Peril at the
Bridge
Well, I would like to say
that the swing bridge that crossed over the River
Elwy, looked a bit like this one, but it didn't it
was more like my friends Blubison's bridge that the
pirates used in their story. But alas it was a sort
of cross between a load of very unsafe planks, that
were held together with ropes, that looked like
they may snap anyday. Many times Seligor went here
when she was a little girl and this is how I came
to know all the stories about Immy and Eddy and all
their friends that lived in and aroung Fingles
Wood. So let us get back to Uncle Brock and the
kids sitting in the cave. Hopefully he will have
started it by now.......
....... "Right are you all ready. Throw a few more
logs on the fire William, then we'll
begin.! "Oh for goodness sake Brock, the
little ones will be asleep if you don't get on with
it." Shouted Aunt Izzy! "Yes come on Uncle Brock
everyone else shouted. What a noise you could
here them right down the river , I'm sure. Uncle
Brock stood up and walked to the middle of the big
rock, the kids called the giants kitchen. He
sat down. It all went very quiet. Not a
sound, even the wind stopped
blowing.
"It was still a cold night, it had been a lovely
sunny all day but everyone was having so much fun
that they hadn't realised how late it was getting.
The next thing we knew there were night
clouds coming over and there was no way we
were going to make it back to the sett before it
was dark. To make matters worse we were all on the
wrong side of the river and we had been told never
to try to go aross the swing bridge in the
dark.. "Oh dear, were you frightened Uncle
Brock." Poor Tudor jumped as everyone together
said, "Oh do shut up Tudor and listen." Edna caught
hold of him and sat him on her knee. "Listen to the
story, that's a good boy" she whispered as Uncle
Brock continued his tale. "So
there we where the other side of the river, it was
at least two kilometres to the Sett, what were we
to do? "I know" said Jenny. "We could
stay in the old chapel." "You what" Cled said
his face draining of colour, "you want us to stay
in the old chapel, it hasn't even got a roof, or
walls! "It's got one wall where the bell used to
be." Jenny said, "never mind we can stay here
by the old mill house instead, we can keep warm in
the lean to." s Well" alt="Fynnon Fair - St
Mary's Well" width="187" align="right"
height="122">
"So it was decided, we
would have to stay. If I remember right there
was quite a lot of clouds and the moon stayed
hidden most of the time. An hour must have passed
and although we were quite warm in the shelter of
the old mill, every now and then a strange
whistling sound was heard.
"There is goes again!"
Jenny said. "What do you think it is
Brock?"
Well I couldn't say I did, cause
I didn't know either. Uncle Cled didn't hear
a thing, he was fast asleep. he could sleep
anywhere old Cled." Uncle Brock
smiled.
"What happened then Uncle
Brock, did you find the whistle?" An
immediate "Hush!" came from around the
fire.
"Well no Tudor, we never did for at
that moment the whistling stopped and a strange
scrapping noises started instead. It was then that
Jenny noticed a light in the old chapel grounds. In
fact there were two light's wavering about. We
reckoned they must have been torches, as candles
would have blown out, what with the wind getting up
again.
The we really did begin to get frightened, for the
next moment a bell started to ring.
"Oh my gosh,!" Jenny squealed, "I
think there is someone in the old chapel and they
are ringing the old bell."
"Don't be stupid, there hasn't been a
bell hanging there for years." Cled moaned, still
half asleep.
"Then how do you explain the ringing
sound?" Jenny asked, kicking him so he would wake
up.
"Poor Uncle Cled!" Immy said,
"Shush" Came the immediate
response.
"As I said Jenny kicked Cled. Cled
rolled over, fell off the plank he was lying on,
straight into the mill stream. There he was, pitch
black in the Mill stream, and it must have been
about midnight by now.
"Oh my goodness, did he get very wet
Uncle Brock." Everyone was huddled together now ,
with the fire between them and Uncle Brock telling
the story.
"Nope, that he didn't. That old
stream hadn't been used in years, though it did
have a few inches of ice and snow in the bottom if
I remember rightly." He smiled again, "Though he
did let out an awful yell. "Shush," Jenny
wailed, "they will hear
us."
We sat there, the three of us, one in the mill
stream, and two on the bank. The noise from the
old chapel had stopped and the lights had gone out.
We didn't know what to do.
"Come down here Cled whispered, what
ever it is, it won't think of looking in
here?" So Jenny and myself jumped into the
stream next to Cledwyn.
We huddled under the few bracken
fronds that were still alive, waiting, waiting. We
could hear the sound of something breathing close
by, but we were all too afraid to take a
peep.
After about twenty minutes the breathing and
footsteps went away in the direction of the bridge.
It was then we decided to go over to the chapel
and see what had been going on. I don't remember
who it was who made this suggestion, but it really
wasn't a good idea, looking back n it now. "Oh
do get on with it Brock! These little ones have to
go to their beds, if you're going to stop all the
time thinking as to what could have happened, they
will have to miss the end." Aunt Izzy shouted from
the steps. "No! No! No!" shouted all the little
ones at once, "oh don't let us go to bed not yet,
please Auntie Izzy, please-e-e!
Posted 17:23
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