The Sleeping Army Awakes

Part 12 Checking out the mine

The two boys awoke late, took one look at the homeopathically thin gruel that Auntie Sacha had prepared next door, and decided to skip breakfast, so that they could check the mine to see if the intruder had left. They were both only slightly disappointed not to find a charred corpse in the middle of the road where they had seen the lightning strike.

When they arrived at the entrance there was no-one there and only a pile of empty cans and a rather burnt army stove to prove that anyone had ever been there.

"I told you so you bullock!" Bláznivý Marek said. "Mr God. What greedy sow that man was. He has eaten all this food. But simply where did it all come from?"

"Well he wasn't carrying anything other than that long stick." Slepý Bobek said. He picked up one of the cans and regarded the label. "You bullock. Simply he must be mad. This is from salt mine. Doesn't he know how old this food is?"

"I think that if he has found food then he will stay here!" Bláznivý Marek said despondently. "In the book it says that canned food can last indefinitely."

"What does indefinitely mean though you bullock?" Slepý Bobek asked.

"Search me!" Bláznivý Marek replied. "Simply long time but not definitely maybe!"

"Come on we're wasting time here. Let's finish Fish-sub!" Slepý Bobek said.

"Shall we take next wagon down or walk?" Bláznivý Marek asked. "If we take wagon we can take cylinder."

"OH Fred that stupid cylinder we have enough air for maiden voyage if we don't go to sea. Simply let's walk I think." Slepý Bobek said. "You are getting too fat with all this wagon running!"

"But I have bruises from last night you bullock!" Bláznivý Marek asserted.

"You want more?"Slepý Bobek asked provocatively.

"Simply not really you bullock!" Bláznivý Marek said, wondering whether his brother was spoiling for a fight or merely talking about wagons. He sneezed so hard that he feared that he would get a hernia

"You bullock. I still have bruises same size as apples from our last trip." Slepý Bobek said. "And those bruises are in places that I didn't know  that I had places to put such bruises."

The two boys started to walk down the hill but it soon became a speed walk and then it was clearly a competition so they both broke into a run and raced each other down the hills following the tramlines.

"What if he finds book?" Bláznivý Marek panted hoarsely as they ran.

"Then he will not be able to read as we do. We understand the ancient tongues of old." Slepý Bobek said. "He just looks like homeless man. He does not even have clothes."

"And he is old!" Bláznivý Marek observed.

"Sometimes you should not judge book by its cover!" Eliška intervened in their heads. "He can read minds better than I can! His name is Lord Admiral Samuel Wellington and he is still in mine and Sleeping Army welcomes him." Eliška paused to let her statement sink in before she added. "Auntie says that he is one that was prophesied."

"What does that mean?" Slepý Bobek asked.

"It means that he does not need to read your precious book. Your book is... well is for boys and he is clever man. He is not alone. He also has companion now young woman called Katka."

The boys didn't know how to react to the comment about the book but any criticism sounded like heresy to them. They were so annoyed by her dismissal of their treasured tome of learning that they barely listened to the other things she had told them.

"I bet that man, he could not build one Fish-sub." Slepý Bobek said sulkily. "Even if he read that book ten thousand times!"

Mean while Bláznivý Marek had found the cylinder half buried base first in the mud.

"No only we can. Look here is cylinder!" Bláznivý Marek said. "It does not look damaged."

"Yes. Check valve and gauge. You bullock." Slepý Bobek said.

Bláznivý Marek turned the cylinder around so that he could read the gauge. The needle was no longer showing full. It was somewhere in the middle. "Cylinder simply is not full any more. Simply it must be leaking."

"We must get new one!" Slepý Bobek said. "But that man is in mine!"

"Forget that man in mine we need to finish Fish-sub." Bláznivý Marek said decisively.