Just as they reached it, and looked upwards to where the faintest gleam of daylight showed, there came a curious sound.
It was a muffled roar, deep, deep down in the mines. It echoed round and about in a frightening way.
‘Well – Joe spoke the truth,’ said Bill soberly. ‘That was the dynamite going off. If it really has blown a hole in the sea-bed, the waters will even now be rushing up that under-sea passage to the mines.’
‘Come on, then,’ said Philip, eager to get up into the open air. ‘Come on. I want to get into the sunshine.’
‘I must tie my nugget round me somewhere,’ said Jack, who was still manfully carrying the heavy piece of copper. ‘Why – what’s the matter, Bill?’
Bill had given a sharp exclamation that startled the boys. ‘Look there,’ said Bill, shining his torch on to the first few feet of the shaft-hole. ‘Those men have gone up the shaft – and have carefully hacked away the ladder near the bottom so that we couldn’t climb up, even if we did escape from the cave. They were leaving nothing to chance. We’re done. We can’t escape. There’s no way of climbing up without a ladder.’
In despair the three of them gazed at the smashed-up rungs. Kiki gave a mournful screech that made them jump.
‘Bill – I believe we might find some kind of a ladder in that big open cave where the boxes and crates of food were,’ said Jack desperately. ‘I believe I saw one. Shall we go back and see? I don’t expect the men have done more than smash up the beginning rungs of the shaft-hole ladder – they’d know we couldn’t use the ladder higher up if there was nothing to climb on lower down.’
‘Are you sure there was a ladder in that cave?’ asked Philip. ‘I don’t remember one.’
‘Well – it’s our only chance,’ said Bill. ‘Come on – back we go to find it.’
But they didn’t reach the cave. They only went down the main passage a little way and then they stopped in horror. Something was swirling towards them – something black and strange and powerful.
‘The waters are in already,’ yelled Bill. ‘Come back. Get to the highest part. My word, the whole sea is emptying itself into the mines.’
The gurgling sound of water trickling down all the passages and into every cave was now plainly to be heard. It was a greedy, sucking sound, a sound that frightened even Bill. The three of them ran back to the main shaft at once. It was higher than the rest of the ground round about – but soon the water would reach there too.
‘It will find its own level, anyway,’ said Bill. ‘All these shafts go down below sea level, a long way below – and the mines will certainly fill up to the level of the sea. I reckon it will half-fill these shaft-holes too.’
‘But Bill – we shall all be drowned!’ said Jack, in a trembling voice.
‘Can you swim?’ asked Bill. ‘Yes – of course you both can. Well, listen, there’s just one hope for us. When the water fills up this shaft, we must rise with it – let it take us up. We can keep afloat all right, I think, if we don’t get panicky. Then, when we reach the part of the ladder undamaged by the men, we can climb up. Now, do you think you can keep your heads, and, when the water comes go up the shaft-hole with it?’
‘Yes,’ said the boys pluckily. Jack turned and looked nervously down the passage. He could see the black water in the distance, gleaming in the light of Bill’s torch. It looked very horrible, somehow.
‘That’s the end of these mines, then, Bill, isn’t it?’ said Philip. ‘No one will ever be able to come down here again.’
‘Well, they were worked out anyway,’ said Bill. ‘Jack was lucky to find a nugget to take back to show everyone. It was probably hidden by a long-ago miner who forgot where he had hidden it – and years and years afterwards Jack found it.’
‘I must take it back with me,’ said Jack. ‘I simply must. But I know I can’t hold it and swim too. It’s too heavy.’
Bill stripped off his jersey and his vest. He wrapped the nugget in his vest, knotted it, then tied a thick piece of string round it. He put his jersey on again and then hung the nugget round his neck.
‘Bit heavy,’ said he, with a grin, ‘but quite safe. You carry Kiki, I’ll carry the nugget.’
‘Thanks awfully,’ said Jack. ‘Sure it won’t drag you down under the water?’
‘I hardly think so,’ said Bill, who was immensely strong.
‘The water’s coming nearer,’ said Philip uneasily. ‘Look!’
They all looked. It was advancing near to the little bit of rising ground under the shaft where they stood.
‘Isn’t it awfully black?’ said Jack. ‘I suppose it’s the darkness that makes it look so black. It looks simply horrid.’
‘It will take a bit of time to get to our shaft,’ said Bill. ‘Let’s sit down and rest a bit whilst we’ve a chance.’
They sat down. Philip’s mouse ran out of his sleeve, and then sat up on its hind legs, sniffing. Kiki saw it and gave a squeal.
‘Wipe your feet, I tell you!’ she said.
‘Now, don’t you frighten Woffly,’ said Philip. The three of them watched the antics of the mouse whilst they waited. The water lapped nearer, sucking and gurgling in the passages.
‘It must be absolutely pouring down the hole in the roof of the under-sea passage,’ said Philip. ‘I say, Bill – will the water rush the other way too – down the undersea passage to Craggy-Tops – and make the well salt water?’
‘Well, yes – I suppose it will,’ said Bill, considering. ‘The well is below sea level, of course – so the sea is bound to pour into it, through the entrance in the well-shaft. That’s bad, Philip. It will mean that you and your people won’t have well water any more – I can’t think what you’ll do.’
‘Here comes the water to our feet now,’ said Jack, watching a wave sweep up to them. ‘Kiki, do sit still on my shoulder. Tufty, where’s Woffly?’
‘Down my neck now,’ said Philip. ‘Ooh, isn’t the water cold!’
The mines were hot, so the water did feel cold – icy-cold. Philip, Jack and Bill stood up and watched it swirling round their ankles. It rose gradually to their knees. It rose above them.
The three were standing right under the shaft, waiting for the moment to come when the water would lift them up, enabling them to swim, or tread water.
‘I’m frozen,’ said Philip. ‘I never knew such cold water.’
‘It isn’t really cold,’ said Bill, ‘but we feel so hot down here that the water strikes us as very cold. It hasn’t had time to warm up yet.’
The water rose to their waists and them more rapidly to their shoulders.
‘God save the Queen!’ said Kiki, in a horrified tone, looking down from Jack’s shoulder at the restless black water below her.
Soon Bill and the boys were lifted off their feet, and swam with difficulty on the surface of the water in the shaft. ‘There’s so little room,’ panted Jack. ‘We’re all on top of one another.’
They were certainly very crowded and it was tiring work trying to keep afloat when there was really no room for swimming. The water rose steadily. Bill had taken Philip’s little torch and placed it between his teeth, so that its light shone round on the shaft-wall. He wanted to see whether the ladder was still smashed, far up the shaft, or whether the men had only damaged the lower part.
He took the torch from his mouth at last. ‘We’re all right,’ he said. ‘The ladder’s not smashed here. We have risen some way up the shaft with the water, and now we can get on to the ladder. I’ll help you each up. Go first, Jack, with Kiki. She’s getting so scared.’
Jack splashed his way to the side of the shaft where the ladder was. Bill shone the torch there. Jack clung to the rungs and began to haul himself up. Then, when he had climbed a good way up, Philip followed. Last of all Bill hauled himself up, feeling the drag of the heavy copper nugget on his neck. It had been extremely difficult to keep afloat with it, but somehow he had managed.
Up they went – and up and up. It seemed ages before they were anywhere near t
he top. They soon stopped shivering, and got hot with climbing. Their wet clothes stuck to them uncomfortably. Kiki talked in Jack’s ear, very sorry for herself. She did not like this part of the adventure at all.
Philip’s mouse didn’t like it either. It had clung to Philip’s ear during his stay in the water, when the boy’s head had been the only thing above the surface – and now it didn’t at all approve of such wet clothes. It couldn’t seem to find a nice, dry, warm place anywhere.
‘We’re almost there,’ Jack shouted down at last. ‘Not far now.’
That was cheerful news. They hurried on, feeling new strength in their arms and legs now that they knew their long and tiring climb was nearing an end.
Jack climbed out first, Kiki flying off his shoulder with a glad squeal. Then he stopped in astonishment. A man was sitting quietly by the head of the shaft, a revolver in his hand.
‘Hands up!’ said the man, in a stern voice. ‘Don’t dare to warn anyone following you. Stand there. Hands up, I said!’
29
All’s well that ends well
Jack stood with his hands above his head, his mouth open in horror. Had they escaped only to get caught again? He did not dare to shout.
Philip climbed out and was treated in the same way; he too was shocked and dismayed. The man with the revolver waited in silence, covering the boys with his weapon, watching to see who would come out next. Bill climbed out, his back to the man. He received the same order.
‘Hands up! Don’t dare to warn anyone following. Stand there!’
Bill swung round. He had put his hands up at once, but now he put them down and grinned.
‘It’s all right, Sam,’ he said. ‘Put up your gun.’
Sam gave an exclamation, and put his revolver into his belt. He held out his hand to Bill.
‘It’s you!’ he said. ‘I was left here in case any more fellows of the gang came up. I didn’t expect you to bob up.’
The boys stared, open-mouthed. What was all this?
‘Did you get a shock?’ said Bill, noticing their surprise. ‘This is Sam – one of our detectives – great friend of mine. Well, Sam – seeing you here gives me great hopes. What’s happened?’
‘Come and see,’ said Sam, with a grin, and he led the way. They all went through the pass in the hills, following the burly Sam. They came out on to open ground, and made their way towards the coast.
They came suddenly on a truly interesting sight. Lined up in a row, their faces sullen, were all the men from the mines. Joe was there too, fierce anger in his face. Two men stood near by, each with a revolver. All weapons had been taken from the prisoners.
‘There’s Joe!’ cried Philip. Joe looked at him with a scowl that turned to surprise. So the boys and their friend had escaped! Joe was immensely surprised and racked his brains to think how anyone could have got out of a locked cave in a flooded mine and up a shaft whose ladder was completely smashed at the bottom.
‘How were they caught?’ asked Jack, in wonder. Kiki saw Joe and flew round his head, screeching and hooting and yelling. She recognised her old enemy, and knew he could no longer harm her.
Sam grinned at Jack’s wonder. ‘Well, Bill Cunningham here,’ he said with a nod towards Bill, ‘he managed to tell us a good bit over the radio last night, and we put two and two together, and reckoned we’d better get going. So we got going and came over to this island as fast as we could. We found Joe’s boat here, and signs of an early departure – stacks of dud notes in crates on the beach – and all kinds of other interesting documents.’
‘How did you get here so quickly? There are no boats near on this coast,’ said Philip.
‘We’ve got a few fast motor boats of our own,’ said Sam. ‘We took two of them and came along here top speed, down along the coast. There they are.’
The boys turned, and saw two big and smart motor boats bobbing on the water near the cove, each one in charge of a mechanic. Nearby was Joe’s own boat.
‘As soon as we spotted that the gang had wound up their business and were going to go off with their dud money, we saw our chance,’ grinned Sam. ‘So we posted a man at each of the shaft-holes – we didn’t know which one the gang used, you see – and then, up one of them came the whole of the gang, one by one. And we got them nicely.’
‘Just like you got us,’ said Jack. ‘That was smart work. What are we going to do now?’
‘Bill Cunningham is head of this show,’ said Sam, and turned an enquiring face to Bill. Bill looked at the boys apologetically.
‘Sorry I had to give you a wrong name,’ he said. ‘But my own name is a bit too well known in some quarters to give away when I’m on a job of this sort. So I was just Bill Smugs to you.’
‘You always will be,’ said Philip. ‘I shall never think of you as anything else, Bill.’
‘Right,’ said Bill, grinning. ‘Bill Smugs I am. Now – what about getting these pretty gentlemen safely into the motor boats?’
The gang of fierce-looking men were pushed into the two boats. Jake still wore his black patch, but he glared so fiercely at Kiki with his one free eye that Jack called the parrot to his shoulder. If looks could kill, Kiki would certainly have died under that glare of Jake’s. The man was remembering how the bird had been locked up instead of the boy. That mistake had probably led to all this bad luck.
‘I think we’ll sail Joe’s boat home,’ said Bill to the boys. ‘Come on. Let the motor boats go first and then we’ll follow. Hi, Sam! Make for that house – you know – Craggy-Tops. There’s a good mooring-place there.’
‘Right,’ said Sam, and off the motor boats went, making a terrific roaring noise over the sea. Then Bill and the boys set off in Joe’s boat, and all three boats went safely out of the gap in the rocks and on to the open sea beyond.
‘Well, all’s well that ends well,’ said Bill, as they put up the sail and set course for home. ‘But there were a few moments when I didn’t think we were going to end up as well as we have done.’
The boys thought so too. Philip wondered how the girls were getting on. They would be worried by now.
‘I’m jolly hungry,’ said Jack. ‘It’s ages since I had a good meal – really ages.’
‘It must be,’ said Bill. ‘Never mind – soon be back now – then you can tuck in to your heart’s content.’
The girls and Aunt Polly heard the sound of the motor boats long before they came to shore. They went out to see what was making the noise. They were filled with astonishment to see two big motor boats packed with men, and a sailing boat which looked like Joe’s, all making for Craggy-Tops.
‘Whatever does it all mean?’ said Aunt Polly, who was still looking white and ill. ‘Oh dear! – my heart will never stand all this excitement.’
The motor boats nosed to the mooring-posts in the little harbour. The girls ran down, and were amazed to see Joe among the men. They stared at them, trying to find the boys.
‘Hallo, there!’ called Sam. ‘Are you looking for Bill What’s-his-name and the boys? They’re following after us in the other boat. Have you got a telephone here, by any chance?’
‘Yes, we have,’ said Dinah. ‘What are all these men? Why is Joe with them?’
‘Tell you everything soon,’ said Sam, getting out of the boat. ‘I must telephone before I do anything. You show me the phone, there’s a good girl.’
Sam put through a call, asking for four or five motorcars to be sent to Craggy-Tops at once, to take away the prisoners. Aunt Polly, her heart beating fast, listened in the greatest surprise. What could all this mean?
She soon understood when the sailing boat arrived, and Bill and the boys came into the house. They told her the whole story, and she sank back on the couch in horror when she heard what a wicked and dangerous fellow Joe was.
‘As clever as a bagful of monkeys,’ said Bill. ‘But he’s not got away with it this time – thanks to these four smart children.’
‘It’s funny,’ said Jack. ‘We went to the islan
d to find a Great Auk – and we found instead a whole gang of men working at hidden printing-machines down in the mines.’
‘If I’d known you were doing things like that, I’d have sent you all to bed,’ said Aunt Polly severely. That made everyone laugh.
‘Oh, naughty girl, naughty girl, Polly!’ cried Kiki, flying to Aunt Polly’s shoulder.
The cars arrived as the boys and Bill were in the middle of a most enormous meal. The men were packed into them and driven off swiftly. Sam said goodbye and departed with them.
‘Good work, Bill!’ he said as he went. And those kids want a pat on the back too.’
They got plenty of pats. The next day or two were so exciting that not one of the children slept properly at night.
For one thing they were taken to the nearest big town, and had to tell all they knew to two or three very solemn gentlemen.
‘Big wigs,’ said Bill mysteriously. ‘Very big wigs. Jack, have you got the photograph of that pile of tins you saw on the island? Joe denies that he ever took supplies there, and we’ve found some empty tins in the cellar at Craggy-Tops which we may be able to identify by means of your snap.’
So even the little photograph of the tins came in useful, and was a bit of what Bill called the ‘evidence against the prisoners’.
Another little bit of excitement was Jack’s nugget. The boy was disappointed to hear that it was not valuable – but as a curiosity, a memory of a great adventure, it was thrilling.
‘I shall take it back to school with me and present it to the museum we have there,’ said Jack. ‘All the boys will love to see it and handle it and hear how I got it. Won’t they be envious! It isn’t everybody who gets lost in old copper mines and finds a nugget hidden away. The only thing is – I’m awfully disappointed it’s not valuable, because I did want to sell it and share the money between us.’
‘Yes,’ said Lucy, ‘that would have been lovely. Tufty’s share of it would have paid for his and Dinah’s schooling, so that their mother and aunt could have had a rest, and not had to work so hard. It’s a pity we couldn’t have got a lot of money for it.’