THE PRODIGIOUS DOCUMENT
It was one of the most beautiful days of summer. The garland
of dunes, described so well by the poet Emile Verhaeren, unrolled its sands
dotted with thistles and marram grass, between Le Coq sur mer and Wendune.
Alex,
eleven years old, and his sister Linnea, ten years old, climbed to the top of
the highest dune between the two beaches. Ethan, Alex's best friend and Celeste,
Linnea's friend, accompanied them.
To the
left stretched the North Sea and its ships, all the way to the
horizon. The weather was so beautiful that we thought we could see the
English coast, but the big island is too far away and remains invisible from
the Belgian beaches.
On the
other side our four friends could observe the square towers of Lissewege and
Damme, as well as the belfry and the churches of the large and beautiful city
of Bruges. Suddenly, perched on a poop deck, Alex began to declaim:
-With
cathedrals as only mountains and black steeples as greasy poles…
-Cheer! Linnea
complimented.
Ethan
went on:
-…Where stone devils take down the clouds. With the passage of the days
for a single trip and rainy paths for a single good evening.
"Ravishing, ravishing," exclaimed Veronique. Did you just make
that up, Ethan?
"No, I didn't write those verses," replied the boy. We learned
this poetry in class. Jacques Brel is the author. But since you like
this sublime pearl in this splendid landscape, it deserves a kiss from my
friend.
-Certainly not, indignant Celeste.
She began to run, barefoot as always, towards the beach, hurtling down the sand
dunes. Her boyfriend chased after her, laughing. They are good
friends.
Suddenly,
the little girl fell to the ground screaming. His friends rushed to
surround him. She was bleeding at the ankle. An iron bar poked out of
the sand of the dune.
"It's dangerous," remarked Linnea. You could have hurt yourself
more and cut yourself even more seriously.
They began to free the piece of iron so that other children would not hurt
themselves. Digging with their hands in the side of the dune, they pulled
out of the sands a church rooster! It looked like bronze. A rooster
weathervane like you see at the top of steeples.
One face of the rooster was smooth, while on the other side, one could decipher
a geometric shape on the outlined feathers of the rooster. The drawing
formed a right-angled triangle, balanced on its right angle. A few letters
appeared at the three vertices: an L on the left, an S on the right, and a D
below. Dotted lines started from the D and stopped in the center of the
triangle near an O and an X, engraved side by side.
The four friends, intrigued by their discovery, decided to bring the rooster
back to the parents of Alex and Linnea, who were renting an apartment for two
weeks near the sea wall of Le Coq sur mer. The parents found this object very
interesting and even
wondered if the children could keep this to themselves.
The next day, the rain invited itself, as sometimes in summer, to the sea, in
Belgium. Rain, wind and cold. The parents suggested a trip to Damme,
along the canal that goes from Bruges to Sluis, one of the very beautiful
landscapes of Flanders.
In
Damme, they began by visiting the museum. They attended a small conference
held by the curator. He explained that a temporary exhibition, centered on
the period of the struggle for freedom, in 1579 particularly, enhanced the
collections present.
-At that time, he said, William of Orange was fighting against Philip II of
Spain. Ethan, son of Charles V, reigned from his palace on the Escorial
near Madrid, over this part of Flanders which at that time was not called
Belgium, because it did not yet exist. Coming from the North, and
infiltrating towards the low lands of the polders, the troops of William of
Orange tried to fight against the Spanish occupier. They supported the
revolt of the beggars. Their flag bearer was called Thyl Ulenspiegel,
always accompanied by his friend Nele, his lover with long blond
hair. Together they symbolized freedom and courage.
The curator paused and drew a triangle on the board.
-At that time, he explained, the river Zwin was not yet silted up. Boats
could go up the course as far as Damme, and even as far as Bruges. They
were guided at night by fires lit on the square towers of the large churches
scattered in the countryside.
At the left end of the triangle he wrote an L, like Lissewege. On the
right he drew an S, like Sluis. At the lower top he added the letter D,
like Damme.
Our four
friends listened, feeling more and more concerned and interested in the talk.
-These three cities, and their three churches, are characterized by a squat and
flat bell tower at their top. They form a set that served as a beacon, at
night, for boats, thanks to lights lit at the top of their tower. These
lights, I told you, guided the ships and helped them to orient themselves.
In the center of the triangle he wrote an O, like Oostkerke.
-Oostkerke is a village close to Damme, continued the curator, and between
Oostkerke and Damme there must have been small canals and even underground
canals, which have largely disappeared today...
The four friends looked at each other, intrigued.
-At nightfall, the large ships from the Netherlands were secretly unloaded onto
small boats or flat-bottomed boats. The beggars hid there guns, bullets,
gunpowder, and gold coins intended to pay the mercenaries. These boats
took it all away at night, to the hideouts of the resistance
fighters. Some of these channels were underground, and one of them even
led here, below the building where you are now. Moreover, added the guide,
during high tides, one can still feel here the backwash of the ground swells of
the neighboring ocean, because this last channel still exists.
Our friends listened to this conference with great attention. The triangle
that they had just discovered on their rooster of the dunes represented perhaps
underground passages or paths followed by these beggars. They questioned
each other. What if, by chance, they had the trail of an arms cache or a
treasure?
Alex
asked if there were still maps of these underground passages. The curator
replied that these plans were lost.
-Either they are long lost, he added, or they were never, to my knowledge,
written on paper. So that it does not fall into the hands of the Spanish
enemy, some beggars engraved, it seems, these plans on church roosters.
Our
friends cracked a smile. Ethan asked another question.
- Can we visit these underground canals?
"No," replied the curator. Access is prohibited. It would
also be dangerous to go there, because these old underground passages could
collapse at any time, especially the one coming from Oostkerke and which passes
under the canal before ending here, in the cellars of this building.
-And the Carolus? asked Veronique. You show some of them.
-The carolus were the gold coins struck with the effigy of
Charles-Quint. It was used as currency at that time to pay soldiers or
mercenaries and their weapons.
After the visit, the four friends took a long walk along the canals with the
parents.
Back at the apartment, the children spread out a road map on the living room
table. They traced the design observed on their rooster. They
compared it to the triangle formed by the three LDS villages. The lines seemed
to correspond to channels. In the center was this place marked with an X
on the rooster. According to the map it indicated a castle farm. From
there came dotted lines… whose meaning remained mysterious, and which seemed to
lead to Damme.
-If we could find this house, suggested Linnea, or this building marked with an
X… I bet that an underground finds its origin there.
-Let's try to go there by bike, suggested Alex.
-Okay, answered Ethan, let's go tomorrow. The treasure hunt, I love it.
The next day it was a little better. The four friends set off on
bicycles. But impossible to go straight to the point. The paths run
along the canals, and the bridges to cross them are conspicuous by their
absence. They progressed in zigzags and finally arrived along the great
canal which goes from Damme to Sluis.
It was necessary to cross to the other bank, but no new bridge was in
sight. At the place where they had just ended up was a boat. In the
boat, a blond little girl was reading a book. She had placed a sign,
written in Dutch, along the towpath. “ Vragen o m
over te varen. 50 cents ”.
-Let's borrow his boat, take advantage of the shortcut, suggested Ethan.
-All right. Let's count our money, said Linnea.
- Me, I have nothing, confessed Alex. Not a penny.
"Me neither," her sister observed.
-I only have two euros! Veronique announced.
-Perfect. Do you want to lend them?
"Certainly," replied their friend, smiling.
Alex approached the young girl and spoke to her in the Dutch he had learned at
school. He asked if he could pass.
She explained that they could cross for half a euro per person plus another
half euro for each bike.
The boy went back up near the friends.
-She's a thief, that girl. She wants two euros for us and two euros for
the bikes!
The friends hesitated for a moment, then Alex had an idea.
-I return to take it by the feelings. You will see, I will succeed.
He approached the little girl again.
-If you wanted to make us happy, you would make us cross. We only have two
euros. We will deprive ourselves of food to pay you. We will be
hungry, but too bad.
She replied that for two euros she would pass the two girls and their bikes,
and that the boys could go around by the bridge located six kilometers
away. Alex, a little annoyed, went back to the bank where the others were
waiting for him.
-I see that your charm is not working as you hoped, said Ethan. But where
feeling fails, intelligence sometimes succeeds.
-What do you mean ? asked Alex.
-Let me explain. I read the life of Thyl Ulenspiegel which the director of
the museum mentioned during his lecture. One day, Thyl was walking along a
canal like this, and he wanted to cross it. Nele, his lover, was on the
other side of the water. But Thyl had no money. He approached the
ferryman and said to him:
-"Friend,
if you take me to the other side, I will tell you a secret that will make you
earn a lot of money."
Curious
and intrigued, the ferryman took Thyl to the other side of the canal. When
he got close to the edge, the hero of the beggars jumped on the bank and cried:
-"Thank
you very much. Here's my secret: If you want to make a lot of money, get paid
before you put people through."
-I'm going to try this business with this little girl, added Ethan. It
should slip like a letter to the box.
- Don't you think she heard us? Veronique worried.
-No, and besides, I would be surprised if she understood French, anyway.
Ethan approached the young girl and spoke to her in Dutch.
-Good morning. We only have two euros. But if you want to get us
across, I'll tell you a secret that will save you a lot of money. Are you
interested?
The girl looked at our friend mischievously, then she replied that they could
come.
The four of them got into the boat, with the bicycles, and they crossed the
canal without paying anything. Ethan, of course, was showing off.
Arrived on the other side, they jumped on the bank and resumed their bikes.
-Here, smiled our friend, if you want to win…
But the young girl interrupted him and in perfect French, she added:
-If I want to win a lot of money, I have to get paid before crossing people.
-How do you know? asked Philip.
-Firstly because I was born near here. I know the story of Thyl
Ulenspiegel as well as you. Besides, added the girl, my name is
Nele. Finally, I speak French very well. I have fun with you. It
was worth the two euros to me.
They all burst out laughing and shook hands.
- What are you doing in this area? she asked.
-Nele, explained Alex, we are looking for a house, more precisely a manor,
which would be in the middle of the countryside between Lissewege, Damme and
Sluis. You see the big brick house, with a wall around it and an old tower
at the bottom of the garden, it could well be there.
-Why are you looking to visit this house? Nele asked.
-We expect to discover ancient underground passages there. We may have the
plans.
- Well, come on, suggested the little girl, I live there.
- Great, rejoices Linnea. How lucky we were to meet you!
- I take my bike, there, near the trees. Follow me.
She led them to her house. A large dog was barking behind the entrance
gate.
"Down," Nele commanded.
The ferocious beast moved away.
- You can enter my friends, the way is clear.
They all entered the property. Nele's mother, a charming lady, received
them very kindly. She even offered them a tour of the tower, but another
day, the next day, for example, because now her daughter had to leave and her
mother too. An appointment was therefore made for the following day.
The next day, when Nele greeted our friends, they showed her the map traced on
the rooster of the dunes. Sharing their discovery, they explained to him
that according to them, the secret underground should start from the tower
which adjoined the house.
-We think he may be going as far as Damme.
Their new friend, passionate about this adventure, did not dare to visit this
underground because her mother forbade her. And anyway, she was afraid to
visit him alone. But with the four of them, anything was possible.
Nele's mother arrived. She held a big key in her hand. Then they all
crossed the garden. They stopped at the foot of the tower built of fairly
old bricks and partly covered with ivy. It only had one door, which the
mother opened with the big key. The iron hinge creaked and our friends
went inside the building.
As Ethan was about to get off, the lady stopped him.
- No, no, don't go there. This leads into dangerous
dungeons. Besides, breathe, it smells very bad. The water stagnates
in these old muddy passages. You don't have to walk there. We would
get lost there. And it's infested with dead fish and rotting and probably
rats. Come on, I'll show you the landscape instead.
They climbed to the top of the tower, and there they discovered a splendid view
over the plain of Flanders. You could see the huge, squat tower of
Lissewege and the massive tower of Damme. In the distance, we guessed that
of Sluis, on the horizon. The pointed steeple of Oostkerke loomed up
nearby.
Yes, the plan engraved on the rooster of the dunes corresponded perfectly to
where our friends were.
After a delicious and generous snack, the young girl escorted our friends to
the gate of the property.
-Listen, Nele, we would like to visit this underground. I bet he hides a
treasure, affirmed Alex. Do you want to come with us ?
- Oh yes, I am passionate about it. And alone, I will never dare.
-Only, there you go, you won't have to talk to your mother about it. She
will forbid us to do so.
"Okay," the girl promised.
-Your dog may bark in the night and make us spot, remarked Linnea.
-Finally, you will have to get the key to the tower, Ethan added.
"I'll take care of the dog," confirmed Nele. He obeys me
perfectly. He will be silent. You guys go through the wall. See,
over there, near the tower, it is lower. You will have to climb
it. Me, I manage to get the key. When are we meeting?
-How about tonight at midnight? suggested Philip.
-Yes, at midnight, calculated Linnea. Our parents often go to bed around
ten-thirty. By the time we arrive by bike, it will be midnight. Are
you okay?
"Perfect," concluded the little girl. At five minutes to
midnight, I'll be waiting for you here in the garden. I'll lock up my dog
and I'll have the key in my hand.
-Great, said the four friends.
All embraced and each went home.
The following evening, our friends first waited until Alex and Linnea's parents
retired to their room. As the four children shared the same room, they
chatted quietly to pass the time and not fall asleep.
At a quarter to eleven, all the lights went out. All four dressed in dark:
dark jeans, black t-shirts, sneakers or gym slippers. They quietly left
the room. They walked through the sleeping apartment, carrying a
flashlight and a key so they could return home after the expedition.
They went down to the hall and grabbed their bikes. Opening the outer
door, they found that it was raining. They were going to be
soaked. Too bad ! After all, in the underground, dirty water was
waiting for them and they would still be wet.
Our friends pedaled rapidly along the roads. The rain didn't stop the
whole way. They arrived soaked and freezing cold, around ten minutes to
midnight, in sight of the property of Nele's parents.
They hid
their bikes in the tall grass and approached the brick wall of the
compound. They had to cross a deep, dirty ditch to reach where Nele was
waiting for them, near the tower. After the water from the sky, they waded
knee-deep in the muddy water of the ditch. But adventure is adventure.
They
scaled the wall without too much difficulty. A few cracks and here and
there, a brick that was sometimes missing, made it possible to place the foot
or to cling with the hands. Arrived above, they saw Nele who hailed them
very gently.
- Get down!
"The dog, the dog," Veronique worried.
- No problem, he sleeps in a corner of the living room. I'm waiting for
you.
They all four jumped into the garden. Their friend held the tower key in
her hand.
-Come on, let's go.
She opened the iron door. She pushed it gently so it wouldn't squeak too
much, and it closed behind them. Linnea switched on her
flashlight. Nele held hers. Two lamps were enough to try the
adventure.
Celeste was carrying a small backpack. She hadn't given the reason.
They descended the dark staircase, and soon entered the water. It came
immediately to their waists. Particularly black, salty, sticky, smelly and
cold water. Brackish water. Left and right, the underground brick
walls were covered in moss and algae. We also saw some shells and mussels
hanging everywhere.
They
waded, step by step, in this water, by the light of flashlights, in a sinister,
impressive atmosphere. They went, one behind the other, in
silence. In some places, the slightly cracked vault was
scary. Sometimes, on the ground, they would step on something hard, a
fallen brick, a stone, a rotten plank...
Darkness
watched them, with its large black eyes.
They had traveled about fifty meters when they came to a
crossroads. According to the dotted line of the plan, it was necessary to
turn a little to the right. It didn't quite fit. They took a right
anyway. Celeste opened her bag and put a candy in a slot between two
bricks.
-Why are you putting candy there? asked Alex. Do you feed the rats?
-I'm like little Thumb, so we can come back without making a mistake. I
wouldn't want to get lost in here.
"Bravo, Celeste," murmured Ethan. you're great. What a good
idea ! I had thought of taking some chalk to mark our way, but I forgot
it. Fabulous, worth a kiss.
Her friend backed away.
-I don't want a kiss, she said laughing. Move forward and pass. I
follow you.
Our friends discovered several turns and some crossroads. Very often,
these tributaries to the left or to the right appeared to have collapsed. Celeste
placed one of her sweets there each time.
They progressed,
still in the water, with caution. Sometimes it came up to their knees, but
often it went up to their torso. It was cold, black, dirty, and smelled of
rotten fish. Not funny !
Time
passed. They had now traveled several hundred meters. It was after
one o'clock in the morning.
They arrived at a place where the ground and the vault descended. Soon,
they remained between the surface of the water and the ceiling only the space
of their heads. At this place, they sank in the mud up to their
necks. This went on for about thirty yards. Our friends almost gave
up. Then the underground rose slightly. They understood that they had
just passed under something. Undoubtedly the canal, this famous canal
which goes from Damme to Sluis. They weren't sure.
After advancing another hundred meters, the underground widened and they saw,
on the right side, a kind of small quay. On this quay were the remains of
an old boat. First interesting discovery.
At the
same time, Linnea, who was wearing gym sandals with fairly thin soles because
they were well worn, felt something firm and sharp under her feet. She
dived and pulled out of the water a kind of saber or sword, quite
rusty. Fortunately, their parents vaccinated them against tetanus, with
children like them, who preferred to play outside than behind a
computer. She put it down on the dock. Second great discovery!
Looking a little higher than the quay, with the flashlights, they noticed two
steps, and there, in a crevice dug in the rock, was a second boat, less rotten
than the first. Probably because the water brought by the tide rose there
less often or stayed less long at its level.
All five
of them hoisted themselves out of the water onto the quay. They had to get
on all fours and even almost crawl because of the rather low arch. They
examined this boat, which was still in good condition, and they found a box in
it.
-A treasure! exclaimed Alex.
- Wait, proposed Linnea, I will try to open it.
She slipped the blade of her penknife, which she always carries with her, and
succeeded without much difficulty in opening the lid ajar. Our friends saw
a dozen gold coins, carolus! In addition was a scroll, sealed with a wax
seal. The seal no longer held. They unrolled the document and tried
to read it by the light of their flashlights. They discovered a beautiful
handwriting in Dutch.
-It's full of mistakes, if
-It's not full of mistakes, explained Nele, because it's not contemporary
Dutch, but old Dutch. Look !
She read
aloud.
Ik, Guillaume van Orange, Prins van…
-
William of Orange! A letter from William of Orange, friends. He
writes to his soldiers. He announces to them that he is going to provide
them with arms and reinforcements.
The children admired the prince's signature at the bottom of the document.
"Magnificent," Veronique whispered.
-Fabulous, adds Alex. Better than a treasure. Let's roll it up again
and put it back in place. We found something fantastic. We'll take it
when we come back.
At that moment, they heard a small noise, a kind of lapping, behind them. They
all five turned around, surprised. The water passed gently over the lower
quay.
- Hey, worried Celeste, the water is rising!
The water level was indeed rising, and not a little.
-How come the water rises? Linnea asked.
-Oh, my God, cried Nele, I should have thought of that. It's the tide.
- How is the tide?
-Yes, I think high tide is around five or six in the morning. So the water
rises. She seeps into the underground. We have to get out, very
quickly, otherwise we risk getting stuck here. Or even die of drowning if
the level reaches the ceiling.
Our friends went back, but where the underground floor dropped very steeply,
where the vault descended, the water already reached the ceiling! Thirty
meters to swim underwater, in one go!
None of them, although they are good swimmers, dared to venture to cover this
gut, these thirty meters in a row. Retreat seemed impossible. Our
friends found themselves locked up in the secret underground, dug in the past
by the gods of the resistance to the Spanish invader.
- We must continue. Let's try to get out the other side, Alex decided.
-And especially hope that it is not collapsed upstream, prayed Nele.
-Don't scare me in advance, begged Celeste. Come, let's go.
They continued their exploration by flashlight as fast as they could. It
was no longer the taste for adventure, but the panic terror that drove them
forward.
The tunnel continued for about three hundred meters. They reached a heavy
iron door, a little rusty, wide, thick, powerful, and which they could not
open. They were stuck.
They retraced their steps, looking for another way out, but they found
none. They watched for a moment where the water touched the vault of their
vault. It was really very scary.
-How awful! trembled Veronique.
"I don't want to die," affirmed Alex.
"Me neither," Linnea murmured. I don't want to die
here. And then who talks to you about dying? Come on, come on guys,
we'll find a solution.
Linnea, who attends a youth movement, always behaves like a winner. She
leads her six with courage and firmness. In everyday life, she doesn't
give up a game she's started so quickly...
They
returned to the iron gate. They tried to push her with all their
might. She did not move. They drummed, unsuccessfully. They
shouted, but only heard the echo of their voices.
They retraced their steps once more. The treasure they had just
discovered, with the prince's message, was in danger of being damaged, now that
its casket was unsealed. They decided to take it with them. It became
their fetish, their lucky charm.
They
stopped at the iron gate. There seemed to be no other way out.
Two long hours passed. In the cold and the fear. They were hugging
each other. The tide was inexorably raising the water level. It came
now to their chests, and soon it reached the level of their necks. Soon
she would touch the vault. At that moment, they could no longer breathe
and would die of drowning…
They
tried again to force the door, but it was useless.
So Ethan turned to Celeste.
-Before I breathe my last, he said, I would like a kiss from the one I
love. My dear Celeste, I didn't know we were going to die so young. I
declare my love to you.
His friend looked at him doubtfully.
-I wonder if you are not taking advantage of the circumstances a
bit. Anyway, I'm willing, it's going to warm me up.
And they both kissed. A long kiss entwined in the water. Alex, Linnea
and Nele wondered where to sit. Linnea had just plunged into the water
again.
"What are you doing?" her brother asked when she came to the
surface. You didn't take enough baths today today? Do you wash
your hair?
His sister was dripping and chattering with cold teeth.
-I felt this under my feet.
She pointed to a small metal bar.
-I will knock with this on the iron door. It will make more noise, and maybe
someone will hear us.
"At five o'clock in the morning..." said his brother.
She knocked hard, but she didn't hammer anyhow. She did it in Morse code:
three short, three long, three short: SOS Every minute she repeated her
message. And the water was now reaching their chins.
Three short, three long, three short, SOS And again, and again.
And suddenly there were blows from the other side.
-Someone heard you. Start again, said Alex.
Linnea launched her SOS again in Morse code.
"They answer me," she cried. Listen. I…K…K…O…M. It
means nothing, alas, or anything, maybe a child having fun.
-No, that means "I'm coming", cried Nele. We answer in Dutch
that they are coming to save us!
Then they heard nothing more. They passed in icy silence, the most
agonizing minutes of their lives. Hearts beat to the rhythm of hope and
fear mingled.
Suddenly, the huge iron door opened. The children made their way to a
staircase and climbed the steps, dripping wet. They then saw the curator
of the Damme museum, the one they had listened to two days before.
-Where are you from? he wondered.
Our friends told their adventure in the underground, from Oostkerke, and showed
the chest containing the ten carolus and the message of William of Orange, as
well as the sword.
The man seemed very impressed by the important discovery that our friends had
just made.
"You're in luck," he said. I have a lot of work and I sleep
badly. I was writing in my office when I heard the knock on the
door. Well, let's start by telling your parents.
They were not long in coming, despite the early hour, and everyone found
themselves at the inn, opposite the Damme museum.
The prodigious document was examined by specialists and authenticated, then
displayed in a showcase. Each of our friends received a carolus in memory
of their adventure.
They were congratulated and scolded. Their insight, guts and courage were
admired. But they were scolded for having followed these dangerous underground
passages, without warning anyone and without taking the tides into account.
But what an exciting adventure! What a fabulous discovery!
Alex, Linnea,
Ethan and Celeste spent the rest of their holidays with Nele, in good
friendship.
