The Castle of Adventure Read online

  ‘We’re going to shut you in here,’ said the shaggy man, his ugly face looking even uglier in the lamplight. ‘You can use that bed to sleep in. We shall see you in the morning.’

  He went up the steps, and then the stone swung sideways and upwards, closing the hole completely. The girls were prisoners once again. They stood in silence for a moment or two listening. There was nothing to be heard.

  ‘Philip!’ whispered Lucy-Ann, looking at the suit of armour in which she had last seen him. Are you there? Speak to us!’

  ‘I’m still here,’ came Philip’s voice, sounding queerly hollow. ‘But I hope I never have to spend another day like this. I’m going to get out of this armour. I can’t stay in it another minute!’

  ‘Oh, Philip – do you think you’d better?’ said Dinah anxiously. ‘Suppose the men come back?’

  ‘I don’t think they will – but if they do I jolly well can’t help it. I’m desperate,’ said Philip. ‘I’ve got cramp in all my limbs, I’m tired out with standing so still and I’ve had to stop myself sneezing at least three times. It’s been a most awful strain, I can tell you.’

  A clanking noise came from the suit of armour as Philip began to get out of it, clumsily and awkwardly, for he felt very stiff.

  ‘The worst of it was my toad couldn’t bear being in here with me and he got out through a crack, and hopped and crawled about for all he was worth,’ said Philip. ‘The men saw him and were awfully surprised.’

  Dinah looked about at once for the toad. She hoped it wasn’t anywhere near her.

  ‘Poor old Philip,’ said Lucy-Ann, going to help. ‘You must have had an awful day.’

  ‘I have – but I wouldn’t really have missed it for worlds!’ said Philip. ‘My word, I’ve learnt a few things, I can tell you! For instance, there’s a secret way out of this room – behind the tapestry somewhere!’

  ‘Oooh,’ said Lucy-Ann, looking at the tapestry, as if she expected to see a secret way opening before her eyes. ‘Is there really? How do you know?’

  ‘I’ll tell you all about it, once I get out of this awful armour,’ said Philip. ‘My word, I hope I never wear it again! You wouldn’t believe how hot I got inside it. There – I’m out, thank goodness! Now to stretch myself a bit!’

  ‘And then tell us what happened in here today,’ said Dinah, eager to hear. ‘I bet you’ve got some exciting things to tell us!’

  She was right. Philip certainly had!

  20

  Philip tells a strange story

  ‘We’d better get on the bed, in case those awful men come back,’ said Dinah. ‘What will you do if they do, Philip?’

  ‘I shall hear the grating noise the stone makes when it moves, and I’ll hop out of the bed and get underneath it,’ said Philip. ‘I don’t really think the men will suspect there is anyone here but you – they’re not likely suddenly to make a search in the middle of the night!’

  There was plenty of room for them all on the enormous old bed. There was an eiderdown mattress, which the three children sank into. Philip was pleased. After the hardness of the suit of armour, it was pleasant to feel something so soft.

  He sat up and told his story.

  ‘Well, you remember when you went up the steps by yourselves and left me there?’ he said. ‘I was awfully angry to think those men should talk to you like that, but I couldn’t do anything about it, of course. Anyway, I just stayed put for ages, and after some time all three men came down, shut up the entrance hole, and sat round the table.’

  ‘Could you understand their talk?’ asked Lucy-Ann.

  ‘No, more’s the pity, I couldn’t,’ said Philip. ‘They had maps out, and were tracing things on them, but I couldn’t see what. I almost over-balanced myself, trying to see.’

  ‘Gracious! What a shock you’d have given those men if you had toppled over with a crash,’ said Dinah, with a laugh. ‘Good thing you didn’t though.’

  ‘Well, they sat about for a long time, talking and poring over their maps,’ said Philip, ‘and then they had a jolly good meal. They opened stacks of tins. It made my mouth water to see them.’

  ‘Poor Philip – have you had anything to eat?’ asked Lucy-Ann.

  Philip nodded. ‘Don’t worry. The very next time the men disappeared up the stone steps and shut the hole, I clanked off my pedestal, and finished up most of what they had left. I had to hope they wouldn’t notice it was gone. But I was so hungry and thirsty I didn’t care. It was funny to see all the other suits of armour standing round, looking at me. I half expected them to walk up and join me in my meal!’

  ‘Don’t say things like that!’ said poor Lucy-Ann, looking quite scared. She gazed with wide eyes at the suits of armour standing so silently on their pedestals, and imagined them suddenly walking off them, with a clash and a clank.

  Philip laughed, and gave Lucy-Ann a pat. ‘It was awfully difficult to drink,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t tip my head back properly in that armour. I poured half of it down the inside of it, and I was terrified I’d have puddles coming out of my feet, when I went back.’

  The girls couldn’t help laughing. Philip always told a story very well, making them see every detail of it.

  ‘Well, I got back to my pedestal, feeling a whole lot better, and hadn’t been there more than twenty minutes or so when the men came back again. And then an extraordinary thing happened.’

  ‘What?’ said the girls together, holding their breath.

  ‘See the tapestry over there – the one with the dogs and the horses on?’ said Philip, pointing. ‘Exactly opposite where my suit of armour stands? Well, behind there is a secret door!’

  He paused and the girls gazed first at the tapestry and then at Philip. ‘The men talked a bit, and then one of them went to that piece of tapestry. He lifted it up and hung it back on that nail you can see. I could see everything perfectly through my visor. Well, at first I couldn’t make out what the man was doing, because the wall looked as if it was made of solid stone all along.’

  ‘And wasn’t it?’ said Lucy-Ann, in excitement.

  ‘No,’ said Philip. ‘Part of it is only a thin slab of stone, not immensely solid and thick like the rest of the walls here, and that thin piece slides right back! Then when it had moved back, the man stepped into the square hollow place left and felt about there. On one side of the hollow place was a door of some kind, which he opened – and all three men disappeared through the door!’

  ‘Gracious!’ said Dinah. ‘Where did they go?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Philip. ‘But I’d dearly like to! There’s some secret here, some big mystery. Those men are up to some mischief. Why should foreigners – because two of them are foreigners, you can tell that by their accent – why should foreigners come to a lonely place like this, and hide and have meetings, and use secret rooms and doors?’

  ‘Shall we see where that door leads to?’ said Dinah, overcome with curiosity.

  ‘No, don’t let’s,’ said Lucy-Ann, who had had enough excitement for one day.

  ‘You’re scared,’ said Dinah scornfully.

  ‘No, she’s not, said Philip. ‘Anyway, I think it would be a mistake to mess about behind that tapestry just now. If the men happened to come back and saw that we had found their secret door, goodness knows what they’d do. We might never be heard of again!’

  Dinah was silent. She longed to explore behind that tapestry – but she knew Philip was right. They must wait and take their time. Dinah began to tell Philip about their day with Jack in the courtyard, and all that had happened. He was very glad that Jack hadn’t been caught.

  ‘Well, that’s two people those men have no idea are here,’ he said. ‘Me and Jack. That’s good. As long as they think it’s only a couple of girls they’ve got to deal with, they won’t be so much on their guard.’

  Then Dinah told him about sending Button with a message to Tassie. He listened thoughtfully, and then made a remark that sent their hearts down into their boots.

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p; ‘It was a fine idea,’ he said, ‘but it won’t be a bit of good, I’m afraid. You’ve forgotten that Tassie can’t read or write!’

  The two girls stared at one another in the greatest dismay. They had forgotten that. Of course – Tassie wouldn’t be able to make head or tail of the note. What a blow! Lucy-Ann looked very woebegone to think that her good idea shouldn’t have been so very good after all.

  Philip put his arm round her and gave her a friendly hug. ‘Never mind. Perhaps Tassie will have the common sense to show the note to somebody who can read! Cheer up.’

  This exchange of news took a long time. The girls began to feel sleepy. Lucy-Ann lay down on the soft bed and shut her eyes. Dinah and Philip talked a little longer and then lay down too. Philip was tired with his long day in the suit of armour, and fell sound asleep almost at once.

  Dinah was awakened suddenly, two or three hours later, by the sound of the entrance hole being opened. At first she did not recognise the noise – then, very suddenly, she knew what it was. In a rush it all came back to her.

  Philip and Lucy-Ann did not awake. Dinah shook the boy desperately. ‘Philip!’ she whispered urgently. ‘Wake up! Quick, get under the bed! They’re here!’

  Half asleep, Philip rolled off the bed, and underneath it, just as the first man came down the steps. Dinah lay still as if she was asleep. Lucy-Ann did not stir.

  The man, hearing the noise of Philip falling off the bed, stared suspiciously over into the corner where the four-poster bed stood. He turned up the wick of the oil lamp, which had burned down, and went over to the bed.

  His toe almost touched Philip, who was crouching underneath. The man pulled back the heavy curtains around the old bed and looked down at the girls. Dinah felt sure he knew she was awake.

  He stared down at the two of them for a few seconds and then pulled the curtains back again. Apparently he was satisfied that the girls were really asleep. He did not dream that a third child was there, hidden safely under the bed!

  Dinah, looking between her eyelashes, saw that there were five men there, two that she had not seen before. They spoke in a language she could not understand. One of the men she knew unlocked a big drawer in a chest, and took out a roll of maps, which he threw on the table.

  Then, one after another, the maps were spread out and apparently discussed. Finally they were put back again, and the drawer locked. Then, to Dinah’s excited delight, the shaggy-brown man threw back a piece of tapestry from the wall, and exposed the place where the secret door was hidden.

  One of the men laid his hand on his arm, saying something in a low voice, and nodding towards the bed in the further corner.

  Then he walked swiftly across the bed and drew the thick curtains so closely round it that Dinah could see nothing more. How annoying! She did not dare to peep, because she knew if she did, she would probably be seen.

  After that she could only lie and listen, wondering what was happening. She heard a sliding noise, a click, a little thud, and the sound of a key turning in a lock. Then she heard voices again. After that she heard men going up the stone stair, and peeped quickly to see who they were. They were the three she knew. Evidently the others had gone through the secret door, to wherever that led to. It was all most mysterious.

  There came the familiar grating noise – and then silence. Dinah peeped out. There was no one in the room. The tapestry was replaced, and hung down over the wall again.

  She called softly to Philip, and he came out from under the bed. ‘Don’t wake Lucy-Ann, or she won’t go to sleep again,’ said Philip in a low voice. ‘Did you see much, Dinah?’

  ‘Lots,’ said Dinah, and told him everything. Philip listened intently.

  ‘Five men now,’ he said. ‘I do wonder what they’re all up to. You see, Dinah, it was much the best thing not to go messing about trying to find that secret door tonight. We’d have been properly caught if we had!’

  ‘Yes, we should,’ said Dinah. ‘Philip, what are these men up to?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Philip. ‘If we went through that hidden door, and found out where it led to, we might learn their secret. But we must wait and take our chance, not just rush in without thinking.’

  ‘I shouldn’t think they’ll come back again, would you?’ said Dinah, lying down. ‘Do you think you’d better sleep under the bed, in case? You made an awful noise rolling off.’

  ‘Perhaps I’d better,’ said Philip. He took one of the blankets off the bed and went underneath it, arranging himself as comfortably as he could.

  ‘Are you going to stand in that suit of armour again tomorrow?’ asked Dinah suddenly.

  ‘No, rather not! I’ll hide under the bed. I’m sure the men won’t dream of looking for someone they don’t know is there!’ said Philip. ‘I feel as if I never want to see a suit of armour again in my life! Beastly, uncomfortable things!’

  They fell asleep again, and this time nothing disturbed them till the morning. It was impossible to tell whether it was morning or not in the hidden room, but Dinah’s watch showed her that it was half-past seven.

  The shaggy man came down into the room. ‘You can clear out for the day,’ he said. ‘But keep within sight and call as I told you – or most unpleasant things might happen!’

  21

  Another day goes by

  Jack felt lonely when the girls had gone down the steps to the hidden room for the night. He was left up in the courtyard with Kiki, and he felt bored.

  ‘I hope the girls will be all right,’ he thought. ‘Oh, hallo, Button, are you still here? Why don’t you go back to Tassie? You won’t be able to get to Philip, you know.’

  The fox cub whined and rubbed his head against Jack, asking him as plainly as a fox cub could to take him to his beloved Philip.

  ‘Listen. You go back to Tassie with that note,’ said Jack, still forgetting that Tassie couldn’t read a word. ‘Go on, Button. Once you get to Tassie, things will be easier for us, because when she reads that note, she will get help.’

  Button stayed in the courtyard with Jack almost all night long. He didn’t give up hope of finding Philip, and kept going off to hunt for him. Kiki was very scornful of him but Button took no notice of her.

  The moon came up and lighted the courtyard strangely. An owl hooted, and Kiki at once mimicked it perfectly. The owl came into the yard on silent wings, to look for the one who had answered. Kiki was delighted. She kept hooting softly from one place and another, and the owl was astonished to find what seemed to him to be a perfect host of owls all over the place, calling first from one spot and then another.

  Jack enjoyed the fun. Then suddenly he saw the three men standing in the moonlight, and felt glad that he had not been wandering about, for he would certainly have been seen.

  He slipped away into the shadows of the great wall, and came near to the enormous door that stood facing what had once been the road to the castle. He sat down by a big bush, knowing it would hide him completely.

  Suddenly he jumped violently, and stared as if he could not believe his eyes. The big door was opening! It swung slowly back without a sound, and where it had been was now a moonlit space, gateway to the outer world!

  Jack half rose – but sank back again. Two men entered the castle yard, and then the great solid door closed silently behind them. There was a loud click, and then the two men passed quite close to Jack. They did not see him, for he was in black shadow. He crouched down like a toad against the earth.

  The men passed and soon joined the other two. Then they all disappeared into the castle. Jack imagined they were going down to the hidden room – as indeed they were.

  He waited till they had gone, and then made his way as quickly as he could to the big door in the high wall. If only he could open it! If only he could get out, and go down the hillside, even if he had to walk over the treacherous landslide! After all, those men must have come up that way.

  He felt about for the handle of the door. It was a large iron ring. Jack twisted i
t this way and that, but the door did not open.

  ‘That click I heard must have been the men locking it!’ he thought angrily. ‘It’s impossible to get out. Blow it! Maybe if I’d been near enough I could have slipped out as they slipped in! It wouldn’t have mattered if they had seen me because I could have run down the hillside before they could stop me!’

  He sat and brooded near the door. ‘I’ll wait here in the shadows till they come back. Then I’ll dash out with them. They’ll be so taken by surprise that maybe they won’t even put out a hand to me!’

  So Jack sat there hour after hour, almost falling asleep. But the men did not return. Dinah could have told him why! They had gone through the secret door under the tapestry in the hidden room. The other three were somewhere in the castle.

  When the eastern sky began to turn silver Jack knew it was time to return to his gorse bush. Kiki was fast asleep on his shoulder, having tired of the owl hours since. Button too had vanished.

  Jack had not seen him go. He had forgotten about the little fox cub in the excitement of seeing the castle door open. He wondered where he had gone.

  ‘I hope he’s gone back to Tassie,’ he thought. ‘We can expect help sometime today if he has. About time too! I’m fed up with being here. Not an eagle left now, and the two girls in danger, to say nothing of poor old Philip. I wonder how he has got on. Perhaps the girls will tell me today.’

  The girls came out of the hidden room about eight o’clock. The three men had gone down there and turned them out. Dinah had begged Philip to get back into the suit of armour before the men returned, but he wouldn’t.

  ‘No, I’d rather be under the bed,’ he said firmly. ‘One day in that horrible stiff suit is enough for me. I’d rather be caught than stand there all day again. You put me some food and drink under the bed, and I’ll stay here. I can always wander about and stretch my legs when the men are not here.’

  ‘Well – fortune favours the bold!’ said Dinah, who thought that she would have felt the same if she had been Philip. ‘It’s a bold thing to do, to lie in hiding under the very bed the men may sleep on today – but maybe you’ll be all right there. Don’t sneeze, though!’