they cuddled
beneath the duvet, resting in each other’s hot, sweaty arms, saying nothing and
listening only to the ebb and flow of the tide sluicing the rocks below.
Eventually, they fell asleep as the moon waxed higher before moving off, ahead
of an early-rising sun.
To watch dawn break across the sea at 4am as
it did in early June would have been magical, but Dan and Emma’s eyes remained
firmly shut. Nor did they hear the seabirds’ dawn chorus, the maritime
equivalent of blackbirds, robins and chaffinches at home.
Relaxed and content they snoozed on and on,
as did John and Louise. After all, they were on holiday, there were no lectures
to get up promptly for; no alarm clocks needed setting and they’d had a late
night.
Chapter X
‘Why do people like you and me get named after characters
from the Bible, when we both turn out to be such scumbags,’ snarled Jacob to
Zachariah, putting his lump hammer down for a rest.
‘You speak for yourself you gap-toothed
idiot,’ snarled back Zak, as he was usually known, to his near-toothless
accomplice. ‘You might be a scumbag but I’m not. I don’t move in the highest circles,
but I like to keep my hand in a few pies.’
‘Oh you do that all right. I can’t believe
we’ve been trying to smash our way through breeze block since 6 o’clock in the
morning on a fool’s errand like this!’ moaned unfit 44-year-old Jake, short for
Jacob, sweat pouring from his brow.
‘Oh grit your teeth – or in your case
pretend to – and get on with it,’ advised Zak, who at one year older still had
a reasonably full set, a couple of gold fillings and a scar across his cheek
that he was proud of. ‘We haven’t got all day, we’ve already been at it two
hours. Once those stupid students haul themselves out of bed, they will be
straight down that tunnel to get that treasure.’
‘That’s assuming there is any treasure,’
pointed out Jake. ‘I ain’t heard of a soul finding so much as a gold sovereign
in a century or more. There’s more gold in your gnashers than down ‘ere. All the
caves and tunnels ’ave been cleaned out and you know that as well as I do. What’s
more, this one ’as been blocked up for most o’ that time.’
‘Yes you prize oaf, that’s why there might still
be some loot to be had, if you knew where to look for it and those posh kids
clearly do,’ said Zak. ‘It’s ’idden for sure and they ’ave found a way down to
it somehow from that island and they’re going back for it today.
‘We ’eard ’em say as much in the pub,
several times over. Now I’ve known this coastline round ’ere since I were that
high,’ he said, pointing to his ankles. ‘The tunnel from that there island
leads all the way to this shore and comes out into this rock face. If it
weren’t blocked up, we’d see a great big ’ole. All we ’ave to do is unblock it this
end, walk up and find the loot before they return. ’Ence why we’re making an
early start.’
‘All we’ve got to go on is the say-so of
that drunken madam with the dark hair and wild green eyes, with more lager in
’er than was good for ’er,’ replied Jake. ‘I tell you this, I’m gonna shag her
bloomin’ tits off if all that were a wind-up.’
‘Hey,’ replied Zak with a glint in his eye, ‘assumin’
they be tellin’ the truth and we come upon them in the tunnel we may bag
ourselves more than a sackful of treasure, know what I’m saying?’
‘Ah, now you’re talkin’,’ said Jake, his
round, unshaven face and pudgy nose contorting into another leering smile of
the kind he had inflicted on Louise the previous night. ‘I’ve already grabbed a
handful of arse, I could do with a bit more besides. It’s a while since I’ve sunk
me teeth into a real woman.’
‘Judging from your empty gob, I’d say you
must have left them in her!’ guffawed Zak. ‘Anyway, you keep thinking, arse ‘n’
treasure, arse ‘n’ treasure – that should spur you on, now swing
beneath the duvet, resting in each other’s hot, sweaty arms, saying nothing and
listening only to the ebb and flow of the tide sluicing the rocks below.
Eventually, they fell asleep as the moon waxed higher before moving off, ahead
of an early-rising sun.
To watch dawn break across the sea at 4am as
it did in early June would have been magical, but Dan and Emma’s eyes remained
firmly shut. Nor did they hear the seabirds’ dawn chorus, the maritime
equivalent of blackbirds, robins and chaffinches at home.
Relaxed and content they snoozed on and on,
as did John and Louise. After all, they were on holiday, there were no lectures
to get up promptly for; no alarm clocks needed setting and they’d had a late
night.
Chapter X
‘Why do people like you and me get named after characters
from the Bible, when we both turn out to be such scumbags,’ snarled Jacob to
Zachariah, putting his lump hammer down for a rest.
‘You speak for yourself you gap-toothed
idiot,’ snarled back Zak, as he was usually known, to his near-toothless
accomplice. ‘You might be a scumbag but I’m not. I don’t move in the highest circles,
but I like to keep my hand in a few pies.’
‘Oh you do that all right. I can’t believe
we’ve been trying to smash our way through breeze block since 6 o’clock in the
morning on a fool’s errand like this!’ moaned unfit 44-year-old Jake, short for
Jacob, sweat pouring from his brow.
‘Oh grit your teeth – or in your case
pretend to – and get on with it,’ advised Zak, who at one year older still had
a reasonably full set, a couple of gold fillings and a scar across his cheek
that he was proud of. ‘We haven’t got all day, we’ve already been at it two
hours. Once those stupid students haul themselves out of bed, they will be
straight down that tunnel to get that treasure.’
‘That’s assuming there is any treasure,’
pointed out Jake. ‘I ain’t heard of a soul finding so much as a gold sovereign
in a century or more. There’s more gold in your gnashers than down ‘ere. All the
caves and tunnels ’ave been cleaned out and you know that as well as I do. What’s
more, this one ’as been blocked up for most o’ that time.’
‘Yes you prize oaf, that’s why there might still
be some loot to be had, if you knew where to look for it and those posh kids
clearly do,’ said Zak. ‘It’s ’idden for sure and they ’ave found a way down to
it somehow from that island and they’re going back for it today.
‘We ’eard ’em say as much in the pub,
several times over. Now I’ve known this coastline round ’ere since I were that
high,’ he said, pointing to his ankles. ‘The tunnel from that there island
leads all the way to this shore and comes out into this rock face. If it
weren’t blocked up, we’d see a great big ’ole. All we ’ave to do is unblock it this
end, walk up and find the loot before they return. ’Ence why we’re making an
early start.’
‘All we’ve got to go on is the say-so of
that drunken madam with the dark hair and wild green eyes, with more lager in
’er than was good for ’er,’ replied Jake. ‘I tell you this, I’m gonna shag her
bloomin’ tits off if all that were a wind-up.’
‘Hey,’ replied Zak with a glint in his eye, ‘assumin’
they be tellin’ the truth and we come upon them in the tunnel we may bag
ourselves more than a sackful of treasure, know what I’m saying?’
‘Ah, now you’re talkin’,’ said Jake, his
round, unshaven face and pudgy nose contorting into another leering smile of
the kind he had inflicted on Louise the previous night. ‘I’ve already grabbed a
handful of arse, I could do with a bit more besides. It’s a while since I’ve sunk
me teeth into a real woman.’
‘Judging from your empty gob, I’d say you
must have left them in her!’ guffawed Zak. ‘Anyway, you keep thinking, arse ‘n’
treasure, arse ‘n’ treasure – that should spur you on, now swing
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