The Castle of Adventure Page 7

  But it wasn’t any good keeping a lookout, for suddenly Button was at their heels, leaping up at Philip, making yelping sounds of happiness and love. Nobody saw him come. Nobody knew how he had got out of the castle!

  ‘How annoying!’ said Jack, with a laugh. ‘Button, how did you get out?’

  Button couldn’t tell them. He kept so close to Philip’s heels all the way home that Philip could feel his sharp little nose the whole time. Button was like a little shadow!

  They were all so tired when they got in that they could hardly tell their adventures. When Philip told about the puddle of water below the pump, Mrs Mannering laughed.

  ‘Trust you children to imagine something to scare yourselves with!’ she said. ‘Probably the pump leaks a bit on its own. It’s funny about those old furnished rooms though. It shows how the villagers fear the castle, if no one has interfered with the furniture! Even thieves, apparently, will not venture there.’

  Mrs Mannering was intensely interested in the golden eagles. She and Philip and Jack talked about them till darkness fell. Mrs Mannering was quite willing for Jack to try and take pictures of the young eagle with its parents.

  ‘If only you can make a good hide,’ she said, ‘and get the birds used to it, so that you can lie there and take what pictures you please, it would be marvellous. Philip’s father used to do things like that.’

  ‘Can I go with Jack, please, Aunty Allie?’ asked Lucy-Ann, who couldn’t bear to let Jack go off by himself for even a day or two.

  ‘No, you can’t, Lucy-Ann,’ said Jack decidedly. ‘I’m the only one to be there, because if you or the others start messing about too, we shall scare the birds and I shan’t get any decent pictures at all. I shan’t be gone long! You can’t hang on my apron strings all the holidays.’

  Lucy-Ann said no more. If Jack didn’t want her, she wouldn’t go.

  ‘You can come up each day and bring me food, if you like,’ said Jack, as he saw Lucy-Ann’s disappointed face. ‘And I can always signal to you from the tower. You know we could see this house from the tower, so, of course, you can see the tower from this house.’

  ‘Oh yes – you could signal goodnight to us each night,’ said Lucy-Ann, cheering up. ‘That would be fun. I wonder which room is best to see the tower from.’

  It so happened that it was her own bedroom that was the best. Good! She could even watch the tower from bed. ‘Jack, will you sleep in the tower?’ she said. ‘Then I shall look at the tower when I wake, and know you’re there. I’ll wave a white hanky from my window when I see you waving one.’

  ‘Oh – I don’t know where I’ll sleep,’ said Jack. ‘The tower would be too draughty. I’ll curl myself up in the rug in a warm corner somewhere – or maybe clear a place on one of those big old couches. If I can get the dust off!’

  Tassie couldn’t imagine how anyone could possibly dare to sleep alone in the old castle. She thought Jack must be the bravest boy in the world.

  ‘Time for you to go home, Tassie,’ said Mrs Mannering. ‘Go along. You can come back tomorrow.’

  Tassie disappeared, running off to her tumble-down cottage and her scolding, untidy mother. The others helped Mrs Mannering to clear the supper away, and the two girls washed up, half asleep.

  They went to bed, to dream of the old deserted castle, of strange cobwebby rooms, high towers, screaming eagles – and a puddle on the floor below the pump!

  ‘That’s really a puzzle,’ said Philip to himself, as he fell asleep. ‘But I’m too tired to think about it now!’

  The next day was rainy. Great clouds swept over the hillside, making it misty and damp. The sun hardly showed all day long. The little spring suddenly became twice as full, and made quite a noise as it gurgled down the garden.

  ‘Blow!’ said Jack. ‘I did want to go up to the castle today. I feel that that young eagle may fly at any time now, and I don’t want to miss its first flight.’

  ‘Have you got plenty of films for your camera?’ asked Philip. ‘You know how you keep running out of them just when you badly want them.’

  ‘Well, it wouldn’t be much good wanting them if I hadn’t got enough!’ said Jack. ‘I couldn’t buy them in that tiny village. There’s only one shop.’

  ‘You could take the train and go off to the nearest big town,’ said Mrs Mannering. ‘Why don’t you do that, instead of staying here cooped up all day? I can see Dinah is longing to squabble with someone!’

  Dinah laughed. She did hate being ‘cooped up’ as Mrs Mannering said, and it did make her irritable. But Dinah was learning to control herself a little more now that she was growing older.

  ‘Yes, it would be fun to take the train and go off shopping,’ she said. ‘Let’s do it! We’ve just got time to catch the one and only train that leaves the station, and we’ll come back by the one and only train that returns!’

  So they put on macks and sou’westers and hurried to catch the train. But they needn’t have hurried, really, for the leisurely little country train always waited for anybody coming along the road.

  It was twenty miles to the nearest town. It took the train a whole hour to get there, and the children enjoyed running through the valleys in between the ranges of high hills. Once they saw another castle on the side of a hill, but they all agreed that it wasn’t a patch on theirs.

  Button had been left behind with Tassie, much to his dismay. The children had offered to take Tassie with them, but the little girl was terrified of the train. She shrank back when they suggested it. So they gave Button to her with strict injunctions not to let him worry Mrs Mannering.

  Kiki, of course, went with Jack. But then she went everywhere with him, making her remarks, and causing a great deal of amusement and interest. She always showed off in company and sometimes became very cheeky.

  The children had left the train and were walking down the street, when suddenly a voice hailed them, and made them jump. ‘Hallo, hallo! Whoever would have thought of seeing you here!’

  The children turned round at once and Kiki let out a delighted squawk.

  ‘Bill Smugs!’ cried the children, and ran to the ruddy-faced, twinkling-eyed man who had hailed them. Lucy-Ann gave him a hug, Dinah smiled in delight, and the two boys banged Bill Smugs on the back.

  Bill Smugs was not his real name. It was a name he had told the children the year before, when they had come across him trying to track some clever forgers. He had not wanted them to know who he was nor what he was really doing – but although they now knew his real name, he was still Bill Smugs to them, and always would be.

  ‘Come and have lunch with me,’ said Bill Smugs. ‘Or have you any other plans? I really must know what you are doing here. I thought you were at home for the holidays.’

  ‘What are you doing here?’ asked Philip, his eyes shining. ‘On the track of forgers again? I bet you’re on some sort of exciting job.’

  ‘Maybe, maybe not,’ said Bill, smiling. ‘I shouldn’t tell you, anyway, should I? I’m probably holidaying, just as you are. Come on – we’ll go to this hotel. It looks about the best one this town can produce.’

  It was an exciting lunch. Bill Smugs was an exciting person. They talked eagerly about the thrilling adventure he had had with them the year before, when they had all got mixed up with copper mines and forgers, and had been in very great danger. They reminded each other of the times they had shivered and trembled!

  ‘Yes, that certainly was an adventure,’ said Bill, helping himself to apple tart and ice cream. ‘And now, as I said before – you really must tell me what you are doing in this part of the world!’

  The children told him, interrupting each other in their eagerness, especially Jack, who was longing to tell him every detail about the eagles. Bill listened and ate solidly, giving Kiki titbits every now and again. She had been delighted to see their old friend too, and had told him at least a dozen times to open his book at page six, and pay attention.

  ‘What a pity you’re twenty miles away or more,’
said Bill. ‘I’m stuck here in this district for a time, I’m afraid, and can’t leave. But if I can I’ll come over and see you. Maybe your mother would put me up for a day or two, then I can come up to this wonderful castle of yours and see the eagles.’

  ‘Oh yes, do come!’ they all cried. ‘We aren’t on the telephone,’ added Philip, ‘but never mind, just come – we are sure to be there. Come at any time! We’d love you to.’

  ‘Right,’ said Bill. ‘I might be able to slip over next week, because it doesn’t look as if I’m going to do much good here. Can’t tell you any more, I’m afraid – but if I don’t make any headway with what I’m supposed to be doing, I’ll have a break, and come along to see you and your nice mother. Give her my kind regards, and say Bill Smugs will come and pay his respects if he possibly can.’

  ‘We’ll have to go,’ said Jack regretfully, looking at his watch. ‘There’s only the one train back and we’ve got a bit of shopping to do. Goodbye, Bill, it’s been grand to bump into you like this.’

  ‘Goodbye. See you soon, I hope!’ said Bill, with his familiar grin. And off they ran to catch their train.

  12

  Jack is left at the castle

  Mrs Mannering was delighted to hear that they had by chance met Bill Smugs again, for she felt very grateful to him for the help he had given the children in their amazing adventure the year before.

  ‘If he comes, I will sleep in with you girls and he can have my room,’ she said. ‘Good old Bill! It will be nice to see him again. He must lead an interesting life, always hunting down criminal and wicked people.’

  ‘I bet he’d have been after the wicked old man who used to live in the castle!’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘It will be fun to take him up there. Jack, I hope it won’t be raining tomorrow again.’

  But it was. Jack felt very disappointed. He was afraid that the old eagle might take the young one away. But it was no good going up the hill in this pouring rain. For one thing, the clouds were so low that they sailed round the hillside itself, big patches of moving mist. He would get lost if he tried to go up.

  ‘I suppose Tassie could find her way up even in the mist,’ he said. Tassie was there. She raised her bright black eyes to him and nodded.

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I will take you now if you like.’

  ‘No,’ said Mrs Mannering firmly. ‘Wait till tomorrow. I think it will be fine then. I’m not going to have to send out search-parties for you and Tassie!’

  ‘But, Mother, Tassie could find her way up this hillside blindfold, I’m sure she could!’ said Philip. However, Mrs Mannering didn’t believe in Tassie and her powers as much as the children did. So Jack had to wait for the next day.

  Luckily it was fine. The sun rose out of a clear sky, and not even the smallest cloud showed itself. The hillside glistened and gleamed as the sun dried the millions of raindrops left on twig and leaf. It was a really lovely day.

  ‘We’ll all come up with you, Jack,’ said Philip, ‘and help to carry what you want. You’ll need a couple of thick rugs, and some food – a candle or two and a torch – and your camera and films, of course.’

  They all decided to have a day up at the castle again, and leave Jack behind when they came back in the evening. So, about eleven o’clock, with the morning sun blazing hotly down on their backs, they began the climb up the hill.

  Button came, of course, and Kiki. Kiki was to stay with Jack. The eagles evidently didn’t mind her. In fact it was quite possible that they might make friends with her, and Jack might get some interesting photographs.

  Carrying various things, the little party set off once more. Dinah was glad to feel her torch safely in her pocket. She didn’t mean to stand in dark rooms again and feel cobwebs clutching at her hair!

  They climbed in through the window as before. Button again appeared in the courtyard from somewhere, though still no one knew where. Kiki flew to the crag on which the eagles had their nest, yelping her eagle scream in what was plainly meant to be a kindly greeting.

  The startled eagles rose up in surprise, and then seeing the strange and talkative bird again, circled round her. Quite clearly they didn’t mind her in the least. They probably took her to be some sort of strange eagle cousin, as she spoke their language!

  It wasn’t long before Jack climbed up to see if the young eagle was still in the nest. It was! The mother had just brought it a dead rabbit, and the young eagle was busy on the meal. When it saw Jack it stood over the rabbit with wings held over it, as if afraid that Jack would take it.

  ‘It’s all right,’ said the boy gently. ‘Eat it all. I don’t want any. I only want a picture of you!’

  He looked around for a place to make a good hide in. There was one spot that looked ideal. It was a thick gorse bush, almost on a level with the eagles’ ledge. Jack thought he could probably squeeze into the hollow middle of it, and make an opening for his camera in the prickly branches.

  ‘The only thing is – I’ll get terribly pricked,’ he thought. ‘Never mind. It will be worth it if I get some good pictures! I bet the eagles will never know whether I’m hiding in that bush or not!’

  He told the others, and they agreed with him that it would be a splendid place, if a bit painful. The bush was quite hollow in the middle, and once he was there he could manage not to be pricked. It was the getting in and out that would be unpleasant.

  ‘You’ll have to wrap this rug round you,’ said Lucy-Ann, holding up the thick rug she had brought. ‘If you creep in with this round you, you’ll be all right.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Jack.

  They went up to the tower-top and had their dinner there again, seeing the countryside spread out below once more in all its beauty.

  ‘I’d like Bill Smugs to see this,’ said Jack. ‘We must bring him up here when he comes.’

  ‘Where do you think you will sleep tonight, Jack?’ asked Lucy-Ann anxiously. And will you wave your hanky from the tower before you go to sleep? I’ll watch for it.’

  ‘I’ll wave my white shirt,’ said Jack. ‘You probably wouldn’t notice anything so small as a hanky, though you can borrow my old field-glasses and look through them, if you like. They’re in my room.’

  ‘Oh yes, I will,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘I shall easily see your shirt. I hope you won’t be too lonely, Jack.’

  ‘’Course not. I’ll have Kiki. Nobody could possibly be lonely with that old chatterbox of a bird,’ said Jack, scratching Kiki’s feathered poll.

  ‘Pop goes the weasel,’ said Kiki, and nibbled at Jack’s ear.

  ‘You haven’t said where you’ll sleep, Jack,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘You won’t really sleep on one of those old sofas, will you?’

  ‘No, I don’t think so. More likely in a sandy corner of the courtyard,’ said Jack. ‘There’s a sandy bit over there, look – it’ll be warm with the sun. If I curl up there and wrap the rugs all round me, I’ll be very snug.’

  ‘I’d rather you slept out in the courtyard somehow, than in the strange old castle!’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘I don’t like those musty, dusty, fusty rooms!’

  ‘Musty, dusty, fusty!’ sang Kiki, delighted. ‘Musty, fusty, dusty, musty, fusty . . .’

  ‘Shut up, Kiki,’ said everyone; but Kiki loved those three words, and went to repeat them over and over again to Button, who sat listening, his ears cocked, and his little foxy head on one side.

  ‘It’s time for us to go,’ said Philip at last. They had tried in vain to find the place where Button had got in and out, and had wandered once more all over the castle, switching on their torches, and exploring even more thoroughly than before. Only the three rooms they had seen before were furnished – the sitting room, the dining-room and the kitchen. There was no bedroom furnished, which, as Philip pointed out, was rather a pity, as Jack could probably have made himself comfortable in a big old four-poster bed!

  Jack said goodbye to them all as they went across the plank. He held Button in his arms, quite determined to follow him and find out where he went
when he got out of the castle. He was not going to set him free till the others had gone. One by one they crossed the plank and disappeared. Their voices died away. Jack was alone.

  He went down the wide corridor, down the stone stairway that led to the dark hall, and out into the courtyard, where the last rays of the sun still shone. When he came to the yard, he set the wriggling fox cub down.

  ‘Now you show me where you go,’ he said. Button darted off at once – far too quickly for Jack! By the time the boy had run a few steps after him, the fox cub had disappeared, and there was no trace of him.

  ‘Blow!’ said Jack, annoyed. ‘I did mean to discover the way out you went, this time – but you’re so jolly nippy! I suppose you have already joined the others now.’

  Jack went to try and arrange his camera safely in the gorse bush. He had a very good camera indeed, given to him last Christmas by Bill Smugs. In his pocket were many rolls of film. He ought to be able to take a fine series of pictures of those eagles.

  He wrapped one of the rugs round him, as Lucy-Ann had suggested, and began to squeeze through the prickly branches. Some of the prickles reached his flesh even through the thick rug. Kiki sat beside the bush, watching Jack in surprise.

  ‘What a pity, what a pity, what a pity!’ she said.

  ‘It is a pity that I’m being pricked like this!’ groaned Jack. But he cheered up when he saw what a fine view of the eagles’ nest he had – and of the ledge where the eagles sat to look out at the surrounding country. The distance was perfect, and Jack rejoiced.

  By making an opening in the bush on the side where the nest was, he managed to point his camera in exactly the right direction, and lodged it very firmly on its tripod legs. He looked through it to see what kind of a picture he would get.

  ‘Perfect!’ thought the boy joyfully. ‘I won’t take one now, because the light is awkward. But tomorrow morning would be exactly right. Then the sun will be just where I want it.’

  The little eagle caught sight of the camera peering out of the bush. It did not like it. It cowered down in the nest, afraid.