It was, flashing down even to the underground room. It had flashed almost at the same moment as the thunder crashed.
‘Storm’s about overhead, I should think,’ said Bill. ‘I don’t think we’ll venture down the hillside ourselves till it’s over.’
‘Aren’t you going to see where that secret way leads to?’ asked Jack, in disappointment.
‘Oh yes,’ said Bill. ‘Tom and I will go, whilst the others take the prisoners down the hill – but we’ll wait till daylight now, I think.’
The storm grew worse. Philip tried to tell Bill what had happened to him that day, but he had to shout at the top of his voice, because the thunder crashed so loudly overhead.
‘I was so bored I thought I’d go down the secret passage myself and see where it led to,’ shouted Philip. ‘So when the men had gone up the stone steps after a good long sleep here, I slipped out from under the bed and went into that hole in the wall there. The men had left it open, just as you see it now, with the tapestry hooked back, and the stone slid from the opening. It goes right back, as you can see. Well, there’s a door in the side of the opening . . .’
The thunder interrupted him again and he stopped. Everyone was listening to him with interest, except the surly prisoners.
‘The door there was locked, but someone had left the key in the lock,’ went on Philip, when the thunder had died down a little. ‘So I unlocked it. The door pushed backwards and I found myself in a narrow passage.’
‘Wasn’t it dark?’ asked Jack.
‘Yes, but I had my torch,’ said Philip. ‘I put it on, and saw my way quite well. The passage went downwards, at first between walls of stone – must have been the foundations of the castle, I suppose – and then I saw that I must have come out from under the castle, and was going through a tunnel hewn out of the solid rock.’
‘And I suppose it led you out on to the hill on the other side?’ said Bill. ‘And you looked down on something rather interesting?’
‘I never got as far as that,’ said Philip. ‘I heard one of the men coming some way behind me, and I thought I’d better hide. So I climbed up on to a narrow ledge near the roof of the passage just there, and lay quite quiet.’
‘Golly!’ said Jack. ‘Did he pass you?’
‘Yes. But he was looking for me,’ said Philip. ‘You see, I’d forgotten to close the door that led into the secret passage, and when the men came back, they noticed it, and got puzzled. So they sent someone down the passage to see who had opened the door.’
‘And they found you?’ said Bill, but his words were lost in another crash of thunder.
‘When the man found I wasn’t anywhere in the passage he came back,’ went on Philip. ‘But evidently the chief man wasn’t going to let me wander about there, and he and everyone else came down the secret way then. And, of course, they soon found me lying on that narrow ledge, and dragged me down.’
‘What happened to you then?’ asked Bill. ‘You weren’t taken back to the hidden room, because the girls wondered where you were when they came down that night.’
‘No. They tied my wrists together, and my ankles too, and just left me there in the passage,’ said Philip. ‘They said as I seemed to have a liking for the passage, I could stay there till they were ready to bring me back and question me. So there I stayed till at last they did fetch me. They untied my ankles so that I could walk – and brought me to the hidden room, as you saw.’
‘Poor old Philip – a nasty experience,’ said Bill.
‘Golly, I was scared when I saw your eyes gleaming at me through the visor of the helmet, Bill,’ said Philip. ‘I had the fright of my life! But I soon realised you must be friends.’
The thunder was now so noisy and continuous that it was no use talking. They all sat in silence, thinking what a tremendous storm must be going on outside on the hill.
‘I’m just going up to have a squint out of the front door,’ said Bill. ‘It must be a fine sight, this storm.’
‘We’ll come too,’ said the boys. So up the stone steps they went, and down the hall to the open front door of the castle.
They stopped in awe just before they got there. The whole countryside lay cowering beneath the worst storm they had ever seen. Lightning tore the sky apart continually, great jagged forks that ran up and down from the top of the sky to the bottom.
The thunder was like nothing they had ever heard, it was loud and so overwhelming. It never stopped! It rolled round and round the hillside, like terrific guns bombarding an enemy.
And the rain! It poured down as if great rivers had been let loose from the sky. No one could go out in that, for they would surely be battered to the ground!
‘It’s a cloud burst,’ said Bill. ‘The sky has opened, and let down a deluge! I’ve never seen anything like this, except once in India. I should think Scar-Neck and the other fellow are having a pretty bad time of it out on the hillside.’
‘Anyway the girls had plenty of time to get down to Spring Cottage,’ said Jack. ‘They’ll be safe at home, I hope. Good gracious – what’s that?’
29
The secret passage
As Jack was speaking, there came the most tremendous clap of thunder he was ever to hear in his life. It made him jump violently and cling to Bill. It was the loudest noise he had ever heard.
With it came a flash of lightning that lighted up the hills around for miles upon miles. There they were, unbelievably clear and somehow unreal, for half a second. Then they went back into pitch darkness again. But a queer feeling ran through all three when the flash came.
Bill suddenly pulled them back a little. ‘I think the castle has been struck!’ he said. ‘Yes, it has – look!’
One of the towers, lit up by the next flash, was seen by the two boys to be in the act of falling! In a second it was gone as darkness came back again. Then, through the insistent thudding of the rain, came the sound of the crashing of stone upon stone, as the tower fell to the ground.
‘The storm is absolutely on top of us!’ shouted Jack. ‘Let’s go back to the hidden room, Bill. I’m afraid. I felt that flash of lightning, I’m sure I did. Bill, the thunder is in the courtyard, it is, it is!’
Bill was almost inclined to believe that it was, as it rolled round in rumbling crashes. Then another flash came, and once more the three felt a queer shock, as the lightning seemed to flash through them.
‘I believe if we hadn’t got rubber-soled shoes on we’d have been struck dead!’ thought Bill suddenly. ‘Gosh, the castle has been struck again – this time the main building. It will be in ruins if this goes on!’
He hustled the boys back to the steps that led to the hidden room. Down they went, and then paused in awe – for now it seemed as if the castle itself was falling!
Hurriedly Bill pulled at the spike that shut the entrance. He felt he would like to have solid stone between him and the storm now. With relief he saw the stone slide sideways and upwards, and the entrance was closed.
Almost immediately there came a terrific sound of falling stone, crashing on to stone below, and the room shook.
‘The castle is falling on top of us!’ cried Philip, and he went pale. It really sounded as if it was. Bill thought part of it must again have been struck by lightning, and have fallen inwards. He wondered if what they heard was the floor above falling down into the hall! It sounded like that.
More crashing noises came, not made by the thunder, and then comparative silence. No one spoke for a while.
‘I can see how that landslide happened,’ said Bill at last. ‘A storm like this could easily cause undermining of the road, and a landslide would result. I shouldn’t be surprised if there was another one tonight. I should think even more of the road will be destroyed.’
‘That rain was so terrific,’ said Jack. ‘I’ve never heard anything like it. I bet the poor girls are scared, down in the cottage by themselves.’
‘Yes – I wish we were with them,’ said Bill. He took a glance at the ca
ptives. They looked very frightened. What they could hear of the storm and the falling of the castle was evidently filling them with forebodings as to what might be going to happen next!
‘You know, I’ve just realised that I’m awfully hungry,’ said Philip suddenly. ‘I’ve had nothing to eat since I went off by myself to explore that secret passage.’
‘You must be famished!’ said Bill. ‘I feel pretty hungry myself too. There seems to be a nice pile of tins over there. I think it might while away the time a bit, and make us forget this awful storm, if we attacked the contents.’
Jack and Philip examined the tins. They chose one tin of spiced meat, one tin of tongue and two of peaches. They opened them, and put generous helpings on to the plates stacked on a side table.
Bill found drinks. It was so hot that the beer he found in bottles was more than usually welcome to the men. The boys feasted on ginger beer and lemonade, both of which were there too.
Everyone felt better after the meal. The storm seemed to be dying down. Bill glanced at his watch.
‘Half-past five!’ he said, with a yawn. ‘I didn’t think it was so late. Well, as the storm is dying, maybe we could get out into the courtyard for a breath of air. It will be daylight now. I can perhaps see my men off down the hillside with their prisoners.’
‘Yes. I’m dying for a breath of air,’ said Philip, whose face was bright scarlet with heat. ‘How do you open the entrance, from down here, Bill?’
‘Up there by the ceiling,’ said Bill, and showed Philip how. There was a hidden lever there. He pulled at it – but it did not move. He pulled again.
‘It won’t budge,’ said Bill, surprised. ‘Here, Tom, you try. You’re as strong as a horse.’
Tom took his turn, but he could not move the lever either. The stone would not move an inch from the entrance, to unblock it.
Then both Bill and Tom tried together. The stone moved an inch or two – and then stopped. No further efforts made any difference. It wouldn’t move any more.
Bill went up the steps as far as he could and tried to peer through the crack, but he could see nothing at all. He came back.
‘I’m afraid part of the castle has fallen in on top of the entrance,’ he said. ‘The lever is strong enough to move that heavy stone, but we are not strong enough to shift whatever is on top of it by pulling hard. We can’t get out.’
‘We’ll have to use the other way then, the passage I went down yesterday,’ said Philip, nodding his head towards the opening behind the tapestry.
‘Yes,’ said Bill. ‘I only hope that hasn’t done any slipping and sliding too! Still, you said it was made out of the solid rock, didn’t you? It should be quite all right.’
It was steadily getting hotter and hotter in the underground room. Button, who had retired under the bed during the fight, now came out and rolled over on his side by Philip, his pink tongue hanging out like a dog’s.
‘He’s thirsty,’ said Jack. ‘Give him a drink.’
‘There’s nothing except ginger beer left,’ said Philip, and poured some out on a plate. Button was so thirsty that he drank it all up, then sat down and licked his mouth round thoughtfully, as if to say, ‘Well – that was certainly nice and wet – but what a strange taste!’
‘We shall all be cooked if we don’t make a move,’ said Bill. ‘Come on – we’ll try our luck this way. I’ll go first.’
He went into the hole in the wall, and pushed at the door there. It opened. Bill went through, shining his torch in front of him.
The two boys followed. Then came the three men with their captives, who were now very subdued indeed. They had not uttered a word for a very long time.
The passage was narrow, but fairly straight at first. Bill’s torch showed that it was built in the stone foundations of the castle itself.
‘It’s likely that there are dungeons built down here too,’ said Bill. ‘It’s a strange old place. There are probably more hidden rooms as well. The old legends about the place talk of more than one room.’
After a while the stone of the tunnel walls turned to solid rock, uneven of surface. The air was surprisingly fresh. It was deliciously cool after the oven-heat of the room they had left behind.
Now the passage wound about a little, as if to follow the vagaries of the rock. Bill thought part of the passage was artificial, and part natural. It was plain that it went straight through the top of the hill, in a downward direction.
In some places it sloped quite steeply, and they all slithered a little. Then they suddenly heard the noise of water!
They stopped. Bill looked back at Philip. ‘Water!’ he said. ‘Did you see any before when you came down here?’
Philip shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘It was all quite dry. We haven’t yet come to the ledge I hid on.’
They went on, puzzled – and suddenly they saw what made the noise! The deluge of rain soaking down into the hillside was trying to get away somewhere, and was running down in a torrent, underground. It had found a weak place in the wall of the passage, and had poured down into it. It was now running like a river down the tunnel, making a roaring, gurgling noise.
‘Goodness!’ said Jack, peering over Bill’s shoulder, and seeing the rushing water by the light of his torch. ‘We can’t go down there now!’
‘It’s not very deep,’ said Bill, looking at it. ‘I believe we shall be able to wade along all right. It’s lucky for us that the passage goes downhill, not uphill, or we should have had the water pouring to meet us!’
He put his foot into it, and found that it was about knee-deep. The current was fairly powerful, but not enough to sweep anyone from their feet, though they had to take care to keep their balance.
They all waded into the torrent. It was cold and the coolness was welcome to them. Splashing through the water they went on their way again. Button was curled tightly round Philip’s neck. He hated the water.
They went on a good way. Then Philip pointed up to a rocky ledge near the roof of the passage. ‘That’s where I hid,’ he said. ‘See? It was quite a good place, wasn’t it? Nobody would have found me if they hadn’t really been looking for me.’
They went on past Philip’s ledge. The water was a little deeper now, and stronger, because the passage sloped more steeply just there. It was slow going. Jack, who was getting very tired, thought it would never come to an end. He liked adventures, but he began to feel he would rather like a rest from this one.
All at once the passage began to slope down very steeply indeed, so steeply that the torrent made quite a waterfall! Bill stopped.
‘Well, I don’t see how we can get down here, unless we just slide down in the water!’ he said. ‘Ah, but wait a minute – I believe there are stone steps leading downwards. Yes, there are. We shall be all right if we don’t let the water rush us off our feet!’
He went first, very cautiously, feeling for the steps with his feet. The boys followed, equally cautiously, Jack almost being rushed off his feet once or twice by the surging fall of water.
Suddenly Bill put his torch out – and daylight appeared in front! The stone steps led out on to the opposite side of the castle hill – they were there at last!
Bill leapt out of the water and came out of a narrow opening in the hillside, almost completely covered by brambles. ‘Well – here we are!’ he said. ‘Safe after all!’
30
The other side of the hill
The boys came out of the hole too, and they all stared at the sight below them. They were on a very steep hillside, with an almost sheer drop beneath.
Directly below was what looked like a farmhouse, with out-buildings on the slope of the hill. All around the place was barbed wire, rows upon rows of it. There was plenty just below where they stood, too.
There was a copse of trees behind the house, and in the middle was a clear space. A curious-looking machine stood in the centre of this clearing. It was large and shining. To anyone down at the farm or near by it must have been com
pletely hidden in the trees – but viewed from above it was very plain to see.
‘What is it?’ asked Jack, gazing at it in the clear morning sunlight.
‘Not even I know that, Jack,’ said Bill. ‘It is one of our own country’s secrets – something being worked on by our greatest military scientists.’
‘And that’s what Scar-Neck the spy was after?’ asked Philip.
‘That’s what he was after,’ said Bill. ‘He got wind of it – found out where the tests were being carried out in secret – and discovered to his delight that there was an old castle on the other side of the hill for sale.’
‘Gosh! Did he buy the castle then?’ asked Jack.
Bill nodded. ‘Yes. I made it my business to find out who the owner was. Scar-Neck had not bought it in his own name, of course – he was far too clever for that. He bought it in the name of an Englishman – called Brown. A man supposed to be interested in old buildings. But I soon found out who was behind Brown.’
‘Aren’t you clever, Bill?’ said Jack admiringly.
‘No,’ said Bill. ‘That kind of thing is easy in my job. I knew Scar-Neck was probably after this secret of ours, but I couldn’t for the life of me see how he could find out anything. As you can see, it’s very well hidden up here at the back of the old farm – and well protected by barbed wire, which is quite probably mixed up with other wire that is electrically charged.’
‘Well – how did he get the secret then?’ said Philip.
‘By wonderful photography, and by making a way right under the wire down to the machine itself, I imagine,’ said Bill. ‘Look – do you see signs of digging there? Well, I imagine Scar-Neck and his friends did a bit of burrowing, like rabbits, right under the wire, and came up safely inside the enclosure.’
‘Wouldn’t anyone see them?’ said Jack.
‘Not from this side,’ said Bill. ‘Nobody would guess anyone would try any tricks from up here. It would seem impossible to get here, it’s so steep!’
‘And nobody knew about the passage in the castle that led right to this side of the hill!’ said Jack. ‘How did he find it out?’