Sherlock Holmes 12 and the Tomb of Terror by Val Andrews

Author:Val Andrews [Andrews, Val]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780947533724
Google: L5H-PAAACAAJ
Publisher: Breese Books
Published: 2000-12-14T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX– Descent from the Edge of the World

I have described to the reader the manner of our intended descent but I cannot really describe the abject terror with which I faced it. Maybe Sherlock Holmes was going through a similar stark terror, but if he was he showed no sign of it. As we talked, his voice was clear and without that tremor which I feel sure my own must have betrayed. Holmes made the first move and had soon proved the practicality of what we had devised. I followed him, after some moments of hesitation.

‘Steady, Watson, no hurry, my dear fellow!’

I feel sure that my friend’s calming voice saved my life each time I faltered. I tried to concentrate on what I was doing and at the same time think of a foggy day in Baker Street and other nostalgic pleasures. As it happened the very vapour through which we descended was a help to my confidence, for there was no point in looking downward even if I wished to. Quite soon the sun was shining down, through the vapour rather than down onto it, and the fog itself was not making it easier for us to breathe.

Eventually there came a heavenly break from our dangerous descent when Holmes’s feet found themselves firmly planted upon a quite considerable ledge. We collapsed onto this and tried to regain our wits and confidence. The ledge was perhaps six feet deep in places and felt fairly secure. We sat there with our backs to the cliff and soon Holmes was smoking a pipe of his dwindling stock of tobacco.

‘Watson, we have proved that it can be done. I perceive moreover that the vapour is thinning below us and we should soon be able to get some idea of the enormity of our task.’

Eventually we descended again by our proven method and to our joy, after perhaps a quarter of an hour, we discovered another, even deeper, ledge. We walked upon this more boldly and even dared to peer down over its edge. The fog was clearer below now and I thought I could make out some trees or green bushes.

Holmes confirmed that he too could see them, adding, ‘I believe we are no more than perhaps two or three hundred feet from the top of that foliage.’

This news gave me fresh confidence and I worked with a will to descend those last few hundred feet. Of course there were thoughts of how unfortunate it would be to fail on the last lap of what had been an horrendous descent and a terrifying experience! There were indeed trees to aid the last part of our downward climb. I gratefully transferred myself to a palm, the descent of which seemed like child’s play compared to what we had been doing on the cliff face. I fastened my belt around the bole of the tree and held onto it like grim death, working myself down those final thirty or forty feet. Holmes did the

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