It's bad manners to keep adventure waiting."

--Unknown

In Part 2, we return to the intrepid explorers in the tunnel:

“Hang on,” said Linda, grabbing my arm. I jumped. “Another turn or something is coming up on the left.” 

She was right. It wasn’t an extension of the main tunnel, but a room or maybe a new branch. With our lights trained on the opening, we could see that it did lead to a little room or niche. The floor showed some scuff marks in the dirt that partially covered the bricks.

“Something was stored here, I think,” I volunteered. “Like boxes, maybe.”

“I think you’re right, but they’re gone now.” Linda bent down and examined the floor. “Look! There are some seeds or beans or something here.”

“Let’s see,” I leaned over her shoulder. There was a pile of beans, sort of dark red, but not shaped like kidney beans.

“Do you think the beans were stored here?” I asked. “And by the way, I have to stop a minute and update my map.”

“Your what?” Linda asked as I got out my sketchbook.

“I’m mapping this tunnel,” I answered, “starting right now.” It only took me a minute to note down the turns of the path and the niche where we stood. “I should have been logging the distance and the direction on my watch, but I guess I can start here and check it on the way out.” I used the compass on my watch to mark north on the map and then set the distance counter to log our way forward.

“You know, you’re a little obsessive about this,” Linda commented.

“It’s a hobby. Everyone should have a hobby, and I don’t like knitting.”

We continued on. Ahead we saw a turn coming up and slowed a bit. The tunnel path turned to the east and kept going. So did we, after I had marked down the change.

After walking for about three-quarters of a mile, we found our way blocked by what seemed to be a cave-in. Rocks and debris ended the path. 

“This is fairly recent,” remarked Linda. “Look at the color changes in the dirt that has fallen and what’s behind it.”

“Recent or not, can we get through?” I asked.

“You’re joking, right?” said Linda. “Who knows how far it’s blocked, or how stable the other side is?” 

“I hate to stop now.”

“Right, you want to keep going until we run into whoever left stuff in that niche back there. Probably smugglers or kidnappers. I know you just want to finish that map,” she said.

“Well, I do. Let’s just take a closer look.”

We approached the pile of rock carefully.

“Hey,” Linda said, “Look at this: there’s a plant growing through the obstruction.”

It was. Small tendrils of green were curling through a tiny hole in the rocks. Looking closer, there were several such vines. We sat back on our heels and looked at it for a moment.

“What if we came back with hard hats and shovels?” I asked. “Or trowels; we don’t want to hurt the plant.”

“Hard hats? Do you have a couple hanging around in your closet?”

“Well, no, but. . .”

“I do know some people in the forestry department,” Linda said. “We could probably get some hats from them.”

“Excellent! So you’ll come back with me then?” I did a little jumping dance to express my feelings of relief.

“Of course, but not tomorrow. How does Tuesday sound?”

“That will work fine,” I said. “I’ll work on my map in between.”

“Right. The Map,” said Linda.

“Sarcasm does not become you,” I retaliated.

***

At home that evening, I spread out some graph paper and opened my sketchbook.  

First I had to set the grid; how much distance did each square represent? I was using the 1cm graph, so I figured 0.1/mile for each square. I marked a simple compass rose pointing north as indicated at the bottom of the steps, and measured out the squares for as far as we had gone, or about 1.5 miles. I drew in the path, turning as per the compass point for each bend, and marked where the niche with the pile of seeds had been. At the end of the route, I drew in the blockage. There! Done for now!

Tuesday morning I spent some time roughing out a plan of the current herb garden; what grew where, etc. I planned to add a section to the finished map showing my update of the garden with the tunnel beneath. I laid both sketches out on top of my desk, and wrote a sticky note that said, “We are here.” Posting the note on the endpoint (so far) of the tunnel, I secured the edges with books as paperweights and went to meet Linda.

I could feel the temperature change as we opened the hatch and started down the steps. At the bottom, I started the distance tracker on my watch. We followed the path, me checking the map sketch I’d made the last time.

“Hey,” I said suddenly, stopping. “Where’s the niche?”

Part three will be coming soon!