for investigating the "Motara" crash came to question various witnesses to the disaster.All agreed that the shipwreck had been caused by the mysterious presence of Mrs. Lighthouse on the ruins of Castle Donald. As one can imagine, it is unlikely that the courts will accept similar grounds for themselves.It is a purely physical phenomenon which arose on these ruins, and in this respect there can be no doubt.But was it accidental or malicious?This is what the judge must seek to prove. The word "malicious" cannot be abused.No need to go back in history to find evidence from Amolek's history.On the coast of Brittany there are many thieves of unowned property who make a living of this, luring ships to the shore to divide up their relics.Sometimes a resinous clump is lit at night to lure a ship into certain channels from which it will never come out again.Sometimes a torch is tied to the horns of a bull, and the torch is allowed to walk freely with the animal, tricking a crew to follow it.These schemes resulted in the inevitable loss of the ship, and the looters profited from it.In order to destroy these barbarous customs, the intervention of the judiciary and severe vigilance had to be relied on.Could it be that this time, a criminal hand is re-emulating the ancient tradition of looting ship relics?

That's what the police think, no matter what Jack Ryan and his gang think.When the latter heard of the investigation, they divided into two factions, some merely shrugging their shoulders, while others, more timidly, declared that supernatural beings would be annoyed and new misfortunes would come. However, the investigation was done very carefully and the police went to Fort Donald where they conducted the most rigorous search ever. The first thing the judge wanted to find out was whether there were any footprints left on the ground that could be attributed to other feet than those of the goblins.There is no way to restore the shallowest of footprints, old or new.However, it had rained overnight and the ground was still quite wet, leaving few footprints.

"Footprints of a goblin!" cried Jack Ryan, when he found that the initial search turned up nothing. "It would be nice to find a house-god's footprints on the swamp water!" This first part of the investigation was therefore fruitless.There may not be much more to be gained in the second part, either. It concerns, indeed, how the fire was kindled on the top of the ancient tower, what matter provided the combustion, and, lastly, what remnants of this combustion left behind. On the first point, there was nothing, neither match stubs nor old scraps of paper with which to light any kind of flame.

Regarding the second point, there is also nothing.There was neither dead grass nor wood chips to be found, but the fire burned so vigorously at night that it had to be supplied with hay and wood chips in large quantities. As for the third point, no further clarification is possible.There was no ashes of any kind, no residue of fuel of any kind, not even the approximate location of the flames.Nowhere was it blackened, neither on the ground nor on the rocks.Should it be concluded from this that the flames were held by some criminal?This is hard to believe, because, according to witnesses, the flames spread so wide that the crew of the Motara could be seen for miles out to sea through the fog.

"Well!" exclaimed Jack Ryan, "The Lady of the Lighthouse can use no matches! She blows enough to set the air around her ablaze, and her fire never leaves ashes!" From all this he concluded that the judges had wasted their labors in vain, and that a new legend would be added to so many others--a legend which would forever remember the calamity of "Motara" and It is indisputable that Mrs. Lighthouse's apparition has been confirmed again. However, Jack Ryan was such a brave young man, with such a strong physique, that he could not be bedridden for a long time.Some minor bruises and dislocations are also not suitable for bed rest.He has no time to be sick.And without the time of sickness, in these healthful parts of the lowlands people are seldom sick.

Jack Ryan thus recovered quickly.He had just gotten out of bed, and he wanted to put some plans into practice before returning to work at Melos Farm.This involves visiting his partner Harry to find out why the latter missed his appointment at the Irwin clan festival.For a man like Harry, he always said what he said, and this time his failure was inexplicable.Besides, the old foreman's son hadn't heard the newspapers detailing the incredible disaster at Motara.He should have known about Jack Ryan's involvement in the rescue and what had happened to him, and from Harry's side it would have seemed too cold not to come to the farm and shake the hand of his friend Jack Ryan.

If Harry didn't come, he couldn't come.Jack Ryan would rather deny the existence of Mrs. Lighthouse than believe Harry's indifference to him. So, two days after the disaster, Jack Ryan left the farm, cheerfully, like a solid lad who feels no pain at all.He sang a refrain so loudly that the cliffs echoed as he headed for the railway station via Glasgow to Stirling and Callander. There, as he waited in the railway station, his eye was first attracted by a placard plastered on the wall, which was copied in great numbers, which read as follows: "On 4 December this year, Engineer James Starr of Edinburgh boarded the 'Prince de Galles' at Granton Quay. He disembarked at Stirling the same day. Since then, no more Haven't heard from him either.

Any information concerning him is kindly requested to be directed to the President of the Royal Society in Edinburgh. " Jack Ryan stopped in front of one such notice, read it twice, and showed a look of extreme surprise. "Mr. Starr! Is it him? But I happened to meet him with Harry on the ladder in the Yale Mine on the 4th of December! It's been ten days since that encounter! But, since then, he has not Show up again! Does this explain why my partner is coming to Irwin's festival?" So, without taking the time to write to the President of the Royal Society with what he wanted to know about James Starr, the brave lad jumped on a train, resolving to go first to Yale Mine.Once there, he would, if necessary, descend the Dochart Coal Shaft to find Harry, with engineer James Starr with him.

Three hours later, he got off the train at Callander Station and hurried to Yale Mine. "They didn't show up again," he thought to himself, "why? Was some obstruction holding them back? Was there some job so important that they were still kept in the coal mine? I'll find out!" So Jack Ryan stepped up his pace and arrived at Yale Mine in less than an hour. From the outside, nothing has changed.Including the silence around the coal bunker.There is not a living thing in this barren place. Jack Ray runs through the collapsed lean-to roof covering the parallel entrance.He looked into the shaft hole... and saw nothing.He listened with his ears...and heard nothing.

"Where's my lamp!" he cried. "Why isn't it where it used to be?" The lamp that Jack Ryan used on his rounds of the coal bunkers was usually kept in a corner, near the landing of the ladder above. The lamp is gone. "So intricate in the first place!" thought Jack Ryan, beginning to get very uneasy. Then, without hesitation, although he was very superstitious. "I'm going," he said, "even if the coal bunker is darker than the deepest part of hell!" So he began to descend a long chain of ladders that disappeared into the shadowy mineshaft. To take such a risk, Jack Ryan must have lost none of his former miner experience and be intimately acquainted with the Dochart coal bunkers.Besides, he was walking down cautiously.He probed each step with his foot, some of which were already eaten away by worms.In this 1,500-foot void, any slip of the foot could kill you.Jack Ryan thus counted the platforms he kept leaving in order to reach the floor below.He knew he had to walk over the 30th platform before his feet could reach the sill of the coal bunker.Once there, he thought, he would be free to find the cottage, which, as you all know, was built at the end of Main Lane. In this way Jack Ryan descended to the 26th platform, so he was only 200 feet from the bottom of the well at this time. Here he lowered his legs to find the first rung of the twenty-seventh ladder.But his legs dangled in the air but couldn't touch any foothold. Jack Ryan knelt down on the platform.He tried to grab the top of the ladder with his hands...nowhere. Obviously.The 27th ladder was not in place, that is, it was withdrawn. "Old Nick must be passing by!" he thought, feeling a sort of terror. Jack stood up, arms folded, still hoping to break through the impenetrable darkness, and he waited.Then it occurred to him that if he couldn't get down, the people who lived in the mines couldn't come up either.In fact, there is no longer any passage between the surface of the county and the depths of the coal bunker.What would have become of Simon Ford, his wife, his son and the engineer if those ladders under the Yale Mine had been taken away after his last tour of the cottage?Clearly, James Starr's continued disappearance proved that he had not left the coal bunker since the day Jack Ryan met him in the Yale mines.How has the cottage been maintained since then?Are these poor souls imprisoned 1,500 feet underground, not short of the necessities of life? All these thoughts passed through Jack Ryan's mind.He knew very well that he would never reach the cottage by himself.Cut off the passage, is this malicious?He didn't find it suspicious.The judges will see anyway, but they must be notified as soon as possible. Jack Ryan leaned over the platform. "Harry! Harry!" he cried loudly. Harry's name echoed several times before finally disappearing in the deepest part of Yale Mine. Jack Ryan hurried back up the ladder above, and he saw the sunlight again.He doesn't delay a moment.Without pausing he returned to Carrandon Station again.He had only to wait a few minutes for the express train to Edinburgh.So, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he visited the justice's house. There, he was briefed.The exact details he provided make its authenticity beyond doubt.Sir W. Elphiston, President of the Royal Society, not only a colleague but a personal friend of James Starr, was at once notified and asked to lead the imminent search for the Dochart coal bunkers.A few policemen were sent under him, and they were equipped with lights.Pickaxes, long rope ladders, and daily necessities and blood-activating medicines were not forgotten.Then, under the leadership of Jack Ryan, the whole team hurried to the coal mines in Aberfoyle. That night Sir W. Elphiston, Jack Ryan and the police arrived at the mouth of the Yale Shaft and they descended to the twenty-seventh platform on which Jack Ryan had stopped a few hours earlier. They tied the lamp to the end of a long rope and lowered it deep into the mine, when the last four ladders could be seen missing. There is no doubt that the entire internal and external passages of the Dochart coal bunker were deliberately cut off. "What are we waiting for, sir?" Jack Ryan asked impatiently. "We'll wait for the lights to come back up again, my lad," replied Sir W. Elphiston, "and then we'll go down to the ground of the last bungalow, and you'll take us—" "To the cottage," cried Jack Ryan, "to the deepest abyss of the coal bunker, if necessary!" As soon as the lights were pulled up, the police fastened the rope ladder to the platform, and the rope ladder spread out in the mine.The same goes for the following platforms.It is possible to drop from one platform to another. There is no difficulty in doing so.Jack Ryan was the first to hang from these quivering ladders!Moreover, the first to reach the mine shaft. Sir W. Effiston and the police soon joined him. The circular clearing formed under the Yale Shaft was deserted, but Sir W. Elphiston was not without surprise to hear Jack Ryan exclaim: "Here are some ladders, half-burnt pieces!" "Burn!" repeated Sir W. Elphiston, "and sure enough, those are long-cooled ashes!" "Do you think, sir," asked Jack Ryan, "that Engineer James Starr would be interested in burning these ladders and cutting off the line of communication with the outside?" "No," replied Sir W. Elphiston, still thinking, "go, boy, to the cottage! There we shall know the truth." Jack Ryan shook his head in disbelief.But he took a lamp from the policeman and walked quickly down the main lane of Dochart's coal bunker. Everyone followed behind him. A quarter of an hour later, Sir W. Elphiston and his companions reached the hole, and in the innermost part Simon Ford's cottage was built.There was no light in the cottage windows. Jack Ryan hurried towards the door and pushed it open hard. The cottage was empty. They examined the rooms of the gloomy dwelling.There was no trace of violence in the room.Everything was in order, as if old Madge was still there.The stockpile of necessities is even plentiful enough to feed the Ford family for days. The disappearance of the owner of the cottage is therefore inexplicable.But is there any sure way of finding out when they left the cottage? ——Yes, because in this place where there is no distinction between night and day, Ma Deqi is used to marking a cross on every day on the calendar. The calendar hangs on the living room wall.And the last cross was drawn on December 6th, which means the day after James Starr's arrival - this Jack Ryan can determine. So it turns out that Simon Ford, his wife, his son and his guests had left the cottage since December 6th, that is, 10 days ago. Could a new survey of the coal bunker, undertaken by the engineer, justify so long a disappearance?Obviously not. Sir W. Elphiston at least thought so.After examining the cottage carefully, he was at a loss as to what to do. Total darkness.The flickering light in the policeman's hand could only carve out streaks of light in the impenetrable darkness. Suddenly, Jack Ryan uttered a cry. "There! There!" he said. His finger points to a stronger light that flickers in the darkness beyond the alley. "Follow the light, my friends!" replied Sir W. Elphiston. "It's a will-o'-the-wisp!" cried Jack Ryan. "What's the use? We'll never catch it." The president of the Royal Society and the policemen, not too superstitious, rushed in the direction of the moving light.Jack Ryan bravely joined the chase and did not fall last. It was a long and tiring chase.The glowing lantern appears to be carried by a small but extremely nimble figure.Each time, in an instant, the man disappeared behind a certain embankment, and then he was seen again in the depths of a horizontal alley.A quick sharp turn took him out of sight again.He seemed to have vanished at last, but suddenly the light of his lantern blazed brightly again.All in all, it's going to be hard to beat him, and Jack Ryan insists there's good reason for not being able to catch him. In an hour of this senseless pursuit, Sir W. Elphiston and his companions penetrated deep into the south-west section of the Dorchard coal bunkers.They, too, are finally wondering if they're dealing with some elusive house god. However, at this moment, the distance between the house god and the people trying to catch up with him seemed to shrink.Was the fleeing man tired, or was he trying to lead Sir W. Elphiston and his companions to the point to which the inhabitants of the cottages might have been led?This question is not easy to answer. Nevertheless, seeing the distance shortened, the police stepped up their efforts.The light had been shining more than 200 steps ahead of them, but now it was less than 50 steps away.The gap is still shrinking.People with wind lanterns are now more visible.A few times, when he looked back, he could vaguely make out the profile of a human face, and, at least, a goblin would not have such a face, which Jack Ryan had to admit had nothing to do with a supernatural being . So, he speeded up his running: "Come on, friends!" he cried. "He's tired! We'll catch up to him in a minute, and if he talks as well as he runs, he'll be able to tell us a lot!" However, at this point the chase becomes more difficult.Indeed, in the middle of the deepest part of the bunker, narrow tunnels criss-cross like the paths of a labyrinth.In this labyrinth, a person with a lantern can easily outrun the police.He had only to turn off his lamp and rush into the depths of some dark sanctuary beyond. "But, on that point," thought Sir W. Elphiston, "if he wants to get rid of us, why doesn't he do it?" The elusive fellow had not done so till then, but just as the thought crossed Sir W. Elphiston's mind the lights went out, and almost at once the policemen, who continued to pursue them, came to a narrow In front of the hole, the hole is sandwiched in the middle of the slate.At the end of a narrow tunnel. Through this tunnel, relighting their lamps, through this opening that opens to them, the pair of Sir W. Elphiston.For Jack Ryan and their partners, it was just an instant. But before they had walked a hundred paces, they entered a new alley, wider and higher, and they stopped suddenly. There, near the rock face, four bodies lay on the ground—four corpses, perhaps! "James Starr!" said Sir W. Elphiston. "Harry! Harry!" cried Jack Ryan, rushing on top of his friend. Indeed, it was the Engineer, Madge, Simon, and Harry Ford, lying motionless. But at this moment, one of these bodies stood upright, and the old Ma Deqi murmured these words in a debilitated voice: "Water! Water, water first!" Sir W. Elphiston, Jack Ryan, and the policemen tried to bring the Engineer and his companions back to consciousness by making them swallow a few drops of the blood-boosting potion.The medicine worked on them almost immediately.These unlucky fellows were starving to death after ten days in New-Aberfoyle. Yet the reason they did not die in so long a captivity--James Starr told Sir W. Elphiston--was because three times they found a loaf of bread and a jug of water beside them!Needless to say, the savior who kept them alive couldn't have done more! ... Sir W. Elphiston wondered if this could be the work of the household god who just happened to lead them to where James Starr and his companions lay. Regardless, the Engineer, Madge, Simon and Harry Ford were rescued.They were led back to the cottage by the narrow exit which the lantern-bearer seemed to have deliberately pointed out to Sir W. Elphiston. The reason why James Starr and his companions failed to find the exit of the alley opened by the dynamite was because the exit was firmly blocked by overlapping rocks, so that in this dark They could neither identify it nor remove it. So, while they were exploring the vast dungeon, all the passages linking old and new Aberfoyle were deliberately closed by a hostile hand!