The Moses Stone

61

'Is that it?' Bronson demanded, fanning his face with his hat. They'd done a bit of shopping, and Bronson was carrying a waterproof bag holding torches and spare batteries. Both he and Angela were now wearing shorts and T-shirts, and Crocs beach shoes.

They were standing close to the bottom of the V-shaped Qidron Valley, looking across towards the Palestinian village of Silwan. Below and to their right, the focus of Bronson's attention was a set of stone steps that descended steeply towards a masonry arch, beyond which all was black.

'This is one end of it, yes,' Angela confirmed. 'This is the entrance to the Gihon Spring. This tunnel was a significant feat of engineering, especially bearing in mind that it's nearly three thousand years old. Jerusalem is situated on a hill, and was fairly easy to defend against attackers because of its elevation. The one problem the defenders had was that their principal source of water, which is right in front of us, was located out here in the Qidron Valley and lay some distance outside the walls of Jerusalem. So a siege, which was the commonest way of taking most military objectives in those days, would always result in the capture of the city because eventually the stored water supplies would run out.

'In the mid-nineteenth century an American scholar called Edward Robinson discovered what's now known as Hezekiah's Tunnel, named after the ruler of Judea who constructed it in about 700 BC. It's also called the Siloam Tunnel because it runs from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam. The tunnel was obviously intended to function as an aqueduct and channel water to the city. It's more or less S-shaped, about a third of a mile long, and there's a slope of a little under one degree all the way down, which would ensure that the water flowed in the right direction.

'Building it would have been a massive undertaking given the tools the inhabitants of the city were known to possess, and current theories suggest that the tunnel was actually partly formed from a cave that already ran most of the way. An inscription was found at one end of the tunnel stating that it was constructed by two teams of workmen, starting at opposite ends. The spring was then blocked and the diverted water allowed to flow to Jerusalem itself. That's basically the legend and more or less what the Bible claims.

'But in 1867, Charles Warren, a British army officer, was exploring Hezekiah's Tunnel and discovered another, much older, construction now called Warren's Shaft. This consisted of a short system of tunnels, which began inside the city walls and ended in a vertical shaft directly above Hezekiah's Tunnel near the Gihon Spring. It allowed the inhabitants to lower buckets into the water in the tunnel without exposing themselves outside the walls. Dating it accurately has proved difficult, but the consensus is that it was probably built in about the tenth century BC.'

'Wow,' Bronson said. 'Three thousand years ago – that's pretty old. And I guess you're going to insist on exploring it thoroughly.' He looked without enthusiasm at the gaping entrance to the spring. 'Let's get on with it. You said it'll be wet?'

'That's why we're wearing what we're wearing. This isn't just your usual damp tunnel. This is actually an aqueduct. At best we'll have to wade, and if it's really deep we might even have to swim.'

'Terrific,' Bronson muttered, and started towards the steps.

They walked down the stone stairs and passed under the arch, then stopped for a few seconds to let their eyes grow accustomed to the dark.

'It looks deep,' Bronson said, staring at the water, which appeared almost black in the gloomy interior. 'And cold,' he added.

He undid the waterproof bag and took out two torches. He checked that both worked properly, then handed one to Angela and resealed the bag, which still held the spare batteries.

'I hope the guy in the shop was right when he said these torches were waterproof as well,' he said.

'As long as one of them works, we'll be fine. There aren't any turnings, so all we have to do is keep walking until we get to the other end.'

'Just remind me what you think we might find down here.'

'Right. This tunnel was already almost eight hundred years old when the Sicarii were looking for a place to hide the Silver Scroll,' Angela said. 'I think the reference in the clay tablets to a cistern could mean they hid it down here.

So we'll be looking for any cracks in the rock that could conceal something, or any cavities that could have been chipped out by them. If it is somewhere in this tunnel, I'm hoping that the archaeologists might have missed it, because everybody believes that this tunnel is just an aqueduct, nothing more. As far as I know, nobody has ever done a serious search for hidden relics down here, because nobody in their right mind would hide anything in a well or cistern.'

'Except that we know they did.'

'Precisely.' Angela hesitated. 'This was my idea, so do you want me to go first?'

Bronson put his hand on her shoulder, immediately remembering that she'd never been fond of dark and confined spaces. 'No, I will,' he said, switching on his torch and stepping forward into the dark water.

'Watch your head,' Angela said, following close behind him. 'The lowest roof height is under five feet.'

Within a few steps they were both in water – cold water – up to their knees. Their flashlights illuminated walls and ceiling of grey-brown rock, peppered with thousands of small white spots.

'They're the marks left by the picks and other tools when King Hezekiah's men dug this tunnel,' Angela explained.

'You're right. This would have been a mammoth undertaking,' Bronson said, his voice echoing slightly as they moved deeper into the darkness.

The light from his torch suddenly showed that the tunnel branched to the left, the ceiling height dropping steadily. He turned that way, crouching down and shining his torch upwards. The short tunnel ended abruptly, but above them was an opening in the ceiling. Bronson stopped and moved slightly to one side so that Angela could crouch beside him.

'What's that?' he asked. 'It looks like it could be a tunnel or shaft going vertically upwards.'

'That's exactly what it is. What you're looking at is the bottom of Warren's Shaft. Up there is where the inhabitants of Jerusalem would have come with their buckets to collect water. They'd have lowered them down that shaft.'

Bronson could feel his heart thumping with anticipation as they shone their torches up at the stone walls above them. But there were no signs of any possible hiding places.

'I'd have been very surprised if there was anything up there,' Angela said. 'This area and that shaft have been thoroughly explored from both directions. If the scroll is somewhere in here, it won't be anywhere as obvious as that.'

They backed out and moved on, the water level and the height and width of the tunnel varying considerably as they progressed. It was very cold and very dark, and both of them were already shivering, their clothes soaked through. Instead of the light shorts and T-shirts they were wearing, Bronson realized they'd have been better advised to bring wetsuits or even thigh waders. They walked on, the temperature dropping still further and the water becoming deeper. As his shivering increased, Bronson began to wonder just how long either of them would be able to continue.