'Now that we know that they are working, switch off those lights,'
Nicholas ordered.
'It's so dark and gloomy without them,' Royan protested.
'Saving fuel,' Nicholas explained. 'No filling station on the corner. We
only have two hundred litres in reserve, and although the little Honda
is pretty economical we have to be careful We don't know how long we are
going to need it in the tunnel.'
Royan shrugged with resignation, and when Sapper cut the generator the
cavern was plunged once more into gloom and shadow. She looked at the
dark pool and pulled a face.
'What are you going to do about those horrid pets of yours?' she
demanded, glancing at Nicholas's bandaged right hand.
'Sapper and I have worked out a plan. We thought of trying to empty the
pool completely, using a bucket chain.
But the amount of water still coming down the river bed makes that a
poor choice.'
'We would be lucky to hold our own against that flow, even working
around the clock with buckets,' Sapper grunted. 'If only the major had
thought to bring along a high-speed water pump-'
'Even I can't think of everything, Sapper. What we are going to do is to
build a small coffer dam around the riderwater opening, and bale that
out with buckets.'
Royan stood back and watched the preparations. Half a dozen of the empty
mesh gabions were carried down the scaffolding and placed at the edge of
the pool. Here they were partially filled with boulders that the men
gathered up from the river bed. However the gabions were not filled so
full that they became too heavy to handle. There was no front-ender down
here to move them around, and they would be forced to rely on
old-fashioned manpower. There was just sufficient of the yellow PVC
sheeting left over to wrap around each gabion and render it waterproof.
'What about your eels?' Royan was fascinated by these loathsome
creatures, and she hung well back from the edge of the pool. 'You can't
send any of your men in there!
'Watch and learn.' Nicholas grinned at her. 'I have a little treat in
store for your favourite fish.'
Once all the preparations for the construction of the coffer were
complete, Nicholas cleared the cavern, sending Royan and Sapper and all
of the men up the scaffolding.
He alone remained at the edge of the pool, with the bag of fragmentation
grenades that he had begged from Mek Nimmur slung over his shoulder.
With a grenade in each hand, he hesitated. 'Seven second delay,' he
reminded himself 'Quenton-Harper dry flies. More effective than the
Royal Coachman!'
He pulled the pins from each of the grenades and then lobbed them out
into the middle of the pool. Quickly he turned away and hurried to the
furthest corner of the cavern. He knelt with his face to the rock wall
and covered his ears with both hands.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he braced himself. The rock floor jumped under
him and the double shock waves from the explosions swept over him in
quick succession, with a savage power that drove in his chest and
