The Castle of Adventure Page 13

  Apparently it was the men’s intention to sleep the day away on the big four-poster. They came down into the room and ordered the girls out. The bearded man flung himself on the bed. All the men looked tired, and the unshaven faces of the other two were not nice to see.

  ‘We’ll call you down tonight,’ said the bearded man, from the bed, and he yawned. ‘Take what food you want from that pile of tins. There’s a tin opener on the table. Now clear out and leave us. Couple of little nuisances!’

  The girls grabbed a tin of sardines, a tin of salmon, one of peaches and one of apricots, and fled up the stairs. No sooner had they reached the top than the hole was closed by the stone.

  ‘Sleep well!’ said Dinah mockingly, and then the two girls went in search of Jack. He was under his gorse bush, wishing they would come.

  ‘Jack! Are you all right? You can come out for a bit because the men are safe down in the underground room!’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Do you want some sardines – or peaches? We’ve got both.’

  ‘Hallo!’ said Jack, delighted to see them. ‘Is it really safe for a bit? All right, I’ll come out and we’ll squat behind this rock here. I’m longing for something to eat. Didn’t you bring biscuits with you when you came yesterday?’

  Dinah found the tin of biscuits, and they had a comic breakfast of sardines, biscuits and peaches, washed down by ginger beer. Still they all enjoyed it thoroughly, and exchanged their news eagerly.

  Jack was intensely interested to hear all that Philip had told them. ‘A secret way behind that tapestry!’ he exclaimed, his eyes gleaming. ‘But where does it lead to?’

  ‘Goodness knows – into the hillside somewhere, I suppose,’ said Dinah, dipping a biscuit into peach-juice and sucking it.

  ‘Wait now – what side of the hidden room is the secret door in the wall?’ asked Jack. ‘Oh – opposite where Philip stood at the back – well, let me see – that means that the door would lead into the hill at the back of the castle. At the back of the castle! How funny! I wonder if there are dungeons there or something?’

  ‘Oh dear – do you think the men are keeping people prisoners and perhaps starving them to death?’ said Lucy-Ann, at once. ‘Like that wicked old man did. Oh, Jack, you don’t suppose that old man is still alive, do you, living like an old spider in his castle, still doing wicked things?’

  ‘Of course not,’ said Jack. ‘Haven’t I told you he’s dead and gone years and years ago? Don’t get such wild ideas into your head, Lucy-Ann. Now let me think a bit. Don’t interrupt.’

  He nibbled his biscuit and pondered again. ‘Yes, I think I’m right,’ he said. ‘That door under the tapestry must lead underground through the hill at the back of the castle. I’d like to go down that passage and see what is there! I bet Philip will sooner or later!’

  ‘I hope he’ll be sensible and keep under the bed,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘With men wandering in and out of secret doors and things, he might easily bump into one of them and be caught.’

  ‘Did Button leave you last night?’ said Dinah suddenly. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘Yes, he went at last,’ said Jack. ‘But where I don’t know. I only hope he’s found Tassie by now, and she has seen the note.’

  ‘Philip says it won’t be any good, that note,’ said Lucy-Ann mournfully. ‘We forgot that Tassie can’t read.’

  ‘Blow!’ said Jack. ‘Of course she can’t. What silly-billies we are!’

  ‘Silly-billy, silly-billy, silly-billy,’ at once chanted Kiki, pleased. ‘Pop goes the silly-billy!’

  ‘You’ll go pop in a minute if you eat any more peaches,’ said Jack. ‘Is the tin empty, Dinah? Put it away from Kiki, for goodness’ sake. She’s been tucking in like anything while we’ve been talking.’

  ‘Poor old silly-billy,’ said Kiki gloomily, as Dinah removed the tin and tapped her smartly on the beak.

  ‘What are we going to do today?’ said Lucy-Ann.

  ‘Well, what can we do except wait?’ said Jack.

  ‘And hope that Tassie has the sense to show our note to someone,’ said Dinah. ‘Surely she would do that? She knows she can’t get to us herself – or she would know, if she came, and saw the plank was gone!’

  The day passed slowly. There was nothing to do, not even an eagle to watch. ‘Wish I could do a spot of developing,’ sighed Jack, feeling in his shorts pocket for his precious rolls of film. ‘But I can’t. I’m just longing to see how the eagles have come out.’

  There was nothing to read. The girls wandered round a bit and wondered whether they dared to go up into the tower, and try to signal from there. But who would see? No one but Tassie, and she would not know what to make of the signals.

  ‘Anyway, if you did go up into the tower, you might be badly punished by any of those men,’ said Jack. ‘It’s not worth risking it. We must just wait in patience for Tassie to send help.’

  The day passed at last and night came. The men yelled for the two girls to go down into the secret room again. They said a hurried goodnight to Jack and went. There was no question of disobeying the men. All the children were afraid of them.

  Jack did not hide in his gorse bush. When it was dark enough he went down to the spring near the bottom of the wall, to get a drink. He dared not go into the kitchen for one, in case he bumped into one of the men, or they heard the pump clanking.

  He bent down to the spring – and then listened in amazement. A most curious noise was coming from the little tunnel into which it disappeared.

  ‘Oooph! Ow! Ooooph!’ A scraping, dragging noise could be heard too. Something was coming up the tunnel. Jack stepped back in great alarm. Whatever could it be?

  22

  Tassie is very brave

  Then Jack heard the unmistakable sound of Button yelping, and he knew that part of the noise must be made by the fox cub. He bent over the tunnel, and flashed his torch on to see down its narrow mouth.

  He saw a white face staring up at him, and he jumped. It was Tassie’s. She was lying still for the moment, but began to wriggle again when the light flashed on her.

  ‘Tassie! What are you doing? Tassie!’ said Jack, in a low but most astonished voice.

  Tassie didn’t answer. She squeezed herself up a bit more, until her head and shoulders were outside the tunnel. Then Jack gave her a pull and she came out at once. Button followed, looking very forlorn. Tassie had him on a lead, and he couldn’t get away.

  Tassie sat down and gasped painfully. She put her head over her knees, which were drawn up, and seemed quite unable to speak a word. Jack flashed his torch over her. She was soaking wet and unspeakably dirty. Mud streaked her face and arms and legs.

  She was shivering with cold and fright. Jack made her get up and go with him to the crag. He put her behind a rock, and fetched the rugs. He made her strip off the soaked dress she wore, and cover herself from head to foot with a couple of rugs. Then the boy sat close to her to warm her. Kiki perched on her shoulder and pressed against her cold cheek. Soon Tassie’s breath grew more even, and she turned to look at Jack, trying to summon up a faint smile.

  ‘Where’s Philip?’ she whispered at last.

  ‘With the girls,’ said Jack, not wanting to tell her everything at once. ‘Don’t worry for a minute or two. Get your breath back. You’re exhausted.’

  He sat with his arm round her, feeling the pounding of her heart shaking her body. Poor Tassie! How had she managed to get so exhausted?

  But she soon recovered, as her body grew warm. She pressed against Jack. ‘I’m so hungry,’ she said.

  Jack fed her with biscuits and salmon from the tin. Then she drank the rest of the peace-juice, whilst Kiki copied the gulping noises she made.

  ‘Now I feel better,’ she said. ‘What has been happening, Jack?’

  ‘Well, suppose you tell me a few things first,’ said the boy. ‘And keep your voice low. There are enemies about.’

  This was news to Tassie. Her eyes widened and she looked round, scared. ‘Is it that wicked old man?’ she whisp
ered.

  ‘Of course not,’ said Jack. ‘Tassie, did Button take you our note?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Tassie. ‘But, Jack, I gave my mother the slip and came up here yesterday to spend a few hours with you – and oh, Jack, the plank was gone. Where’s it gone?’

  ‘That’s just what I should like to know!’ said Jack grimly. ‘Well, what did you do then?’

  ‘I went back home,’ said Tassie. ‘And I was worried about you. Then this morning Button came to find me, and I saw his string collar, and the letter someone had tied to it.’

  ‘Go on,’ said Jack.

  ‘Well – I couldn’t read it,’ said Tassie, with tears in her voice. And there was nobody to ask. My mother was angry with me, and Mrs Mannering had gone away. I didn’t like to go to the farm with it – so I suddenly thought I would make a lead for Button, and when next he went up to the castle to look for Philip, I would go with him, and find the way he went.’

  ‘That was clever!’ said Jack admiringly. Tassie felt pleased.

  ‘So I found an old dog lead,’ she said, more cheerfully, ‘and I fastened it to his collar, and I went wherever he went that day. He was awfully angry about it. He kept trying to bite the lead, and he almost tried to bite me too!’

  Jack patted the little fox cub who was lying quietly beside them. ‘He didn’t understand what was happening,’ he said. ‘Well – he brought you up here at last, I suppose?’

  ‘Yes. After he had wandered for miles on the hillside, and almost worn me out, going up and down, up and down!’ said Tassie. ‘When it was dark he decided to come and look for Philip again – and he shot off like an arrow then!’

  ‘I bet he did,’ said Jack. ‘Poor old Button – he must wonder where Philip has gone to!’

  ‘Well, he dragged me behind on the lead,’ said Tassie, ‘and brought me all the way up beside the spring. Below the castle it goes into a narrow sort of tunnel – terribly narrow in parts – and oh, Jack, it goes right underneath the wall! Think of that! And comes up the other side!’

  ‘Did you really wriggle all the way?’ said Jack, in amazement. ‘What a marvel you are, Tassie! But didn’t the water pour down on you all the time?’

  ‘Oh yes – it nearly choked me sometimes,’ said Tassie. ‘And it was so icy-cold! But most of the way up the spring the tunnel wasn’t too bad – it was through rock, and it had worn it away, so that the water ran in a kind of channel in the rock, and there was space for me to wriggle up more easily. It was at the beginning and at the end, where it comes up in the castle yard, that it was so narrow. Once I thought I was really stuck! I couldn’t go up and I couldn’t go down – and I thought I might have to stay there for ever, because no one would ever know where I was!’

  ‘Poor Tassie!’ said Jack, giving her a hug. ‘You’re a very brave girl. Wait till Philip hears about this! He’ll think you are wonderful.’

  Tassie glowed with delight. She hoped Philip would be pleased with her. She had come to help them. And now, in her turn, she questioned Jack eagerly, wanting to know everything that had happened to her four friends since they had left her.

  Jack told her the story. She listened in alarm and astonishment. Philip hiding in a suit of old armour – down in a hidden room – the girls prisoners there – cruel men wandering about furtively, nobody knew why – secret passages – why, it was like a dream! But at least here was Jack with Kiki, safe and sound!

  ‘Could you wriggle down the tunnel with me, and we’ll fetch help?’ said Tassie.

  ‘That’s just what I thought of doing,’ said Jack. ‘I think I’d better go tonight, Tassie, and not wait to take the two girls. Anyway I’m afraid there would be more risk of someone getting stuck in that watery tunnel. I’d better go and get help as soon as possible. You’d better stay here and tell the girls what has happened. You can hide in my old gorse bush till they come tomorrow morning.’

  Tassie sighed with relief. She did not in the least want to go back down that terrible way again. She would dream about it all her life long! Neither did she really want to stay in the courtyard alone for the night, but Jack said he would leave both Kiki and Button with her, and they could sleep in the gorse bush all together.

  ‘So you be brave and do that,’ he said. ‘Maybe you’ll see Philip tomorrow too. He will be surprised to hear your adventures!’

  Tassie, still clad in the rugs, went with Jack to the place near the wall, where the bubbling spring ran into the beginning of the tunnel. Jack marvelled how anyone could wriggle down much less wriggle up, with water splashing into her face all the time.

  ‘Now, you go straight back to the bush with Button and Kiki, wrap yourself up warmly in the rugs, and go to sleep,’ said Jack. ‘Don’t let Kiki see me disappearing down here, or she’ll want to follow me.’

  So Tassie obediently went back to the gorse bush and crawled inside. She curled up in the rugs like a little animal, with Button on her feet and Kiki perched on her middle, waiting for Jack. Tassie hoped Kiki would not fly off when she found Jack did not come. She might make a dreadful noise if she found he had disappeared!

  Jack crawled head-first into the cold water. He wriggled into the tunnel. It smelt damp and nasty. He dragged his body down, using hands and elbows to lever himself along. It wasn’t at all pleasant.

  ‘I wish Button had found some better way of getting into the castle and out!’ thought the boy. ‘How could Tassie have crawled up, with the water splashing into her face half the time? She’s really a heroine!’

  When he had got down some way, the rather earthy tunnel gave way to hard rock. Jack thought he must be under the wall by now. The tunnel widened out considerably, and the boy sat on a ledge to rest. He was worried about his rolls of film. He had wrapped them up very carefully in a sou’wester one of the children had brought up to the castle, and had tied the strings round tightly. It would be too sickening if his precious films were spoilt.

  He began to shiver with the cold, for he was now soaked through. As long as he was dragging himself along the tunnel he was warm, for it was very hard work – but as soon as he stopped, the cold got him, and he shook like a leaf.

  He went on again. It was quite dark, and he could only feel his way along. He went on wriggling down the watery passage, glad when it was wide and high, anxious when it closed in on his body, and made it difficult for him to get along.

  It seemed hours before he reached the outlet, but at last he was there! He dragged himself out, and sat panting on a patch of soft heather. He hoped that never in his life again would he have to crawl through a tunnel like that! He was sure that if the girls had been with him, someone would have got stuck with fright, and would not have been able to go either up or down, after a while. It was just as well that he had decided they must not all use this way of escape.

  He began to shiver, and he stood up, his knees shaking after his long ordeal underground. He was not as exhausted as Tassie, but he was almost tired out.

  ‘I shall get an awful chill if I don’t get warm,’ he thought, and he set off down the hill, glad of the bright moonlight.

  He stumbled along, looking eagerly for a sight of Spring Cottage as he at last dropped down into the lane that led to it. Yes – there it was, black with the moonlight behind it, its roof silvered and shining.

  Then suddenly Jack stopped. He had seen something that struck him as odd.

  ‘There’s smoke – smoke coming from the chimney!’ he said to himself, and he leant against a tree. ‘What does that mean? Can Aunt Allie be back? No, Tassie would have known. Well, then – who has lighted the kitchen fire? Who is there? Oh, surely one of those wretched men hasn’t gone there to find out something about the girls?’

  He crept near to the cottage. He came to the little garden. There was a light shining out of one of the windows!

  Jack tiptoed to the window, anxious and puzzled. He looked cautiously in. Someone was sitting in a tallbacked armchair that had its back to Jack. Was it Mrs Mannering?

  A
cloud of smoke suddenly came from the chair – thick blue pipe-smoke!

  ‘It’s a man,’ whispered Jack to himself. ‘Whoever can it be?’

  23

  A few surprises

  Jack stayed at the window, shivering. If only the man would get up – then he could see if it was one of the men he knew at the castle. But how dare he get into the house like that!

  Jack made up his mind to creep into the house and peep through the crack in the kitchen door. Then he would be able to see who it was sitting in the armchair. So, still shivering, as much with excitement as with cold, he stole round to the other side of the house, where his bedroom window was. If it was open, Jack knew he could climb the tree near by and slip inside.

  It was open – just a crack. But Jack remembered that the catch was very loose, and he could probably put in his hand and jiggle it off the iron peg that held it down. It was a casement window and would open very wide to let him in.

  He stumbled over a bucket or something outside a door, and stopped still, wondering if the man inside had heard anything. Then on he went to the tree, and climbed it quickly.

  He slipped his hand inside the crack of the window and jiggled the catch. It dropped, and the window swung open. Jack cautiously climbed inside, and stood there, hardly daring to breathe.

  He made his way into the dark little passage between the bedrooms, and stood there, waiting for a moment before he ventured down the rather creaky, winding stairs. Then he began to go down, one step at a time, hoping to goodness they wouldn’t creak too loudly.

  There was a bend in one place, and Jack meant to stand there quietly before he went on – but no sooner had he got there than someone leapt on him, caught his arms, and jerked him violently down the last four stairs! He fell, and all the breath was bumped out of his body.

  Whoever had jumped on him stood up and then pulled him roughly to his feet. Then he was propelled swiftly into the lighted kitchen, and he looked at once to the armchair to see who was there.