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broke it by asking,
"How did you get involved in the fighting?"
    When he didn't answer straight away, Gill
wondered whether he was about to 'clam up' on her.
    "Drink and the wrong company, I think," he
said at last.
    "Pardon?"
    "I went around with a cousin and his mates. I
got into pub crawling and drinking a lot. I got picked up for
fighting a time or two."
    Gill wondered whether he was playing down the
football violence. "What about football matches?" she asked. "I
thought they told you to stay away from football grounds."
    "My cousin and one or two of his crowd were
pretty nasty characters," said Steve, "but I didn't recognise that
at the time."
    There was a silence as Steve withdrew into
his thoughts again. Gill didn't like to pursue him into such
private territory but he continued of his own accord.
    "They were part of an organised disruptive
element at matches. They used to go to games for no other reason
than to cause trouble. I started drinking and going with them, just
when there was a clamp down on crowd violence. The prison sentence
sobered me up, I can tell you."
    "Do the others know about your prison
background. I mean, about your record?"
    "I neither advertise the fact, nor hide it,"
said Steve in reply, "but I imagine Alicia knows about it since
she's seen my file. I don't think the others do." He paused a
moment and then added, "I don't know why I'm talking about it to
you. I don't usually mention it at all."
    "Perhaps you're talking about it to me
because we've both turned over a new leaf," Gill replied.
    They began walking along the beach a little
in the fading light. "That's true enough, I suppose. Anyway,
prison's full of failures with a big opinion of themselves. As far
as I can see the real successes aren't caught, are they? The only
reason people are found in prison at all is that they've been
caught." There was a pause before he added "Like me."
    "Successes?"
    "Murderers, thieves, swindlers, embezzlers,
People who spoil football matches by fighting. If they get away
with it, they aren't caught. Prison is not the place to learn from
anyone who's done it and got away with it, is it?"
    This was a new idea to Gill and she was
considering it when she suddenly stumbled over a small rock, and
Steve caught her. For a moment or two he held her gently. At length
she drew away.
    "Are those the lights of a ship?" she asked
him unsteadily.
    Steve turned toward the gentle swell.
"Where?" he asked.
    "Over there on the water."
    "Well I imagine if they're on the water they
must be. Oh I see where you mean. Yes I think it's some kind of
small boat close in. Perhaps they're fishing."
    "And that sweeping light you can see
sometimes must be a lighthouse," she said
    "I saw one on an island from the ferry. Cava
I think it is." There was silence for a moment or two. "Anyway, I
ought to be getting back to see to the generator and things," he
added, but he didn't actually turn back.
    "I think I'll go back with you," said Gill.
"It's getting late and chilly." She turned with him and they walked
back together towards the lights of the camp.
     
     
     

Chapter 4
     
    Steve was off meeting the ferry again when
Gill discovered the entrance to the underground village, for
village it was they were now certain. Of course, the excitement of
the discovery was marred a little by the realisation that the way
in was just where they thought it would be, but one house and
several feet of passageway had been uncovered.
    A larger slab of stone had been used as a
lintel over the opening, just as a similar slab had been used where
the house joined the passage. Still, as Alicia said, it was nice to
know that they were right and Gill was unreasonably excited by the
discovery. She and her team threw themselves with renewed vigour
coupled with even greater caution than before into the work of
uncovering the entranceway. At almost the same time - before Steve
was back anyway - some charcoal was discovered in the sand inside
the house.
    "We'd better