The Adventures of Horace Tidwiddler by jlee smith (book suggestions txt) 📕

far from shore but at least it was a good sign. Horace sat on the deck holding his new puppy and wondering if he had any brothers and sisters back on Rotte Weiller Island. He was rubbing the puppy on its belly when he realized he had not given him a name. He turned him over, looked in his eyes and said, "I will call you Dylan." He looked at Horace, licked his hand and wagged his little behind. Horace thought, I bet he is going to be the best puppy ever born.
It was during the night several days later that Horace woke to the sound of waves breaking on the shore, He jumped to his feet and rushed on deck. All he could see in the dark were cliffs, very high cliffs. Both Abbasonn and Durant were at the tiller, Bentaub held tightly to the rope that controlled the sail. Horace could hear their concern as they spoke to each other in loud voices. There was no moon so there was very little that could be seen. They were trying very hard to steer clear of the rocks at the foot of the cliffs. Horace yelled and asked if there was anything he could do? Bentaub yelled back, Yes, Pray, pray very hard!
The little ship swung back and forth in the waves as they ran parallel to the shore while still putting distance between them and the rocks. After several scary minutes, the distance became greater and the little boat was no longer in danger. A loud "Yes" could be heard from Durant. Abbasonn looked at Horace and said, "that was a wonderful prayer my young friend, thank you."
The sun was just starting to come up when Horace began to understand the danger they had exited from. The cliffs were extremely high, stretching as far as one could see in both directions. Large boulders lined the shore without any possible spot to land. Landing was completely impossible. The small craft ran parallel to shore until around midday and Horace was beginning to lose hope of ever going ashore on this godforsaken place when Durant said, "look, do you see what I see?"
Horace at first could see nothing but the enormous cliff with boulders strewn along the shore, then as he looked closer, he noticed a break in the face of the cliff. There was a vertical crack in the rock that ran from the shore almost to the top of the cliff. As their craft drew nearer it became clear that there was a narrow opening at the base of the cliff with water flowing inward. When they were directly in front of the opening, Durant pointed the bow of the little craft toward it and prayed. All on board held their breath as the boat slid smoothly through the surf into the opening.
Once the craft was inside, the water became calm, almost like a still lake. The crack in the cliff was an entrance to a large cavern which extended into darkness. Horace noticed that the little craft appeared to be pulled forward as opposed to being pushed by the sail. Abbasonn lit a lantern, walked to the bow and held it high. He could feel air being drawn inward. This told him that somewhere ahead in the darkness was an opening, an exit. Durant held tight to the tiller, all on board held their breath and not a word was spoken to break the silence. Horace stood next to Bentaub who held the leading edge of the sail in one hand and the boat’s mast in the other. Horace whispered, asking no one in particular, “what kind of place is this?” Abbasonn answered, “a lagoon in an extremely large cavern.”
The water in the lagoon was a dark blue and very deep. Horace had never been in a cavern before and found it rather unsettling. He did not like the feeling of being inside a dark place that was underground. He glanced back to the opening they had entered and wished it was not so far away. The little boat rounded a bend in the lagoon and he could no longer even see the opening. This was very disturbing. Horace looked at Abbasonn and muttered, “Are we going to be ok?” there was no immediate answer. Then Abbasonn said, “I think so, there seems to be some type of landing ahead. I think I can make out steps in the rock. They appear to be man made.”
The little boat drew along side the landing and a place where they could secure a line was located. Abbasonn and Bentaub jumped ashore and tied the lines off. Horace scrambled ashore with Dylan following close behind. Aunt Matt and Durant were the last to leave the boat. The little group found themselves standing at the foot of steps carved into solid rock. The steps wound upward along the wall of a cavern until they disappeared in the stalactites and darkness. Abbasonn turned to the group and said, "take only what you feel you need and can carry, we may not be back for a while."
Abbasonn , holding a lantern in one hand and his long staff in the other, started up the steps. The others followed with Aunt Matt and Dylan bringing up the rear. Horace noticed the air was damp and cool. Water was dripping from the cavern walls and stalactites which hung from the ceiling. The lantern cast an eerie light on the walls as they moved slowly up the winding steps into the darkness.
They spent the better part of an hour climbing steps which people many years before had toiled untold hours to carve into the rock. Horace wondered who they were and did their descendants still use the steps? Did they still live near here?
Abbasonn stopped and said, “Quiet, listen.” Horace stood absolutely still, he thought he could hear something but he was not sure. Then a Beehhhheee broke the silence, then another. Abbasonn said, “goats, lots of goats.” They continued up the steps until a faint light greeted them. Then a bell rang out several times, A very large goat was standing on the steps. It had a large bell, like a cow bell tied around its neck. It looked at Abbasonn then turned and made a hasty exit up the steps and out into the sun light, bell ringing all the way. Abbasonn following close behind almost ran over a young boy who was sleeping in the shade of the cave entrance. When he saw Abbasonn he screamed out loud, jumped to his feet and ran. Abbasonn followed close behind trying to tell the boy that they meant no harm but he was having none of it, He ran like he had just met the devil face to face.
As the group exited the mouth of the cave into the bright sun light, they were temporarily blinded by the brightness. Horace walked into a tree, Aunt Matt walked into Horace and let off a god awful stink that just about ended the party. Abbasonn was well ahead of the group when the smell caught up with him. He suddenly found himself in a foot race with blind men who did not care where they were going; movement being the important thing at the moment. Durant ran into a bush and fell down, he was yelling words in a language Horace could not understand but could only guess the meaning of. Bentaub was running with both hands covering his face, he hit a tree just like Horace had, and was visibly incapacitated. Aunt Matt was saying sorry, sorry, sorry, over and over but it did no good. She went over and sat by a tree, pouted and said, “it‘s not my fault, you scared me.”
It was almost dark before the group could finally stand the smell of each other. Bentaub was the most impaired of the group. He had a very large bump on his head and a black eye. He thought he may lose a couple of his front teeth but was not sure. Horace had a gash to one ear but he was otherwise okay. Durant and Abbasonn just had scratches from the bushes. Dylan fared the best due to the fact he was bringing up the rear of the procession when disaster struck. Aunt Matt was still sitting by the tree and pouting.
The group sat around a fire until late into the night. Bentaub said that the lingering smell made it hard for him to fall asleep. Aunt Matt curled up by a tree and just before going to sleep could be heard muttering, “it’s not that bad.” Horace’s ear hurt a lot but for the life of him, he could not understand why the others were so upset with Aunt Matt. He couldn’t smell anything! He patted Dylan on the head and both went to sleep without any problem.
The next morning the sun came up on some battered and bruised adventurers. They sat around the fire and had coffee while their next move was planned. Abbasonn thought they should first attempt to speak to some of the locals and determine if the village of Spotslei was near by, or if they knew how to get there. They all agreed his was a good plan of action so they set out to find whoever owned the goats.
The group had only traveled a short distance when a large stone building came into view. Upon closer inspection, rather than a building, it appeared to be a wall surrounding a village of sorts. The wall was about thirty feet high and was built with large slabs of rock, stacked one on the other. A large wooden gate that had two sections which were attached to the rock wall with iron hinges, The gate was closed.
As the group approached the gate, a man’s head appeared at the top of the wall. He looked very annoyed and appeared to be an unpleasant sort. He yelled out, “what do you want?” Abbasonn said, “Sir, we are...” The man interrupted him and said, “I did not ask who you were, I asked what do you want?” This attitude surprised Abbasonn and for a moment he was taken back and did not respond. Abbasonn began again, “Sir, we come in search of a village named Spotslei, we are attempting to locate a gypsy by the name of Ulee.” The man replied, “We have no knowledge of Spotslei and we don’t like gypsies. And, most of all, we don’t like strangers, so go away before you get hurt.” Abbasonn stood still for a moment stunned by the rude response,. He was standing there trying to think of an appropriate response when a rock came flying over the wall narrowly missing his head. Three heads now appeared at the top of the wall and all three were laughing.
It was at this point that Durant went a little crazy. He picked up the rock and hurled it back, catching one of the laughing heads square in the face. There was a loud scream which could be heard coming from inside the wall. Now there were only two heads, and they were not laughing. Abbasonn grabbed