The Inventor’s Quest
Written By Tony Franks-Buckley
Introduction
There was an inventor, who was not just any inventor, but he was the cleverest of unknown inventors in the world. How can this be if he is unknown you ask? Well, because none of his inventions have ever been invented. This did not matter to the inventor; he knew one day, that he will be known for something spectacular one day, but he just did not know what it would be.
The year is 1892 and England is under the rule of the great monarch Queen Victoria. The last hundred years have been a wonderful time to live in England; it has been an era of innovation and expansion that could not be matched by any other country in the world.
Many men have become rich, yet many have remained poor, but England had become greater and stronger than ever. The Victorian time was an age of prosperity and everyone was seeking their fortunes in one way or another.
In the North-West region of England there is a little town on the Wirral coast called Wallasey or Walla-sea if you wish to pronounce it. In this quaint little town their lives all type of people. Rich merchants, farmers, trade people and even circus and theatre entertainers.
There is one man who is different from them all, his name is William Withens and he is known to his family and friends of the town simply as “The Inventor”.
William was a very popular man with the locals; he was of a very friendly nature and the locals knew that they could always rely on his expert knowledge. Whenever they had a problem, they would go and see William Withens “The Inventor” who could fix anything.
William had previously owned a small shop in the village of Wallasey, in which he would think up his new inventions and try to perfect them. The only problem was that whilst he enjoyed helping the people from the town, he could not attend to his own items that had yet to be invented never mind that they needed fixing.
The only solution he could do was to move his workshop from the busy village and find somewhere more peaceful, where he could work from home and it was here where his adventures truly began.
William Withens and his family had not long moved into their new home of Montebello Manor, following their short but exciting move from the other side of Wallasey. William was an inventor who invented many things, just nothing of great significance to the outside world, but to his family they were great and useful things especially to his wife Melinda who supported his work greatly.
Since leaving his village shop, it was not very often that William would be seen outside of the house, he was always hard at work on his next big idea, hidden away in his small but sufficient work shed.
William was a tall and scruffy but by no means a poor looking man, for even though he had not yet successfully created the big idea invention, merchants and shop owners would pay him for advancements that he made to their devices and machinery. William was also respected locally for his vegetables and fruit that his family would farm and sell in the local market for two days, then at home for the remaining days of the week.
It was this reason why the move to the new and bigger house was necessary. In order to increase production amounts, but also most unfortunate to him it was so he was able to house the rest of the family whom have all decided to invite themselves to live with him.
William upgraded from his small but cosy farm house to Montebello Manor in which there was more than enough room for all of the family to live as well as to conduct his own work and research.
And when I say all of the family, it was not just William’s wife Melinda and two sons Mark and Michael but there was also, Williams parents Grandma and Grandpa Withens and his two brothers Alfred and Benjamin, who were also residing in Monte Bello after losing their cottage in a cards game.
But he really should not complain, for they all work on the farm and without their help, he would not have as much time to spend inventing things. Even though Grandma and Grandpa Withens age was getting higher, they still helped out working on the farm. Grandma would get up in the morning and collect the eggs from the hundred or so chickens that now roamed the barn, whilst Grandpa would do the more strenuous work of milking the dozen golden coloured Jersey cows situated in the field behind the house.
Alfred and Benjamin tended to the vegetables and fruit trees, so there was no need for William to do any work around the farm. This is why William was not too bothered about having all of his family living under his roof as they allowed him to concentrate on creating his inventions.
William would spend nearly all of his working day in his secret invention room, but it was not really a room it was a cave. When the Withens family moved into the Manor house a little over two years ago, it was by chance that William found a secret cavern in which he could hide all of his new inventions without interruption from the village folk and the rest of the outside world.
William’s two sons Mark and Michael had been running frantically around Montebello Manor with excitement exploring all the new rooms of their home. The boys had made their way from the top of the house in which they ran too first to claim their new bedrooms, then down the two sets of stairs and through the door to the cellar.
Both of the boys were very active and were jumping up and down ecstatically on the uncovered wooden floorboards, I say uncovered, that just means that they had no carpet laid.
“Look at me Michael; I can jump like a cricket” Mark was shouting as he jumped around the room like a bow legged cricket.
“And I’m a tiger” Michael said as he pranced round imitating the movements of an energetic tiger.
There was a load crack followed by a bang, Mark had fallen through the floorboards.
“Ouch my legs” He screamed loudly.
“Michael grab me quick, I’m falling.” He shouted to his younger brother.
Michael panicked as he grabbed onto the arms of his older brother who had now become lodged up to his shoulders through the floorboards with his legs dangling into the darkness below.
“Help, somebody help” Michael shouted out.
Footsteps above could be heard running as the ceiling creaked with each step.
The door swung open and it was William Withens who rushed to the rescue of the two terrified boys. It was this very moment that the inventor found an entrance into the mysterious tunnels below.
“What’s happened, and what have you done to the floor.” He shouted as he pulled Mark to safety out of the splintering floorboards.
“I’m sorry father, I didn’t mean to.” Mark sobbed.
“No matter now boy, more important thing is you’re ok.” he said as he dusted down his eldest son. William loved his two sons; he calls them “His greatest inventions” and is very proud of them indeed. William peered down to see what damage the boys had made this time, they were always causing some sort of damage, not on purpose, “just unlucky coincidences” as William would call them when anybody would make a complaint against them. The light was scarce as he peered down, but he was able to make out the resemblance of a tunnel through the thick silver cobwebs that engulfed the area below.
“That’s strange, I am certain there was never a mine in New Brighton” he said out loud. “Run upstairs and fetch a lantern for me, will you boys” he asked.
Being an inventor, it was his duty to investigate everything of a strange nature, and the possibility of a tunnel running beneath his house, was very strange indeed.
Michael returned back to his father with the square metal and glass cased lantern, Mark had whimpered to his mother to cleanse the cuts and remove the splinters that had mutilated his legs. The lantern burned bright following the ignition from a phosphorus matchstick, he attached a small rope from his trusted satchel and lowered the lantern into the dark passage, cobwebs snapped as he punctured through them as he aimed to drop the lantern on to the floor of the tunnel, which was not as deep as he first thought. William peered down and could see the tunnel was running in two directions. The drop to the floor was not far away. He removed a couple of the broken floorboards that were splintered from Mark’s unfortunate coincidence and was now able to lower himself down into the passageway, whilst ordering Michael to stay put.
“You stay here; you’ve had enough fun for one day.”
Michael groaned, as he watched his father lowering himself gently into the dark hole. William was now inside the tunnel and cobwebs clung to his jacket, which he quickly brushed off and picked up the lantern. He walked along the dark passage for around five to ten minutes, noting but darkness ahead and just more cobwebs. Then at last, he could see something in the distance.
“And what might you be doing down here” he said as a few glimpses of wood appeared in rhythm with each swing of the lantern. He moved in for a closer look, he had reached a wooden door.
“Why and when has this door been put here, this is most peculiar.” He said out loud.
The glimmer of excitement did not last for long because the door was sealed shut and observing the iron latches, the possibility of proceeding forward had become unattainable without a key and a key he did not have. William had no option but to head back and check the other direction, if only he had brought some tools.
Feeling more optimistic, he made his way past the opening in which young Mark had fell through earlier and proceeded on further into the tunnel. This time he was heading in a route of a left curving direction. After travelling for around fifteen minutes, despite the cobwebs remaining unchanged the tunnel was no longer a tunnel. Carefully taking a step forward passed the splinters of rock and sandstone; he was now a large square room in which by further investigation he noticed a big circular opening directly opposite.
William took his lantern and held it up in front of him as he looked around the area which was damp due to the water trickling down the walls. There were several markings on one of the moss riddled walls that were currently unreadable.
“Why did I not bring my tool bag” He said to himself frustratingly.
William could see light at the other end of the circular passageway, so he stepped through avoiding a few rocks that were roughly edging out of the ground, also hearing the odd crunch here and there
“Bugs, I hate bugs” he daren’t shine the lantern to the floor. Beams of light greeted him as he reached an opening.
“My good lord” He said as his eyes adjusted to the light.
William Withens was stood in astonishment with a look of complete surprise on his face. An underground cavern was upon his eyes, a flood of red and yellow colour from the sandstone surroundings met his eyes now that they were completely focused. He could also hear running water somewhere; he looked across to see a waterfall emptying down into a pool below. Speckles of green from plant infested areas divided the colours of the rocks. It was then that his thoughts flowed vigorously.
“I’m underground and yet there is complete light, how is this possible in a sealed area?”.
William stepped further into the cave and his unanswered questions became apparent. Circular objects had been placed around the cave, having studied Egyptology briefly whilst at university; he recognised it was the Egyptian mirror system.
Thousands of years ago in the time of the pharaohs, Egyptian slaves would work within stone structures such as pyramids and tombs, which became resting places for their gods. In order to be able to paint hieroglyphs on the walls, they would need complete light, much more than a few lit torches could offer, they daren’t make a mistake through fear of death by their gods.
The mirrors were perfectly placed around the cave, with each mirror linking to the next, reflecting and bouncing the light from one to another. It was a simple but very effective process. William followed the path of the mirrors with his eyes as he stepped further into the cave. There were many mirrors, but one in particular pointed to an opening in the top of the cave. The opening had been perfectly crafted in the form of a shaft, with a beam of light coming straight down to meet the angled mirror below; it really was a marvellous technique.
There were old bottles, bones and bits of general rubbish scattered around the floor, but apart from that, the cave was an empty shell and William soon realised the potential greatness that the cavern could offer.
“Nobody can interrupt me down here.” He said to himself with a smile on his face.
“My work will be more secure than ever, just think of the possibilities.”
He was more excited than ever, even more excited than when he first became an inventor. This would be his own secret chamber in which only he would know, he could now be certain to keep his inventions secret and away from the outside world.
“This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.” He said looking around the room imagining where he was going to place all of his tools and apparatus.
“I can only imagine what I can invent down here. Finally I’ll have a chance to amaze the world.”
His mind was working overtime as a stream of ideas were running through his mind, things he had desperately wanted to invent in such a long time but had never had the room or time to do so, but this was all about to change.
This was the beginning of a new and exciting time for the inventor William Withens, anything and everything was becoming possible.
Content copyright 2013. tonyfranks-buckley.com
