The Island of Adventure

by Enid Blyton

  ‘Why did you come down here?’ demanded Jake, coming nearer. Now the children could see what he was like, and they didn’t like the look of him at all. He had a black patch over one eye, and the other eye gleamed wickedly at them. His mouth was so tight-lipped that it almost seemed as if he had no lips at all. Lucy-Ann cowered away.

  ‘Go on – why did you come down here?’ demanded Jake.

  ‘Well – we found the shaft hole – and we climbed down to see the old mines,’ said Philip. ‘We shan’t split on you, don’t be afraid.’

  ‘Split on us? What do you mean? What do you know, boy?’ asked Jake roughly.

  Philip said nothing. He didn’t really know what to say. Jake nodded his head to the first man, who went behind the children. Now they could not go forwards or backwards to escape.

  Lucy-Ann began to cry. Philip put his arm round her, and wondered, for the first time, where Jack was. Lucy-Ann looked round for him too. She began to cry more loudly when she saw he was not there.

  ‘Lucy-Ann, don’t tell these men that Jack is gone,’ whispered Philip. ‘If they take us prisoner, Jack will be able to escape and bring help. So don’t say a word about him.’

  ‘What are you whispering about?’ asked Jake. ‘Now, look here, my boy – you don’t want any harm to come to your sisters, do you? Well – you just tell us what you know, and maybe we’ll let you go.’

  Philip was alarmed at the man’s tone. For the first time it dawned on the boy that there might be danger. These men were fierce – they wouldn’t let three children share their secrets willingly. Suppose they kept them prisoner underground – starved them – beat them? Who knew what might happen? Philip made up his mind to tell a little of what he guessed.

  ‘Look here,’ he said to Jake, ‘we know who you are working with, see? And he’s a friend of ours. He’ll be mighty angry if you do us any harm.’

  ‘Oh, really!’ said Jake, in a mocking tone. And who is this wonderful friend of yours?’

  ‘Bill Smugs,’ said Philip, feeling certain that everything would be all right at the mention of Bill’s name.

  ‘Bill Smugs?’ said the man, with a jeering note in his voice. And who may he be? I’ve never heard of him in my life.’

  ‘But you must have,’ said Philip desperately. ‘He brings you food, and signals to you. You know he does. You must know Bill Smugs and his boat, The Albatross.’

  The two men stared intently at the children. Then they spoke together quickly in a foreign language. They seemed puzzled.

  ‘Bill Smugs is no friend of ours,’ Jake said, after a pause. ‘Did he tell you that he knew us?’

  ‘Oh no,’ said Philip. ‘We only guessed it.’

  ‘Then you guessed wrong,’ said the man. ‘Come along – we’re going to make you comfortable somewhere till we decide what to do with children who poke their noses into things that don’t concern them.’

  Philip guessed that they were going to be kept prisoners somewhere underground, and he was alarmed and angry. The girls were frightened. Dinah didn’t cry, but Lucy-Ann, forlorn because Jack was not by her, cried without stopping.

  Jake prodded Philip to make him go along in front of him. He turned the children off into a narrow passage running at right angles from the tunnel they were in. A door was set across this passage and Jake unbolted it. He pushed the children inside the cave there, which looked almost like a small room, for it had benches and a small table. Jake set his lantern down on the table.

  ‘You’ll be safe here,’ he said, with a horrid crooked grin. ‘Quite safe. I shan’t starve you, don’t be afraid of that.’

  The children were left alone. They heard the door bolted firmly and footsteps dying away. Lucy-Ann still wept.

  ‘What a bit of bad luck!’ said Philip, trying to speak cheerfully. ‘Don’t cry, Lucy-Ann.’

  ‘Why didn’t those men know Bill Smugs?’ said Dinah, puzzled. ‘We know he must bring them food, and probably take away the copper they mine.’

  ‘Easy to guess,’ said Philip gloomily. ‘I bet old Bill gave us a wrong name. It sounds pretty peculiar, anyway – Bill Smugs – I never heard a name like that before, now I come to think of it.’

  ‘Oh – you think it isn’t his real name?’ said Dinah. ‘So of course those men don’t know it. Dash! If only we knew his real name, everything would be all right.’

  ‘What are we going to do?’ wept Lucy-Ann. ‘I don’t like being a prisoner in a copper mine under the sea. It’s horrid.’

  ‘But it’s a very thrilling adventure, Lucy-Ann,’ said Philip, trying to comfort her.

  ‘I don’t like a thrilling adventure when I’m in the middle of it,’ wept Lucy-Ann. Neither did the others, very much. Philip wondered about Jack.

  ‘What can have happened to him?’ he said. ‘I hope he’s safe. He’ll be able to rescue us if he is.’

  But at that moment Jack was anything but safe. He had wandered up the tunnel looking for Kiki, had turned into another passage, found Kiki, turned to go back – and then had lost his way. He had no idea that the others had been caught. Kiki was on his shoulder, talking softly to herself.

  Philip had the map, not Jack. So, once the boy had lost his way, he had no means of discovering how to get back to the main passage. He turned into one tunnel after another, found some of them blocked, turned back, and began wandering helplessly here and there.

  ‘Kiki, we’re lost,’ said Jack. He shouted again and again, as loudly as he could, and his voice went echoing through the ancient tunnels very weirdly, coming back to him time and time again. Kiki screeched too, but there was no answering call.

  The children shut up in the cell-like cave fell silent after a time. There was nothing to do, nothing to say. Lucy-Ann put her head down on her arms, which she rested on the table, and fell fast asleep, tired out. Dinah and Philip stretched themselves out on the benches and tried to sleep too. But they couldn’t.

  ‘Philip, we’ll just have to escape from here,’ said Dinah desperately.

  ‘Easy to say that,’ said Philip sarcastically. ‘Not so easy to do. How would you suggest that we escape from a cave set deep in a copper mine under the sea, a cave which has a stout wooden door to it well bolted on the outside? Don’t be foolish.’

  ‘I’ve got an idea, Philip,’ said Dinah at last. Philip grunted. Dinah’s ideas were rather farfetched as a rule.

  ‘Now, do listen, Philip,’ said Dinah earnestly. ‘It’s quite a good idea.’

  ‘What is it?’ said Philip grumpily.

  ‘Well, Jake or that other man will be sure to come back here sooner or later with food,’ began Dinah. ‘And when he comes, let’s all be gasping and holding our breaths and groaning.’

  ‘Whatever for?’ asked Philip in astonishment.

  ‘So as to make him think the air is very bad in here, and we can’t breathe, and we’re almost dying,’ said Dinah. ‘Then maybe he’ll let us go out into the passage for a breath of air – and you can reel towards him, kick out his light – and we’ll all escape as quickly as we can.’

  Philip sat up and looked at his sister with admiration. ‘I really do think you’ve got an idea there,’ he said, and Dinah glowed with pleasure. ‘Yes, I really do. We’ll have to wake Lucy-Ann and tell her. She must play her part too.’

  So Lucy-Ann was awakened and told the plan. She thought it was very good. She began to gasp and hold her head and moan in a most realistic way. Philip nodded his head.

  ‘That’s fine,’ he said. ‘We’ll all do that when we hear Jake or the other fellow coming. Now, whilst there’s still time, I’d better find where we are on the underground map, and see exactly what direction to take as soon as we’ve kicked the man’s light out.’

  He spread the map out on the table and studied it. ‘Yes,’ he said at last. ‘I see where we are. There’s the big cave that was lighted up – see? And the little passage off it where we were caught – and here’s the passage we were taken down – and here’s the little cave we’re in now. N
ow, listen, girls – as soon as I’ve kicked out the man’s light, take my hand and keep close by me. I’ll lead you the right way, and find the shaft-hole again. Then up we’ll go, join up with old Jack somewhere, and get to the boat.’

  ‘Good,’ said Dinah, thrilled – and at that very moment they heard footsteps coming to the wooden door.

  21

  Escape – but what about Jack?

  The bolts were shot back. The door opened and Jake appeared, carrying a tin plate of biscuits, and a big open tin of sardines. He also put on the table a jug of water.

  Then he stared in amazement at the three children. Philip seemed to be choking, and he rolled off his bench on the floor. Dinah was making the most extraordinary noises, and holding her head tightly in her hands. Lucy-Ann appeared to be on the point of being sick, and made the most alarming groans.

  ‘What’s up?’ asked Jake.

  Air! We want air!’ gasped Philip. ‘We’re choking! Air! Air!’

  Dinah rolled on to the ground as well. Jake pulled her up and hustled her to the door. He pushed the others out into the passage. He thought they must really be on the point of choking – the air in the cell must be used up.

  Philip watched his chance and reeled towards Jake as if he could not stand straight. As he came towards him he lifted his right foot, and aimed a mighty kick at the lantern in Jake’s hand. It fell and smashed at once, and the light went out. There was a tinkling of glass, a shout from Jake – and then Philip sought for the hands of the two frightened girls. He found them and pushed the two hurriedly in front of him towards a passage on the left. Jake, left in the darkness, began to grope about, shouting for the other man.

  ‘Oily! Hi, Oily! Bring a lamp! Quick! These dratted kids have fooled me. Hi, Olly!’

  Philip, trying hard to keep his sense of direction correct, hurried the girls along. Their hearts were beating painfully, and Lucy-Ann really did feel as if she was going to choke now. Soon they had left Jake’s shouts behind and were in the wide main passage down which they had come not many hours before. Philip was now using his torch, and it was pleasant to see the thin, bright beam of light.

  ‘Thank goodness – we’re in the right tunnel,’ said Philip, pausing to listen. He could hear nothing but the boom of the sea far above their heads. He swung his torch around. Yes – they were on the right road. Good!

  ‘Can we have a little rest?’ panted Lucy-Ann.

  ‘No,’ said Philip. ‘Those men will be after us almost at once – as soon as they get another lamp. They will guess we are making for the shaft. Come on. There’s no time to be lost.’

  The children hurried on again – but after a time, to their great dismay, they heard shouts behind them. That meant that the men were after them – and what was more, were catching them up. Lucy-Ann felt so alarmed that she could hardly run.

  They came at last to the big shaft-hole. It was so deep that the children could not see the entrance to it, far above. The daylight was not to be seen.

  ‘Up you go,’ said Philip anxiously. ‘You first, Lucy-Ann. Be as quick as you can.’

  Lucy-Ann began to climb. Dinah followed her, Philip came last. He could hear the men’s voices even more clearly now. And then – quite suddenly, they stopped, and Philip could hear them no more. What had happened?

  An extraordinary thing had happened. Kiki the parrot, hearing the tumult in the distance, had become excited and was shouting. She and Jack were still wandering about, quite lost, in the maze of passages and galleries. Kiki’s sharp ears heard the men and she began to screech and yell.

  ‘Wipe your feet! Shut the door! Hi, hi, hi, Polly put the kettle on!’

  The men heard the shouting voice and thought it belonged to the children. ‘They’ve lost themselves,’ said Jake, stopping. ‘They don’t know the way back to the shaft. They’re lost and are shouting for help.’

  ‘Let them shout,’ said Olly sourly. ‘They’ll never find the way to the shaft. I told you they wouldn’t. Let them get lost and starve.’

  ‘No,’ said Jake. ‘We can’t do that. We don’t want to have to explain half-starving children to search-parties, do we? We’d better go and get them. They are over in that direction.’

  They went off the main passage, meaning to try and find the children where the shouts had come from. Kiki’s voice came again to them. ‘Wipe your feet, idiot, wipe your feet!’

  This astonished the two men. They went on towards the voice, but even as they went, Jack and Kiki wandered into a passage that the two men missed. Kiki fell silent, and the men paused.

  ‘Can’t hear them any more,’ said Jake. ‘Better go to the shaft. They may have found their way there after all. We can’t afford to let them escape till we’ve decided what to do about all this.’

  So they retraced their steps to the shaft, and looked up it. A shower of stones came down and hit them.

  ‘Gosh! The children are up there!’ cried Jake, and started up the ladder at once.

  The children were almost at the top. Lucy-Ann felt as if her arms and legs could not climb one more rung – but they held out, and at last the tired girl reached the top, climbed out, and rolled over on the ground, exhausted. Dinah came next, and sat down with a long sigh. And then Philip, tired too, but determined not to rest for one moment.

  ‘I’m sure those men will come up the shaft after us,’ he said. ‘We haven’t a minute to lose. Do come on, girls. We must get to the boat and be off before anyone stops us.’

  It was getting dark. What a long time they must have been underground! Philip dragged the girls to their feet and they set off to the shore. The boat was there, thank goodness.

  ‘I don’t want to go without Jack,’ said Lucy-Ann obstinately, her heart wrung with anxiety for her beloved brother. But Philip bundled her into the boat at once.

  ‘No time to lose,’ he said. ‘Come on. We’ll send help back for Jack as soon as ever we can. I can’t bear leaving him behind either – but I’ve got to get you girls away safely.’

  Dinah took one pair of oars and Philip the other. Soon the two were rowing the boat away quickly, across the calm channel of water to where, in the distance, the waves thundered over the reef of rocks. Philip felt anxious. It was one thing to get through the gap safely when he could see where he was going, but quite another when it was almost dark.

  He heard shouting, but he was too far away from the shore to see the men there. Jake and Olly had climbed up the shaft, raced over the island to the shore, and were looking for a boat. But there was none. The tide was coming in and there was not even a mark on the sand to show where the boat had rested. In fact, it had been almost afloat when the children had got in, and it was lucky that it had not floated away.

  ‘No boat here,’ said Olly. ‘How did those kids come? It’s strange. They must have escaped by boat. They can’t still be underground. We’d better signal tonight and get someone over here. We must warn them that kids have found us underground.’

  They went back to the shaft and climbed down it, not knowing that one of the children was still wandering about in the mines. Poor Jack was still making his way down a maze of tunnels, all looking exactly alike to him.

  In the meantime Philip, Lucy-Ann and Dinah had, by great good luck, just struck the gap in the rocks. It was really because of Lucy-Ann’s sharp ears that they had been so lucky. She had listened to the pounding of the water over the rocks, and her ears had noticed a softening of the thunder. ‘That’s where the gap must be,’ she thought. ‘The noise dies away a little there.’ So, sitting at the tiller, she tried to guide the boat to where she guessed the gap to be, and by good chance she found it. The boat slipped through, scraping its keel once more on the rock just below the surface – and then it was in the open sea, rocking up and down.

  How Philip put up the sail in the half darkness, and sailed the boat home, he never quite knew. He was desperate; they must get back safely, so with great courage he went about his task. When at last he reached the mooring-place
, under the cliff, he could not get out of the boat. Quite suddenly his knees seemed to give way, and he could not walk.

  ‘I’ll have to wait a minute or two,’ he said to Dinah. ‘My legs have gone funny. I’ll be all right soon.’

  ‘You’ve been awfully clever,’ said Dinah, and from her those words meant a lot.

  They tied up the boat at last and went up to the house. Aunt Polly met them at the door, in a great state of alarm.

  ‘Wherever have you been? I’ve been so worried about you. I’ve been nearly off my head with anxiety. I really feel faint.’

  She looked very white and ill. Even as she spoke, she tottered a little, and Philip bounded forward and caught her as she fell.

  ‘Poor Aunt Polly,’ he said, dragging her indoors as gently as he could and putting her on the sofa. ‘We’re so sorry we upset you. I’ll get some water – no, Dinah, you get some.’

  Soon Aunt Polly said she felt a little better, but it was quite plain that she was ill. ‘She never could stand any worry of this sort,’ Dinah said to Lucy-Ann. ‘Once Philip nearly fell down the cliff, she was ill for days. It seems to make her heart bad. I’ll get her to bed.’

  ‘Don’t say a word about Jack being missing,’ Philip warned Dinah in a low voice. ‘That really will give her a heart attack.’

  Dinah went off upstairs with her aunt, supporting her as firmly as she could. Philip went to look for Joe. He wasn’t back yet. Good! Then he wouldn’t have missed the boat. He looked at Lucy-Ann’s white little face, its green tired eyes and worried expression. He felt sorry for her.

  ‘What are we going to do about Jack?’ said Lucy-Ann, with a gulp. ‘We’ve got to rescue him, Philip.’

  ‘I know,’ said Philip. ‘Well – we can’t tell Aunt Polly – and Uncle Jocelyn wouldn’t be any good – and we’d be idiots to tell Joe. So there is no one left but Bill, I’m afraid.’

  ‘But – you said we’d better not tell Bill we knew his secret,’ said Lucy-Ann.

  ‘I know. But we’ve got to, now that Jack is alone on the island,’ said Philip. ‘Bill will have to go and tell those fierce friends of his that Jack is a pal, and he’ll find him and bring him back safely. So don’t worry, Lucy-Ann.’