Mel, Tab, Mewla & Cathy - Their Exmoor Holiday

Chapter Three


   Mum and Dad turned up at ten past five. We were all sitting together on the warm brick wall.
   "There they are!" Mewla got up and picked up her bag. Mum put her head out of the car window and smiled at us all as we strolled over.
   "Wow - it's hot here!" she smiled, putting on her sunglasses. "If I'd have known, we'd have come here instead of spending the day inside Roborough Castle!"
   "Did you have a good day?" I asked, as we clambered into the car.
   "It wasn't bad." Mum said. "And we got a nice castle guidebook."
   "Mel - tell your Mum about our plans for tomorrow." Cathy said.
   I explained about what we had decided to do, and Mum agreed to it at once.
   "It'll be nice for you all at that beach, as long as you're careful." she said. "Won't it, Geoff?"
   Dad nodded.
   "Yes." he said. "It's a lovely beach, if you feel like getting down to it."
   "We don't mind." I said.
   Dad revved up the engine and we drove away.
  "So how was the Doone Valley?" Mum said.
  "Wonderful." I said. "The sun has been scorching hot there, and we've been swimming and paddling and lounging about, and...."
  "I can guess." Mum smiled.
  "Can I see that castle guidebook, Mum?" Mewla asked.
   Mum passed the glossy book over and we all looked through it.
   "Look at the pages that tell the story of the She-Cat in Green." Mum said. "It's said that she was murdered there and her ghost haunts Exmoor."
   We flicked over the pages until we found the chapter. There was a picture of a beautiful young she-cat in her long green satin dress, with fancy gold jewellery round her neck, and her long hair curled in impressive ringlets.
   We all began to read the tale. Apparently the she-cat had been the wife of the duke who owned the castle, but she had had many lovers and most evenings she would be sneaking out to meet with one or other of them. She had also been associated with highwaymen, and her name had been mixed up in royal scandals and mysterious disappearences and deaths. She herself had died in mysterious circumstances. It all sounded very romantic and exciting.
   "Look." Tab suddenly said, pointing to the picture. "Look at her beautiful pendant."
   "So?" Cathy said, looking at the gold pendant.
   "Well, look at the engraving!" Tab said quietly. "It's exactly the same pattern as that ring you found!"
   Cathy at once looked at the ring on her finger. It was indeed the same pattern - a pretty blue engraving that sparkled in the bright light.
   Tab and Mewla exchanged glances.
   "Interesting, isn't it?" Mum said.
   "Yeah." we said, craning our necks to read more of the story.
   We said nothing more about the jewellery, as we didn't want Mum or Dad to know about our find.

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   "Oh, I'm so tired!" Mewla was lounging on the sofa. "I could just sit here all night."
   We had just come up from dinner, and were all worn out. We had all had a rich steak pie for dinner, and were totally full up. We were looking forward to spending a relaxing evening in our suites.
  Our suites were huge, with a big window on one side, and a set of French doors on the other side, leading out to a little verandah with a white wooden table and three white wooden chairs. Both suites looked out over the clear green sea and Bossington Hill. There were two single beds, one by the window and one by the French doors, and a large dressing table, wardrobe, chest of drawers and numerous chairs standing about.
   The suite curved round a corner, and round there was a little sofa, a big comfy armchair,  a television on a wall bracket, a hi-fi, a small table, a little fridge, and a 'bar' with a jug kettle, cups and mugs, and a big ramekin full of coffee sachets, tea sachets, and pots of milk and cream. Opposite there was the bathroom - white and spotless, with a shower cubicle and bath, toilet and large sink. The door joining Mewla and Cathy's suite (which was the same as ours) with ours was next to the bathroom.
   "Look - there's not a breath of wind." Cathy said, from over by the verandah. She was standing looking out at the impressive sight of Bossington Hill in the sunset. "It's a beautiful evening."
   "What shall we do now then?" I said. "It's half nine."
   "God - were we really that long at dinner?" Tab sat up from on her bed.
   "Yeah - seems so." I said. "Shall we put the televison on, or go to bed? We'll need lots of energy tomorrow for climbing down to the beach."
  "Well, I don't want to go to bed just yet." Cathy said. "I think I'll just sit out here and have a drink."
  The decision was made to sit out on the verandah with some iced drinks, and we sat and chatted until it was completely dark and was starting to feel a little chilly. We then went inside, closed the French doors, and got ready for bed.
   

***********

  "Mel. Mel." I awoke to find Tab shaking me. The room was dark apart from the soft glow of the bedside lamp beside Tab's bed. I looked blearily at my watch and saw that it was ten past two in the morning.
  "What?" I muttered.
  "Look at this." Tab said. She took hold of my arm and tried to pull me up. "Sit up a bit. Look."
  I found the Roborough Castle guidebook thrust under my nose. I couldn't even focus on it, let alone read anything.
  "What is it?" I said.
  "I couldn't sleep so I was reading this." Tab said. "Look. It says later on in the book that the She-Cat in Green also had connections with smugglers that worked the Exmoor coast, and that these smugglers frequented a hidden cove at The Valley of the Rocks! That's where we're going tomorrow!"
  That woke me up a bit.
  "What?" I said, rubbing my eyes. "Pass it here."
  Tab gave me the book and I read the passage, which slowly became more clear.
  "Wow." I said. "Imagine if we found that cove tomorrow! How cool would that be!"
  "I know!" Tab said. "I've been sitting here thinking about it for the past half an hour!"
  "We'll have to make sure we all have batteries for our cameras." I said. "If we do find the cove, I shall want to take some photos of it. Imagine having those as a souvenir!"
  "I suppose they used to hide their smuggled goods down in the cove somewhere." Tab said. "Oh, it's so exciting!"
  "Well I wouldn't get any ideas about finding a stash of gold jewellery or an ancient cargo of rum." I said.
  Tab laughed as she put the book down on the bedside table, and scrambled back into her bed. But as we lay there in the dark, I couldn't help feeling very excited about our expedition to the Valley of the Rocks.


***********


  I woke up again at seven o'clock. The sun was streaming into the room through the French doors, and it felt wonderfully warm. I got up and poked Tab as I wandered across to open the doors. She woke up and grinned.
  "Hi."
  "Come on - up you get!" I said. "We've got big cliffs to climb!"
  Tab and I didn't take long to get dressed and ready for breakfast. We dressed casually in cropped jeans and thin cotton tops, did our make-up, and tied our hair back, as it was so hot. We were just about to go and knock on the adjoining door to Cathy and Mewla's suite when we heard them leaving through the main door, out into the corridor, so we picked up our key and went out to join them.
  "Darn it - we were hoping to sneak down without you!" laughed Cathy, who was still scraping her hair up into a rough ponytail while Mewla locked the suite. Cathy was wearing tight cropped cotton trousers, in a very bright yellow and blue check material, which would have looked hideous on most girls, but Cathy is so stunning that she can pull it off.
  "Cathy's off for a round of golf this morning." grinned Mewla, as we set off down the corridor.
  "Oh shut your face." laughed Cathy, as we got into the lift.
  Mum and Dad were already down in the dining room when we got there. There were quite a lot of people there actually. We supposed that everyone wanted to be going out early because of the nice weather.
  "Morning!" Mum said. "You all look very nice today!"
  "Thanks." Cathy grinned. "Although we'll change into our shorts to go out in, I think. I don't think I can cope with being as roasted as we got yesterday!"
  "Will you all be ready to leave after breakfast?" asked Dad, pouring himself some coffee, which had already been brought over. "Because Mum and I want to leave right away."
  "Yes." I said. "We just need to change and get our bags and stuff, and we're ready."
  We all had hearty full English breakfasts, then went back up to our rooms to get our bags. We had put everything ready the night before so we didn't have anything to pack or sort out in the morning, and we hurried down into the lobby to wait for Mum and Dad.
  It was a glorious drive over the moors towards Lynton. The sun was getting higher in the sky and was wonderfully hot like the day before. The moors looked very green and lush, and quite mysterious with the sloping heathery hills, little wooded copses, clear streams, and little wooden fences here and there.
  "So, we'll drop you at the carpark near the Valley of the Rocks." Mum turned round to talk to us as we drove. "The carpark isn't too far away from the path down to the cove, apparently. Then you can spend the day there, and we'll pick you up at about five o'clock, like yesterday. How does that sound?"
  "Sounds great." I said. "Doesn't it, Cath?"
  "Huh?" Cathy looked up from the Roborough Castle guidebook. Tab had told her and Mewla about what we had talked about when she woke me up, and Cathy and Mewla had taken the guidebook eagerly to read more.
  "Wow, Cathy - you all seem to be taking a great interest in that guidebook." laughed Mum.
  "It's actually very interesting." Cathy smiled.


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