a shaft of some sort.'
'A shaft?' he demanded.
'Well, at least a roughly rectangular opening.'
'Do you think it is the work of humans?'
'Impossible to tell. The water is coming out of it like the spout of a
bath tap. A solid jet.'
'No evidence of any excavation? No marks of tools on the rock?'
'Nothing. It's slick and water-worn, covered with moss and algae.'
'Could a man get into the opening, I mean if it were not for the water
pressure?'
'If he was a pygmy or a dwarf.'
'Or a childT he suggested.
'Or a child,' she agreed. 'But who would send a child in there?'
'The ancients often used child-slaves. Taita might have done the same.'
'Don't suggest it. You are destroying my high opinion of Taita,' she
told him as she backed out of the entrance of the grotto. There were
pieces of fern and moss in her hair, and she was soaked from the waist
downwards. He gave her a hand and boosted her back on to the bank. The
curve of her bottom was clearly visible through her wet trousers. He
forced himself not to dwell upon the view.
'So we have to conclude that the shaft is a natural flaw in the
limestone, and not a man-made tunnel?'
'I didn't say that. No. I said that I couldn't be sure.
You might be correct. Children might have been used to dig it. After
all, they were used in the coalmines during the industrial revolution.'
'But there is no way that we would be able to explore the tunnel from
this end?'
'Impossible.' She was vehement. 'The water is pouring out under enormous
pressure. I tried to push my arrn up the shaft, but I did not have the
strength.'
'Pity! I was hoping for some more irrefutable evidence, or at least
another lead.' He sat down beside her on the bank, and ferreted in his
pack. She looked at him quizzically when he brought out a small black
anodized instrument and opened the lid.
'Aneroid barometer,' he explained. 'Every good navigator should have
one.' He studied it for a moment and then made a note of the reading.
'Explain,' she invited.
'I want to know if this spring is below the level of the entrance to the
sink-hole in Taita's pool. If it is not, then we can cross it off our
list of possibilities.'
He stood up. 'If you are ready, we can move on.'
'Where to?'
'Why, Taita's pool, of course. We need a reading up there to establish
the difference in altitude between the two points.'
nce Tamre knew where they were headed he showed them a shortcuts so it
took them just under two hours from the fountain head to the top of the
cliff face above Taita's pool.
While they rested, Royan remarked, 'Tamre seems to spend most of his
days wandering around in the bush. He knows every path and game trail.
