A sea cave, a rising tide and a wall that talks.
The water was already up to their knees when Larraitz shone her torch down the entrance passage and realised they weren’t going to get out that way. Outside, the tide was coming in; inside, the current was pushing hard towards the back of the cave.
That morning, at the harbour, Ramón, the old barnacle-picker, had warned them: “Go in while the tide’s going out and come out before two hours have passed since low tide, which is at twelve today. The entrance passage is the first thing to flood.” They told him they’d be back by two, and at a quarter past eleven they went into the cave with a head torch, an eight-hour glow stick and a bar of chocolate.
Inside, the cave opened out into galleries. Climbing over some rocks, they found a high, dry chamber, with hundreds of bats hanging from the ceiling, next to a crack that let in a thread of light. It was so narrow that not even a cat could have squeezed through. There, among patterns in the rock and echoes, they lost all track of time.
When Larraitz took her phone out of the waterproof pouch, it was twenty to three.
Now, with the water at their knees, Iker pointed at the walls of the passage, covered in barnacles and seaweed right up to the ceiling. “We swim. It’s only fifty metres.”
Larraitz shook her head. She remembered something else: the walls of the high chamber, smooth and dry, without a single shell. “We go back up,” she said. “The sea doesn’t reach up there. And Ramón knows we were supposed to be back by two.”
In the chamber, Larraitz switched off the head torch, which was already down to half its battery, and snapped the glow stick. A soft glow tinted the rock. Iker shared out the chocolate in exactly eight squares.
“High tide is around six,” Larraitz murmured. “Then the sea starts to go out. We just have to be patient.”
Activities
1 Detective Inference
Why did Larraitz know the high chamber was a safe place? Tick the correct hypothesis.
- a) Because they could get outside through the crack in the ceiling.
- ✓b) Because the sea never reaches up there, not even at high tide.
- c) Because it was closer to the way out than the passage.
- d) Because from there they could call for help on the phone.
Which clue did Larraitz read in the cave? Copy or summarise the clue from the text that proves it.
Correct hypothesis: b). Correct: Larraitz worked out that the water had never risen as far as the chamber.
Key clue: “In the passage, barnacles and seaweed reached the ceiling; in the chamber, the walls were dry, without a single shell.” That’s the reading: barnacles and seaweed only grow where the sea reaches. The wall is a record of the tides.
2 The Loom Order of events
The story starts at the tensest moment. Put what happened in order from the beginning. Write the order number (1, 2, 3…) in each box.
- 2 They go into the cave at a quarter past eleven.
- 6 Larraitz snaps the glow stick in the high chamber.
- 3 They discover the bat chamber.
- 4 Larraitz checks her phone: it’s twenty to three.
- 1 Ramón warns them about the entrance passage.
- 5 They find the passage with the water up to their knees.
Correct order:
- Ramón warns them about the entrance passage.
- They go into the cave at a quarter past eleven.
- They discover the bat chamber.
- Larraitz checks her phone: it’s twenty to three.
- They find the passage with the water up to their knees.
- Larraitz snaps the glow stick in the high chamber.
The story opens with the water up to their knees, but before that came Ramón’s warning, going in, finding the chamber and discovering the time. After seeing the flooded passage, they go back to the chamber.
3 The Missing Page Coherence
Which ending fits the story? Tick only one option.
- ✓a) They wait in the chamber. Ramón raises the alarm when they don’t come back and, with the next low tide, after midnight, they are brought out through the passage.
- b) At around six in the evening they decide to swim out through the passage.
- c) They widen the crack in the ceiling with their hands and climb out through it.
- d) At midnight the water floods the chamber too and they have to swim.
Answer: a). It fits: the chamber doesn’t flood, Ramón knew when they were due back and the tide goes out again about six hours after high tide.
- b) Six o’clock is high tide: the moment the passage is most flooded.
- c) The crack was so narrow not even a cat could get through, and it’s solid rock.
- d) The dry walls without barnacles prove the sea doesn’t reach the chamber. Besides, at midnight the tide is going out.
4 Spot the Contradiction Literal reading
Three statements don’t fit what happened in the cave. Put an X next to the 3 statements that don’t fit the text.
- a) Ramón advised them to come out within two hours of low tide.That’s his exact warning.
- ✗b) They went into the cave with the tide coming in.They went in at a quarter past eleven, with the tide going out: low tide was at twelve.
- ✗c) A person could fit through the crack in the ceiling.“Not even a cat” could have squeezed through.
- d) Larraitz switched off the head torch to save battery.It was down to half its battery.
- ✗e) The walls of the high chamber were covered in barnacles.They were smooth and dry, “without a single shell”. The barnacles were in the passage.
- f) Ramón knew what time they were due back.They told him they would be back by two.
5 The Gallery Visualisation
In the game you choose the illustration that answers this question: “Which illustration shows the high chamber while Larraitz and Iker wait?”. Here, you draw it yourself, with every detail the text gives you.
What should appear: Glow stick lit, head torch off, a narrow crack and bats on the dry ceiling.
Reward drawings that include the details from the text, not artistic skill.
Ending
To read aloud once the answers have been checked.
At half past two, when they hadn’t come back, Ramón called the coastguard. But with the tide in, nobody could get into the cave, either swimming or by boat. So they did the only sensible thing: they waited at the mouth of the cave.
After midnight, with the next low tide, the passage was almost dry again. The rescuers found Larraitz and Iker sitting in the chamber, next to the glow stick, which was still shining.
“You did the one thing that can’t be taught,” Ramón told them, wrapping them in a blanket: “you read the stone.”
Suggested marking
Each activity is worth 2 points (10 in total). In 1, one point for the hypothesis and one for the clue. In 2, give one point if only a couple of events are swapped. In 4, half a point for each correct cross and minus half a point for each true statement crossed out.