

### The Cliff Edge

### Adventure

### by

### Chris Wright

© Chris Wright 2017

e-Book ISBN: 978-0-9957594-4-2

also available as a paperback

ISBN: 978-1-5-211370-3-1

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

Website: www.whitetreepublishing.com

Email: wtpbristol@gmail.com

The Cliff Edge Adventure is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.

The English Bible verse in this story is taken from "The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers." (No matter what version of the Bible you use, the verse has the same message and promise.)

(See also www.youversion.com for free downloads of over a thousand Bible translations in over a thousand languages on your phone, tablet, and computer.)

### About the Book

James and Jessica's Aunt Judy lives in a lonely guest house perched on top of a crumbling cliff on the west coast of Wales. She is moving out with her dog Jack for her own safety, because she has been warned that the waves from the next big storm could bring down a large part of the cliff -- and her house with it. Cousins James and Jessica, the Two Jays, are helping her sort through her possessions, and they find an old papyrus page they think could be from an ancient copy of one of the Gospels. Two people are extremely interested in having it, but can either of them be trusted? James and Jessica are alone in the house. It's dark, the electricity is off, and the worst storm in living memory is already battering the coast. Is there someone downstairs?

Table of Contents

Cover

About the Book

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Epilogue

About White Tree Publishing

About the author

More books for young readers

###  Introduction

This is the third Two Jay's adventure. It takes place on the west coast of Wales, where many people speak Welsh. In most schools the Welsh language is used for lessons. Here are a few Welsh phrases, including the approximate pronunciation. You need to hear it spoken to understand the exact sounds.

# Bore da (Pronounced: Boh-reh dah): Good morning

# Prynhawn da (Prin-houn dah): Good afternoon

# Nos da (nohs dah): Good night

# Croeso i Gymru (Croesoh ee Gum-reeh): Welcome to Wales

# Diolch (Dee-olch): Thanks

# Da iawn (Dah ee-aw-n): Very good

In Bethel Chapel (Capel Bethel in Welsh) Annie Jones plays the harp and sings what is probably the most beautiful and moving Welsh hymn, Here is Love, Vast as the Ocean.

You can hear this hymn sung in Welsh and English to a harp on YouTube. Try this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BibIpwAzsoc

# If the link is broken, enter all these words without the quote marks: "YouTube Here is Love Vast as the Ocean in Welsh and English" in a search engine. You are looking for the recording made at The Event Without Walls, 1995. When you are with James and Jessica in Capel Bethel, remember this link!

# A word of warning; If you try to print a sheet of modern papyrus in an inkjet printer, you do so at your own risk. Do get some adult supervision. It works for the Two Jays in the story without harming the printer, and it works for me in my printer, but maybe not in all printers. Genuine papyrus sheets are available on the internet.

# This story takes place in the UK, so British English spelling is used. Also note that whereas in America a mother is a mom, where the Two Jays live a mother is a mum.

#

# Chris Wright

### Chapter 1

"Is Great Aunt Judy's house really going to fall crash bang into the sea?" James Cooper asked from the back seat of the car. They seemed to have been on the road for ages and must surely be close to Abergair on the west coast of Wales by now.

His father gave a long sigh. "Perhaps," he said. "At first I thought Aunt Judy was in a panic about nothing, but the local council has stopped her taking guests in her guest house and told her to move out. So I guess it must be serious."

His mother turned round with what looked like a reassuring smile. "I'd be surprised if it fell into the sea this year."

"Not as surprised as we'd be, if it fell down this week while we're inside it," James said.

"I remember going to stay with Great Aunt Judy when I was small," Jessica said. "I went with my mum and dad. She was ever so strict. It had to be, yes Aunt Judy, no Aunt Judy, please Aunt Judy, thank you Aunt Judy."

James laughed, and Jessica said, "It wasn't funny at the time. I was really scared of her."

"I think it would be best if you called her Aunt Judy, not Great Aunt Judy," Mrs Cooper said. "I know she's old, but she may not want to be reminded of her age. And she has some very old-fashioned ideas on the role of men and women, and girls and boys in the house, but don't you dare to try to correct her."

James groaned. "And now you're leaving us with her for a whole week to be her slaves. This is going to be the best spring half term ever, clearing all her stuff and taking it to the dump. And to the charity shops. And to her new place. And all the time she's going to be fussing about our behaviour. Thanks, Mum. Thanks, Dad."

It was the end of February. James Cooper and Jessica Green were cousins. James's father and Jessica's mother were brother and sister. James wasn't quite sure where scary Great Aunt Judy fitted into the family tree.

"Aunt Judy is Grandpa Robert's sister," his father said, as though reading James's mind. "My father's sister"

"Grandpa Robert is fun. Always joking with us and messing around. I get the feeling Great Aunt Judy isn't like that." James gave a pretend shiver.

His father shook his head. "You've got that right. She's five years older than Grandpa Robert, and he says she was a very bossy older sister. She never married, and has lived in her isolated guest house right on the top of a cliff on a remote part of the Welsh coast."

"I don't ever remember seeing her," James said.

"Lucky you," Jessica whispered to him.

"I heard that," Mrs Cooper said. "Please don't speak about your elders in that way." She thought for a moment. "I can't say I'm looking that forward to meeting her myself," she added. "And Dad and I are only staying for a couple of hours!"

James grunted. "But you're leaving us alone with her for the whole week. Great move, Mum. Have you actually sold us both as slaves?"

James's father laughed. "A spare bit of cash always comes in handy. Not that we got much for you."

"You won't be slaving away the whole time," Mrs Cooper said reassuringly. "There are narrow steps down to the beach and you'll be able to take Aunt Judy's dog for a run on the sand a couple of times a day. Poor thing probably never gets down there much."

James gave a loud groan. "This is just so embarrassing. It's going to be some ghastly little dog called Fluffy Puff Puff that wears a pink coat and has a pink bow on its head. It will be like taking a flea for a walk on the end of a lead. I think I'm going to die of shame. Can we turn round and go home, please?"

James's mother laughed. "You're in for a shock there, my lad. The dog is called Jack, and it's mostly Doberman. Aunt Judy used to let her guests take Jack for a run on the beach most days, and sometimes she lets him go down the steps to the beach on his own. I don't think it's been getting much exercise since the guest house business was closed. Even so, Jack will be able to outrun the two of you, that's for sure."

"Jack and Judy," Jessica said thoughtfully. "We'll be the Four Jays, not the Two Jays."

Mrs Cooper gave a long sigh. "I hope the two of you are going to be sensible as well as helpful when you're there. No, the house isn't about to fall down the cliff, to answer your earlier question. But it might at some time in the next year or two. Some of the garden fell away a few weeks ago, and the house is now a bit too close to the edge for comfort."

"I've been thinking," James said. "The forecast is for storms this week. If it fell down now, it would save us the bother of having to pack everything up ready for the move."

"You're terrible, you are," Jessica said. "I can't say I have very good memories of Aunt Judy, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Not even on her."

"Besides," Mrs Cooper added, "you'd be even more busy if it fell. You'd have to fetch everything up from the beach, and the steps are very steep."

Since entering Wales, what had been hills were now getting higher and higher, and one or two of them could even be called mountains, with snow left on their tops.

They were driving along the edge of a large lake when Jessica noticed the road signs for the first time. "Everything's in Welsh," she protested. "Does everyone here speak Welsh?"

"The further west we go," Mrs Cooper explained, "the more Welsh speakers there will be."

James was now taking notice of the Welsh signs. On a road junction, written in large white letters were the words Araf and Slow. "Will people be able to understand us?"

His mother turned round to where he and Jessica were sitting comfortably in the back of the car. "Araf is Welsh for slow," she explained. "A letter f on its own sounds like a letter v. Ff together sound like our f. But you don't have to worry about that. Everyone uses English when they're talking to visitors. Aunt Judy is as English as they come, although she's probably picked up some Welsh phrases by now. She's been living in Abergair for nearly forty years. So you don't have to worry at all about learning a new language."

"Ah," James said, "there's something we meant to tell you, Jessica. Wales is a land of music, and Aunt Judy has a Welsh harp. She's put you down to give a recital on the harp to the whole village on Wednesday evening. It's only Saturday today, so you've got plenty of time to learn some Welsh tunes. And to learn to play the harp."

"And what will you be doing, James?"

"Me? I'll be taking Aunt Judy's dog for a run on the beach -- even if Mum is tricking us, and it really is called Fluffy Puff Puff. It would be much more embarrassing to be in the village hall listening to you!"

Chapter 2

Conversation in the car stopped for a while as everyone took in the exciting Welsh scenery. But James felt unable to relax. It had seemed a bit of an adventure setting out to spend the spring half term helping Aunt Judy. Now, she sounded like the ultimate nightmare stepmother from terrifying fairytales -- except she sounded like the ultimate nightmare aunt.

"Tell us about Great Grandpa Stanley," James said suddenly. "Jessica and I never knew him. Nobody talks about him."

His parents stayed silent for quite some time.

"Is this some dreadful family secret?" James asked. He was starting to think he should have taken more interest in who was who in the family.

"Great Grandpa Stanley died when I was small," James's father said. "I can hardly remember him. He was in the war in North Africa, and never really recovered from his injuries."

"Tell them about the treasure he brought back from Cairo at the end of the war," James's mother said. "They might be able to find it while they're clearing the loft." And she laughed.

"Treasure?" James said, sitting up straight in the car. "Real treasure?"

James's father laughed this time. "That's what Great Grandpa Stanley thought he was buying. I can picture it now. The war had just ended, and his regiment was posted outside Cairo in North Egypt. He and some of his mates were in the local market looking for souvenirs to take home."

It was Jessica's turn to look interested now. "The market was selling treasure?"

Mr Cooper shook his head. "I want you to picture Great Grandpa Stanley in his sergeant's uniform, going to a market stall that seemed to have lots of Ancient Egyptian objects for sale. And I did say seemed to have lots of Ancient Egyptian objects. One of the things that caught his eye was a beautiful papyrus sheet showing one of the pharaohs in full colour, surrounded by lots of hieroglyphics. It looked old and of course the price was very high."

"Did he buy it?" Jessica asked in excitement.

"Hush, Jessica, and let Uncle Clive tell the story," James's mother said.

James's father, who was Uncle Clive to Jessica, said, "Yes, he did."

"Wow," James said, "and it's somewhere in Aunt Judy's loft. Can we have it if we find it?"

"We're still in Cairo in the story," James's father said. "In an Arab market you don't just ask how much something is and pay the price. The seller asks a ridiculously high price, and the buyer offers a ridiculously low one. Getting the right price is an art, and Great Grandpa Stanley knew this. So although he thought he was buying something really ancient, he was hoping to get it cheaply."

"Did he?" James asked.

"Listen to your father," Mrs Cooper said, "and don't keep interrupting."

His father shook his head. "The stall holder wouldn't drop the price low enough for Great Grandpa Stanley. He was about to walk away and look for something else, when the Arab on the stall said he had something special. He didn't know what it was, but thought it might be a page from a very old Bible."

"And was it?" James asked.

Again his mother had to tell him to be patient and listen to the story.

"It certainly looked old," his father said. "Like the Ancient Egyptian page, it was on what seemed to be very old papyrus, written in slightly faded ink. The long and the short of it is that a deal was done, and Great Grandpa Stanley proudly brought both pages home with him."

"What an amazing souvenir," Jessica said. "I love souvenirs. Where are they both now?"

"When he got back, he had them framed and for a time everyone in the family thought they were something special."

"But I'm guessing they weren't," James said. "Am I right?"

"Just listen and don't try to spoil the story," his mother said.

"Sorry, Dad."

"Nobody was at all interested in the papyrus page with the writing on it. It was the Ancient Egyptian painting of the pharaoh with the hieroglyphics that looked special. Great Grandpa Stanley was too ill to work, so one day Grandpa Robert decided to go up to London to get it valued. And what do you think?"

"It was worth ten million pounds," James said. "And that's why we're such a wealthy family."

"Are we?" Jessica said. "I didn't realise." And then she laughed to make sure everyone knew she was joking.

"He took it to one of the main London dealers selling antiquities," Mr Cooper continued, ignoring the interruptions. "They took one look at it and shook their heads sadly. They explained that it wasn't old, but he protested that it looked old. They said it was a modern piece of papyrus that had been dipped in brown stain in places to make it look old, and rubbed away with sandpaper. They said they would buy it, but only as a curiosity, and offered hardly anything for it."

"Was it a trick?" Jessica asked.

"Good thought, Jessica," her uncle said. "Anyway, he didn't sell it to them, because he was suspicious, like you. So we told him to take it to the museum."

"And?" James interrupted impatiently.

"And they said exactly the same thing. They even got out a special ultraviolet light which made some of the colours shine brightly. That would never have happened if they'd been old pigments. They explained that Great Grandpa Stanley was by no means the first person to be tricked like that. Lots of soldiers came back from Egypt with what they believed were great treasures of Ancient Egypt. Little carved figures and things like that are easy to fake, and difficult to date accurately."

"And you think it's up in Aunt Judy's loft and worth another opinion," James said, rather hopefully.

His father shook his head. "He gave it to a friend who was interested in Ancient Egypt and the pharaohs. Sorry, but there can be no doubt about it, it was definitely a fake."

Jessica was jigging around in excitement. "So what's up in Aunt Judy's loft?"

"Lots of big spiders' webs to get tangled in your hair," James told her.

She ignored him. "Do you think there's treasure up there, Uncle Clive?"

Mr Cooper remained silent for a moment, waiting for a stretch of clear road so he could overtake a farm tractor and trailer.

"I know," James shouted out. "The other page. The one the man in the market said might be from an old Bible!"

"Is that it?" Jessica asked.

The overtaking manoeuvre complete, James's father nodded. "Exactly."

"Didn't anyone think to get it examined?" Jessica asked. "Surely the museum would have been able to help."

"Ah, that's the problem. Everyone had been expecting the amazing looking Egyptian papyrus with the pharaoh and hieroglyphics to be valuable. When they knew it was a fake, everybody thought the boring looking papyrus with writing on it would be rubbish."

"Wow," James said, "where is it now?"

"Is it in Aunt Judy's loft?" Jessica asked.

"It might be, and it might not be," Mr Cooper said.

"What does that mean, Dad?" James demanded.

"It means exactly what I said," his father told him. "I know Aunt Judy was the last person in the family to have it. I've asked her about it several times, and she always says it's up in the loft, but she's always too busy to go and look for it. It's possible she's thrown it out and doesn't want to admit it."

"And you think it's valuable, Dad?"

"I've no idea, James. Even if it is old, it doesn't mean it's valuable. But I really would like to get it examined by an expert. To tell you the truth, I've been worried that if Aunt Judy got in a house clearance company, it would simply disappear."

James closed his eyes for a moment in thought, then opened them suddenly. "Is that why you've sold Jessica and me as slaves? You want us to be the ones to find it!"

"I want you to help Aunt Judy sort out everything in her house. It's better if the family does it, and it will be good for her to see what a wonderful great nephew and niece she has."

"Dad," James said, "what a wonderful excuse to find the treasure. You're tricky enough to be selling things in a market in Cairo!"

"It's not a trick, James. Yes, I want you to be on the lookout for this papyrus page before it gets thrown out. If you find it, you're to show it to Aunt Judy. I'm going to let her know I've asked you to keep an eye open for it. She will probably say you can keep it. The important thing is to make sure she doesn't put it in one of the rubbish sacks for the dump."

James broke into a smile. Being a slave suddenly seemed attractive. He turned to Jessica and noticed that the car was stopping outside the Abergair Guest House. "Come on, girl, let's go and hunt for it. I'll find it first, you see. First one to find it keeps it."

"We'll see about that," Jessica said. "Don't forget, we have to give Aunt Judy a kiss. A big, wet kiss. You can go in first."

Chapter 3

Aunt Judy wasn't quite the dragon they were expecting, although Jack, the dog, gave them a bigger welcome, and he didn't even demand a kiss. Much to James's relief, his mum was right about the breed of dog. So no Fluffy Puff Puff after all!

James looked at his aunt and was surprised by her height. He'd been expecting a frail woman, bent over with age. Instead, Aunt Judy was tall, although slightly bent, and she was wearing a dark brown full length knitted dress. She had a square jaw with small bristles on it. Her gray hair was pulled back in a bunch. She stared at him and Jessica through large, black framed glasses, as though inspecting something unpleasant the cat had brought in.

"Now you two," James's mother said, "take Jack on the beach for a run, while we grown-ups have a chat and a cup of tea together. You'll see the way down to the beach. It's in the road just outside the entrance to the house. Keep away from the bottom of the cliff in case of anymore rock falls."

The steps had a white wooden gate at the top, which was easy to find. A warning on the gate said the steps were dangerous, and persons using them did so at their own risk. From here, at the top of the cliff, they could look back up the valley that led to the beach. Abergair was at the mouth of a small river, but everywhere looked wet and marshy. The village must be inland, so this wasn't really a holiday resort.

Further up the valley they could see houses and what looked like a small chapel. James decided the village could be somewhere to escape to if things got too difficult with Aunt Judy!

Following Aunt Judy's strict instructions, they had put Jack on his lead until they were through the gate. James was glad they were allowed to let him off it at this point, because the dog would surely drag them down the steep steps to the beach in its excitement.

A brisk cold wind blew in their faces as they stood at the top of the cliff looking out over the large, dark blue waves with white tops. The cloudless sky was a pale blue colour. Rain was forecast for later in the week. Seagulls circled around the rocks, their cries even louder than the sound of the wind and waves.

James took a deep breath of fresh, salty air. "This is just fantastic," he said. "I wonder what's over the horizon."

"Ireland," Jessica told him. "I'm sure it's too far away to see. Come on, let's get down on the beach. It won't be so windy down there. Look at the way my hair is flying about. I should have worn a hat."

James looked at Jessica's long blonde hair being whipped all over her face. The wind was cold as well as strong. Even his thick, dark brown hair wasn't doing any good at keeping his ears warm.

The steps went down in a zigzag, cut into the cliff, and they didn't look particularly safe. There was a rope to hold onto as a handrail, and James made sure he had his hand round it the whole time. Jack was already a black dot racing across the small sandy bay.

"This brings back memories of standing here when I was six," Jessica said, clinging tightly to the rope to steady herself. "Just be careful, James. It's not a race to the bottom."

James, who was a little way ahead, had no intention of hurrying. "Let's hope we can get Jack onto his lead when we come up. Just imagine the fuss there would be if we had to leave him down here."

The small bay had a steep beach of golden sand, with a long row of dark seaweed at the top. Large waves crashed around the rocks out to sea. The forecast had been for unsettled weather, but the size of the waves surprised James. He guessed it would be really exciting here during a gale.

The seagulls had obviously spotted the visitors, and came to see if there would be any food. "I hope they keep away from us," Jessica said. "The last thing I want is a seagull getting tangled in my hair."

James laughed. "You wait until we are up in Aunt Judy's loft. The spiders up there are even bigger than the seagulls. They really will get caught up in your hair."

Jessica ignored him, but did sort of wonder if there would be spiders up there, although obviously not as big as the gulls that circled overhead. Even so, she wished James hadn't mentioned spiders.

James turned round to look at the cliff. "Wow," he said, pointing to the bottom. "All that stuff must be part of Aunt Judy's garden. Let's go and look at it."

Jessica pulled him back. "Remember what your mum said. We have to stay well away from it."

Even as she spoke, some soil and stones came free at the top, and rattled their way down the cliff face.

"Don't worry," James said. "I'm keeping well clear. I don't want the whole house landing on top of me."

James could see that the beach was quite short, with a headland on each side. The headland to the left went far out to sea, ending with huge broken rocks, and it would not be possible to get round to the far bay, even at the lowest tide. The headland to the right could easily be passed, unless the tide was well in.

The headlands seemed to be made of solid rock, but the part in between was quite crumbly. "Why would someone build a house over a loose part of the cliff, when there's a rocky headland each side? Jesus knew not to build a house on the sand, but on the rock. Don't you remember the story of the wise man who built his house on the rock, and the foolish man who built his house on the sand and it came tumbling down? It doesn't make sense to build a house up there."

"You can ask Aunt Judy," Jessica said, laughing. "If you're brave enough."

"I'll leave that to you. I'm sure Aunt Judy didn't buy it new, so we can't blame her for where it's built. I can see why she wants to get out quickly. That's a huge amount of garden that's fallen onto the beach. Look how close the house is now to the edge. It's really scary. Let's hope there isn't a big storm this week."

Jack came up to them carrying a large, wet stick in his mouth, obviously waiting for them to throw it so he could chase after it.

"Don't throw it into the sea," Jessica warned, as James bent down to pick it up. "We don't even know if Jack can swim."

"All dogs can swim, Jessica. That's why it's called the doggy paddle. But, yes, perhaps Jack is an exception. Let's go round the headland and explore a bit." He looked at the time on his phone. "We have to be out for an hour, to give Mum and Dad time to say whatever they have to say to Aunt Judy. I think the tide is well out now, but we don't want to get cut off if we can't get out the other side of the headland."

Jessica was looking thoughtful. "I was only young when I came here, but I can clearly remember walking along this beach. It was summer, and I was allowed to paddle in the sea, but not go in deep enough to swim. Anyway, the water felt freezing."

"I'm certainly not going to try swimming now," James said, throwing the stick as far as he could along the beach for Jack to fetch. "You can go in if you want to."

"Not likely. If we go round the headland I think there's another way up. I can sort of remember it. At the top there's a track that takes us back to Aunt Judy's house. At least, I think there is."

James broke into a trot. "Let's go and see. Last one round the headland is a ninny. Come on, Jack!"

As he reached the headland James looked back. Jack was beside him, still carrying the wet stick in his mouth, but Jessica had stayed where she was. Some race that turned out to be!

"I'm coming," Jessica called. "Wait for me." She arrived breathless, and pointed back to the house at the top of the cliff. "From here, it looks horribly close to the edge," she said. "Do you think it's safe to stay here?"

"Bound to be," James said confidently. "My parents wouldn't let us stay there if it wasn't safe. Dad said it's fine unless there's heavy rain and a big storm battering the cliff."

"And suppose there is heavy rain washing away the soil, and huge waves battering the cliff? What happens then?"

"Then the cliff falls down and the house falls with it. But we won't be in there. We'll be sheltering down in the village of Abergair if it happens this week. There's sure to be plenty of warning, so don't worry about it."

The headland was made up of dark rocks lying at a steep angle. At some time in the distant past, massive movement underground had brought the rocks to the surface, tilting them up and forming the cliffs.

"Why is there that crumbly stuff in the bay?" James asked. "Why isn't the whole cliff made of solid rock?"

"I think it's the Ice Age," Jessica said. "We did something about it in my school last term. The big glaciers carried lots of rubble along with them as they gouged out the land on their way to the sea, and dumped it when they melted. And that's the rubble they left here in the valley they carved. Now where's Jack?"

Jack had made his way along the stretch of beach beyond the headland. There wasn't any sand there, but broken rocks covered the shore instead. The cliff was similar to that below Aunt Judy's house, dark brown and crumbly.

"I was right," Jessica said. "There are steps up to the top that we used when I was six."

"It looks even more dangerous than the one we came down," James said. "I'm glad we don't have to go up there."

He turned round anxiously to make sure the tide hadn't risen suddenly and trapped them this side of the headland. The tide didn't seem to be any further in than it was a few minutes before, although with the large waves it was difficult to tell. "I think we ought to get back to our bay, just in case."

Jessica didn't seem to be worried. She picked up Jack's stick and flung it further along the shore. It bounced off a large rock and disappeared behind it. Within seconds Jack had found it and brought it back, dropping it hopefully at Jessica's feet.

Jessica flung it again, as far as she could. "I seem to remember a cave here." She pointed to the side of the headland. "Yes, there it is. I remember going quite far into it. It ponged of old seaweed. I was looking for pirates' treasure."

"Did you find any?"

"A chest full of gold and jewels. But it was too heavy to drag out, so I left it there. You want to go and look for it?"

"No thank you. You know what happens to me in caves. I get stuck."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Then it will have to stay there. I'm not too keen on caves myself anymore, after what happened in Dakedale." [See The Dark Tunnel Adventure.]

"I think we should make our way back," James said, looking at the time on his phone again. "There's not much of a signal here, and I wouldn't want to be trapped by the tide." He looked again at the dangerous steps up the cliff. "There's another headland further on, and I don't fancy being trapped in this cove, and having to climb up those rickety steps. You can tell by the piles of seaweed, the tide comes right up to the bottom of the cliff."

Chapter 4

By the time the Two Jays had made their way back to the Abergair Guest House, James's parents had finished their confidential chat with Aunt Judy. What they'd been saying, James had no idea. But it can't have been all bad because Aunt Judy gave them a welcoming smile. Unless of course it was because his parents were still there and watching.

"Now then," Mr Cooper said, "it's been agreed what you're to do this week. It's not going to take the whole time you're here, so you'll be able to get out and explore the area. Aunt Judy wants you to help sort through a lot of stuff up in the loft. I've explained that I want you to look for the papyrus page that came back from Egypt at the end of the war."

He looked across at Aunt Judy who was sitting rather stiffly in an armchair by the electric fire that was glowing in the hearth. "She's happy to let you keep it if you find it, as a reward for what you're doing to help her."

"It's only rubbish," Aunt Judy added.

James looked at her in interest. This came as quite a surprise. "So we really can keep it?"

Aunt Judy looked at him rather sharply. "Yes, that's what your father said, young man. In my day we never questioned anything our elders said." She sounded rather cross.

"Right then, you two," Mr Cooper said, obviously trying to take the heat off a developing situation, "here's the plan of action. As you know, Aunt Judy is going into a new apartment in town. She won't have room for much of the furniture, so she's already selected some special pieces she wants to keep. The rest of the furniture is being collected later for an auction sale."

"So you're not to touch any of that," Aunt Judy snapped.

James realised the crocodile was already showing its teeth. "Of course not," he said politely. "So what do we do?"

Aunt Judy took a deep breath. "You listen to what your father is telling you, James. I don't want any misunderstandings."

James thought his father winked at him, but it might have been nerves. "This is the plan," he said. "Downstairs there are some precious ornaments. Aunt Judy is responsible for those. She's going to wrap each one carefully in newspaper and put everything in some secure boxes."

"What about the loft?" Jessica asked.

"That comes first," Mr Cooper explained. "Aunt Judy wants you to bring all the boxes down from there. There's a folding ladder like a staircase, so you can safely pass the boxes and bags down to each other. I gather there's quite a bit of stuff up there."

"Is that it?" James asked.

"It certainly isn't, young man," Aunt Judy retorted. "That's only the start of the work. Don't think you're getting off that lightly."

"I was only asking," James said quietly. This half term really was going to be fun!

"That's all right," his father said. Again James thought he detected a wink, but the atmosphere was such that anybody could easily develop a nervous twitch. "A few of the boxes will contain things that Aunt Judy wants to take to her new accommodation, but most of them have a mix of things. Some items will go into boxes for her to take, some will go into other boxes to go to one of the charity shops in town, and other stuff will go into boxes and sacks to take to the rubbish dump."

Aunt Judy said, "We have recycling here, so you won't be putting everything into one skip when we get there. Don't worry, I'll be watching, to make sure you sort everything correctly."

James was sure that she would. "Can we start now?" he asked.

"My, my, you are keen," Aunt Judy said. "I'm feeling rather tired this evening, but it would be a good idea if you and your cousin started to bring everything down. You can put it in one of the empty bedrooms. Your father will show you how to get the loft ladder down and where the light is in the loft."

His father stood up. "Mum and I have to be leaving soon, James," he explained. "But come on, I'll show you what's what if we go upstairs now."

In the hallway he put his finger to his lips and shook his head, as though warning them not to say anything about Aunt Judy.

On the landing he pointed to a large hatch on the ceiling. Hanging on the wall was a long stick with a hook on the end. He caught hold of the stick, and held it high. Then he slipped the hook through a ring on the hatch and pulled. To James and Jessica's amazement, as the hatch swung down on hinges, a long wooden stairway unfolded from inside the loft.

Before he could be stopped, James was up the stairway, poking his head into the chilly darkness. "Where's the light?" he asked.

"Aunt Judy said there's a cord straight above your head. Can you see it?"

"Got it, Dad. I can see.... No, no, no! It can't be true."

Jessica already had her foot on the bottom tread. She jumped down quickly. "What is it? Spiders?"

"Worse than spiders," James called down from the hatch. "Just come up here and look at this."

Jessica shook her head. "I'm not coming up until you tell me what it is."

"Yes, James, just tell us what you've found up there."

"It's nothing scary. Well, yes, it is in a way. Come up and see."

His father went first, and stood looking through the open hatch. "That's terrible," he said.

"What is it?" Jessica demanded from the landing. "Is it alive?"

"You'd better come up and see, Jessica," her uncle said.

Feeling braver now, Jessica made her way slowly up the wooden steps and peeped into the loft. "You're right, it is terrible. I didn't expect it to be this bad."

Boxes and plastic bags seemed to cover the whole loft area. James was amazed the ceilings below hadn't collapsed under the weight of it all.

His father was examining some of the bags and boxes. "I think you've got your work cut out for the week, kids," he said. "I'm sorry. Really sorry. I had no idea what I'd let you both in for. I'll tell you what. Your mum and I will stay here for the night instead of setting off for home. All the guest rooms are empty. We were planning to stay somewhere on the way back, anyway, as it's too late to get home tonight. I need to be at work on Monday, and we'll be home tomorrow in plenty of time if we leave early in the morning."

"If you're sure, Uncle Clive," Jessica said. "That's a really, really good offer. Thank you so much."

Mr Cooper clapped his hands together to knock off the dust. "I'll pop down and explain the change of plans. Just leave everything alone while I'm gone. No looking for papyrus pages. All right?"

James had already been poking about. "Some of these boxes feel a bit heavy."

"I don't think that will be a problem, James. You and Jessica can stand below and I'll pass everything down to you. You can carry the heavy stuff into one of the bedrooms together. Then you and Aunt Judy can start going through things tomorrow."

"It's Sunday tomorrow, Uncle Clive. I know it's all right to help people on Sunday, but we'd like to go to church together. When we were out with Jack we could see a chapel in Abergair village about a mile up the valley."

"I'm sure that will be all right, Jessica. I'll have a word with Aunt Judy so she understands what's happening. I wouldn't want her to think you're ducking out of helping her."

The Two Jays could hear some discussion going on downstairs, but James's father was quickly back up, a smile on his face. "That was surprisingly easy, James. Mum and I will stay the night, and you and Jessica are going to spend the evening up here with me taking everything down from the loft. If we get stuck into it, it probably won't take long."

James gave a loud groan. "Probably?"

His father laughed. "Perhaps I should have said hopefully won't take long. And it's okay about chapel in the morning. It's Independent Methodist, and it's called Capel Bethel, which of course means Bethel Chapel in English. Aunt Judy says the service is at ten o'clock, but she doesn't go, so you'll have to walk down there yourselves." He frowned. Then he shook his head, but said nothing.

"What is it, Dad? I know that look. Something isn't right, is it?"

"It's... it's the way Aunt Judy agreed so quickly. It's as though she...."

"Yes, Dad?"

"Nothing, James. Forget I said anything. Come on, let's get started on this loft." He sighed. "I was hoping for a peaceful evening with your mum."

James watched his father climb the wooden steps to the loft. Something wasn't right. Perhaps they'd find out in the morning.

Chapter 5

James was woken in the morning by Jessica banging loudly on his bedroom door. "Get up, sleepy. Your mum and dad are about to leave."

James turned over in bed and realised just how sore the muscles were in his arms. "I can't possibly get up yet. Moving all that stuff last night has wrecked me. Completely wrecked me. What time is it, anyway?"

"It's Sunday, its seven o'clock, and the sun is shining. As soon as we've had breakfast, we'll take Jack for another run on the beach. He seemed so excited about it yesterday. I can't think he gets out much. And then we'll walk down to Bethel Chapel to be in plenty of time for the service at ten. Aunt Judy says it's nearly a mile away."

James had taken a shower last night, after handing all the dusty bags and boxes his father had passed down through the hatch. So it didn't take him long to join everyone downstairs.

Jessica had exaggerated a bit about his parents being ready to leave. They were still eating breakfast. He'd imagined that this being a guest house, there would have been a full cooked breakfast with orange juice.

He looked at the small toast rack that held two thin slices of white toast. "Is this all I'm getting?" he whispered. Aunt Judy was out in the kitchen, so she was unlikely to overhear.

"There's a bowl on the sideboard, and a box of cornflakes," his mother said. "Help yourself to as much as you want. And there's a carton of orange juice."

James looked at it. A carton of juice! Not even the fresh "Never from Concentrate" he was used to at home. Perhaps the milk was old, too. He sniffed the small jug cautiously. It seemed okay.

Cornflakes and toast would probably keep him going until lunchtime, he decided. He hoped Aunt Judy was going to give her two slaves something decent for lunch.

He was reaching for the marmalade, when his mother said quietly but firmly, "Remember, use the spoon, not your knife."

James quickly put his knife down and picked up the small spoon from where it was resting on a saucer. "Of course I will, Mum." And he grinned. "But thanks for the warning!"

The large windows of the dining room and the kitchen looked directly out to sea. There must be a lot less garden than when the house was built. A small, red and green plastic windmill spun round crazily in the strong wind. It seemed oddly out of place, but it must be there to scare birds away from the vegetable beds, but the vegetable beds were now down on the beach. The windmill must just be a memorial to what had once been there.

His parents left soon after eight, much too early to get a lift down to Bethel Chapel. Anyway, the walk down the lane to the village of Abergair would be interesting.

Jessica reckoned they ought to leave just before 9:30, as she had no intention of arriving late and being noticed. Aunt Judy saw them off with a strange smile, and told them not to dawdle on the way back, because there was plenty of work to do in the afternoon.

The hedgerows lining the lane were bare, and there was no sign of the wild flowers Jessica had hoped to see. Another month and everything would be springing into life. The sky was clouding over, hiding the sun.

The chapel was easy to find. In Abergair everything was easy to find because there only seemed to be a few houses, and only one road. Capel Bethel, as it was called, was set back from the road with steps leading up to a pair of double doors that stood wide.

At the bottom of the steps James came to a halt. Jessica gave him a gentle push in the back. "Go on, James. I want you to go first."

James turned round. "Why is the notice board all in Welsh?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter," Jessica said quietly, hoping not to be overheard by the two ladies who had followed them down the road, and were now waiting to get past.

A man stood at the door wearing a dark suit. The two ladies who had now come past were also smartly dressed. James looked at his own jeans and zip jacket, and wondered if he'd be allowed in. But surely everyone was welcome.

"Bore da. Croeso i'r ddau ohonoch i' r capel," the man at the door said.

James stood still. He recognised the word capel, but nothing else. It must be Welsh. Whatever the man had said, it sounded friendly enough, so it probably wasn't a comment on his clothing.

"Good morning," Jessica said confidently.

The man said, "Ydych chi'ch dau yn siarad Cymraeg?" He smiled a friendly, welcoming smile. "I was welcoming you to the chapel," he said, putting out his hand to shake hands with James.

Jessica wondered if she ought to curtsy, but decided to smile instead. "We don't speak Welsh," she said. "Is that what you just asked us?"

The man nodded. "Ydych chi'ch dau yn siarad Cymraeg? Yes, that means, Do you speak Welsh? So you do know a few words," he said.

Jessica shook her head. "Just a guess."

"Let me say something else to you in Welsh, and see how good you are guessing this," the man said, smiling. "Rwy'n gobeithio eich bod yn gwybod bod y gwasanaeth yn y Gymraeg?"

"Sorry, no idea. Is it important?" Jessica asked.

The man nodded. "Yes, it is, in a way. I was asking if you know the service is all in Welsh."

James gave a gasp. No wonder Aunt Judy had smiled when she saw them off. She must have known this. Well, they were here now, and there was no other chapel or church in the village, so they might as well stay. And they would tell Aunt Judy it had been a wonderful service, and thank her for saying they could go. That would teach her!

A young lady inside handed them each a hymn book. She smiled at the Two Jays and said, "Eisteddwch ble bynnag hoffech chi."

James returned the smile, but said quietly, "I'm sorry, but we don't speak Welsh." He hoped the lady would understand English, and he certainly didn't want to attract attention from the people sitting in the back seats.

"I was saying you can sit wherever you like," the lady said. "I suppose you do realise the service will be all in Welsh, including the sermon." She laughed gently. "Fortunately the minister only preaches short sermons. Never more than two hours."

James stared in horror, and the lady must have seen the expression on his face. "Twenty minutes at the most," she said, laughing. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Everybody seemed so pleasant, and James was quite looking forward to hearing a whole service in another language. He'd done it before in France.

Jessica wanted to sit near the back, and went to the far end of the row to be next to the wall. She opened the hymn book, and discovered all the hymns were in Welsh.

James prayed a short prayer for the Holy Spirit to be present in the whole chapel and in his own heart, and that God would speak to him even if he couldn't understand the words that were being spoken.

The chapel walls were plain white, with a high platform at the front with a pulpit in the centre. There was a large harp as well as a small organ.

"There's the harp you're going to play on Wednesday," James whispered to Jessica, but she ignored him.

A young couple with a small child sat immediately in front of them. They turned round and the lady said, "Bore da.

Jessica said, "Bore da," in return, hoping it meant good morning or hello or something like that. Presumably it did, because the lady smiled and introduced herself in English as Annie Jones, and said her husband was Glyn, and the small girl was Rhianwen. Jessica and James told her their names, and explained they were on holiday in Abergair for the half term.

An elderly man in a plain white shirt started playing the small organ at the front, and the minister and everyone stood up. The hymn number was on the board, and because everyone had their hymn books open, James opened his and found the place.

He knew the tune, but the words were a mystery. As they sang, no one was pronouncing the words as they were written. Welsh was obviously a tricky language to learn.

Jessica seemed to be getting on all right, although she was humming the tune more than actually singing the words. James paused to take stock of the whole atmosphere of the chapel. Never mind the words, he was starting to feel very close to Jesus. These were godly people, worshipping God loudly and enthusiastically. He made up his mind to enjoy the whole service, including the sermon.

There were prayers, a Bible reading, and then something that James knew as a modern worship song. It wasn't in the hymn book, but everyone seemed to know it. It was in Welsh, of course, but James knew the English words well. All right, so he was going to sing the English quietly, because these words meant so much to him.

He noticed that Jessica was doing the same. Some people raised a hand in praise, and James felt moved to do the same. Jessica even raised both hands. It was such a wonderful experience to be praising the Lord in Bethel Chapel. He had been to many services in England where he'd not felt the presence of the Holy Spirit as he did here.

Jessica seemed dazed by the experience. She turned to him and whispered, "Praise the Lord!"

"Amen," James replied.

James felt gripped as the minister stood up to preach. The man seemed to be about the same age as his father. He preached loudly and confidently. James loved the sound of the Welsh language, even though he couldn't understand a single word.

At times, he was unable to tell if the minister was telling the people off, or giving them great words of encouragement. The words went from quiet to loud, then to quiet again, and then to loud. The whole sermon sounded so passionate. Whatever the minister was saying, the people were clearly in agreement as they nodded their heads.

James knew he'd prayed for the Holy Spirit to be present, and that prayer was certainly being answered!

After the sermon, Annie Jones who was sitting in front of them with her husband and small child, got up and made her way to the harp on the platform. She started to play, and James immediately recognised the hymn. It was one of his favourites. "Here is Love, Vast as the Ocean."

Everyone had their hymn books open by this time, so he guessed it must be the last hymn number on the board at the front.

Annie Jones started to sing the first verse as a solo, while paying the harp. James followed the words in his hymn book. The harp and Annie's solo sounded amazing. Moving. Deeply moving.

"Dyma gariad fel y moroedd,

Tosturiaethau fel y lli:

Twysog Bywyd pur yn marw—

Marw i brynu'n bywyd ni.

Pwy all beidio â chofio amdano?

Pwy all beidio â thraethu'I glod?

Dyma gariad nad â'n angof

Tra fo nefoedd wen yn bod."

Annie Jones paused at the end of the verse. "We have some visitors from England called James and Jessica here this morning," she said in English, making Jessica jump. She hadn't realised anyone knew their names. Oh, of course, she'd already told Annie Jones who they were, and now everyone knew!

Annie Jones stood up from her harp. She still spoke in English. "This hymn from 1870 was a great favourite in the wonderful Welsh Revival of 1904 to 1906," she said. "It was translated into English at that time, and now it's sung all over the world. How many of you know the words of the English version?"

A few hands went up. James and Jessica put their hands up too.

"It seems that our young English visitors do," she said. She pointed to the Two Jays. "Jessica, James, would you like to come to the front and sing the English words with those of us who know them?"

James expected Jessica to dive under the seat as everyone turned to look. But she caught hold of his sleeve and dragged him up the aisle and onto the platform before he could protest.

"You're not expecting us to sing a duet, are you," James said quietly to Annie Jones. "Jessica sings okay, but I don't."

Most of the chapel members understood English, judging by the laughter. How had they heard him so well? Then he saw the small microphone. "Oh."

"I want everyone who knows the English words to stand," Annie said.

About a third of the people stood up.

She made sure the three of them were in front of the microphone, then turned to the organist. "Just the first verse, please."

Looking back on it afterwards, James had no idea how he and Jessica got through it. He even found himself singing loudly, which with his voice might not have been such a good move. As Annie Jones and the English singers joined in with them, he felt a lump in his throat and could sense his eyes were wet. He didn't dare look at Jessica. He knew the words well.

"Here is love, vast as the ocean,

Loving kindness as the flood,

When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,

Shed for us His precious blood.

Who His love will not remember?

Who can cease to sing His praise?

He can never be forgotten,

Throughout Heaven's eternal days."

"That was simply wonderful," Annie Jones said.

James noticed that she too had tears in her eyes. Jessica was wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Annie turned to the organist. "I think we'll sing the second verse in English now." She nodded to James and Jessica. "Is that all right?"

James decided it was a bit late to ask, because the organist was already playing the introductory bars. But he knew the words, and Jessica obviously did as well

"On the mount of crucifixion

Fountains opened deep and wide;

Through the floodgates of God's mercy

Flowed a vast and gracious tide.

Grace and love, like mighty rivers,

Poured incessant from above,

And Heaven's peace and perfect justice

Kissed a guilty world in love."

At the end of the hymn, James could see there was hardly a dry eye in the chapel. He hoped they weren't crying because of his not-very-good singing voice, but because of the words and the meaning in them. Jessica was still wiping her eyes as they returned to their seats near the back.

The minister gave a blessing, and James expected everyone to get up from their seats to leave. But it seemed the people were so moved by the Holy Spirit that they were unable to stand. A few men called out some words in Welsh, which he presumed were words of praise. There was a sense of the presence of God in Bethel Chapel that James had rarely experienced before.

Chapter 6

Back at the Abergair Guest House, Aunt Judy opened the door to let them in when they rang the bell. She had not yet trusted them with a key. "Well?" she asked, not doing a very good job of hiding a smile.

"It was wonderful," Jessica said. "I'm ever so glad we went."

Aunt Judy frowned. "Wasn't the service all in Welsh?"

"It was," Jessica said brightly, "and it didn't matter at all. It was like the language of Heaven."

"And Jessica and I even sang to them in English," James added. "I didn't understand a word of the sermon, but all the time I felt God was speaking to me, telling me how much he loves me."

"I've never heard such a thing in all my life," Aunt Judy said. "I wouldn't have let you go if I'd known you were going to get up to that sort of nonsense. Fancy singing in English when everyone else was singing Welsh."

"They asked us to sing in English," Jessica said.

"That's as may be," Aunt Judy said. "And I suppose they know we're related."

"You ought to go to Capel Bethel," James said. He couldn't member whether they'd mentioned Aunt Judy to anyone there or not. Was Aunt Judy so ashamed of them that she didn't want anyone to know they were related?

"It sounds too informal to me," Aunt Judy said. "And I only speak a bit of Welsh. Are you sure you were made welcome?"

"Absolutely," Jessica said.

Aunt Judy thought for a moment. "Well, I've left it a bit late to go now."

"It's never too late to start going to church, Aunt Judy," Jessica said. "It's lovely there."

Aunt Judy smiled one of her rare smiles. "No, I meant I've left it too late to go to Capel Bethel. I'm moving to my new home in town next week. And that reminds me, we've got a lot of work ahead of us. You can take Jack for a run on the sand if you like, and then we'll have lunch before we tackle the bags and boxes you brought down from the loft yesterday.

James's head was still full of Bethel Chapel as he and Jessica started down the steps to the beach. Jack led the way with his long red tongue hanging out, being far more sure-footed on the narrow steps than they were. James thought the wind felt stronger today. The waves looked wild. But surely not wild enough to bring down the cliff at the next high tide.

James took a deep breath of fresh, salty air. Had he and Jessica really led the singing in English from the front? Well, mostly it was Jessica. He looked down at her as she went ahead of him, her hair blowing wildly in the wind. No matter what hard work lay ahead, this was one of his best Sundays ever.

Occasional lumps of soil and stones still rattled their way down the cliff from what was left of Aunt Judy's garden, but there didn't seem to be anything serious about to happen, although the pounding from the waves had eaten into the bottom of the cliff.

Jack was as excited as he was yesterday to run free on the sand. No matter how many times Jessica threw the stick for him, he never tired of fetching it back to them. James wondered what went on in a dog's brain. If someone asked him to fetch something, there's no way he'd keep getting it if they kept throwing it away.

The tide was on the way out now, and it was possible to make their way past the small headland again. They paused at the mouth of the cave. "Let's go in," James said. "Just a little way. We can't get lost in this one."

The entrance to the cave was at a steep angle and about twice his height, so there was no danger of them banging their heads. The smell of the sea and seaweed was stronger in here, and a large pool of seawater near the entrance had a few small fish darting here and there in it.

"Just a bit further," James said.

The passage went upwards at a slight angle, but there wasn't much to see. "Where's this treasure chest you found?" he asked.

Jessica looked around, pretending to be puzzled. "I think it was right at the far end."

"Then it will have to stay there," James said, entering into the fun. "You know what I'm like with caves."

"I feel a bit the same way about caves since Dakedale. Let's get out into the fresh air. This cave is smelly with all this seaweed."

James held his nose. "And probably a few dead fish lurking under it. Before we go, what about your treasure chest?"

"Leave it. I got all the treasure I want in Bethel Chapel this morning."

"Me too," James said. "I'm hungry. We ought to get back. Race you to the bottom of the steps. Come on, Jack. Let's show Jessica how fast boys can run!"

Aunt Judy's lunch was much better than they were expecting, and more filling. She had managed to produce a roast and a range of vegetables. James thought she was planning to treat her slaves well. Or perhaps this was like the witch in the fairy tale, and she was fattening them up to eat them.

"Make sure you leave enough room for pudding," Aunt Judy said. "I've made an apple pie especially for you both. And clotted cream to go with it."

James smiled to himself. Yes, they were definitely being fattened up.

"That sounds delicious," Jessica said, and James wondered whether to warn her that they were being prepared to be eaten, like Hansel and Gretel, as soon as all the work was finished.

Aunt Judy wasn't all that bad, he decided. It must be lonely not having a family of your own, and living out here right in the wilds on the edge of a cliff. But then she must have had guests during the year, but probably not in the winter. And suddenly he felt sorry for her, and for all his unkind thoughts.

"Aunt Judy," he said, "this is an amazing lunch. Don't worry, we'll work as hard as we can to help you."

Jessica gave his leg a gentle kick under the table, and he looked at her. She was frowning. Was there any way to let her know that what he'd said to Aunt Judy was what he really meant? Had he made it sound a bit sarcastic? He hoped not.

Then Jessica seemed to understand why he'd said it. "It is, Aunt Judy. It's a lovely meal. Thank you for getting it ready for us."

James could tell Jessica really meant it, and Aunt Judy seemed to glow with pride. "Thank you. I'm not used to catering for young people on their own," she explained. "I don't want to be too much of a slave driver this week. I'll make sure you get out at times."

James had to hide a smile at the mention of slave driving. He wondered if his father had used the word to Aunt Judy in jest. Probably not. Whatever, it looked as though they might not be in for such a hard time as he'd been expecting.

Lunch was over, and Aunt Judy insisted they lay on their beds for half an hour. She explained that she had always done this when she was their age, and it was essential for their well being and growth.

James had never heard of such a thing before, but after walking to and from the village, and then going on the beach, a short rest sounded like a good idea. And he had eaten rather a lot of lunch!

Although the idea of resting on the bed after lunch was a new one to James, he really could have done with a bit more rest. However, Aunt Judy was soon making it clear that time was up.

"I want you to bring the first box out onto the landing," she said, as James rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe he'd actually been to sleep. "I don't want you to lift anything heavy, but I think you'll be fine. In the bedroom opposite are three empty boxes. I'll sit on a chair to watch, and tell you into which box the things go. There's one box for things I want to take with me, another box for things that no one will want, and will therefore go to the recycling centre."

"And the third box?" James asked, stifling a yawn. Help, he didn't want Aunt Judy to think he was fed up and bored already.

"The third box is for things that will go to the charity shop in town. I think some people call it a thrift store. What do you call it, James?"

"A charity shop," he said. "That's good, because other people will be able to use things you no longer want, and the shop will raise some money for charity."

"Which charity?" Jessica asked.

"I've got a better idea," James said, "if it's all right with you, Aunt Judy. There was a notice up at Bethel Chapel about an Easter fair and sale in the village. At least, I think that's what it was. It was in Welsh, but it had a picture of a sale. You can check with the minister. It would be really good if you could raise some money for them."

Aunt Judy said she'd think about it, and then told them to get on with the work without talking too much.

The first box was full of Christmas decorations, and Aunt Judy told them to put a few in the box she was taking, and then the rest would go in the charity box. There were some old gramophone records, which Aunt Judy said could go to the dump, but Jessica thought they might be of interest to some people, because if they had a record player they could transfer them to MP3 and listen to them more easily.

Aunt Judy said she had no idea what Jessica was talking about, but if that is what she thought they should do with them, then who was she to argue?

The third box had ornaments that looked really old-fashioned to Jessica, but she didn't say anything about them. It seemed that Aunt Judy shared Jessica's opinion, because she said, "Nothing I want in there. Charity shop or dump?"

Jessica pulled a bit of a face, but decided it would be rather rude to assign her aunt's ornaments to the dump, so she suggested charity.

A few more boxes, and Aunt Judy said it was time for a cup of tea or whatever drink they wanted. She even said they could have a biscuit each. James thought they must be doing really well to be allowed a biscuit, and then he caught sight of a small black picture frame in what would be the next box. He reached forward and pulled it out.

"Oh my," Aunt Judy said, "you've found it. I remember my father bringing that old thing back from the war as though it was something marvellous."

James shook his head. That old thing, as Aunt Judy called it, was the amazing papyrus page his father had told them about. The glass was cracked, and the frame didn't look too healthy. He examined the page closely. It certainly looked incredibly old, but then by all accounts the papyrus page that showed the pharaoh and the hieroglyphics had also looked old, and the museum had laughed at that one as a modern fake.

"Put it down, James. We're going to have a break," Aunt Judy said. "Or if you must, you can bring it down with you and look at it while you're having your drink."

If you must. Yes, James felt he definitely must. He blew the dust off it and followed Aunt Judy down the stairs. Jessica walked with him, trying to get a good look at it.

"Whatever we do, James, we have to make sure it doesn't get thrown away. It looks fascinating. Yes, coming, Aunt Judy."

What they had to drink, and what of sort biscuit it was, James couldn't remember later. He and Jessica were fascinated by the page. Carefully, Jessica opened the back and slipped the piece of papyrus out. If they left it in the frame, the broken glass might easily damage it.

It was written in rather faded brown ink. One edge was slightly torn, and the whole page had an uneven brown stain running across it.

"I can't read a word of it," James said. "What language is it written in?" He laughed. "One thing I do know, it's not Welsh."

"It isn't Greek either," Jessica said. "So it won't be a very early page from the New Testament."

"How do you know it's not Greek?" James asked.

"I went with my parents to Greece two years ago. I know what Greek writing looks like."

"Isn't modern Greek different to New Testament Greek?"

"Most of the words are different, but the letters are more or less the same. No, this definitely isn't any sort of Greek."

"Let me see it a moment," Aunt Judy said, looking interested.

James handed it over rather reluctantly, afraid that Aunt Judy would decide it was rubbish, screw it up, and throw it in the bin.

After examining it closely, she said, "I can't think the charity shop or Bethel Chapel would have any interest in this. Perhaps you'd better tell your father, James, and your mother, Jessica, because I suppose it's a family thing now."

Jessica got out her phone and took the page close to the window. "I'll just take a picture of it and I can send it to my mum," she said.

"And send a copy to my dad," James said. "I know he'll be really interested to see it."

"We can do better than that," Aunt Judy said. "I have a scanner, and you can email them a high resolution picture."

"You have a scanner?" James asked in amazement.

Aunt Judy laughed. "Don't be so surprised, young man. We're not totally backward here in Abergair. I do have the internet. I need it for my bookings. Or rather, I needed it for my bookings, before the council closed me down. Nobody writes letters anymore, more's the pity. It's all emails nowadays. What the world is coming to I don't know."

"Can you scan it for us? Please, Aunt Judy," Jessica said, remembering her manners.

Aunt Judy shook her head. "I'm sure you know how to use scanners and things much better than I do. It's all part of my printer, and printing is all I use the machine for. You're welcome to use it." Then she spoilt things slightly by adding, "As long as you don't damage it."

Jessica said, "Thank you, Aunt Judy. Can we do it now?"

"Young lady, there's still plenty to do upstairs. I'll show you where everything is later."

"I don't think we're going to finish it all today, Aunt Judy," James said.

She nodded. "I don't think so either, James. However, I'm surprised how much progress the three of us have made."

James felt like saying it was the progress that two of them had made, because Aunt Judy had sat in a chair the whole time pointing to this box and that, while giving instructions.

"Really good progress," Aunt Judy said. "I think we'll have enough done today to put in the back of my Volvo to take to the recycling centre in the morning. I'll phone the minister at Capel Bethel and see if he's interested in having some of the boxes for the fair and sale you believe is coming up at Easter."

James hadn't seen Aunt Judy's Volvo, and hadn't even realised she drove. But of course that was ridiculous. No one could live out here at the top of the hill and not have transport. "Where is your car?" he asked.

"It's in the garage, James. It's a large Volvo estate. Do you still have any strength left today? If so, you and Jessica can carry some of the boxes that are going to the recycling centre downstairs and start to load it. It will be good to clear some of the floor space."

Much to James's surprise, a few trips down the stairs with the boxes only took a short time, and it wasn't long before he and Jessica were sorting through more bags and boxes in the bedroom, under the watchful eye of Aunt Judy who sat bolt upright in the chair, giving them their instructions.

Chapter 7

By the time they were ready for their Sunday evening meal, the Two Jays felt weary. To their great relief it looked as though they had nearly finished all they'd come to do. That was until Aunt Judy opened another bedroom door and showed them shelves and a table full of odds and ends that she said would all need sorting.

"We'll do it in the morning. I'll show you where the computer is, and you can scan that old scrap of paper. Why you would want to, I can't imagine."

James decided not to make it sound too attractive. He didn't want to tempt Aunt Judy into keeping it. "Thank you, Aunt Judy," he said in his most polite voice. "That's very kind of you."

The computer was an old desktop model, rather than the laptop they'd been expecting. James noticed that it had a modern operating system and decent anti-virus and firewall. The combined printer and scanner was already plugged in, and Jessica tried the chunky keyboard. It was nothing like the one on her laptop at home. It had big keys that had to be pressed all the way down, but she soon got the hang of it.

James carefully placed the papyrus page on the glass of the scanner, made sure it was straight, and closed the lid. Jessica found the scanning program and quickly brought the image of the preview scan up on the very old monitor that looked rather like a goldfish bowl on the front. Still, it worked, and that was all that mattered.

Jessica set the scanner to the highest resolution, and started the scan. The scanner whirred away and the scan was quickly completed. Where the scan file went, neither she nor James were sure. It wasn't on the desktop, but they found it in a file within the scanner program.

"We've done it, Aunt Judy," James called out. "Is it all right if we print it?"

No reply came from the kitchen, although surely Aunt Judy had heard.

"I think you have to go and ask, not call out," Jessica said. "She's probably deliberately ignoring you."

James rolled his eyes and went meekly into the kitchen. He came back to say it was fine to make a print, as long as they knew how to do it.

The program was similar to one Jessica had at home, although the hardware was different. It wasn't long before the sheet of plain paper came out of the printer with a clear image of the papyrus page.

James examined the image. "Darken it a bit and raise the colour saturation. It's all rather washed out."

The next print was perfect, which was a relief, because Aunt Judy probably knew exactly how many sheets of plain paper were loaded in the printer.

James pushed Jessica out of the way. "I'm going to email a copy to Dad. I'm sure he'll be pleased to know we've found it."

Jessica pushed her way back in front of the keyboard. "And I'm sending one to my Mum. She's just as much part of the Cooper family as your dad. She married a Green, but she was born a Cooper. She and your dad are brother and sister. If this page is worth a fortune, it's only fair that the money is shared between the two families."

They were so busy arguing with each other that they hadn't realised Aunt Judy was standing behind. "You two are both living in cloud cuckoo land if you think that's worth any money." She picked up the better of the two prints. "It looks good. There's an art shop in town that I've used several times. The woman there is most helpful. When we take my precious ornaments to my new apartment, I'll drop you off there. They might sell imitation vellum or parchment.

Jessica knew that real vellum and parchment sheets were made from animal skins, and were nothing like papyrus which was made from reeds. But she wasn't going to point this out to Aunt Judy. Anyway, perhaps she already knew. Just printing it on some paper that looked old was a great idea.

"Maybe Tuesday morning when we go to town," Aunt Judy said. "Tomorrow afternoon I have a removal company coming for the furniture I want to keep, and it will go into storage until I'm ready for it. I want you out of the way while they're here. But I'm not trusting them with anything delicate or valuable, which is why we're taking those items to my apartment in the car."

Chapter 8

The next morning, Monday, the wind seemed a lot stronger, and Jessica could taste salt on her lips at the top of the cliff. This time she was wearing her green beanie hat, with her hair tucked securely inside. She had tried using her black umbrella, but the wind got under it like a parachute. So that combination was a definite no, although James suggested it might be a quick way down to the beach, and probably a lot safer than using the steps!

Angry waves crashed over the rocks out to sea, and Jessica could see a lot more seaweed on the sand than there had been yesterday. The wind tugged at her clothes as she made her way down the steps, and she held tightly to the rope as Jack ran past her, tangling with her feet.

She looked at her phone. "Don't forget we have to be back in twenty minutes," she said. "A morning at the recycling centre awaits us. How exciting is that!"

By the time they returned to the Abergair Guest House, Aunt Judy was waiting impatiently, even though they were back slightly under the twenty minutes of freedom they'd been allowed.

"James, Jessica, put Jack in the kitchen and come along as quickly as you can. There are always a lot of cars waiting to unload at the recycling centre."

The recycling centre was in a large village not far beyond Abergair, and they were there within a few minutes. Large skips of various colours gave clear instructions of what could and could not be put in each one -- and not another car in sight!

James and Jessica were well used to helping sort stuff at home for recycling. While Aunt Judy stayed in the car, the Two Jays went backwards and forwards between the various skips, dropping in the appropriate items.

James could see that they could have saved a lot of time and running about if they'd been careful to load the boxes with more thought. Each of their boxes seemed to contain items for three or four different skips.

They were about to flatten the boxes and put them in the skip labelled Cardboard, when Aunt Judy jumped out of the Volvo estate and told them to put them in the back. They would need them later in the day. James was amazed to see how quickly his aunt could move.

He and Jessica went back to the Volvo, clapping their hands together to get the dust off them. Aunt Judy held up her hand to stop them getting back in her car.

"There's a tap over there," she said. "Please wash them."

Meekly they obeyed.

As they left the recycling centre, with James and Jessica trying to dry their hands on their jackets, Aunt Judy said, "We're stopping off in this village to see a lady who's something of a historian. I want to show her my papyrus page, just to get an opinion on it."

James knew he'd probably be most unwise, but he had to make an objection. "Aunt Judy, you gave it to us."

Aunt Judy stayed silent for a moment, perhaps to concentrate on the driving, or more likely to think of a suitable reply. At last she said, "You're quite right, James, I did. Let's think of it as something belonging to the whole Cooper family, shall we?"

James looked at Jessica, and she shook her head as though to tell him to keep quiet. "Yes," she said aloud, "but we'd like to take it back with us to show our parents."

"I think I can allow that," Aunt Judy said. "Ah, this is the house. Now remember, I want you to be on your best behaviour. Miss Evans is a great friend of mine."

James was surprised that Aunt Judy had any friends, let alone a great friend. "Absolutely best behaviour," he said solemnly.

Jessica gave him a nudge, and he had to bite his bottom lip to keep from laughing.

The house stood on its own in a rather untidy garden. The front of the house had been painted white, with black lines around the windows and front door. It could definitely do with a new coat of paint, and the overgrown garden could benefit from a hedge trimmer and a pruning saw.

Miss Evans, Miss Winifred Evans, looked younger than Aunt Judy, although certainly not young. She also had her hair pinned back tightly, and wore thick glasses in a gold wire frame. She looked even more scary than Aunt Judy.

"Come in," she said. She looked down at James and Jessica's shoes, which had picked up a certain amount of muck at the recycling centre. She pointed at them. "Take those off and leave them on the porch," she ordered, wrinkling up her nose.

James and Jessica did as they were told. The house had a sort of damp smell mixed with cooking -- mostly the smell of cooking onions. The inside was in no better condition than the outside.

Aunt Judy recounted the story of her father, Sergeant Stanley Cooper, returning from the war with two pages from the market in Cairo. Then she explained, looking rather embarrassed, that the page with the pharaoh and hieroglyphics had been a modern fake.

Miss Evans nodded in sympathy. "Yes, so many of these fakes flood the market from time to time. It's a real minefield unless you're an expert. And if I may say so, I do pride myself at having a certain amount of expertise in these matters. Now, Judith, show me this find on papyrus."

Jessica had been worried that Aunt Judy might have folded it up to bring it here, but she need not have worried. Her aunt had put it flat in a rigid folder. She opened the folder carefully and put it on the table.

Miss Evans picked it up and examined it closely. "I'm glad it's not in a frame," she said, adjusting her glasses. "It's impossible to examine documents carefully if they're behind glass."

"We're getting a frame for it, to protect it," Jessica said.

"You must excuse me a moment," Miss Evans said, going across to a large cupboard. "I need a powerful magnifier nowadays for close up work like this. My eyes aren't the good eyes I had once."

James smiled to himself as he wondered how Miss Evans had managed to change her eyes for different ones.

Miss Evans examined the papyrus with a large antique magnifying glass in a silver frame. "Ah," she said and looked up. "I don't think it's worth buying a frame for this," she said to no one in particular. "It is clearly modern. Relatively speaking. I would say it was done early in the twentieth century."

"But it's on papyrus," James protested.

Miss Evans gave a sigh of exasperation. "You can still buy papyrus sheets today. And black ink."

"So how can you tell it's not old?" Jessica asked. "You sound very sure."

"Young lady," Miss Evans snapped, "believe me, I know a lot more about old documents than you do."

"What language is it?" James asked.

"Probably Coptic."

"What's Coptic?" James asked. "Is it Egyptian?"

"It's a very old language still used in parts of Egypt today, young man. But I can categorically state that this isn't ancient." She turned to Aunt Judy. "That's not to say I'm not interested in it. So if you have no use for it, I'd be happy to take it off your hands. It would make an interesting item in my collection of old documents."

"No!" James said loudly. "It belongs to the whole Cooper family."

To his surprise, Aunt Judy agreed with him. "I'm sure you understand, Winnie. It is family property, and since you assure us it's of little value, I'm letting these two take it back with them."

Miss Evans seemed to hide her disappointment well. "Of course, Judith, of course. Since it's connected to your dear father, I agree it should stay in the family -- as a warning to everyone not to be taken in with fakes." And she gave a rather unkind laugh.

Jessica returned it to the folder. "It's a lovely family souvenir from Egypt," she said. "I'd like to know what it says. Do you understand Coptic?"

Miss Evans shook her head. "It will probably be of no interest at all. It might even be a shopping list." And she laughed that unkind laugh again.

"My dad will find someone to read it, I'm sure," James said, closing the folder. "Thank you for looking at it, Miss Evans. I suppose we should have guessed it was a fake, like the one with the pharaoh."

He was glad to get his shoes back on and be out in the fresh air. The whole house had made him feel gloomy, and the bad news about the papyrus page hadn't helped.

Aunt Judy must have sensed how he was feeling, or perhaps she shared his gloom. "It's what we should have expected, but I feel sorry for my father, your great-grandfather. He fought bravely in the desert in North Africa, only to be deceived by one of the people he had risked his life to protect."

Jessica shook her head. "I think Miss Evans is wrong, if you don't mind me saying so, Aunt Judy. It looks really old. I don't see why anyone would go to the trouble of faking a single page of Coptic writing. It's not as though it's got a picture of something on it to make it look interesting."

"Yes," James said, "that makes sense. Let's get back and see if our parents have seen the emails we sent with the attachment."

Aunt Judy put a hand on each of their shoulders. "I feel sorry for you, James, and you, Jessica. I know you were excited, just as my father was when he first saw it." She sounded remarkably kind, as though she really meant it. "This afternoon you'll be helping me wrap up my ornaments and other possessions. And we'll take them to my new apartment in town tomorrow morning. While we're there, you can go into town to the art shop I told you about. They might sell reproduction vellum."

"But this is papyrus," James said, and realised he'd probably sounded rather rude. "But that's a great idea, Aunt Judy. Thank you for suggesting it."

Aunt Judy pulled onto the drive by the front entrance to the Abergair Guest House. "I know there's a difference, love, but I don't think you're going to find papyrus here in Wales."

Love? James thought Aunt Judy must be thawing out, and he certainly wasn't going to say anything more in case he upset her.

Chapter 9

After lunch, they set to work wrapping glass and china ornaments, and other small bits and pieces in old newspaper. They were given strict instructions to place each package very gently in the boxes they'd brought back from the recycling centre.

Jessica wisely decided to let Aunt Judy decide what to keep and what to leave behind for the chapel sale. Most of the stuff that Aunt Judy said she wanted was stuff that Jessica couldn't imagine anyone keeping. Unfortunately, Aunt Judy couldn't decide either, because several times when they'd wrapped something up carefully in newspaper, she asked to look at it again, and often put it in a box for the sale.

It took longer to pack the ornaments than it had done to sort out the things from the loft. Eventually they were allowed to stop for a rest, although they were warned it would only be for a few minutes.

Aunt Judy said she couldn't believe how long it was all taking, and Jessica refrained from telling her that if she could make her mind up more quickly, they would probably have finished by now.

As they sat in the kitchen having a drink and a slice of slightly stale sponge cake, James's phone went ping.

"It's Dad," he said, looking at the screen. "He sent me an email." He got it up on the screen and paused to read it, and then he read it again. "Dad says he's not at all convinced that the papyrus document is a fake. As soon as he received it, he forwarded the scan I sent him to someone he knows in one of the big museums."

"Does your father really think he can tell more from a photograph than my friend Winnie Evans can tell actually holding it in her hands and looking at it?"

"I'm only telling you what's in the email," James said.

His phone went ping again and he opened the next email. "It's Dad again. The person he knows in the Museum thinks it might be a missing page from an important early copy of the Gospel of Mark."

"The New Testament was written in Greek," Aunt Judy pointed out. "I can't think that man is much of an expert if that's all he can say about it."

"There's more in the email," James said, feeling as though he was being put on the sharp end of a stick. He was only repeating what his father said, so Aunt Judy had no right to get so worked up about it.

"Continue. Let us hear these words of wisdom," Aunt Judy said, possibly showing a little bit more interest than she had previously.

"There's an Egyptian scholar of New Testament documents visiting Aberystwyth University this week." He looked up at Aunt Judy. "That's not too far away, is it?"

Aunt Judy just grunted yes, and James continued reading the email. "Dad says a lot has happened since I sent that picture. Listen to this. Dad says the Egyptian, Professor Mahmoud, has to return to Cairo at the weekend. He's wondering if he can possibly come here and examine it."

Aunt Judy gave what sounded like a gasp of horror. "I'm going to phone your father, James. He might at least have had a word with me first. I'm closed for business now, and I don't want anyone turning up here unannounced, professor or no professor."

At that moment Aunt Judy's landline started ringing, and Jessica's phone played a little tune. As Aunt Judy went to answer her phone, Jessica said, "It's my Mum. Hello, Mum. ... Yes, all is well here. ... Yes, I think that's Uncle Clive on the phone to Aunt Judy. ... No, it's not our fault. Aunt Judy said we could make a scan and send it to you. ... She's coming now. I'll pass my phone to her."

Aunt Judy snatched Jessica's phone and started speaking. Jessica and James pulled faces at each other and slipped quietly into the kitchen.

"It's not our fault," Jessica said to James in despair. "Such a big fuss about an old scrap of papyrus. I mean, if Miss Evans, who seems to know about these things, says it's recent fake, then what on earth is going on?"

James felt they were being unfairly blamed for what sounded like an international incident. He told Jessica that surely if the Egyptian professor was an expert on old papyrus documents, he would know immediately if it was a modern fake or not when he came to see it. "If it's a fake, then everyone can stop fussing."

"And if it is really old," Jessica added, "we need to know what it's all about. Look out, here comes Aunt Judy."

For the next hour, as they finished packing the delicate ornaments and apparently precious bits and pieces, the only person who spoke was Aunt Judy, giving her instructions. Jessica felt uncomfortable in the atmosphere that filled the room, and was glad when the work was done and they were allowed to take Jack on the beach again. Not really allowed, Jessica decided, but told to do it.

The removal van had turned up to take selected pieces of furniture into storage, and Aunt Judy had pointed to the beach, and said they wouldn't want young people getting under their feet the whole time.

"Wow," James said, "am I glad to get out of there! The good news is that Professor Mahmoud is coming Wednesday evening at seven to inspect the papyrus. He seems to be ever so keen. Almost desperate to see it. Fancy Aunt Judy phoning Miss Evans again and telling her how sorry she was that her great expertise was being doubted, and someone from Egypt, from Egypt, is coming specially to look at it!"

Jessica laughed at James's imitation of Aunt Judy. "If Miss Evans is wrong, it could be really, really special."

"Let's not talk about Miss Evans all the time, Jessica. She was no fun at all. Let's hope the art shop in town has some really old looking paper so we can print off a couple of scans for ourselves. We'll buy two frames. One for the original, and one for a copy if we can get some old looking paper. I know Aunt Judy sort of gave it to us, but if it is valuable, I suppose we'll have to share the money out with the family."

Jessica bent down and patted the dog. "Cheer up, Jack. You don't know anything about the fuss that's going on. Lucky dog." She picked up Jack's favourite stick and flung it along the beach.

An hour later, James looked at the time on his phone. "The removal men will have finished by now. I wonder what Aunt Judy has got lined up for her slaves this evening."

As they made their way slowly and reluctantly back to the cliff steps, James pointed out just how impressive the waves were now. The bright horizon had turned dark and murky, almost a shade of pink. It looked like a major storm was coming.

Chapter 10

When James mentioned the stormy outlook to sea, Aunt Judy told him he was talking nonsense. She said the weather often turned unsettled at this time of the year. The rain would soon pass, and they were in for a sunny week ahead.

"My friend Winnie Evans has taken it extremely badly when I told her you were doubting her expert opinion," Aunt Judy told them over the evening meal of grilled fish, mashed potato and peas.

"It's not our fault, Aunt Judy," Jessica said. "All we did----"

Aunt Judy made a tutting noise. "I don't want to hear anymore about it. Is that understood?" Then she smiled. Very slightly. "Tomorrow morning we're going to my new apartment in town. I'll treat you both to lunch out. I think perhaps I've been a bit hard on you. I have to say you've been very willing and industrious workers."

"Thank you, Aunt Judy," Jessica said. "We're both looking forward to seeing your new apartment."

"You'll be glad to know it's on the ground floor," she said. "In any case, I don't think fit young people like you would find stairs a problem with the boxes."

"What about Jack?" James asked. "Are you taking him when you move?"

"Of course I am, James. The apartment is right on the seafront, but on much safer ground than this house."

James wondered where the money was coming from to buy a new apartment on the seafront. "Have you been able to sell this house?"

Aunt Judy shook her head, and gave a rather sad laugh. "I'm afraid this house and the land are worthless. In fact, I'm going to have to pay for the house to be taken down before it falls into the sea and causes a nuisance." She thought for a moment. "I just have to hope nature doesn't take its course first. It would be terrible if this house fell into the bay."

James listened to the wind whistling through a gap around the large dining room window that faced the sea. He swallowed hard. If it fell tonight, it wouldn't just be the house in the bay, it would be them inside it!

The next morning, Aunt Judy was impatient to get going, and she wasn't in the good mood she had been in the previous evening. The Two Jays took Jack for a quick run on the beach. The tide was right out now, and Jack had the whole beach to run around on.

"I can't find his favourite stick anywhere," Jessica said. "Look at all the stuff that's come up on the last high tide. It must have been really high."

James was poking about in the mountains of seaweed that were against the bottom of the cliff. "There's a good stick here. Look at it, it's almost a work of art."

Jessica found a similar piece. "If we dry these out I might be able to sell them at the school fair in the summer. I'll call it nature's art."

They hunted for more pieces of small driftwood. The storms at sea had stripped the bark off them long ago, leaving a smooth, silvery finish to the wood.

They were nearly at the headland, their arms full, when Jessica suddenly remembered the time. She gave a gasp. "We're supposed to be back by now. Aunt Judy will be mad with us. We'd better leave the wood here."

"Better not," James said. "It will get washed back to sea, and we'd never find it again."

"James, it's dangerous enough going up the cliff steps with our hands empty. We wouldn't be able to hold onto the rope carrying all this wood."

"Come on, we can leave it halfway up. It's the top part that's really dangerous. It will be safe there, and we can get it bit by bit when we get back from town."

Jessica paused for a moment to look out to sea, at the waves crashing noisily onto the rocks. "I don't care what Aunt Judy says, I think we are in for a big storm."

James was already at the bottom of the steps. "I care what Aunt Judy says, even if you don't. She'll be furious with us if we don't get back quickly."

As they feared, Aunt Judy was waiting impatiently for them. Her dark blue Volvo estate was already out of the garage.

"Come along, you two. I want to get off quickly. Where's Jack?"

James turned round to look. "He's behind ...."

Only he wasn't.

Jessica ran to the small white gate at the top of the cliff steps and looked over. "Come on, Jack," she called.

Jack emerged from the top of the steps carrying two of the pieces of driftwood they had been collecting. He dropped them at Aunt Judy's feet, and looked up, panting, as though expecting to be congratulated on managing to carry two pieces in one go.

"Whatever did Jack have in his mouth?" Aunt Judy demanded. "James, just throw that rubbish back over the cliff where it belongs."

Reluctantly, James went to do as he was told. Obviously Aunt Judy had no appreciation for imaginative pieces of driftwood, and he certainly didn't intend to try and convince her of its artistic merit. He was about to throw the two pieces into the headwind, when he noticed Aunt Judy had gone back into the house. He gently dropped them over the gate, to one side,

James felt in a bit of a bad mood. Fancy Aunt Judy telling him to throw nature's sculptures away! When they started to load the back of the estate car he could see they weren't going to get everything in the back in a single load.

"Handle everything carefully, please," Aunt Judy said, as James stumbled slightly as he let one box of ornaments down a bit heavily on top of one of the others already in the back of the car.

"I'd rather you didn't put the boxes on top of each other, James. We're going to have to make two journeys, anyway."

"Aunt Judy, if we put some of the boxes on the back seat and on the passenger seat, we might get everything in, and you'd only have to make one journey."

That was definitely the wrong thing to say.

"Young man, I hope you're not trying to be lazy. Do you really expect me to unload this car when I get to my apartment?"

"Sorry, Aunt Judy. I wasn't thinking."

Aunt Judy went, "Huh." Then she said, "That's the trouble with young people today, they're all lazy. They have no idea what hard work is."

This came as a bit of a surprise to James, remembering how Aunt Judy had praised them yesterday for being such hard workers, but he didn't intend to remind her of that.

Jessica came out carrying another box, and James hurried inside to show just how hard-working he could be.

Aunt Judy must have been thinking about his suggestion of filling the seats with boxes, because she said, "Maybe someone could help me at the other end. I don't want to make two journeys if I can help it, but I really need you with me. I might need your help for reversing and parking in town. I'm finding this car rather too large for me."

Great, James thought, this journey is really going to be an experience to remember.

It turned out that they had overestimated the space the boxes would need, and everything fitted in. Jessica drew the short straw and sat in the front with a box at her feet, while James sat in the large back seat with two boxes on the seat by his side, with two more on the floor. In his hand he held the folder containing the papyrus page.

Jessica sat terrified in the front seat, trying to avoid looking at the scary situations on the forty minute drive to town. As far as she could tell, Aunt Judy was also avoiding looking at these scary situations, which made them even more terrifying.

"Here we are," Aunt Judy said at last, pulling up outside a smart, new apartment block facing the sea. "James, if you could just get out and help me reverse into the parking space marked for Flat Two, that would be very helpful. I don't want to hit the wall again."

James jumped out of the car, took one look at the parking place, wondered about Aunt Judy's parking ability, and went back to her door.

She lowered the window. "Well?"

"I think," James said, "we can manage more easily if you go in forwards. If you reverse in, the tailgate might be a bit close to the wall and we might drop one of your boxes getting it out if there's not a lot of room." Hey, he thought to himself, that was brilliant. Where did that amazing idea come from?

It seemed that Aunt Judy also thought it was a bright idea, because she swung the car into the marked parking bay at a slight angle, and the front of the car bumped the wall.

"At least we're still alive," Jessica whispered to James. "I don't want too many journeys like that, so it's a good thing we managed to get everything in."

"What about her furniture and stuff? Is the furniture here now?" James whispered back.

Aunt Judy was already out of the large Volvo. "It's rude to whisper," she said sharply. "I don't want any secrets. What were you both whispering about?"

"I was asking about your furniture and the things still in the house," James said.

"I do believe the two of you don't listen. It's in one ear and out the other. I told you the removal company are putting my furniture in storage until I'm ready to move here."

"And what about the bags and boxes for the charity shop?" James asked.

"I followed your suggestion and phoned the minister of Capel Bethel. He's arranging to have it collected, and he's glad to have it to raise funds in the summer fair and sale. I told him it was your idea, and he remembers you clearly. He said you made a big impression on the people in the chapel." She frowned for a moment. "I just hope it was a good impression."

Before they could answer, Aunt Judy marched to the main entrance, looked at a piece of paper she was holding, and tapped in four numbers on the keypad. The front door swung open.

"Come on, don't dawdle. I want to show you my new apartment."

She took a key from her bag and opened the door on the left inside the entrance lobby. The apartment seemed to be brand new, smelling of fresh paint. It was much larger than James had expected it to be, although not as big as the house. He stood in front of the large window that looked across the road straight onto the beach.

"This is smashing," he said. "What a view! This must have been expensive."

Again it was the wrong thing to say. Aunt Judy took a quick breath and said, "Young man, I was brought up never to talk about money."

"I'm sorry, Aunt Judy," James said, "but you said your house in Abergair wasn't worth anything, and you're having to pay to have it knocked down and taken away."

"Young man, although it's no business of yours, there's a lesson for you here. All my life I have been frugal."

"Frugal?"

"That means not spending much money on myself. I have investments that have done well, I've had no children to bring up, and I've saved as much as I can. The guest house business has been a good source of income. Yes, James, I've been frugal."

Apart from buying expensive ornaments and things to fill all these boxes, James felt like saying, but he kept quiet.

Aunt Judy looked at her watch. "The people who are fitting my curtains and blinds will be here any moment. I need to make sure they understand exactly what they have to do. So you two can run along and keep out of the way. I'll explain where the art shop is, and you can take the papyrus page along with you and find a frame to fit it. And don't spend too much on it. Remember, Miss Evans says it's not really old at all."

"I'm glad I'm not fitting the curtains," Jessica said as soon as they left the apartment block. "I wish them well!"

Chapter 11

They found the art shop easily. It had paintings for sale in the front window, making the shop look bright and welcoming. Inside, three rooms disappeared into the distance. A woman stood in front of a table in the middle room, framing a large print. She looked up with a genuine smile, which came as a relief to the Two Jays.

James opened the folder. "We want to buy a frame for this."

The woman took the papyrus page carefully, holding it with white cotton gloves. She was obviously used to handling pictures, whether they were valuable or not. "We have some ready-made frames which I'm sure will suit this very well," she said, putting the page on the table and walking to a display of frames in natural wood.

"I suggest this one. And you will need some card to go behind it. If the frame is slightly larger than this... this...." She paused in surprise. "It looks like papyrus. My, this is really old. It needs to be handled extremely carefully."

"We don't think it is very old," Jessica chipped in. "What colour card do you suggest in the background?"

The woman fetched several card samples, and suggested one that was rose pink.

"That looks great," Jessica said excitedly. She turned to James. "I think even Aunt Judy would like that one. We need two frames, because we're going to print a copy of this one. Do you have any really old paper?"

"Not paper that's really old, but something that looks really ancient," James added, just to clear up any possible confusion. "You know, something that looks like parchment, only not made from animal skin, of course." He wished he'd not added that last very obvious bit.

"What you need," the woman said, "is papyrus."

"That would be perfect," Jessica said. "Only we're not going to Egypt, and I'm sure we won't be able to get any here in Wales."

The woman smiled. "Aha, that's where you're wrong. I happen to have..." and she walked across to a long drawer in a cabinet at the back "... an open packet I bought for someone at the university in Aberystwyth. I'm selling it by the sheet, and they only wanted six for a project. That leaves me with four."

James and Jessica went forward to examine one of the sheets. "It looks a bit new," James said doubtfully. "I think perhaps some ordinary paper that looks old would be better. But thanks for showing it to us."

"I think I can help you there," the woman said. "The student bought just two of the sheets the first time, but she came back for four more. She said they went through her inkjet printer fine, and she experimented making them look old by screwing them up and then ironing them on the back with a steam iron."

"Before or after she printed them?" James asked. He turned to Jessica. "Just imagine the fuss if it jammed up Aunt Judy's printer!"

"Judy?" the woman said. "That wouldn't be Miss Judith Cooper from Abergair would it, by any chance?"

"You know her?" James said.

"Yes it is," Jessica added.

"Oh yes, she's been in here several times with pictures she wants framing or repairing. She told me her great nephew and niece were coming to stay this week. I see what you mean. I don't think she'd take at all kindly to you jamming her printer. Anyway, you have to print it before you give it the ageing treatment. You could try staining the edges with strong black coffee. This papyrus is extremely robust."

"Well, we can ask," Jessica said. "Aunt Judy can only say no."

"And she probably will," James said. "But it's worth a try. Do you have any paper that looks really old as well, just in case?"

The woman thought for a moment. "Do you know, I really share your enthusiasm. You're welcome to the four sheets of papyrus. They've been hanging around for several years now. Over here is some imitation vellum, but it doesn't look at all old. People use it for writing certificates and invitations. I'll give you four sheets of that as well." She walked to another unit, and pulled open a drawer.

"We... we don't have much money," James said. "Not if we're going to buy two frames as well."

"No problem. I'm giving you the parchment and the imitation vellum. I like to encourage young people who are getting involved in art projects. Just pay for the frames."

"If you're sure," Jessica said, hoping the woman really was sure, and wasn't about to mention a high price.

"Absolutely sure. Just get your Aunt Judy's permission before you put anything in her printer. Better still, get her to help you. The papyrus sheets aren't a standard size, so you'll need to reset the paper guide. Just print them as though you're printing a standard sheet of white paper in normal mode. But remember, I'm not taking any responsibility if anything happens to the printer. I don't want your Aunt Judy coming in here to complain!"

The imitation vellum paper was a slight cream colour, and certainly didn't look old, but maybe they could stain that with coffee as well -- if the papyrus didn't work.

Back at the apartment block, Jessica remembered the numbers her aunt had pressed on the keypad at the main entrance. Inside the lobby, she knocked boldly on the door to apartment number two. Aunt Judy opened it immediately. She looked unexpectedly welcoming.

"Did you get what you wanted?" she asked.

James undid the folder that held the page of Coptic writing, and showed Aunt Judy the modern papyrus sheets and imitation vellum. She seemed more interested in the two frames.

"A good choice." She pointed into the front room where two men were on steps, fixing a long curtain pole. "I think I can safely leave them to it if we go for lunch. There's a lovely little restaurant just around the corner I discovered the other day. You can put all your shopping on the kitchen worktop. It will be perfectly safe there."

It was late afternoon when they got back to Abergair. Aunt Judy had insisted on watching the curtain fitters for the whole afternoon, fussing now and again, much to their obvious annoyance.

As James got out of the Volvo, his phone rang. It was his father.

"Dad, yes, all's well here. ... Yes, it's windy. Very windy, but Aunt Judy says it often happens at this time of the year. It's not going to get any worse. ... Are you sure that's the forecast from the Met Office? Well, that's not what Aunt Judy says. ... Don't worry, we're not going down on the beach tonight. It will be dark soon. ... Yes, promise."

Jessica tried to stand close enough to listen, but James waved a finger as though to tell her he would explain everything later. He returned to his phone call.

"We went into town with Aunt Judy today, and we've only just got back. Would you believe it, we found some modern papyrus sheets in the art shop. We're going to try to make a copy of the papyrus page that Great Grandpa Stanley brought back from Cairo. And we bought a couple of frames. Got to go, Aunt Judy is calling. ... You're right there, Dad! Love to Mum. Bye."

After the evening meal, James and Jessica wanted to try out the printer with the papyrus sheets they'd brought back from town. However, Aunt Judy had other plans for them.

"The chapel minister is sending someone to collect the things for the spring fair and sale in the morning. I have matters to attend to in town that will take up most of the day, but I need to be here when they come. I don't want you giving them the wrong things."

James hadn't realised they would be on their own. He felt excited by the thought of spending a whole day exploring as much of the coastline as they could. "Aunt Judy," he said, "we'll do whatever you want us to do this evening." Rather to his surprise, he realised he meant it.

As had happened earlier, Aunt Judy had overestimated the amount of time it would take two pairs of willing hands and legs to dash around the house collecting and sorting everything. It wasn't long before eight boxes of bits and pieces, and three black bin bags full of clothing, were stacked neatly in the hallway ready for collection in the morning.

"If there's nothing else you want us to do this evening," James said rather nervously, suspecting that there might well be something, "can we use the printer to make a print on the papyrus sheets?"

"Of course you may, James."

"Thank you, Aunt Judy."

"Just make sure you don't damage it. And don't go prying into my emails on the computer."

James glanced across at Jessica, who rolled her eyes. Fortunately, Aunt Judy had already left the room.

The file of the scan was already on the computer, and James brought it up on the ancient glass monitor. "So far, so good," he said.

Jessica pushed James to one side and tapped on the keyboard. "According to the woman in the art shop, we print the papyrus as though it's ordinary paper."

"Don't forget to darken the image a bit," James added, trying to recover his place in front of the monitor.

Somehow they manage to squeeze the two chairs close enough so they could both see what was on the screen, although Jessica took charge of the keyboard.

At that moment Aunt Judy came in to check up on them. With slightly shaking fingers James adjusted the paper margin on the printer, and put a single papyrus sheet into it. Jessica pressed Print.

To their great relief, and probably to Aunt Judy's great relief also, the printed sheet emerged safely from the bottom of the printer and dropped into the tray. It looked perfect.

"Let's do another one," James said excitedly, examining the first print.

Aunt Judy adjusted her glasses and peered at it closely. "I have to say it, but you two are really ingenious. There's just one problem."

The Two Jays turned to her quickly. "What's that?" they said in unison.

"It's a clever copy, but it looks much too new. It's never going to fool anyone into thinking it's the original."

Jessica shook her head. "It's not meant to fool anyone, Aunt Judy. All we want is a copy. But the woman in the art shop told us to screw it up tightly, then flatten it out and iron it on the back with a steam iron. Do you have a steam iron, or has it already gone to your new apartment?"

"It's in the tall cupboard in the kitchen, to the right of the sink. It's on the middle shelf. I take it Jessica knows how to use a steam iron safely. I don't want any burnt fingers."

They ignored the possibility of burnt fingers, and James screwed up the print while Jessica offered to find and turn on the iron.

"I'm going to make another print while we can," James told her, moving in front of the keyboard. "Just in case screwing it up and ironing it wrecks it."

Aunt Judy, who was already in the hallway, hurried back into the room. "What have you wrecked? I hope it's not the printer."

James explained what was happening, and assured his aunt that nothing untoward had happened to the printer. At least, he thought, not yet. He gave her a big smile, hoping to instil some confidence in what they were doing.

He decided not to risk a second print onto papyrus, and screwed the first print into a ball and went into the kitchen to smooth it out, working on the back in case he smudged the print on the front. While he was doing this, Jessica found the ironing board that stood to one side of the cupboard.

By this time, the iron was hot enough to shoot out a strong jet of steam when James pressed the button. "Let me do it, Jessica. I know what to do."

"I'll go and get a sheet of plain white paper to put down first," Jessica said. "We don't want the papyrus printing onto the ironing board cover if the steam attacks it."

James was holding the iron, waiting for Jessica to come back with the sheet of paper, when Aunt Judy entered the kitchen. "Put that down immediately, young man," she said. "That's not a job for you. Ironing is for women and young ladies like Jessica. Ah, here she is now."

James was about to say that was ridiculous, but Jessica came forward and said, "James, I don't know what you're thinking of. Here, pass the iron to me." And she gave him a friendly nudge which clearly meant he was to keep quiet.

The iron flattened the screwed up papyrus, and there were plenty of wrinkles left from where it had been screwed up to make it look old. But it still didn't look right.

"Coffee," James said. "Strong black coffee."

"Certainly not at this time of night," Aunt Judy said.

James shook his head. "The woman in the art shop said we could dip the sides into strong black coffee to stain it along the edges to make it look really old."

Aunt Judy seemed to be getting enthusiastic. "That's really ingenious. I'm sure it doesn't have to be fresh coffee. I've got a jar of instant we can use. Do you know if it has to be hot?"

"I can't think it matters," Jessica said. "Probably cold. I don't know how these strips of the papyrus stalk are stuck together to make the sheet. Perhaps hot water would unstick them."

Within a few minutes the edges had been briefly dipped in cold, strong black coffee that Aunt Judy had tipped into a long dish. James suggested they dry it out by ironing it on the back again, but without using steam. Not wanting to be told it was woman's work, he stood back and let Jessica do it.

"I think we should do another one," he suggested.

Aunt Judy looked at the clock and clapped her hands. "Much too late for that tonight. You've got plenty of time tomorrow. The people from the chapel are coming early to collect the things I've donated to the sale. Then I'm going into town. Professor Mahmoud, whom your father has very inconveniently arranged to come here, will be here tomorrow evening sometime after seven. I do wish he'd spoken to me first. I don't know anything about the professor."

"I'm sure he's all right," Jessica said. "He's a professor of ancient documents in one of the museums in Cairo. I can't wait to hear what he has to say about this piece of papyrus."

"I'm sure he'll say exactly the same as my friend Winnie Evans said when we showed it to her yesterday. Just a modern fake that my father foolishly bought as a souvenir to bring home at the end of the war."

James looked at Jessica. "Maybe he'll say it's an absolutely amazing discovery!"

"And maybe not," Aunt Judy said with a dismissive voice. "Before you go to bed, you can cut the image out of your papyrus print with jagged edges to make it look even older, and pop it in the frame you bought in town."

While Jessica was doing the cutting, James fetched the two frames from his bedroom and they put the original and the copy into them, with the rose pink card as a backing.

After clipping the backs firmly in place, James turned the frames around and said, "Oh."

Jessica looked at them closely. "They look great to me."

"But you can tell which is the original and which is copy," James said, sounding disappointed.

"Look the other way, James." As soon as James had turned away, Jessica hid one of the frames. "Okay, you can turn around now. Which one have I left? The original or the copy? No, don't go too close. Just stand back here."

"That's the copy," James said. "When you do that, I can see how good it is, but you didn't cut the edges quite the same as the original. So that's how I can tell." He broke into a broad smile. "Well done, Jessica. We might be able to make the next copy look even more authentic. Let's go and see what we can do."

Aunt Judy tutted. "In the morning, you two, in the morning. It's time for bed -- now!

Chapter 12

That night, the wind buffeted James's bedroom window in sudden gusts, waking him up from time to time as heavy rain lashed against it. It seemed that his father and the Met Office were right about the weather forecast, and Aunt Judy was wrong.

By the time it was getting light, the rain had stopped and he could see patches of blue in the dark grey sky. But the horizon was hidden by a mass of black cloud, and the wind shook his bedroom window as strongly as ever.

He found Jessica standing in the kitchen, helping Aunt Judy prepare a cooked breakfast. Jessica grinned at him. "The whole day is ours," she said quietly. "After the stuff for the sale has been collected, I vote we go down to the village and see if the chapel is open. I know it won't be the same in there as it was on Sunday, but it will be peaceful. Did you hear the wind in the night?"

"Did I! I kept being woken up by it whistling through the gaps in my window, and by the rain hammering on the glass. A couple of times I thought the window was going to fall in. Let's go down on the beach this morning. It's going to be exciting down there. We might be able to find lots more small pieces of driftwood for you to sell as sculptures."

"Don't go yet," Aunt Judy said. "The young couple from the chapel will be here soon, and I want you to give them a hand loading their car."

James thought the cooked breakfast was great, especially having it on what was a cold, stormy day. Whether the breakfast was mainly thanks to Aunt Judy or to Jessica he wasn't sure, so he congratulated them both, but made sure he congratulated Aunt Judy more.

As soon as breakfast was over, Aunt Judy said she had to be going immediately. The carpet fitters had phoned to say they would be early, and she wanted to make sure they knew exactly what they had to do. And then she was meeting a friend she knew in town for lunch.

"If you both want to go off somewhere for the day, you don't have to hurry back. Professor Mahmoud won't be here until about seven o'clock this evening. I imagine you want to be here when he comes. There's a bus service on the main road just beyond the village."

Jessica explained that they weren't sure what they were doing, but they would probably go down on the beach first, and take Jack with them.

"Jack's going with me," Aunt Judy said. "He needs to get used to the new apartment and the town. Well, whatever you do, enjoy yourselves. Here's a spare key. Make sure you lock the front door before you go out. Most of my valuable possessions have gone now, but I don't like to think of there being any intruders. And if by any carelessness you mislay the key, there's another one under the large flowerpot to the right of the front door."

James was about to say that that was such an obvious place to hide the key, that it was hardly worth hiding it in the first place. But he thanked Aunt Judy instead, and assured her that Jessica would look after the key, and it would be perfectly safe with her.

Aunt Judy's dark blue Volvo estate was only just out of sight, when a silver SUV came round the corner and stopped by the door. The two cars must have passed each other just down the lane.

"It's Annie Jones and her husband Glyn," Jessica said in surprise. "It's really good that we're seeing them again."

Annie got out, and from the back seat she produced little Rhianwen who was wearing a red jacket and white leggings.

Annie Jones went into the hallway and gasped in horror at the number of boxes and bags. "Oh dear," she said, "we're never going to be able to get all this in the back. We'll have to put the back seat flat."

"I'll stay here with Rhianwen," Glyn said, "and you can come back for me as soon as you've unloaded." Then he laughed.

Annie laughed too. "Nice try, Glyn. I'm going to need you to help unload at the village hall."

Rhianwen had found an immediate friend in Jessica, who was showing her some small white flowers that were growing by the side of the car park. "These are called snowdrops." Jessica said. Then she looked up at Annie. "You can leave Rhianwen here with me and James while you and Glyn take everything down to the village."

Annie smiled. "That would be really helpful. I think perhaps you should take Rhianwen indoors, just to be sure she's safe now that the garden fence has fallen onto the beach."

"Come on, Rhianwen," Jessica said. "Come and look at Aunt Judy's house."

"She's not going to need changing or anything, is she?" James asked, wrinkling up his nose.

Annie shook her head and gave what sounded like a giggle. "No, James, Rhianwen is fully housetrained. I'm glad we've met you both again," she said. "People in the village are still talking about your singing."

"I was afraid of that," James said, pulling a face.

"Come on, you three," Glyn called from outside. "I need a hand."

The SUV was soon fully loaded with every box and bag. "I can make you a cup of tea before you go, if you like," Jessica said.

Annie shook her head. "That's kind of you, but we need to be off. Have you ever heard of Llanfihangel-y-Pennant?"

Jessica, who was now holding Rhianwen in her arms, shook her head, and so did James.

"I don't think many people have," Annie said. "Have you heard of Mary Jones? As in, Mary Jones and her Bible?"

"Oh yes," Jessica said. "We heard about her in my young people's group at church. She walked miles over the mountains to get a Bible. Is it all right if I put Rhianwen down? She's ever so wriggly."

Annie took Rhianwen and carried her into the house. "Now then, cariad, you stay here with Jessica and James." Then she switched to Welsh. "Bydd Mam a Dad yn ôl yn fuan iawn." She looked up at Jessica. "I told her Mummy and Daddy will be back very soon."

"Cariad?" James said. "I thought her name is Rhianwen."

"And so it is, James. Cariad is a Welsh word meaning darling, or love. It's something we say to children. We're planning to be gone for the whole day, but if you're free, would you like to come with us to see the village where Mary Jones lived? It's called Llanfihangel-y-Pennant."

"I'm not sure what Aunt Judy would think," Jessica said.

"That's not a problem," James told her. "Aunt Judy said we could do whatever we like, and we don't have to be home at any special time. I know we're not allowed to go in cars with strangers, but ... well...."

"You're right, I'm sure we'll be fine," Jessica said to James. "We'll leave Aunt Judy a note and tell her who we're with. It's not as though Annie and Glyn are strangers. The only thing is, we have to be back well before seven" She turned to Annie. "Someone is coming to look at an old document."

Annie smiled. "That sounds intriguing, but we need to be back well before six for Rhianwen. It will be a pleasure to take you both. We go there two or three times a year. It's a lovely drive. We'll be as quick as we can unloading the car in the village. Make sure you bring some warm clothing. There's quite a storm coming this way." She bent down and gave Rhianwen a kiss, and assured her that they be back very soon.

Rhianwen seemed perfectly at ease with Jessica, and stood with her and James to wave her parents off.

As the car went out of sight, Jessica turned and looked at James, grinned, and put on a sweet smile.

He knew what was coming, and shook his head. "Don't you dare call me cariad!"

Chapter 13

"It will take us about an hour to get to Llanfihangel-y-Pennant," Annie Jones said when they set off at last, with Rhianwen sitting between Jessica and James in her safety seat.

"Probably a bit more than that," Glyn said. He was driving. "It will be good to stop off from time to time to look at the view."

"Mary Jones," James said thoughtfully. "Are you related, Glyn?"

Annie laughed. "There are Joneses everywhere in Wales. I was a Jones, too, before I married. Mary Jones certainly had children of her own, but there's no tradition in either of our families of any connection."

As they drove inland, the roads seemed surprisingly narrow, and James could see why what sounded like a short distance was going to take them a good hour. They made a long stop to look across a deep valley and admire the mountains. Then they made another stop to change Rhianwen who was a bit stinky, and not as housetrained as James and Jessica had been led to believe. Soon after that they entered the small town of Machynlleth.

"Time for an early lunch," Glyn said as he parked the car in the wide street. "We won't be able to get anything to eat in Llanfihangel-y-Pennant, so make the most of it now."

They found a small, friendly-looking café and studied the menu. Glyn and Annie said they would be paying. "Do you know how Abergair got its name?" Glyn asked, while they were waiting to be served.

The Two Jays shook their heads.

"The Welsh word 'Aber' in place names means Mouth, like the mouth of a river. Aberystwyth got its name from the River Ystwyth - the Mouth of the Ystwyth. But there is no River Gair. However, Gair means 'Word' in Welsh, and we like to think our village got its name from Capel Bethel. Can you see why?"

"Because the Word of God was spoken there, like a mouth?" James suggested, not really sure, but it sounded sort of likely -- or completely crazy.

"Got it in one, James."

"Did it really?" James asked. "I mean, didn't the village already have a name when the chapel was built?"

Annie smiled. "We think the village was built around Capel Bethel in 1789, and the minister decided to call the new village Abergair. It was a play on words, with a hidden message. But I don't think we'll ever know for sure. Anyway, it's a lovely local tradition."

There were several interesting shops that Jessica wanted to look in after lunch, to get something to take back for her parents. Everyone else wanted to get on their way, but she had time to get her mum a small Welsh doll dressed in a traditional red flannel shawl, a grey check skirt, and a tall black hat.

Llanfihangel-y-Pennant wasn't far away. They climbed the side of a deep valley, which Jessica thought was rather scary as the road didn't have much of a barrier to prevent a car rolling down the hill, and she was extremely glad Aunt Judy wasn't driving.

"Llanfihangel-y-Pennant means the Church of Saint Michael at the Head of the Stream -- or River," Annie said. "Well, that's the nearest we can get in English."

"So it's not a very big river," Jessica said.

"It will be today, after all the rain we've had," Glyn said, as he brought the SUV to a halt in a large space by the side of an old church. "And a very noisy one too, as you'll discover later."

They entered the churchyard through a small iron gate, and the Two Jays noticed that nearly all the graves had traditional Welsh names like Williams, and Evans -- and mostly Jones.

"Mary Jones's parents are buried here," Annie said, picking Rhianwen up in her arms.

"What about Mary Jones?" James asked. "Is she buried here too?"

"Mary was brought up here, but she moved away when she married. She's buried at a small town called Bryn-crug. We'll go into the church first, and you'll be able to discover more about her."

The church was dark inside, but Glyn knew where the light switch was, and brought the old building to life.

"We'll go through into the vestry," he said. "There's an exhibition all about Mary Jones there, and copies of old records."

For the next half-hour James and Jessica discovered many things about a Welsh girl called Mary Jones who was born just before Christmas in 1784, in this tiny village. As she grew up she learned to read, which was unusual at that time. Everyone spoke Welsh, and once a week she walked a long way to a farmhouse to read the Welsh Bible that was there.

For many years Mary wanted a Bible of her own, but they were much too expensive for a poor family. Her father had died when Mary was only four years old, and she had to help her mother who was a weaver of Welsh wool. But after many years she eventually saved up enough money to buy a Bible of her own in a town twenty-five miles away called Bala. And she had to walk there.

Annie sat in one of the pews in the main church and beckoned to Jessica and James to come and sit with her. Glyn, who was holding Rhianwen, sat with them.

"I want to thank you both again for singing in English at the front of the chapel," Annie said. "And I want to apologise if I embarrassed you by putting you on the spot."

Jessica smiled and shook her head firmly. "It's one of the best things I've ever done in church. I don't think my church at home will ever let me do anything like that."

"The same for me," James said. "I can't stop thinking about it. It seemed to go down okay."

"It was wonderful," Annie said. "You two brought a great blessing to all of us in Capel Bethel on Sunday. Tell me, if you don't mind me asking, have you both known the Lord Jesus long?"

"Since I was really young," Jessica said. "I always believed in God, and one day I suddenly realised that God loves me, and Jesus died for me on the cross. So I said a big thank you, and asked God to make me part of his family."

"My mum and dad are Christians," James said, "but I only took that step last Easter. So that's not even a year ago. Before that, I worried that I might not be a Christian. I thought I'd left it too late, and didn't know what to do about it, and I didn't want to admit my doubts to my parents."

"Lots of young people with Christian parents are like that," Annie said.

James nodded. "That's what a boy called Sam said when we met him last October in a place called Dakedale. We don't want to let onto our parents that we might not be real Christians. So we hope we are Christians anyway, because they are." He sighed. "I know it's silly, but I thought Jesus wouldn't want me, as I'd put it off for so long."

Glyn took out his phone and brought up a Bible app. "Let me read you a verse from the Gospel of John in Welsh. It's the version Mary Jones had in the Bible she brought back from Bala. Let's see if you can tell me what it is."

James and Jessica listened.

"Canys felly y carodd Duw y byd, fel y rhoddodd efe ei unig-anedig Fab, fel na choller pwy bynnag a gredo ynddo ef, ond caffael o hono fywyd tragwyddol."

"I've no idea," Jessica said, "but it sounds beautiful. I think Welsh is a lovely language, and I've not really heard it before. I didn't realise it's still so widely spoken." She turned to James. "Do you do recognise the verse?"

"Sorry, no idea either," James said. "What is it?"

Glyn flicked the screen on his phone and brought it up in English. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

"John three, verse sixteen," James said. "Fancy hearing it in Welsh in this old church. That's the verse that did it to me last Easter. The whoever bit. Jesus didn't die for special people who lived good lives and deserved it, but whoever means for anybody, no matter who they are or what they've done. So that means me."

Annie leaned across and gave him a big hug, and he didn't mind at all. He just smiled.

"We'll go on down to see Mary's house now," Glyn said, putting his phone away. "It's called Ty'n-y-ddôl, The Cottage in the Meadow. We'll take the car, although it's not far."

When they got there, James looked out of the car window at a large rectangle made up of low stone walls. "Is this it?" he asked in disappointment.

Glyn nodded. "You saw the photograph in the church that was taken in 1904. Mary's house was in a sad state then, and no one had lived in it for ages. Most of it was taken down after that for safety, or maybe to use the stones in other buildings. In those days people didn't think about preservation. Now, have a look at the monument inside the walls."

A tall red marble monument stood in the centre of what had once been the cottage. It commemorated the walk of Mary Jones to a place called Bala in the year 1800.

"There's a mistake on there," Annie said, gently pulling Rhianwen away from the mud at the side of the lane. Jessica could see that Rhianwen was more interested in mud than in what was left of the house.

The wording was in Welsh as well as English. It said in English: In memory of Mary Jones, who in the year 1800, at the age of sixteen walked from here to Bala, to procure from the Rev Thomas Charles BA a copy of the Welsh Bible.

The Two Jays just stared.

"You'll have to tell us the mistake," Jessica said.

"It's a mistake a lot of people still make today," Annie told them, once again pulling Rhianwen away from the mud. "If you remember, Mary was born in 1784, just before Christmas. When she walked to Bala in 1800 it would have been in the spring or early summer, so she was still fifteen.

James and Jessica were both counting off the years on their fingers. Jessica got there first, and nodded. "That's a big mistake to make on the monument."

"There were all sorts of mistakes made about Mary Jones," Annie said. "As I told you just now, the grave is in a place called Bryn-crug where Mary eventually lived. Her memorial stone has four mistakes on it. It says she walked to Bala from Abergynolwyn at the age of sixteen. So two mistakes there. She walked from Llanfihangel-y-Pennant at the age of fifteen. It also says she was aged eighty-two when she died, but she was eighty."

"That's three mistakes," Jessica said, picking Rhianwen up. The little girl seemed to have an unhealthy fascination with gooey mud. "What's the fourth?"

Annie had to think for a moment. "Ah yes, I remember now. It says she died on the twenty-eighth of December 1864, but we now know it was the twenty-ninth."

"And there's another one," Glyn said. "There's a monument on the wall in Bala where Mary finally got the Bible she'd been saving up for over the years, a penny or two at a time. It says she died in 1866, but it was 1864."

"So she did get her Bible in the end," James said. "I'm glad about that."

"Not just one Bible, but two, and possibly three. It was a man called Thomas Charles who gave them to her. Mary's own Bible is in the University Library in Cambridge. She's written her name inside it and she says she got it in the sixteenth year of her age. There's another in the University Library in Aberystwyth, which isn't far from where we live. They can both be seen by arrangement with the libraries."

"And where's the third one?" James asked.

Glyn shook his head. "If Mary ever had a third one -- and not everyone is convinced she did -- no one knows where it is." He laughed. "Maybe one of you will find it in a second-hand bookshop one day, with Mary's name inside!"

James laughed too. "We'll keep a lookout for it." He put his hands to his ears. "What's that terrible noise that's been going on ever since we got here? It's driving me mad."

"That," Annie said, "is the stream, or river, that gave the village its name. Come and see it. It's at the back of Mary Jones's house."

Glyn took Rhianwen from Jessica and led the way onto a small humpback bridge that was no longer in use. A more modern bridge had been built to take vehicles.

They looked over the bridge onto a river full of boulders over which water crashed, making the loud noise. "Knockout," James said. "That's really cool."

"Not just cool, it's freezing," Glyn told him. "This water is made up of melting snow that covers the mountains in the winter. The tall mountain over there is called Cadair Idris. You can see there's still plenty of snow on top of it."

"Does this noise go on all through the year?" James asked.

"Pretty well," Glyn said. "I can't understand why anyone would build a house right by the river, but I suppose you get used to any noise if it's there all the time."

James shook his head. "I don't think I'd ever get used to a din like this. Can we move on, please?"

Glyn looked at his watch. "We ought to be starting back anyway," he said. "What do you think, Annie?"

"Soon," Annie said. "But first I want to show Jessica and James the old deserted farmhouse and chapel up in the woods by the church. The chapel is where Mary and her mother used to go. Everything is covered in moss and it's all a bit creepy now."

James's eyes lit up. "Good. I love creepy."

[Publisher's note: If you want to know more about Mary Jones, and have a bit of fun doing it, you will find details of a book about Mary on the back pages of this book, also by Chris Wright. It's called, "Mary Jones and Her Bible, An Adventure Book". As well as telling the true story, it contains lots of optional puzzles and tricky questions. It's available as an eBook and a paperback.]

Chapter 14

It had been a long day, and it was starting to get dark when they returned to Abergair. Jessica was amazed to see just how happy Rhianwen still was at nearly six o'clock as they waved goodbye to each other. But then, she reflected, Rhianwen had slept a lot of the way back, while she had been so interested in the scenery that she'd not even felt drowsy.

Jessica had called out, "Diolch," which she had already learnt was Welsh for thank you.

And Annie said, "Da iawn." She smiled. "That's Welsh for very good. Nos da -- goodnight."

Aunt Judy must have heard the Jones's SUV, because she came out of the house looking anything but happy.

"I hope we're not late back," Jessica said, noticing her aunt's expression, "but we left you a note to say where we'd gone. And we'd already met Annie and Glyn Jones at the chapel on Sunday."

"That's not the problem," Aunt Judy said. She sounded cross. "Come inside. I thought I gave you strict instructions to lock the front door."

"We did lock it," James said. "We definitely did. We both tried it, and it wouldn't budge."

"Yes, we definitely locked it," Jessica said. "Why, what's happened?"

"I got back just after three, and noticed the front door wasn't shut tightly. I thought you were both inside, so I called up the stairs and you clearly weren't there. Then I saw your note."

"Does anyone else have a key, Aunt Judy?" Jessica asked.

"No one else at all."

"Let's see if the key is still under the flowerpot," James suggested. "Someone might have found it."

"And someone called James or Jessica might have forgotten to lock the door. Still, no harm is done. Everything is just as I left it."

James felt it wasn't worth arguing any further, because no one had been in. Or if they had been in, they hadn't taken anything.

"Professor Mahmoud hasn't been yet, has he?" Jessica asked.

Aunt Judy sounded cross. "That man is a complete waste of time. I found a message on the answering machine to say he'd been delayed at the university, so he's coming tomorrow evening instead. He certainly sounded keen to see the papyrus. He has to go back to London the next day, so tomorrow is his last opportunity. If I'd been here to answer the phone I'd have told him that Winnie Evans says the papyrus is a fake and he's wasting his time, so he might as well go straight back to Cairo."

"I'll go upstairs and fetch it," James said, glad to put a bit of space between himself and his aunt.

"And bring the copy down as well," Jessica called up. "It's by my bed. Don't forget, it's my turn to have the original tonight."

There was a long pause, and then James called down the stairs, "I've got the original. Whereabouts in your room is the copy?"

Jessica was already on her way up the stairs. "I told you, and you don't listen. It's by my bed. On the little table, with my Bible. I suppose you've been looking on the floor!"

"Come and find it yourself -- Cariad!"

Jessica frowned and scratched her head. "Well it was here this morning. Are you sure you haven't moved it?"

"Of course not. Perhaps Aunt Judy took it downstairs in case the professor came early."

"Why would she take the copy?"

"It's her eyesight. Haven't you noticed how she drives? She probably thought it was the original."

They went downstairs together but stopped in the hallway.

"You can ask her," James said.

Jessica nodded. "No problem." She went into the sitting room and found Aunt Judy in a comfy chair by the window, looking at the raindrops pounding the glass, with the blackness of the night beyond. "Aunt Judy, have you moved the copy of the papyrus page we made last night. It's in the new frame. I left it by my bed this morning."

Aunt Judy turned round and made her usual exasperated tutting noise. "The trouble with young people today is that they have no sense of perseverance. In my day, we would never ask our elders where something was. We would keep looking until we found it, and not bother them at all."

"But we have looked everywhere," James said. "Well, everywhere upstairs in our two rooms."

"Then I suggest you look somewhere else. It's bound to be in the house."

They spent the next ten minutes hunting for the print. It was in a wooden frame, so it wouldn't have got between magazines or sheets of paper. It simply wasn't anywhere. They even searched the sitting room where Aunt Judy remained motionless, still staring into the night.

"We're sorry to bother you again," James said. "Really sorry to bother you, but it isn't anywhere in the house."

"Nonsense. The two of you are just no good at looking."

"Do you think someone came in and stole it?" James asked. "You said the front door wasn't locked."

"Young man, who do you think would possibly break in here to steal a copy of a papyrus page?"

"Professor Mahmoud?" he suggested. "That's why he phoned to say he's not coming until tomorrow. He's already been here, and now he's halfway back to Cairo."

"With a copy?" Aunt Judy asked.

"He might not know it's a copy," Jessica said. "We were saying upstairs that the original and the papyrus print look alike, unless they were together. Professor Mahmoud will be furious when he finds out."

James went out through the front door, and came back a couple of minutes later. "There's only one flowerpot," he said. "And there's no key under it."

"I think the pair of you have something wrong with your eyes," Aunt Judy said sharply. "I'll show you exactly where it is."

She marched angrily out of the room into the hallway, and then through the front door. Under the porch light, she tilted the large flowerpot to one side and peered underneath. "Oh."

James felt like saying, "Told you so," but he just looked at Jessica and shook his head.

"It looks like you're both right," Aunt Judy said, with no hint of apology in her voice.

"Let's phone the police," James said.

Aunt Judy told him it would be a complete waste of police time. "Nothing has been stolen, apart from a worthless copy of a worthless piece of papyrus."

"And the picture frame," James said.

"You can buy another one in town tomorrow, if you really think it's worth making another print. Now, that's the end of it!"

Chapter 15

The next morning, Aunt Judy made no more mention of the missing page, and the Two Jays were wise enough not to mention it either. Again there had been heavy overnight rain, but the wind had dropped slightly.

"There you are," Aunt Judy said at breakfast, "I told you the storm was going to come to nothing."

Jessica had been checking the forecast on the internet on her phone, and had seen a very different outlook. It seemed that the combination of heavy rain and winds that had caused havoc on the east coast of America, was now heading their way. The forecast said it would hit the west coast of Wales and northern England during the afternoon, and warned of structural damage to buildings.

Jessica tried to explain this to Aunt Judy, but she said she knew far more about the area than any weather forecaster did who was sitting in an office in London.

"I have to go back into town today," she said. "I'm taking Jack with me again. I want him to get used to my new apartment. I never thought moving into it would take up so much time and energy. You can come into town with me and look around if you like. We can meet for lunch. Or you can stay here."

Jessica looked at James and he shook his head. "Thanks, but we'll stay here," Jessica said.

"Thank you, Aunt Judy," James said.

"I thought you might want to get another photo frame for the one that you think was stolen yesterday \-- when the door was left open. But stay here if you like, of course."

The way she said it, made Jessica think they were still being blamed for leaving the front door unlocked. They were probably also being blamed for removing the key from under the flowerpot, but she certainly wasn't going to get involved in an argument about that.

"What time will you be back, Aunt Judy?" Jessica asked. "Isn't Professor Mahmoud coming this evening?"

"Oh you poor innocent thing," Aunt Judy said. "The more I think about it, the more sure I am that he turned up yesterday, found the front door open, and helped himself to what he thought was the real thing. More fool him. He won't be here again, that's for sure."

"So why did he say he's coming today?" James asked.

"All part of his trickery. He wants to pretend he's not been here yet. Mark my words, James, we will never see that man today, or any other day."

As soon as Aunt Judy was safely out of the way, the Two Jays dressed up warmly ready for the beach, without Jack who was on his way to town in the Volvo. The tide was well out, as high tide had been about four o'clock that morning.

They locked the front door, and checked and double checked that it was firmly closed, even though they knew for sure they had locked it when they left with the Jones's to see Mary Jones's house. They were about to go through the white gate at the top of the cliff steps, when Jessica's phone pinged.

"It's a text," she said, examining her phone. "Oh, it's from Annie Jones. We exchanged our phone numbers yesterday. She's invited us to lunch."

James looked longingly over the white gate at the huge waves smashing angrily onto the rocks below, before racing up the sand in white foam. "I want to go down onto the beach," he said.

"And so do I, James. We're going down there now. I'll phone Annie and say yes. There's plenty of time before lunch. But I do want to see Rhianwen again. She's cute."

"That's sad," James told her. Then he thought for a moment. "Yes, I suppose she is a bit cute. In a way. When she's not stinky. Okay, phone Annie and say we'll be there at twelve. I'm going on down. The wind won't be as strong down there."

The sand, instead of being the usual golden yellow, looked strangely dirty, almost muddy. James thought that perhaps the high tide and waves had disturbed the bottom of the sea.

By the time Jessica had caught him up, James had found three small pieces of driftwood that he reckoned would be just the thing for Jessica's school craft fair in the summer. He then wondered if he could do something at his own school fair. If they found enough pieces they could share them, but then he wondered if his parents would have enough room in the car when they came to collect them on Saturday.

Jessica nodded approval when he showed his finds to her, and she quickly found two more pieces. Some of them seemed to be parts of tree roots rather than branches, and the roots were more twisted and probably more saleable.

Jessica picked up a small, brightly coloured plastic windmill.

James looked at it, frowning. "Isn't that from Aunt Judy's garden?"

Jessica shrugged "Must be. There can't be two of them. Perhaps the wind blew it out of the ground."

"The wind wouldn't have blown it this way," James said. "It would have carried it towards the village."

"So how did it get down here?"

James turned back to look at the cliff below the house. "That's how. A lot more of the garden has fallen in the night and brought the windmill with it."

Piles of cliff and garden that had previously been at the bottom of the cliff had now gone. It must be that which was now spread all over the sand, making it look dirty. Worse than that, the waves had eaten their way in under the cliff, and it all looked extremely dangerous.

"Do you think we ought to phone Aunt Judy and tell her?" Jessica asked.

At that moment a powerful gust of wind hit them, carrying spray from the waves. More stones clattered down onto the beach.

James took a deep breath. "Hey, that was scary. We need to keep well away. Let's go round the headland and see if anything interesting has been washed up there."

Jessica was looking out to sea. "There are huge black clouds coming our way. I'm all for going back to the house. We won't be able to go to the Jones's for lunch if we're soaked through."

James hadn't noticed what the dark sky was bringing their way, until now. "We need to go back quickly, before we get drowned!"

They reached the safety of the Abergair Guest House with only seconds to spare, before torrential rain lashed against the house and the wind shook the windows. James looked out of the living room window at the garden. The windmill had gone, and the garden looked quite a bit shorter than yesterday.

"Come and watch the rain, Jessica," he called. "People talk about the power of the storm, but I never thought it could be like this. The storm is actually shaking the house."

Jessica came and stood with him, hoping the storm would pass over quickly, and the black clouds would begin to break up into patches of blue sky. But the rain looked relentless.

"Let's make another print of the papyrus while we're waiting for the rain to stop," Jessica suggested. "We've got two more sheets left. Aunt Judy will probably be going into town again while we're still here, and we can get another frame like the one that was stolen."

"Great idea. And without Aunt Judy breathing over our shoulders, we can take a bit more time trying to make it look even older. We know where the instant coffee is and the steam iron. Come on, what are we waiting for!?"

The first print was exactly what they wanted. Again James screwed it up, and Jessica did the "woman's work" of ironing it. They were still laughing about Aunt Judy's idea of who should be doing the ironing, when the front doorbell rang.

"It might be Professor Mahmoud come early," James said. "We'd better both go, just in case it's someone hoping to get bed-and-breakfast here."

Glyn Jones stood in the doorway. "Annie thought I'd better come here and collect you, in view of the weather. There's no hurry."

They invited Glyn in, and showed him what they'd been doing. James decided not to mention the theft of the copy, but explained how they had tried to make the new one look old, more like the original.

"Do you know if your aunt has any sandpaper about?" Glyn asked.

Jessica shook her head, but James dived into the tall cupboard by the kitchen sink. "There's a cheese grater in here," he said, guessing why Glyn wanted it. "I saw it yesterday. You want to make the edges ragged."

Glyn Jones nodded. "Exactly." He examined the cheese grater. One side had a fine grating surface. "I think this will do. The rain is easing off a bit now. We need to put your print on the block of wood in the porch, and just scrape off the edges of the papyrus. I can't guarantee it will work."

"That's all right," James said. "We can make another one."

When the edges were scraped slightly ragged, they went very pale, but a quick dip in the strong black coffee soon restored the colour.

Glyn looked at his watch. "We ought to be going now. We mustn't be late for lunch."

The sky had turned black again, and a heavy shower of rain slashed across the car park outside. With their heads down, the three ran for the safety of the SUV.

Chapter 16

While Jessica entertained Rhianwen, James told Annie how much they enjoyed her harp playing. He explained the joke he'd made to Jessica about her having to play the harp in the village hall.

"I didn't realise Jessica could play the harp," Annie said. She pointed to where her harp was covered by a deep red cloth. "Jessica, you're welcome to play mine."

Jessica was so busy entertaining Rhianwen that she only half heard the conversation. "Play what?" she asked.

"Annie wants you to play her harp," James said. "Come on, I can't wait to hear you."

Looking embarrassed, Jessica told Annie not to believe a word James said. However, Annie wouldn't take no for an answer and she pulled the cover off the harp and put a stool in front of it.

"Can you play the piano, Jessica?"

Jessica screwed up her face. "I've got a keyboard at home that I can play reasonably well."

"There you are then," James said. "It's the same sort of thing. Come on, give it a go."

Jessica sat on the stool and Annie explained how the strings were arranged. After pulling a few, Jessica cheered up. Even though she wasn't plucking the right ones all the time, the sound of the harp rang through the house with beautiful tones.

Jessica stood up. "You do it, Annie. Let's hear how it should be played."

Annie took Jessica's place on the stool and ran her fingers over the strings, playing the hymn they had all sung in church, Here is Love, Vast as the Ocean.

Annie then played Y Delyn Aur, The Golden Harp, which she explained was one of her favourite Welsh tunes.

Jessica said she could listen all day to Annie playing, but Annie said she had to finish getting the lunch ready if they wanted to eat. She told Jessica she was welcome to have another go on the harp, but she declined. After hearing Annie play, Jessica knew that just pulling the strings would sound pathetic.

After lunch, they could see that the sky had cleared, but the wind seemed stronger than ever. Glyn said that the forecast was bad. Heavy rain would return during the evening, and there were warnings of severe gales.

"I don't think I've ever known weather like this," he said, "and I was born in Abergair, so I've known a few bad storms in my time."

"I think it's exciting," James said. "It's amazing standing on the beach watching the waves crashing over the rocks, and tasting the salt from the spray."

Jessica agreed. "I think we ought to be going back now. Great Aunt Judy may be back soon, and she's sure to think up things for us to do, even though the house is nearly empty. All that's left is furniture that's going to the auction."

Glyn said he would run them back, but the Two Jays assured him that it would be fun walking back in the wind now that the rain had stopped.

With an invitation to come down the next day if they were free and see the family again, James and Jessica waved goodbye at the gate.

"Let's go down to the beach," James suggested. "If the weather is going to be as bad as Glyn says, it might be our last chance. It's Thursday today, and we're going back on Saturday." He looked at the time on his phone. "The tide won't be in for another couple of hours, and we can easily get back up the steps when it is."

Jessica agreed. "Aunt Judy won't be back with Jack yet, and she'll probably stop us going down tomorrow if the weather is really bad."

At the white gate Jessica was having second thoughts. The wind was howling now, and the clouds raced across the sky. James stood with his back to the sea, his arms stretched out sideways, leaning backwards, letting the wind support him.

"Okay, James, but we won't be long."

It seemed strange to be going down the steps without Jack running excitedly on ahead.

The storm in the night had brought more seaweed onto the beach, but the mound of earth and stones from Aunt Judy's garden didn't seem to be noticeably larger. It had seaweed on it, left there by the last previous high tide.

"It's sad to think this could be our last walk on the beach," Jessica said, pulling her hair out of her eyes and wishing she'd worn her beanie hat. The wind was making a mess of her hair, and it felt sticky with the salt from the spray.

"If it's going to be our last time here, let's go round the headland again. Even if the tide comes in, we can always go up the steps we saw there."

Jessica wasn't sure. "With this wind behind it, the tide might come in quicker than we expect." She laughed. "Come on, race you to the headland."

They made their way round the headland, and stopped once again to look into the cave, but they didn't go in.

James pointed further along the beach to the next headland. "We've not been round that one yet. We can't leave Abergair without knowing what mystery lies beyond it."

"You and your mysteries," Jessica said. "I suppose you know that curiosity killed the cat."

"And I suppose you know that nothing ventured, nothing gained," James retorted. "I'm going, even if you're not. There's bound to be another way up there."

What had looked like a headland was really a rocky cliff that extended for several hundred metres, with no real beach. Huge flat rocks made it possible to go a short way, but it was hard going, clambering from rock to rock.

"I think we ought to be getting back," James said, pointing out to sea. "We're in for another lot of heavy rain, if those clouds are coming our way, and I'm sure they are."

"Then we'd better hurry," Jessica told him, already starting to make her way back.

As they reached the bay with the cave, they felt the first heavy drops of rain. The daylight seemed to turn to night as the black clouds came down almost to sea level.

"The cave!" Jessica shrieked, as the howling gale almost knocked her off her feet.

Just as they reached the large entrance, the rain crashed down outside like a waterfall.

"I don't think we should have come on the beach," James said. "I wish we were back at Aunt Judy's, looking out of the window!"

"Well, I'm not going back yet," Jessica said firmly. "We'd be soaked. At least it's dry in here."

"Yes, dry, but it's a bit smelly."

"You can go back to Aunt Judy's if you like."

James took one look at the rain. It was still coming down so hard he could hardly see the other side of the bay. "I think I'll stay here. Anyway, it's bound to stop in a few minutes. There surely can't be much more rain left in the sky."

The wind made a screaming noise as it passed the entrance to the cave. Sand and large pebbles were being blown up the beach as far as the bottom of the cliff. A sudden roaring sound made them jump.

"What was that?" Jessica asked anxiously.

"Just the wind," James said. "This is the biggest storm I've ever seen. And just think, we are actually here in the middle of it -- and safe. Talk about exciting!"

Jessica was taking a slightly different view. "The tide is coming in. If we don't get out of here soon, we won't be able to get round the headland to our bay." She looked outside the cave again at the torrential rain, as she anxiously bit the collar of her jacket. "It looks really bad. I think I'd rather stay in here than go out in that."

"It doesn't matter if we do get cut off," James said. "We can always get up those rickety steps." He pointed towards the cliff and said, "Oh!"

"What is it?"

"You know that roaring sound we heard?"

"The one you said was just the wind?"

"Well it wasn't. Come here. Look where the steps were."

"Were?"

"See, a big chunk of them has fallen onto the beach. We're never going to be able to get up there!"

Jessica caught hold of James's arm and pulled him out of the cave. "We have to go back to Aunt Judy's. Now!"

"But the rain----"

"Never mind about the rain. If we don't get back now, we'll be stuck here for hours until the tide goes down enough for us to get round the headland."

James agreed. After all, getting soaked to the skin for a few minutes, was nothing compared to waiting here in the cave until it was dark.

As soon as he was out of the cave, the rain and the wind tore at his clothing. He gave a gasp. "Get back in the cave," he shouted above the noise of the wind. "We can't get back round the headland anyway. The tide has cut us off. We really are stuck here for hours!"

Chapter 17

They quickly returned to the cave. Their jeans and their hair were soaked, but their thick jackets had kept the rain off their bodies, so things could definitely be worse.

James gave a sigh of relief. "At least we're safe in here, no matter what happens."

"What time is Aunt Judy due back?" Jessica asked. "If she gets home and we're not there, she's only going to worry."

"With good reason," James said. He took his phone from his pocket, but there was no signal. "We got one at the entrance when we first came here," he said. "I'm going there to phone Aunt Judy to explain that we've been delayed. I won't say what's happened."

"You have her number?" Jessica asked in surprise.

James stopped where he was, the phone in his hand. "That's a point. Do you have it?"

Jessica shook her head. "Your dad would know it. You'd better phone him now, but don't worry him."

At that moment James's phone rang. He looked at the screen. It was an unknown number. "Hello," he said warily, concerned it might be a nuisance call. He'd had a couple in the last few weeks asking if he'd been involved in an accident.

"James? Is that James?"

It was a woman's voice. One he knew well. "Aunt Judy? What do you want?"

"I'm still in town. I'm worried about you in the storm. People around here have never remembered one this bad. Are you and Jessica safe?"

James looked around the cave. It might be smelly in here but at least they were definitely safe. "Yes, we're both safe, thank you." He certainly wasn't going to mention they were trapped in a cave on the beach.

"James, listen to me carefully. I'm not going to be able to get back tonight. There are trees down on some of the roads. Are you and Jessica going to be all right on your own?"

What, stuck in a cave in the middle of a gale? he was going to ask, but all he said was, "Yes, we'll be fine."

"I've been really worried about the pair of you," Aunt Judy said. "I phoned your father to get your number. I'll phone him now and tell him you're all right. There's food in the larder and the fridge. I'm so sorry not to get back to be able to look after you. I'm sure you understand why I have to stay in town."

"We'll be fine, Aunt Judy. There's no need to worry about us." He looked at the waves that were now running into the entrance to the cave. "We'll phone you later."

"What was all that about?" Jessica asked.

"Aunt Judy can't get back to Abergair because of the storm," he explained. "We'll be on our own in the house tonight."

"If we get back to the house. Just look at the waves. We're going to get wet feet if we stay here. We need to go further in."

James looked into the darkness behind them. There was shingle on the floor, but it rose up sharply. They would probably still be safe when the tide came right in. "You know what I'm like with caves, but don't worry about me now. It's not like we'll get stuck."

Jessica took out her phone and switched on the flashlight as they made their way deeper into the cave. At the far end they stopped.

"I can't think the water comes this far in," she said. "I'm going to switch the flashlight off. Let's not waste our phone batteries. We might need to make an emergency call when we can get a signal. We'll just stay here in the dark until the tide goes out and we can get back to our bay."

"It won't be for ages," James told her. "Let's sit down. There's a pile of seaweed here. It should be comfortable enough."

Jessica bent down and touched it. "No thank you, it's soaking wet."

There was a long silence, then, "You know what that means, don't you?" James said in a quiet voice.

"So it's wet. What does that matter?"

"Well, it won't be the rain, that's for sure. That means it's the sea."

Jessica shook her head. "But the tide can't come in this far. Can it?"

"It must do. Look back at the entrance now. The water is much higher than it was, and it's still an hour or more from high tide. So what do we do?"

Jessica thought for a moment. "We can't go out onto the beach. We'd only get battered by the waves and drowned."

"Or we can stay here and get drowned," James said.

Jessica switched on the flashlight on her phone again, and shone it around the cave. "There's a sort of hole above us. We can probably scramble up there and wait."

"Jessica, I don't think you understand how seaside caves are made. There's a natural crack in the rock, and over thousands of years the waves batter their way in, making it wider and deeper."

Jessica pointed above their heads. "And that hole?"

"When the big waves reach the end of the cave, up they go, working their way higher and higher into the cracks."

"Then we're going to drown," Jessica said simply. She looked at the screen on her phone. "And we can't even phone the Coast Guard for help. There's no signal here, and there's no way we can get back to the entrance. Just look at the height of those waves crashing around there now."

"We've also done a bit about geology at school," James said, trying to sound calm. "That's how I know about caves. The other thing I know is that after being squashed by ice over a mile thick in the Ice Age, the land rose quite a bit when it all melted. This cave was probably formed ages and ages ago, before the Ice Age started."

He took his phone from his pocket and switched on the flashlight. Jumping up, he wiped his hand around the bottom of the hole in the roof. He showed them to Jessica. "Dry," he said. "If we can get up there we should be safe."

He looked back at the entrance to the cave. There was still some daylight left. The waves weren't coming straight into the entrance, because the wind was blowing onto the shore and the cave looked out sideways. The water inside the cave rose and fell smoothly with each wave. Even if the waves reached the far end of the cave, and they probably would, they wouldn't be big enough to splash up into the hole.

The wind made a sudden roaring sound as it blew across the end of the cave, or perhaps the rest of the cliff steps were falling. Either way, James knew they were stuck here for a long time.

Although they were both the same height, Jessica always said she had longer legs, and she helped push James up into the hole.

"There's somewhere we can sit up here," he called as soon as he was safely up. "But I can't see your treasure chest."

"Just pull me up quickly and stop messing about," Jessica said. "The water has almost reached my feet."

James leant down and caught hold of Jessica's hands. As he pulled, she managed to rest a foot on the side of the cave below, and was quickly up with him.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

James took a deep breath. "We pray. I'll go first."

Chapter 18

They lay in the cramped space for what seemed like six hours, although from the time on their phones it was not much more than one. When they could see the water no longer reached the shingle below the hole, James helped lower Jessica down.

As soon as she was safely on her feet, she helped James join her. As they expected, it was now completely dark outside, and the wind was still howling. Without going to the entrance, there was no way they could tell if it was still raining,

They had to wait a long time before they could make their way there, but were relieved to discover that the rain was much lighter now. Eventually they were able to get out onto the beach, and from the light from both their phones they could tell that there was still no way round the headland.

"I think we ought to call my dad and tell him what's happened," James said. "I know we might be in terrible trouble, but we can play it down a bit. We'll tell him that it's raining hard and we've been sheltering in a cave. Which we have. There's no need for anyone to alert the Coast Guard. We'll be back in Aunt Judy's house as soon as the tide goes out far enough."

Jessica agreed. "Yes, phone your dad and let him know we're okay."

"At least I've got a faint signal here," James said. "Let's hope we're not in trouble."

His father answered as soon as the phone started ringing. "Where are you, James?" He sounded frantic.

"We got caught by the tide on the beach and had to shelter in a cave. We couldn't get a phone signal." There, he'd actually told the truth. Maybe it was just as well.

"And you're sure you're all right? Your mother and I have been trying to phone you for the last two hours. We've been worried sick. This terrible storm has been on the national news, and we just didn't know what to think."

"Sorry, Dad. Really sorry. There's a very poor phone signal here at the best of times."

"Listen, James, there are reports of damage to property, and quite a few areas in west Wales are without electricity. We've been really worried about you, and so have Jessica's mum and dad. Aunt Judy phoned us for your number, and she's having to stay in town in her new apartment. Now listen carefully. We want you to stay----"

"Dad?"

Silence on the phone.

"He's been cut off," James said to Jessica. "He wants us to stay somewhere, but we were cut off before he could say where."

"Well it won't be in the cave, that's for sure," Jessica told him. "He obviously wants us to stay in Aunt Judy's house and not go out."

"That makes sense. Look, the clouds are breaking up and the moon is shining. Let's see if we can get round the headland now. Hurry, before it starts raining again. Wow, that was some rain!"

Jessica started to make her way towards the headland, stumbling as the wind threw her backwards. At that moment the moon disappeared, and the rain started again, as heavily as before.

She hesitated. "I think we should go back to the cave and wait until we're sure we can get round the headland. The waves are still huge, and we don't want to be washed out to sea. We'd drowned for sure."

"We can both swim," James said. "I want to get back as soon as possible."

Jessica caught him by the sleeve and pulled him back towards the cave. "If we try swimming, we'll be dashed on the rocks and killed. No, we wait until we can get round the headland without getting our feet wet. Another hour should do it. Probably less. Now hurry up and get to the cave before the rain soaks right through our clothes."

James did as he was told. At least the cave was out of the rain, although by now the rain had managed to soak through his heavy jacket that was supposed to be rainproof, making his sweatshirt feel damp. He started to shiver. "You're right, Jessica. If it's a choice between being drowned or getting pneumonia, I'll settle for pneumonia!"

As they shivered in the darkness, from time to time they went to the cave entrance to check for a phone signal. There was absolutely nothing. They were both on different networks, so surely one of them would still be working. It was as though the phones to the whole area had been cut off.

"It will be the storm," Jessica said. "Your dad said trees were down, so they've probably flattened one of the masts. Not to worry, it looks like we can start back now, and we can phone our parents from Aunt Judy's house and tell them we're safe."

They picked their way carefully along the beach to the headland. The storm had brought up what looked like a large tree trunk, and all sorts of rubbish like plastic bottles. But the waves no longer reached the tip of the headland.

It was still raining heavily as they got round onto their own beach. James had a sudden thought. "Suppose the steps up to the house have fallen down too. Woops!" A sudden gust of wind blew him off his feet, and he landed on the sand. "This is awful. What sort of holiday is this!"

Jessica was slightly ahead and reported that the bottom of the steps up the cliff was still there, and there was no sign of any rocks or earth below it. "I'll go first," she shouted above the noise of the wind, "and call down to you to come up if it's safe."

"I won't be able to hear you in this gale," James shouted back. "We'll go together."

"Okay, but I'm going first." Jessica already had her feet on the bottom step, and with one hand holding the rope and the other holding her phone with the flashlight switched on, she started up.

James followed closely. As the wind hit the bottom of the cliff, it came up underneath them, almost helping them up. The rain lashed at them mercilessly, and James could only hope that the steps continued in one piece to the top of the cliff.

He was at the top when the wind buffeted him unexpectedly. He had already let go of the rope, and he started to slip. Jessica was holding the white gate with one hand, and she caught hold of his arm as he flung it out, and pulled him back safely.

"Thanks, cousin," he said. "I think you literally saved my life. God heard our prayers in the cave. Let's get into the house. Here, I've got the key to the front door."

By the light of his phone James put the key into the lock and opened the door. As soon as they were safely inside Jessica pushed the door shut against the wind, and turned on the light switch.

Nothing happened.

"I'll try the kitchen," James said.

Again, nothing happened. The house stayed dark.

Jessica went to the office window which looked down the valley to the village of Abergair. "Oh no," she gasped.

James hurried to stand with her. "What's the matter?"

"Where's the village?" Jessica asked. "It's gone!"

"You're right. It was definitely down there earlier. There's not a single house with a light on. The electricity is out in the whole area. Let's see if Aunt Judy's phone still works."

He picked up the receiver. The line was dead.

"It's not a big problem," Jessica said, trying to be positive. "The first thing we need to do is to have a hot shower and change into dry clothes. At least we each have a shower in the ensuite in our bedrooms. That's the advantage of staying in a guest house."

James shook his head. "Good idea, girl, but the showers are electric. So what do we do now?"

Jessica looked at the time on her phone. "It's nearly nine o'clock. It's a bit too early to go to bed."

"And I'm starving," James said, rubbing his stomach.

"Then we go to our rooms and dry ourselves off with our towels as much as we can, and put on dry clothes," Jessica said, taking charge. "Then we come downstairs and raid the fridge."

James couldn't stop himself shivering. "I said earlier that getting pneumonia was better than drowning. I'm absolutely cold right through to my middle. At the moment I think drowning would have been better."

"Oh don't be such a ninny," Jessica said. "Wrap yourself in your duvet as soon as you're dressed, and come down with it. And don't rush. You need to dry yourself off as much as you can, and make sure you put on completely new clothes. You'll soon warm up. If I'm ready first I'll start to get some food ready. We really need a hot drink. I'm sure that's what people do when they're really cold."

James shook his head. "Great idea. Just a shame the electricity is off. It would help if Aunt Judy had some candles so we could stop using our phones," he said, dragging his way up the stairs in exhaustion.

"She probably does somewhere," Jessica said. "We'll look for them when we've changed. One of the kitchen cupboards is most likely."

James thought he would be able to dry himself off quickly, but the cold sea water didn't dry off in the way warm water did after a shower. But he took Jessica's advice and got himself as dry as he could before putting on fresh clothes.

He was thankful that they each had a phone with a flashlight built in. Even after all this use, his battery still had plenty of life left in it. Not that they were going to be able to make a phone call until the power came back. He wondered what his parents would be doing now, and how worried they would be not hearing anything since the phone call earlier from the beach.

Jessica knocked gently at the door. "Are you in there?" she whispered.

James was just putting on a warm fleece. "Coming."

Jessica said, "Shhh. Keep your voice down."

"Why, what's the matter?" he whispered, following Jessica's example.

"There's someone downstairs," she said quietly, coming into the room. "I wish Aunt Judy hadn't taken Jack with her."

"Perhaps it is Aunt Judy."

"In that case she would have called out for sure."

James felt the blood draining from his face. "Then who is it?"

"I think it's the person who took the key from under the flowerpot and stole the copy of the papyrus. And now they've come back for the real one!"

Chapter 19

By the light from his phone, James noticed Jessica had wrapped her white duvet around her shoulders and he did the same. With no electricity, the heating was off and the house had cooled down really quickly.

"What are we going to do?" he whispered. Somehow, Jessica seemed to have taken charge, and that was fine.

"I'm guessing whoever it is doesn't know we're here. Let's go to the top of the stairs and look. I could see a flashlight bobbing around down there."

With their white duvets wrapped tightly around them, and shivering from a mix of cold and fright, they made their way silently to the top of the stairs.

They could hear someone muttering to themselves, and it sounded like a woman. Then the person carrying a flashlight came out from the kitchen into the hallway, and went to the foot of the stairs. Their flashlight shone up onto the Two Jays standing at the top.

A penetrating scream frightened James. The person at the bottom of the stairs dropped their flashlight but quickly picked it up and shone it back onto the two figures at the top of the stairs.

"You stupid, stupid kids," the person said. It definitely was a woman.

Jessica and James both shone their flashlights down the stairs. "Is that Miss Evans?" Jessica said, although she could clearly see it was her. "What are you doing in Aunt Judy's house?"

"And what are you both doing dressed up as ghosts, trying to scare an old lady to death?"

Jessica felt annoyed that they were being accused of being the ones to do the scaring, when she'd been scared enough hearing someone moving around downstairs. "Why didn't you ring the bell?"

James started to go down the stairs, and Jessica followed. It was clear that Miss Evans wasn't exactly dangerous.

"Of course I rang it," Miss Evans said. "But as the electricity is off, it didn't work."

James was about to say that the bell worked on a battery, but he stopped himself. Suddenly, this was all very suspicious. Why was Miss Evans here in the house? The only way she could have got in was with a key.

"It was you!" Jessica said, pointing at Miss Evans. As she let go of the duvet, it slipped to the ground, but she left it where it fell. "It was you who broke in to steal the papyrus. It was you, wasn't it?"

"It certainly wasn't," Miss Evans said with a show of great dignity. "How dare you say such a thing!" She had a large shoulder bag that she held tightly.

"Then why are you here?" Jessica demanded. "And how did you get in?"

"Young lady, that is no business of yours. If you must know, I drove up here to check that your aunt was all right. And I got in because... because your aunt said I could use the key under the flowerpot in an emergency. Now tell me, where is your aunt?"

Jessica was about to say that the key had gone from under the flowerpot, when the doorbell rang, making them all jump.

"Let's hope it's the police," James said loudly, although he had no idea why it would be. But whoever it was, he would have to go and open the door.

The night was completely dark. The wind and the rain sounded even greater now -- if that was possible. A small dark-skinned man stood there in the light from James's flashlight. He looked Arabic.

"I'm so sorry to be here so late," he said politely.

James, Jessica and Miss Evans stood in the hall, staring at him.

"Are you Miss Judith Cooper?" he said to Miss Evans.

The woman who'd had so much to say a couple of minutes ago, said nothing.

"I know who you are," Jessica said. "You're Professor Mahmoud. We'd forgotten you were coming, we've had such a terrible afternoon."

"Who is this man?" Miss Evans demanded. "Does your aunt know you're inviting strangers into her house?"

"Aunt Judy arranged for him to come," Jessica said, not at all liking Miss Evans' tone of voice. "He's come to see the papyrus."

"Is that so? In that case, he's wasting his time. I've already told you, it's nothing but a fake. It's no more genuine than the copy...." Her voice faded away.

"No more genuine than the copy you stole?" James said. With all the adrenaline that had kicked in when they first heard someone downstairs, he was now feeling ultra brave.

"Young man, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Professor Mahmoud gave a polite cough. "I'm sorry if I've come at a bad time, but some of the roads were closed, and I really do need to examine the papyrus. I have to go back to London in the morning to catch my plane. If I could possibly see it now, that would be really helpful."

James pulled Jessica's sleeve, and his duvet also fell to the ground. Anyway, he was feeling warmer now. He picked up both duvets and dumped them on the stairs. "We need to talk," he said to Jessica. "Somewhere private."

Jessica pointed to the kitchen.

Miss Evans and Professor Mahmoud stayed where they were, with Miss Evans shining her flashlight on the professor and glaring at him, and the Egyptian looking completely confused.

"What are we going to do now?" James whispered to Jessica as soon as the kitchen door was shut. "Do you think they're in it together?"

"I shouldn't think so. Miss Evans let herself in with the key, and Professor Mahmoud rang the bell."

"Well," James said, "it seems obvious to me that Miss Evans is the one who stole the copy. If it wasn't her, how did she know about it?"

"It's not as easy as that, James. Aunt Judy might really have given Miss Evans a key. And she might have told her about the copy being stolen. After all, Aunt Judy says they're great friends."

"You're right. Aunt Judy thought it was Professor Mahmoud who broke in, and she didn't expect him to come back. She thought it was all part of his trick, trying to look innocent."

"So what happens now?"

"Why are you asking me, James? It's your problem too."

"We could phone the police -- if the phones worked."

They jumped as the front door bell rang again.

"We'll both go," Jessica said. "Things can't get much worse than they are."

They pushed their way past Miss Evans and Professor Mahmoud who were standing silently in the hallway, glaring at each other by the light from their phones. They ignored Jessica and James as they went to the front door.

A man stood there in the darkness.

Chapter 20

"Are you both all right? The power is out in the whole area, and Annie thought I'd better come up and check on you."

James shone the flashlight on his phone straight into the man's face, and the man put a hand to his eyes as though dazzled. "Glyn!" James said. "We're ever so glad you're here. We've got a big problem."

Miss Evans hurried over to the door, clutching her shoulder bag. "Mr Jones, this boy and girl have just accused me of theft. And now this gentleman has come here unexpectedly to make trouble. I think you know me already, and cannot doubt my innocence. I need to get home quickly, so I'll leave you to sort things out."

Jessica ran forward and held onto Glyn. "Miss Evans mustn't leave. There's much more to this than she's telling you."

"Then you'd better tell me all about it."

Jessica shook her head. "Not here. Not in front of Miss Evans and the professor. You'd better come into the kitchen and we can tell you there."

Jessica looked at the two visitors standing in the hallway. It was probably safe to leave them together. They didn't look as though they were about to murder each other, although Miss Evans seemed to be extremely keen to leave.

As Jessica stepped into the kitchen there was a deafening roar and she felt water hitting her face. She let out a scream and jumped back into the hallway. "I think the pipes have burst! Or the window's blown in!"

Glyn Jones moved to open the door, but something on the other side was holding it shut.

"No, don't go in there," Jessica said, holding tightly to the door handle.

Glyn moved her gently out of the way and eventually opened the door, the bright flashlight in his hand. A moment later he was back in the hallway. "Everybody out the house!" he shouted. "Quick. Now! The house is falling down!"

Nobody argued. Nobody wanted any details. Within seconds, Miss Evans had pushed her way past the others and was first out.

Outside in the pouring rain, Jessica held tightly on to James's arm. "What happened? Do you think the cliff has collapsed?"

When Glyn shone his powerful flashlight at the house, the front looked the same as it always did.

"It's still there," James said in surprise. "I thought it was falling down."

Glyn told everyone to get in their cars and get well away. "You're coming with me," he told the Two Jays. "Quickly, before you get soaked through."

"I'm already soaked through," James muttered. "That's the second time today."

Glyn Jones started the engine of his SUV and swung around towards the lane, where he stopped, facing the house. His headlights lit up the building.

As they watched, part of the roof that faced the sea began to slide away. "The house wall facing the cliff has collapsed," Glyn said. "The wind was holding the kitchen door shut."

"So it was the rain on my face, not a burst pipe," Jessica said quietly. "Poor Aunt Judy. It's a good thing she wasn't in there. Her bedroom faces the sea. What's going to happen now?"

"Well, you're definitely not going back in the house tonight," Glyn said. "Now the wall facing the sea has gone, the wind will get under the roof and probably carry a lot more of it away."

As they watched, some tiles blew into the air and the gale lifted them over the house, tumbling as they went.

"The papyrus was in there," James said quietly. "I suppose that will be ruined too."

Glyn turned round as Miss Evans drove away. "I was hoping she'd stay while we sorted everything out. You'd better tell me what's going on."

A loud tapping on the passenger window made them all jump. A voice said, "May I come in and sit with you?" It was Professor Mahmoud. "I have no idea what is happening here, but I am hoping someone can help. I have to start back to London tonight. I believe you have something of interest to show me."

"We've got to stop Miss Evans," Jessica said.

"Do you know where she lives?" Glyn asked. "I know it's somewhere in the next village, but I've no idea where."

"We went there with Aunt Judy," Jessica said. "It's a white house with black round the windows. I think I can find it again. We need to go there quickly."

"What's the hurry?" James asked. "She's not hurt or anything."

"I think the papyrus was in her shoulder bag. She'd already found it when we saw her at the bottom of the stairs. That's why she wanted to get out the house, and why she's driven away so quickly!"

Quickly, Jessica explained about the papyrus. Glyn Jones started the engine. "Even if you're right, there's nothing we can do. If Miss Evans is home when we get there, she's not going to admit she took the papyrus. And it's not a matter for the police, so I'm sorry to say that's it."

"It might still be here in Aunt Judy's house," James said, opening his door.

Jessica pulled him back. "It's not worth getting killed for a bit of old papyrus," she told him.

Professor Mahmoud turned round from the front passenger seat. "If I am right, it is not just a bit of old papyrus. It could be something extremely precious."

"I'm sorry, but it doesn't matter how valuable it is," Glyn said. "Absolutely no one is going back into the house tonight."

"It is possible the young lady is right," Professor Mahmoud said. "If the elderly lady has taken it, we must go and ask her very politely if she has rescued it from the house. We will not accuse her of theft."

Glyn Jones nodded. "If that's all we're going to do, and not make any threats, then let's see if we can find her house. But I'm not at all optimistic that she's going to hand it over if she has taken it."

As they drove towards the village of Abergair, the road was scattered with bits of wood from the hedgerows and trees, and water from the fields ran across the road, bringing mud and small stones with it.

As they left Abergair, the road ahead seemed to be blocked. The back lights of a vehicle shone red, and in front of it a large tree lay across the road.

"This is as far as we can go," Glyn said. "We'll just check everyone in that car is all right, and then it's back to my house in Abergair. And I'll drop you back at your car by the guest house if you like, Professor, but this is the only road out of the village. You're welcome to stay at my house until the road is cleared."

Glyn told everyone to stay put while he went to the car, in case someone was badly injured inside.

Feeling sick, Jessica watched Glyn look in the driver's window and then open the door. She could see by the light from Glyn's flashlight that the airbag had deployed. "Oh, I hope it's not serious. I hate seeing accidents. They won't be able to get an ambulance here if the road is closed."

"They can get it to the other side," James said. "Look, it's Miss Evans. She doesn't seem to be badly hurt."

As Glyn led Miss Evans away in the pouring rain, she pulled herself free and grabbed her shoulder bag from the passenger seat. Glyn took it from her, in spite of her protests.

James turned to Professor Mahmoud. "I think you're going to be able to examine the papyrus page after all," he said.

Chapter 21

Back at the Jones's house, Annie looked surprised to see so many visitors, but she quickly made everyone welcome.

Miss Evans was in tears as she confessed to taking the papyrus. "I feel so ashamed," she said "to have stolen from such a good friend as Judith Cooper. Whatever will she think of me?"

Professor Mahmoud had removed the papyrus page from its frame, and was examining it closely by the light from his phone. "This is simply wonderful," he said. "It sheds light on----

At that moment the lights in the house came on, making everyone jump.

The professor blinked in the light. "It is like a miracle," he said.

"I believe in miracles," Annie Jones said, "but I don't think that was one. I think the electricity company has repaired the damage."

"No, no, no," Professor Mahmoud said. "It is finding this page that is the miracle. I am a member of the Coptic Church, or to give it its full title, The Christian Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt. We believe we were founded in the first century by Saint Mark, the disciple of Jesus and writer of the second Gospel."

"Wow," James said, "is that an original page from Mark's Gospel?"

"Young man," the professor said, still staring in wonder at the page, "if I am right, this is the missing page from our fourth century copy of his Gospel."

"Missing page? Is it valuable?" James asked.

The professor gave a sigh of deep satisfaction. "It is beyond price, James. It will make our copy of the Gospel complete. Somehow it became separated in all the fighting in the war. Your father told me how it was purchased by your great grandfather." He turned to Miss Evans who was still crying on the sofa. "Madam, how could you possibly have dismissed this as being a recent fake?"

"I wanted it for myself," Miss Evans sobbed. "I have a collection of old documents, but nothing nearly as old as this. When I got home and examined it closely with my magnifying glass, I could see the one I had taken was a copy, so I knew the original must still be at Judith Cooper's house. So I returned tonight, thinking the house was empty. Oh, what am I to do? I will have to leave the village in shame."

Annie went to sit beside her. "I don't believe Miss Cooper will take any action," she said, putting an arm around the elderly lady. "And I don't think Jessica's and James's parents will either. The family has got the papyrus page back now, and I'm sure everyone will keep what happened a secret."

Jessica nodded. "I'm sure it will be a secret. It may sound strange, but you actually did a good thing when you took it."

"I don't think so," Miss Evans said, now dabbing her tears with a white tissue.

"You did, Miss Evans. It was in the kitchen, and if you hadn't taken it, it would either be down on the beach now, or ruined by the rain."

"I do hope my friend Judith Cooper will forgive me," Miss Evans said. "Maybe it's a good thing she's leaving Abergair, and she'll never have to see me again."

While Annie tried to comfort Miss Evans, Professor Mahmoud explained the importance of the papyrus. "The New Testament Gospels and Epistles were first written in Greek, and copies were sent all over the Mediterranean countries. These were then translated into local languages, and copied again many times. Scholars can compare the oldest copies they can find, and no matter what language they are in, they all say the same thing. So if the originals had been changed later, we'd be able to tell."

Glyn added, "And that shows how reliable the Bibles are that we have today, no matter what language they are written in."

The next morning, Annie, Glyn and Rhianwen took Jessica and James in the car to look at the Abergair Guest House from a safe distance. A structural engineer and a geologist were already there.

The house looked sad, although most of it was still standing. The geologist told everyone to keep well away. He explained it was possible that most of the house was built on rock, and only the garden and the wall of the house facing the sea might actually be on the loose material.

"But of course," he said, standing a safe distance away, "that's by no means certain. We'll need to do further tests before a team can go inside to demolish it. So keep your distance. All the land on which the house is standing could fall onto the beach without warning."

A structural engineer wearing a white hardhat and coveralls pointed to three black sacks by the main gate. "This is all we could rescue from the house, I'm afraid. It just isn't safe to stay in there."

James gave a groan. "Three more sacks for the chapel sale! Is that all you could rescue?"

The man looked puzzled. "Chapel sale? These are personal items I collected from the three occupied bedrooms. Just about everything in the house seemed to have been cleared already, apart from some furniture."

Jessica opened one of the sacks and looked inside. "James," she said in surprise, "we've got all our things back. That's amazing."

James opened another sack and looked up at the engineer. "Thanks. Thanks ever so much." He pointed to what was left of the house. "Can it be rebuilt? This is a smashing place to have a house. Especially when a big storm comes and you can watch it safely from the window."

Both the structural engineer and the geologist shook their heads. "Safely? No way," the structural engineer said. "This whole area of land will never be built on again."

At that moment Aunt Judy drove up in her Volvo estate. The phones had been restored, and the road through Abergair had been open for some time. Professor Mahmoud had left as early as he could, without the papyrus, still hoping to be in time to catch his flight back to Cairo.

James' father had told him on the phone that there would have to be a family conference on what would happen to the page, but he thought it likely nobody would object to it being fitted back inside the ancient Coptic Gospel of Mark from which it had come.

Aunt Judy beckoned to the Two Jays to come and sit with her in her car. Rather reluctantly they did as they were told, half afraid that somehow they were going to be blamed for the disaster to the house!

"I'm sorry I was so hard on the two of you," Aunt Judy said, and Jessica noticed tears in her eyes. "I hope you'll forgive me, but this has been such an emotional few weeks for me. I've lived here for over forty years, and suddenly I find my lovely home being taken away from me through no fault of my own. For some reason I tried to take it out on the two of you, but you've been so kind to me. No matter how difficult I tried to make things for you, you were always willing to help."

Jessica could feel a lump in her throat as she swallowed. "We never thought of it like that, Aunt Judy. Of course we forgive you."

"And you must forgive us," James said quietly. "We said some unkind things about you to each other. I feel bad about it now."

Jessica said, "I can see how hard it must be for you to be leaving. But your new apartment is lovely, and there'll be lots of people in the town you can get to know."

Aunt Judy wiped her eyes, and smiled. "Of course I forgive both of you. I think I deserved everything you probably said about me. Do you know what the best thing is about my new apartment?"

James decided to say nothing, in case he got it wrong.

"What is it?" Jessica asked.

"The best thing is that my favourite great nephew and niece have helped me get ready to move in."

At that moment the strong wind got under the roof and lifted it off like a flying umbrella, dropping it with a crash in the field behind the house. Then with a loud creaking sound the house started to slide towards the sea, until the whole building and the land it was on disappeared out of sight below the cliff.

James said, "Awesome. I'm glad that didn't happen while we were in there last night!"

Epilogue

James's and Jessica's families quickly agreed to send the papyrus page to Professor Mahmoud so it could be put back in the fourth century Gospel of Mark from which it had come. For a time the book received much acclaim among the Christian churches worldwide as being a complete early version of the Gospel. After it had been exhibited in the British Museum in London, and then in a museum in Cairo, it was returned to the Coptic Church for safekeeping. In return, Professor Mahmoud sent Jessica and James two parchment pages, each one a thousand years old. Not only did they have Coptic writing on them, but small paintings showing Jesus preaching and performing miracles.

The remains of the Abergair Guest House were eventually removed from the beach, and Aunt Judy quickly settled in the town. She wrote to Jessica and James to tell them it was a relief not to worry every time a big storm came, so it had all worked out for the best.

"Jack has settled in well," she wrote. "A neighbour takes him for a run on the sand every day, but I think he misses both of you. I've already made several friends at the local church, where the services are in English!"

James's father said that when he was talking on the phone to James on the beach, he was telling him and Jessica to stay well away from Aunt Judy's house and try to find someone in the village to shelter them. James explained that the line had gone dead at the word stay!

The Two Jays each received a greetings card from Annie and Glyn Jones in Abergair, saying how much they had enjoyed their company. Rhianwen had even scribbled something inside Jessica's card with a red felt pen.

James said he was looking forward to going somewhere exciting at Easter. His mum and dad said he would have to wait and see what was happening. But if they did go away, he was assured that Jessica would certainly be invited. Cornwall got a mention.

"As long as there are no caves involved," James said thoughtfully. "I'm not too keen on caves."

Jessica said nothing. She was wondering whether she could learn to play the harp. And the few driftwood sculptures they'd managed to rescue were sure to be a hit at her school fair.

THE END

Canys felly y carodd Duw y byd, fel y rhoddodd efe ei unig-anedig Fab, fel na choller pwy bynnag a gredo ynddo ef, ond caffael o hono fywyd tragwyddol (Ioan 3:16).

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

**More Christian books from White Tree Publishing are on the next pages, some of which are available as both eBooks and paperbacks. More Christian books than those shown here are available in non-fiction and fiction, for adults and younger readers. The full list of published and forthcoming books is on our website** www.whitetreepublishing.com **. Please visit there regularly for updates.**

**White Tree Publishing publishes mainstream evangelical Christian literature in paperback and eBook formats, for people of all ages. We aim to make our eBooks available free for all eBook devices, but some distributors will only list our books free at their discretion, and may make a small charge for some titles -- but they are still great value!**

We rely on our readers to tell their families, friends and churches about our books. Social media is a great way of doing this. Take a look at our range of fiction and non-fiction books and pass the word on. You can even contact your Christian TV or radio station to let them know about these books. Also, please write a positive review if you are able.

Chris Wright has three grownup children, and lives in the West Country of England where he is a home group leader with his local church. More books by Chris Wright for young readers are on the next pages.

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ALL EIGHT TWO JAYS ADVENTURES!

eBook and paperback

### The Two Jays Adventure

### The First Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

James and Jessica, the Two Jays, are on holiday in the West Country in England where they set out to make some exciting discoveries. Have they found the true site of an ancient holy well? Is the water in it dangerous? Why does an angry man with a bicycle tell them to keep away from the deserted stone quarry?

A serious accident on the hillside has unexpected consequences, and an old Latin document may contain a secret that's connected to the two strange stone heads in the village church -- if James and Jessica can solve the puzzle. An adventure awaits!

eBook ISBN: eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-8-9

Available in paperback

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5203448-8-1

5x8 inches 196 pages

Available from major internet stores

eBook and paperback

### The Dark Tunnel Adventure

The Second Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

James and Jessica, the Two Jays, are on holiday in the Derbyshire Peak District in England, staying near Dakedale Manor, which has been completely destroyed in a fire. Did young Sam Stirling burn his family home down? Miss Parkin, the housekeeper, says he did, and she can prove it. Sam says he didn't, and he can't prove it. But Sam has gone missing. James and Jessica believe the truth lies behind one of the old iron doors inside the disused railway tunnel.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9957594-0-4

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5206386-3-8

5x8 inches

Available from major internet stores

eBook and paperback

### The Cliff Edge Adventure

### The Third Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

James and Jessica's Aunt Judy lives in a lonely guest house perched on top of a crumbling cliff on the west coast of Wales. She is moving out with her dog for her own safety, because she has been warned that the waves from the next big storm could bring down a large part of the cliff -- and her house with it. Cousins James and Jessica, the Two Jays, are helping her sort through her possessions, and they find an old papyrus page they think could be from an ancient copy of one of the Gospels. Two people are extremely interested in having it, but can either of them be trusted? James and Jessica are alone in the house. It's dark, the electricity is off, and the worst storm in living memory is already battering the coast. _Is there someone downstairs?_

This is the third Two Jays Adventure. They can be read in any order, although each one goes forward slightly in time.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9957594-4-2

Paperback ISBN: 9781-5-211370-3-1

eBook and paperback

### The Midnight Farm Adventure

The Fourth Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

What is hidden in the old spoil tip by the disused Midnight Mine? Two men have permission to dig there, but they don't want anyone watching -- especially not Jessica and James, the Two Jays. And where is Granfer Joe's old tin box, full of what he called his treasure? The Easter holiday at Midnight Farm in Cornwall isn't as peaceful as James's parents planned. An early morning bike ride nearly ends in disaster, and with the so-called Hound of the Baskerville running loose, things turn out to be decidedly dangerous. This is the fourth Two Jays adventure story. You can read them in any order, although each one goes forward slightly in time.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-9997899-1-6

Also available in paperback

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5497148-3-2

eBook and paperback

### The Old House Adventure

The Fifth Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

When Jessica comes to stay with her cousin James for the summer half term, they pass a creepy old house on their way to the town museum. James rescues Maddie Quedgley, a girl their age, from being run over by a speeding truck, but when James and Jessica, known as the Two Jays, insist on taking Maddie home, it is to a house where she seems to be living on her own. From down in the basement they hear footsteps walking around above them. When the door to the basement is suddenly locked, things become dangerous. Someone is very keen to get hold of a valuable item Maddie's father is guarding. So who is the man watching them in the museum, and who is the mysterious Ethan?

This is the fifth Two Jays adventure story. They can be read in any order, although each one moves forward slightly in time.

e-Book ISBN: 978-1-912529-07-0

also available as a paperback

ISBN: 978-1-912529-06-3

eBook and paperback

### The Lost Island Adventure

The Sixth Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

When James and Jessica are on a family holiday in the far north-west of the Scottish Highlands, they meet Tarben Macaulay, a boy their age who claims he is a Viking, although he seems friendly enough. Just off the coast where they are staying in Puffin Cottage is Arraig Island. When the family comes back from a shopping trip, the island is no longer there. That mystery is quickly solved, but Arraig Island becomes a dangerous place as Jessica and James, helped by Tarben, make two exciting discoveries. Are the strange couple with the campervan really birdwatchers, or do they have another interest in the island?

This is the sixth Two Jays Adventure. They can be read in any order, although each one goes forward slightly in time.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-17-9

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-912529-18-6

200 pages 5x8 inches

eBook and paperback

The Black Lake Adventure

The Seventh Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

James and Jessica are staying with their friend Maddie at Daleton Farm. On their first day, James finds an old bottle in the nearby lake, with a message inside. It starts with the word HELP. The writer is a young boy who signs himself Michael, and he's begging to be rescued from the small island in the middle of the lake, where he says he's a prisoner. The note is forty years old, and they think it must be part of a game that was being played by the village children. But they quickly discover that the note is part of a very dark story.

When Maddie flies her photographic drone over Daleton Lake, they see something mysterious under the water. Why are the owners of Daleton Hall trying to keep them away from the lake with scary stories, and why do they angrily deny ever having had a son called Michael?

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-28-5

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-912529-27-8

203 pages 5x8 inches

Available from major internet stores

eBook and paperback

The Hidden Room Adventure

The Eighth Two Jays Story

Chris Wright

It's the October mid-term holiday, and cousins James and Jessica, known as the Two Jays, get an excited phone call from their friend Maddie. The builder has found the original plans for her house, and Maddie discovers it was built in 1857 on land once belonging to Rootsdyer Farm. Some later words added to the plans set the three on a hunt for an underground room somewhere in the garden. What is hidden behind the brick wall that sounds hollow?

Who was Charlotte? According to a handwritten note on the plans, Charlotte once rested in the garden. Where? And did the Maggart Gang led by Josiah Devauden have a hideout on the farm in the early 1800s? Maddie needs to find out more for her school project, but the three soon discover that being trapped under the ground is no fun. Another exciting story in the Two Jays adventure series. They can be read in any order, although each one goes forward slightly in time.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-39-1

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-912529-40-7

246 pages 5x8 inches

Available from major internet stores

eBook and paperback

### The Merlin Adventure

Chris Wright

The day Daniel Talbot brought home a stuffed duck in a glass case, everyone thought he'd gone out of his mind. Even he had his doubts at times. "Fancy spending your money on _that_ ," his mother scolded him. "You needn't think it's coming into this house, because it isn't!"

When Daniel, Emma, Charlie and Julia, the Four Merlins, set out to sail their model paddle steamer on the old canal, strange and dangerous things start to happen. Then Daniel and Julia make a discovery they want to share with the others.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-2-7

Paperback ISBN: 9785-203447-7-5

5x8 inches 182 pages

Available from major internet stores

eBook and paperback

### The Hijack Adventure

Chris Wright

Anna's mother has opened a transport café, but why do the truck drivers avoid stopping there? An accident in the road outside brings Anna a new friend, Matthew. When they get trapped in a broken down truck with Matthew's dog, Chip, their adventure begins.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-6-5

Available now in paperback

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5203448-0-5

5x8 inches 140 pages

Available from major internet stores

eBook and paperback

### The Seventeen Steps Adventure

Chris Wright

When Ryan's American cousin, Natalie, comes to stay with him in England, a film from their Gran's old camera holds some surprise photographs, and they discover there's more to photography than taking selfies! But where are the Seventeen Steps, and has a robbery been planned to take place there?

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954549-7-2

Available now in paperback

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5203448-6-7

5x8 inches 132 pages

Available from major internet stores

Three Adventure Puzzle Books!

eBook and paperback

### The Holy Land Adventure

by

Chris Wright

An Adventure Puzzle Book

Last night you dreamt you were falling down a hole. Down and down. Now you've woken up with a jump, and the room seems strange. Very strange. It's not only bright daylight, but you can hear people shouting and talking outside the window. And it's not even your window. Your window has curtains, not the wooden shutters that are now wide open. You don't know where you are, but you're definitely not in your own house!

Ahead of you are 140 pages of adventure and puzzles. You don't have to do the puzzles. You can just turn the page and carry on with your adventure. However, the puzzles will help you feel part of what's happening, so try and solve them if you can.. You are invited to enter the time tunnel and wake up in a land over 2,000 years ago!

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-36-0

Also available as a paperback ISBN: 978-1-912529-34-6

### Mary Jones and Her Bible

An Adventure Puzzle Book

Chris Wright

The true story of Mary Jones's and her Bible

with a clear Christian message and optional puzzles

(Some are easy, some tricky, and some amusing)

Mary Jones saved for six years to buy a Bible of her own. In 1800, when she was 15, she thought she had saved enough, so she walked barefoot for 26 miles (more than 40km) over a mountain pass and through deep valleys in Wales to get one. That's when she discovered there were none for sale!

You can travel with Mary Jones today in this book by following clues, or just reading the story. Either way, you will get to Bala where Mary went, and if you're really quick you may be able to discover a Bible just like Mary's in the market!

The true story of Mary Jones has captured the imagination for more than 200 years. For this book, Chris Wright has looked into the old records and discovered even more of the story, which is now in this unforgettable account of Mary Jones and her Bible. Solving puzzles is part of the fun, but the whole story is in here to read and enjoy whether you try the puzzles or not. Just turn the page, and the adventure continues. It's time to get on the trail of Mary Jones!

eBook ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-9933941-5-7

Paperback ISBN 978-0-9525956-2-5

5.5 x 8.5 inches

156 pages of story, photographs, line drawings and puzzles

eBook and paperback

### Pilgrim's Progress

An Adventure Puzzle Book

Chris Wright

Travel with young Christian as he sets out on a difficult and perilous journey to find the King. Solve the puzzles and riddles along the way, and help Christian reach the Celestial City. Then travel with his friend Christiana. She has four young brothers who can sometimes be a bit of a problem.

Be warned, you will meet giants and lions -- and even dragons! There are people who don't want Christian and Christiana to reach the city of the King and his Son. But not everyone is an enemy. There are plenty of friendly people. It's just a matter of finding them.

Are you prepared to help? Are you sure? The journey can be very dangerous! As with our book Mary Jones and Her Bible, you can enjoy the story even if you don't want to try the puzzles.

This is a simplified and abridged version of Pilgrim's Progress -- Special Edition, containing illustrations and a mix of puzzles. The suggested reading age is up to perhaps ten. Older readers will find the same story told in much greater detail in Pilgrim's Progress -- Special Edition on the next page.

eBook ISBN 13: 978-0-9933941-6-4

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-6-3

5.5 x 8.5 inches 174 pages £6.95

Available from major internet stores

eBook and paperback

### Pilgrim's Progress

### Special Edition

Chris Wright

This book for all ages is a great choice for young readers, as well as for families, Sunday school teachers, and anyone who wants to read John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress in a clear form.

All the old favourites are here: Christian, Christiana, the Wicket Gate, Interpreter, Hill Difficulty with the lions, the four sisters at the House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Giant Despair, Faithful and Talkative -- and, of course, Greatheart. The list is almost endless.

The first part of the story is told by Christian himself, as he leaves the City of Destruction to reach the Celestial City, and becomes trapped in the Slough of Despond near the Wicket Gate. On his journey he will encounter lions, giants, and a creature called the Destroyer.

Christiana follows along later, and tells her own story in the second part. Not only does Christiana have to cope with her four young brothers, she worries about whether her clothes are good enough for meeting the King. Will she find the dangers in Vanity Fair that Christian found? Will she be caught by Giant Despair and imprisoned in Doubting Castle? What about the dragon with seven heads?

It's a dangerous journey, but Christian and Christiana both know that the King's Son is with them, helping them through the most difficult parts until they reach the Land of Beulah, and see the Celestial City on the other side of the Dark River. This is a story you will remember for ever, and it's about a journey you can make for yourself.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-8-8

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-7-0

5.5 x 8.5 inches 278 pages

Available from major internet stores

eBook and paperback

### Zephan and the Vision

Chris Wright

An exciting story about the adventures of two angels who seem to know almost nothing -- until they have a vision!

Two ordinary angels are caring for the distant Planet Eltor, and they are about to get a big shock -- they are due to take a trip to Planet Earth! This is Zephan's story of the vision he is given before being allowed to travel with Talora, his companion angel, to help two young people fight against the enemy.

Arriving on Earth, they discover that everyone lives in a small castle. Some castles are strong and built in good positions, while others appear weak and open to attack. But it seems that the best-looking castles are not always the most secure.

Meet Castle Nadia and Castle Max, the two castles that Zephan and Talora have to defend. And meet the nasty creatures who have built shelters for themselves around the back of these castles. And worst of all, meet the shadow angels who live in a cave on Shadow Hill. This is a story about the forces of good and the forces of evil. Who will win the battle for Castle Nadia?

The events in this story are based very loosely on John Bunyan's allegory The Holy War.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9932760-6-4

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-9-4

5.5 x 8.5 inches 216 pages

Available from major internet stores

eBook and paperback

### Agathos, The Rocky Island,

### And Other Stories

Chris Wright

Once upon a time there were two favourite books for Sunday reading: _Parables from Nature_ and _Agathos and The Rocky Island_.

These books contained short stories, usually with a hidden meaning. In this illustrated book is a selection of the very best of these stories, carefully retold to preserve the feel of the originals, coupled with ease of reading and understanding for today's readers.

Discover the king who sent his servants to trade in a foreign city. The butterfly who thought her eggs would hatch into baby butterflies, and the two boys who decided to explore the forbidden land beyond the castle boundary. The spider that kept being blown in the wind, the soldier who had to fight a dragon, the four children who had to find their way through a dark and dangerous forest. These are just six of the nine stories in this collection. Oh, and there's also one about a rocky island!

This is a book for a young person to read alone, a family or parent to read aloud, Sunday school teachers to read to the class, and even for grownups who want to dip into the fascinating stories of the past all by themselves. Can you discover the hidden meanings? You don't have to wait until Sunday before starting!

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9927642-7-2

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9525956-8-7

5.5 x 8.5 inches 148 pages £5.95

Available from major internet stores

Four short books by Chris Wright, of help in the Christian life:

_So, What Is a Christian?_ An introduction to a personal faith.

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9927642-2-7

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-2-6

_Starting Out_ \-- help for new Christians of all ages.

Paperback ISBN 978-1-4839-622-0-7

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-0-2

_Help!_ \-- Explores some problems we can encounter with our faith.

Paperback ISBN 978-0-9927642-2-7

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-1-9

_Running Through the Bible_ _\--_ a simple understanding of what's in the Bible.

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9927642-6-5

eBook ISBN: 978-0-9933941-3-3

Don't forget to check our website www.whitetreepublishing.com for the latest books, and updates on availability

Return to Table of Contents
