North Yorkshire Folk Tales Read Online Free PDF

soldiers. ‘There’s no more doors. Let’s get back. It’s almost muster time.’
    ‘What’s that behind that old pillar?’ said another. They held their candles closer.
    ‘Damn me if it isn’t a hole!’ said Bill. ‘And look, you can just see that it’s living rock beyond, not squared stones!’ They all knelt and jostled for a good view.
    Fred whistled. ‘I think it widens out. This is it, lads. We’ve found the way in!’
    ‘And how do you think we’re going to explore it, mate?’ Fred said, gloomily. ‘You’ll never squeeze your fat belly in there, and neither will I!’ The men all looked at each other in dismay. One or two lay down and tried to edge themselves through the narrow hole, but it was a tight fit and no one dared take the risk of ending up in the dark, unable to squeeze back out.
    ‘Who’s the smallest of us?’ asked Fred. All eyes slowly turned to Georgie. He was certainly smaller than any of the adults, and rather puny for his age.
    ‘Now’s your chance, lad!’ said Bill. ‘Go in and bring us back some treasure!’
    Georgie looked at the black hole and gulped. ‘Isn’t that the trumpet for muster?’ he stammered. ‘I’ll go tomorrow.’
    ‘Nay, lad,’ the others said. ‘Tomorrow’ll be too late. We’ll never be let down here again. It’s now or never. Where’s your courage?’
    ‘Where’s your courage!’ he retorted, but at the same time he was becoming more excited, for it was true, he was the only one small enough to squeeze through the hole. What a story to tell his mates! He’d be a hero. ‘Well, all right,’ he said, ‘but I need some snap and some candles.’
    A soldier ran to fetch what he needed, sneaking a loaf of bread and a black bottle of beer from the quartermaster’s stores. The others added whatever candles they had left. Soon Georgie’s feet slithered out of sight and the men pushed the pack after him.
    ‘What’s it like?’ they asked.
    ‘I can stand up,’ came the muffled reply. ‘Wait while I light the candle.’ They heard him striking his flint and steel, and a few minutes later they all heard him say, ‘There’s a tunnel goes right on, horrible and dark. I’m frit though. I’m coming back.’ The soldiers groaned.
    ‘Wait, lad,’ said Bill. ‘That’s no good. Don’t you want to know where it goes? Look, I’ll push your drum through. You can play that, marching like, and it’ll stop you being frit. Give us a few minutes to go outside and with any luck, we’ll be able to hear you. That way we can follow you above ground and see where you stop.’ He pushed the drum through the hole and heard it bang against the tunnel wall as Georgie slung it around his neck.
    ‘How can I hold the candle and drum as well?’
    ‘Stick the candle on your hat like a miner,’ someone suggested. ‘Come on, Georgie. We’ll all be so proud of you. Just think, no one has gone inside this rock since the days of Potter Thompson, and he were never as brave and clever as you.’
    ‘Aye, I’ve done that then,’ said Georgie, after a moment. ‘Stuck it on the peak of my cap. I can see better now. Well, I’ll be off. I’ll come back here if I get stuck. I’m going to beat the Advance.’
    He began to drum, playing the call known as the Advance: rat-tat-tat ta -tat rat-tat-tat and the listening soldiers heard him move off down the tunnel. They ran up to the light of the courtyard and listened. Yes! Distantly they could still hear the drum below their feet: rat-tat-tat ta -tat rat-tat-tat. It headed across the yard and through the gate into the town.
    ‘Happen he’s found the tunnel that goes to Easby,’ Bill guessed. But alas, they were all soldiers with duties inside the walls of the castle, not free men who might go wherever they wanted. The sentry on guard at the gate refused to let them leave, despite their pleas, and their officer, coming up, threatened them all with a flogging if they did not get to muster immediately.
    In the evening