They came, and when Jack saw the yawning space behind the picture, he turned to the old man.
‘What’s that? A hidey-hole?’
‘Oh, it is only a hole in the wall,’ said the old fellow. ‘My wife did not like it, so she covered it with a picture.’
The old woman poured out a torrent of words to him. He turned to Jack. ‘My wife is sad because your little sister is frightened by those men. She says she can hide in this hole and they will not find her.’
‘Let me see what it’s like,’ said Jack, and climbed into it. It was more than a hole. It was a tiny, round dark tunnel that had once been a waterway. Where could it lead to – if it led anywhere?
‘It’s a little tunnel!’ Jack called back. ‘Rather like the one that led out of our fern cave into the cave of echoes. I’ll see if it goes anywhere.’
He crawled on for some way, and then it suddenly dipped down so steeply that he could have slid down it if it had not been so narrow. It ended in a hole that seemed to open out in the roof of a much bigger passage. Jack flashed his torch down. Yes, that really was a passage down there! He crawled back to the girls.
‘Come behind me,’ he said. ‘I may have found a way of escape. We’ll have to use a rope though.’
They crawled in single file till they came to the hole that dropped into the wide passage. Jack undid the rope he always carried round his waist. He tied it to a rock and let it drop down into the passage, then down he went.
The girls followed. Jack flashed his torch up and down the passage. ‘Which way shall we go?’ he said.
‘I can hear a funny noise,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘It’s the waterfall, I do believe!’
They went down the passage towards the noise – and to their intense surprise and delight they came out on to the ledge behind the waterfall, the one on which Lucy-Ann and Dinah had capered about to hold the attention of Pepi some days before.
‘I say! It’s the waterfall ledge – and that is the passage that leads back to the cave of echoes!’ said Jack. ‘Would you believe it? We can get back to our old fern cave and we shan’t be prisoners in the treasure caves any more. Let’s go and fetch the old couple too.’
He went back down the passage, swarmed up the rope, wriggled back up the little tunnel and came out into the sitting room. He told the old man where the passage led to. ‘Come too,’ he said. ‘We will take you to a safe place.’
The old man laughed sadly. ‘We cannot do as you do and crawl and climb,’ he said. ‘It is impossible. You go, and we will put back the picture over the hole and no one will guess.’
Jack went back to the girls, Kiki with him. ‘Pity we couldn’t take Martha too,’ he said. ‘I got quite fond of her. But the old people would miss her. They simply won’t come with us. I think they’re right too – they’d never be able to swarm along that little tunnel, and swing down that rope – nor would they ever be able to get down into the fern cave. Come on! I’m longing to get back to our own cave. Ha ha – we’ve escaped after all! Won’t those men be wild!’
‘I hope they won’t hurt those two old people,’ said Lucy-Ann anxiously. ‘She is such a dear, gentle old woman.’
They went down the winding passage and came to the cave of echoes, where Kiki annoyed them by squawking and screeching all the time, bringing back echoes of hundreds of magnified squawks and screeches that almost deafened them.
They got through the little drainpipe-like tunnel that led to the back of the fern cave, and dropped thankfully down to the rugs still spread out there.
‘Home again,’ said Jack, and laughed. ‘Funny to think we feel this is home – but I really do.’
They settled down for a rest. ‘Those men must have gone off somewhere in their planes last night, unloaded their goods and taken off again almost at once to get back so quickly,’ said Dinah thoughtfully. ‘I really hardly expected to see them in the caves today. I didn’t hear the planes come back, did you?’
‘No – but the wind has changed, so maybe the sound didn’t blow in our direction,’ said Jack. ‘It’s not so sunny now – looks like rain again. The wind’s jolly strong.’
‘We shall have to keep a look out for Bill and Philip if they come,’ said Dinah. ‘Philip won’t know we’re here, will he?’
‘Do you girls mind if I go this evening and just have a snoop round about the men’s hut?’ asked Jack. ‘You know – in case by any chance old Tufty didn’t get away but got caught and is a prisoner.’
‘Golly! I didn’t even think of that!’ said Lucy-Ann in horror. ‘Oh, Jack, surely you don’t think he got caught, do you?’
‘Not for a minute,’ said Jack cheerfully. ‘But it would be just as well to make sure. I’d better go now whilst the men are busy in the caves. By the way, were all eight of them there, do you know?’
‘I think so,’ said Dinah, frowning. ‘But I really couldn’t be certain. Do you remember, Lucy-Ann?’
‘No. I didn’t look at them,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Horrid things!’
‘I expect they were all there,’ said Jack. ‘Brr-r-r-r – the wind’s cold today. I’ll put on an extra jersey. So long, girls, I’ll be back in a short time!’
Off he went, following the familiar way back to the men’s hut. He did not think that Philip would have been caught, but still, he must make sure. He scouted cautiously about. The hut door was shut. He went up to it and peeped in at the window. No Philip there. Good!
‘Better just pop up to the cowshed,’ thought Jack. ‘They might have got him tied up there.’ So off he went. No – it was empty – good!
There was a sudden rush of wind such as often sweeps through a mountainside valley. A torrent of rain came down and the boy ran for a tree. It was the tree in which they had once all hidden, a good big thick one, that would keep the rain off. He crouched there whilst the wind whipped round him.
There was such a noise of wind that the boy did not hear footsteps coming behind the tree. He did not see the burly figure of Pepi there, staring in surprise at the crouched boy.
In a trice Pepi was round the tree and had got hold of Jack’s shoulders. The boy gave a howl of fright. Pepi gripped him tightly.
‘Let me go!’ yelled Jack. ‘You brute, let me go! You’re twisting my shoulder!’
Pepi took up a stick and grinned. ‘A little of this will do you good,’ he said. ‘You boys are a lot of trouble to us. Where are the others? You will tell me or I will beat you black and blue.’
‘Let me go!’ yelled Jack, and kicked hard at Pepi’s ankles. The man gave a yelp of pain and hit Jack on the back with the heavy stick. Jack kicked him again.
What would have happened to poor Jack is easy to guess – if something hadn’t happened to Pepi first! The wind howled round and shook the tree violently. Something fell from the tree and hit the raging man full on the shoulder. He dropped down at once, shouting, clutching at his shoulder. Jack sped off into the wind. He turned and looked back. Pepi was trying to get up, groaning. The wind howled again, and the big tree spat out something else that hit Pepi on the head. He fell back and did not move.
‘Golly!’ said Jack, staring. ‘It’s two of our suitcases that we left up the tree! They just blew down at the right moment. I hope they haven’t killed him.’
He went back cautiously to the still man. No, he wasn’t killed – just completely knocked out. Jack saw his chance at once. He took his rope and roped the man’s hands firmly together, and then his feet. Then he tied him to the tree.
‘Now you won’t be able to come after me, my dear Pepi,’ said Jack, taking a quick look up the tree in case the remaining two suitcases should come down. ‘I suppose the others left you here on guard today, as they knew somebody had been at the food. Well, you won’t be much use as a guard for the rest of the day, but never mind. The tree will shelter you from the storm.’
Suddenly such an extraordinary idea struck Jack that he stood perfectly still and gasped. Then he struck his hands together and yelled out loudly: ‘I must do it, I
must, I must! But have I time? Have I time?’
He began to run as fast as he could through the wind and the rain. ‘Why didn’t I think of it before? If those men are in the treasure caves, I can bolt the door on them, just as they did to us – and make them prisoners! Why didn’t I think of it before? It may be too late now.’
He ran and ran, gasping and panting, hot as fire in spite of the wind and the rain.
‘It won’t be any good. The men will be out of the caves by now,’ he thought. ‘I may see them at any minute. Oh, why didn’t I think of this before? I could have gone and bolted them in before I left Dinah and Lucy-Ann!’
It certainly was a most wonderful idea. The men would be absolute prisoners. They did not know the way out behind the picture, and would never think of looking for it there. Certainly the old people would not tell them. Oh, if only they were still in the caves!
The rain poured down. The wind blew like a gale. Fortunately it was behind Jack now and it helped him on. He was soaked through, but he didn’t care.
There was no sign of the men. Jack slowed down when he came near the waterfall. He didn’t want to run right into them. He began to think more calmly.
‘Maybe they won’t come out till the rain stops and the storm dies down. Rain would spoil the old books and papers and pictures. Yes, they’ll be sure to wait. I may be in time yet. The men may even decide to stay the night there if the storm doesn’t clear.’
Jack was right. The men, having looked out of the entrance hole of the caves, had seen the rain storm sweeping over the mountainside and had decided not to venture out with their treasures. They would be ruined.
‘Better spend the night here,’ said one of the men. ‘In that room with the rugs. We’ll turn the old people and children out.’
Only the old people were there. They made vague gestures when the men asked where the children were, pointing towards the passage that led to the sunny ledge. The men settled down on the rugs, and one of them got out a pack of cards. He set the lamp so that they could all see, and then began to deal the cards. The old people went into their ‘sitting room,’ sad and afraid. How they hoped that the men would not look behind the picture in the next room!
When Jack arrived at the treasure caves he could hardly walk through the passages. He stumbled along, past the cave of stalactites, past the cave of stars and into the first treasure cave, through the open door at the bottom of the curving stairway. He could see no men at all. His heart sank. Had they gone then? Had he missed them?
He went cautiously on. When he came to the ‘sitting room’ he peeped in and saw the old couple there, with Martha the hen.
Then he heard the noise of the men in the next room. He beckoned to the old couple. They rose silently and followed him in surprise. Jack did not speak till he was well out of earshot of the men.
‘Come,’ he said, leading them out of the cave of statues and out of the stout door. ‘I am going to bolt the men in. But I don’t want to lock you in too.’
He shot all the bolts triumphantly. Crash! Crash! Crash! He’d done it! He’d done it!
28
The day after the storm
As soon as he had shot the bolts safely home, Jack collapsed. His tussle with Pepi, his long run through the wind and the rain, and the terrific excitement of making the men prisoners had been too much for him. He sank down on the steps outside the bolted door, and lay there quite still.
It was dark there. The old couple felt about for Jack in alarm. What was happening to the poor boy?
They found his torch in his pocket and took it out. They switched it on and looked anxiously at Jacks pale face and closed eyes. They tried to drag him up the steps.
‘His clothes are wet,’ said the old woman, feeling Jacks soaked jersey and shorts. ‘He will get a chill, a terrible chill. Maybe he will die of it. What shall we do, old man?’
The old man answered her in her own language. ‘We will drag him up these steps. We will make him comfortable in the cave of stars. You shall wrap him in your shawl and he shall have my coat.’
Together the old couple managed to drag Jack up the steps. How they panted and groaned. They could not get him any further than the top. The old man stripped off Jack’s wet things and put his coat round him. The old woman wrapped him all round in her thick shawl. They squeezed out his wet things and hung them on the rocky wall to dry.
They were frightened. What were they going to do now? Those men were bolted in the caves with what was left of their precious treasure. How angry they would be when they discovered what had happened!
Jack soon came to himself again. He sat up, wondering where he was. He had been in a kind of half faint, half asleep. He clutched at his clothes. What on earth had he got on? A shawl? Gracious, was he dressed up as a statue again?
The old people heard him moving and switched on the torch again. They looked anxiously at him and were relieved to see that he was no longer so white.
‘You are better now?’ asked the old man gently.
‘Yes, thanks. I’m all right,’ said Jack, pulling at the shawl. ‘Whatever’s this?’
‘Your clothes were so wet,’ said the old man. ‘We had to take them off to dry them or you would have got a terrible chill. You have my coat and my wife’s shawl.’
‘Oh – well, thank you,’ said Jack, feeling rather foolish in the coat and shawl. ‘Sorry I gave you a fright. But I just conked out – that run up the mountainside, I suppose. I say – wasn’t it a good idea bolting those men in?’
‘Ah – but what will they do to us when they know?’ said the old man sadly.
‘Nothing! How can they?’ said Jack. ‘They are on the wrong side of the bolted door, aren’t they? Don’t you worry, we’re all right!’
He got up. His legs were not very steady, but he could walk all right. ‘I’m just going to the entrance of the caves to see if by any chance that awful wind storm has died down,’ he said. ‘If it has, I’ll make my way to the fern cave, where the two girls are. They’ll be scared by themselves.’
Somehow he stumbled along to the entrance. The clouds were so low and black that it was like night outside. Rain still swept over the hillside in great torrents. It was quite impossible to go out.
‘I should get completely lost,’ thought Jack. ‘Golly, the girls will be so worried about me! I hope they won’t be frightened all by themselves. Well, it’s no use – I’ll have to spend the night here with the old people – but it won’t be very comfortable.’
It wasn’t comfortable. They found a place in the cave of stars, a rounded, hollowed-out basin of rock, with only a few sharp edges. For the sake of warmth they all huddled together. Jack tried to make the old people take back their coat and shawl, saying that his clothes were almost dry.
But the old woman grew very angry when he suggested this, and scolded her husband hard in words that Jack could not understand, but whose meaning he could guess.
‘My old one says that you are a bad bad boy to talk of putting on wet clothes,’ said the old fellow. ‘We will press close together. It is not cold in this cave.’
It wasn’t very cold, it was true. Jack lay between the old man and his wife, looking up at the roof of the strange cave. He watched the curious greenish-blue stars shine and fade, flicker and glow. There were hundreds of them, most enchanting to watch. Jack wondered about them for a long time and then fell asleep.
In the morning the old people awoke first and felt stiff and uncomfortable. But they did not move for fear of disturbing Jack. He awoke at last and sat up. He saw the glowing stars above and around, and knew where he was at once.
‘I wonder what the time is,’ he said, looking at his watch. ‘Half past seven! Gracious, I wonder what those men are doing! Are my clothes dry?’
Luckily they were. Jack put them on quickly, and gave back the coat and shawl with warm thanks. ‘Now, you stay here a bit,’ he said to the old couple. ‘I’m just going to the bolted door to see if I can hear anything.’
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He went off, feeling quite himself again now. As soon as he came to the top of the curving stairway that led down to the oaken door, he heard bangs and crashes. Ah – the men had discovered that they were bolted in!
Crash! Bang! Thud! Smash!
They were hammering at the stout door for all they were worth. How they shouted and yelled, how they kicked at that door and tried to smash it down!
Jack stood at the top of the steps and grinned in delight. Serve them right! They were getting a taste of their own medicine. They had locked the children in – and now they themselves were prisoners.
Suddenly there was a loud bang that made Jack jump. It was a revolver shot. The men were shooting at the door, hoping to smash the bolts.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Jack went back a little way, afraid that a bullet might glance off somehow and hit him, though this was impossible. BANG! BANG!
The bolts could not be smashed. The men gave the door a few more blows with something then stopped. Jack ran back to tell the old couple all about it.
But they were frightened, so it wasn’t much fun telling them. ‘I think I’ll take you to the fern cave, where the girls are,’ he told the old man. ‘We have food and rugs in that cave. Come with me.’
The old couple wouldn’t stir out of the place they knew so well. They were terrified of the open air, of the hillside and the outer world. They shrank back and nothing that Jack could say would make them change their minds.
‘Well, I shall just have to go to the girls myself then,’ said Jack at last. ‘I’ll bring them back here with food and rugs. We might as well all be together. Those men are no longer a danger to us. They can’t possibly get out. Even if they find the hole behind that picture, I’m sure they won’t get any further than the cave of echoes.’
He said good-bye to the frightened old people and went out into the sunshine. It was warm on his head and back – delicious. The sky was blue again, and the wind had gone.
He made his way to the waterfall, arriving there without any mistake, for he could follow the ‘signposts’ easily now. He was hailed by the girls as soon as they saw him. They were peeping out through the fern fronds.