The Island of Adventure

by Enid Blyton

  ‘I see,’ said Philip excitedly. ‘I suppose when they sank the shaft for the well, someone discovered the hole deep down, explored it, found it was a sort of natural passage, and, as you say, followed it up, and made use of it. Bill – could we get down there and find out?’

  ‘Not now, in the middle of the night,’ said Bill at once. ‘You’ve all had enough adventure for this one day – we must go to bed.’

  ‘But – but what about Jack?’ asked Lucy-Ann, her green eyes wide with anxiety.

  ‘We can’t do anything about him tonight,’ said Bill, firmly but kindly. ‘Anyway, if he’s caught, he’s caught, and if he’s not, we may be able to do something about him tomorrow. But we are not going to go down wells in buckets in the dead of night, so that’s that. Philip, I’ll sleep with you in the tower-room tonight.’

  Philip was glad. He did not want to sleep alone that night. The girls were sent off to bed, in spite of their protests that they were not tired, and Philip and Bill climbed the spiral stairway to the little tower-room. Philip showed Bill the window from which they could see the island at times.

  Then he sat down on the bed to take off his shoes. But he was so tired that even the effort of undoing the laces was too much for him. He rolled over on the bed, shut his eyes, and fell fast asleep, fully dressed as he was. Bill looked at him and smiled. He drew a cover over him, and sat at the window to think.

  Tomorrow would show whether or not there was still a way from Craggy-Tops to the island. Bill felt certain there would not be. True, the other passage was still usable, but that was very short compared with the other – and this second one had had the sea pounding on top of it for many, many years. A crack in it – a trickle of water down – and the passage would be flooded in a very few weeks. Then it would be impassable.

  Bill went to bed at last, stretched himself out beside the sleeping boy, and fell asleep himself. He was awakened by Philip, who was shaking him.

  ‘Bill! It’s morning! Let’s have breakfast and try and find that well passage. Hurry!’

  They were soon downstairs, to find the girls there, already cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast. ‘Where’s Joe?’ asked Philip, in surprise.

  ‘Hasn’t come back from fishing yet,’ said Dinah, getting a fried egg deftly out of the pan. ‘Here you are, Bill. I’ll do an egg for you now, Philip. It’s a good thing Joe isn’t back, isn’t it? – or he’d wonder what on earth Bill was doing here. He would think it all mighty suspicious.’

  ‘Joe may be back at any minute,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘So let’s hurry before he comes. I’d just hate him to stand glowering at the head of the well whilst we explore it all that way below.’

  They finished their breakfast quickly. Dinah had already taken some to her aunt in her bedroom, and to her uncle in his study. She said Aunt Polly was feeling a bit better and would be down later. She didn’t think Uncle Jocelyn had gone to bed at all.

  ‘I really believe he works all night long,’ said Dinah. ‘Now – have we all finished? I’ll leave the washing-up till I get back.’

  They all went out into the little yard that lay behind the house, backing on to the sheer rise of the cliff. Bill leaned over the well. It certainly was very, very deep.

  ‘Do we go down in the bucket?’ asked Philip.

  ‘We could if there was a really big one,’ said Dinah. ‘But we can’t possibly go down in this. Not even Lucy-Ann could get into it.’

  ‘You know,’ said Bill, taking his big torch from his pocket. ‘You know, if this well-shaft is really the only way down to the entrance of the island passage, there should be a ladder. I can’t imagine people going up and down in buckets.’

  ‘Well – there isn’t a ladder,’ said Philip. ‘I should have seen it if there was.’

  Bill flashed his torch down the well, examining the sides carefully. ‘Look,’ he said to Philip, ‘it is true there is no ladder – but do you see those iron staples jutting out from the wall down there? Well, those are what would be used to help anyone wanting to descend this well-hole. They would use them as steps, holding on to the ones above with their hands, and going down bit by bit – feeling with their feet for the next one.’

  ‘Yes!’ said Philip, in excitement. ‘You’re right! That’s the way that people went down in the olden days. I bet when there was fighting round about here, many refugees used this old well as a hiding-place, even if they didn’t know of the passage entrance down below. Come on, Bill – let’s go down. I’m simply longing to get going.’

  ‘Well, it’s time we did,’ said Bill. ‘I’ll go first. Keep a watch out for Joe, Dinah.’

  24

  A journey under the sea

  Bill couldn’t reach the first iron staples, so Philip had to fetch a rope. It was tied tightly to an iron post by the well, and then Bill slipped down it, and placed his feet on the first staples.

  ‘I’m all right,’ he said. ‘You come along as soon as you can, Philip – let me get down a few steps first – and for goodness’ sake don’t slip.’

  The girls did not go – and, indeed, neither of them liked the thought of going down the steep, cold well-shaft with only insecure staples for a foot- and hand-hold. They watched the two disappearing down into the dark, and shivered.

  ‘It’s beastly to be left behind, but I honestly think it’s beastlier to go down there,’ said Dinah. ‘Come on – we can’t see or hear Bill and Philip now – we’d better go back to the kitchen and do a few jobs. Isn’t Joe late!’

  They went back, wondering how Bill and Philip were getting on down the well. They were climbing down slowly but surely; the staples seemed to be as firmly in the wall as when they were first driven in.

  It was tiring work, and would have been utterly impossible to tackle if it had not been for unexpected resting-places let into the well-wall every now and again. The first one puzzled Bill, till he guessed what it was. It was an opening in the well-wall, going back a few feet, big enough to crouch in and rest. At first Bill had half thought the first one to be the entrance to the passage and he was surprised to come to it so soon. But he soon realised what it was, and very thankfully he rested there a few minutes. Then Philip had a rest there, whilst Bill went slowly downwards, his feet always feeling for the next staple.

  It seemed ages going down the well-shaft, and, in fact it took the two of them nearly an hour. They used each resting-place, but in spite of that they became very tired. Then suddenly Bill’s torch, which he had stuck into his belt alight, gleamed on to dark water. They were at the bottom.

  ‘We’re there!’ Bill yelled up to Philip. ‘I’m just going to look about for the entrance.’

  It was easy to find, for there, in the well-wall, was a round, gaping hole like a small tunnel. Bill slipped into it. It was dark, slimy, and evil-smelling. ‘Funny that the air is still fresh,’ thought Bill. ‘But all the way down the well I could feel a current of air blowing round me – so there must be some sort of through-draught to keep it pure.’

  He waited for Philip. Then the two of them set out on what must surely have been one of the strangest roads in the world – a path under the bed of the sea itself. At first the tunnel was narrow and led upwards a little by means of steps, and the two had to crouch down to get along. But after a bit it widened out and became higher. It was still slimy and evil-smelling, but they got used to that.

  Then the passage led downwards, at times rather steeply. There were rough steps made in the steepest part so that travellers might not slip too much. But they were so slimy that even a goat would have slipped. Bill came down with a bump, and Philip followed almost immediately.

  ‘Take your foot out of my neck,’ said Bill, trying to get up. ‘My word, I am in a nice old mess!’

  They went on and on. Soon the passage stopped descending, and kept level. It was enclosed in the solid rock. There was no earth, no sand, no chalk – all rock, quite black, and glinting with strange lights now and again.

  Once or twice the passage narrowed so
much that it was almost impossible to squeeze through. ‘Good thing we’re not fat,’ said Philip, squeezing in his tummy to get by. ‘Golly, that was a tight fit! Have the rocks come closer together during the years, Bill – or do you suppose the passage was always narrow there?’

  ‘Always, I should think,’ said Bill. ‘It’s a perfectly natural fissure in the rocky bed under the sea – an amazing one – though I have heard of others like this in different parts of the world. I believe this coast has a good many.’

  It was warm in the passage. Here and there the air was not good and the man and the boy began to pant. There seemed to be pockets of airlessness. But on went the two, on and on, their torches gleaming on black, slimy walls, out of which still shone queer phosphorescent lights now and again. Philip began to feel as if he was in a dream. He said so.

  ‘Well, you’re not,’ came Bill’s reassuring voice. ‘We’re in a peculiar place, but a perfectly real one. It’s no dream. Like me to pinch you?’

  ‘Well, I think I would,’ said Philip, who really did feel rather odd after so much time in the dark narrow way. So Bill pinched him – and it was a very hard pinch that made Philip yell.

  ‘All right!’ he said. ‘I’m awake and not dreaming. Nobody would be silly enough to dream that pinch.’

  Suddenly Bill felt something running by his feet, and he looked down in great astonishment, swinging his torch downwards too. To his enormous surprise he saw a small mouse looking up at him. Bill stopped in astonishment.

  ‘Look here,’ he said. A mouse. A mouse down here! What does it live on? It’s a most incredible thing. I simply cannot imagine any animal living down in this passage under the sea.’

  Philip chuckled. ‘It’s all right! It’s only Woffly my pet mouse. It must have run down my sleeve and hopped out.’

  ‘Well, it had better hop in again, if it wants to live,’ said Bill. ‘No animal could last down here for long.’

  ‘Oh, it will come back when it wants to,’ said Philip. ‘It won’t leave me for long.’

  They had to have two or three rests, for the way was tiring and difficult. It went curiously straight for a time and then seemed to go in jerks, having little bits that went off at right angles for a few feet, only to come to the straight again. Philip began to wonder how long his torch would last. He felt suddenly frightened at the thought of being left in the dark down there. Supposing Bill’s torch gave out as well?

  But Bill reassured him. ‘I’ve got another battery in my pocket,’ he told Philip, ‘so don’t worry. We shall be all right. And that reminds me – I’ve got a packet of boiled sweets somewhere. I can’t help feeling it would make this awful journey easier if we sucked one or two.’

  There was a pause whilst Bill searched his pockets. He found the sweets, and soon the two of them were sucking away hard. Certainly it made things easier, somehow, to have a nice big boiled sweet tucked away in his mouth, Philip thought.

  ‘How far do you think we’ve gone?’ asked Philip. ‘Halfway?’

  ‘Can’t tell,’ said Bill. ‘Hallo – what’s this?’

  He paused and shone his torch in front of him. The way appeared to be blocked. ‘Gosh! – it looks like a roof-fall,’ said Bill. ‘Well, if it is, we’re done. We’ve got nothing to clear up the mess with, to see if we can get by.’

  But, to their great relief, the fall was very slight, and with the combined strength of both of them, the main rock that stopped their progress was removed to one side, and they managed to clear it.

  ‘I say,’ said Philip, after a long time of groping along the passage, ‘do you notice that the rocks are changing colour, Bill? They’re not black any longer. They’re greenish. Do you think that means we are nearing the mines?’

  ‘Yes, I think it probably does,’ said Bill. ‘It’s distinctly hopeful. I don’t know how many hours we have been so far – it seems about a hundred at least – but I do think it’s about time we were nearing that wretched island.’

  ‘I’m glad we had such a good breakfast,’ said Philip. ‘I’m beginning to feel very hungry again now, though. I wish we had brought some food with us.’

  ‘I’ve got plenty of chocolate,’ said Bill. ‘I’ll give you some presently – if it hasn’t melted. It’s so hot down here now that I shouldn’t be surprised if it has.’

  It had certainly got very soft, but it hadn’t melted. It was good chocolate – slightly bitter, but really delicious to the hungry boy. He went on the dreary way, feeling the slimy walls, noticing the coppery gleams in them, wondering how much longer it would be before the end came.

  ‘Have you by any chance got that map on you?’ called Bill suddenly. ‘I forgot to tell you to take it. We shall need it soon.’

  ‘Yes. It’s in my pocket,’ said Philip. ‘Hallo, look – the passage is widening out tremendously!’

  It was. It suddenly ended and came out into a big open space, evidently the end of the mine-workings. It must have been here that the copper had run out, thought Philip. What big mines they must have been – and how rich at one time!

  ‘Well – here we are at last,’ said Bill, in a low voice. ‘And remember that from now on we don’t make any noise, Philip. We must find Jack, if we can, without attracting any attention at all.’

  Philip felt astonished. ‘But, Bill,’ he said, ‘why can’t you just go to the part of the mine where your friends are working and ask them where old Freckles is? Why all the hush-hush, mustn’t-talk-loudly business? I don’t understand.’

  ‘Well, I have my reasons,’ said Bill. ‘So please respect them, Philip, even if you don’t know what they are. Come on – where’s that map?’

  Philip pulled it from his pocket. Bill took it, opened it, spread it on a conveniently flat rock, shone his torch on it and studied it very carefully. At last he put his finger on a certain place.

  ‘Look,’ he said. ‘That’s where we are – see? Right at the end of the workings. I think this bit here shows the beginning of the under-sea passage, but I’m not sure. Now, tell me – which of these many ways did you take when you came into the mines from the shaft-hole?’

  ‘Well – there’s the shaft we went down,’ said Philip, pointing to where it was marked on the map. ‘And here’s the main passage we kept to – and there is the cave with the bright light – and it was somewhere about there we heard the clattering, banging noise of men at work.’

  ‘Good,’ said Bill, pleased. ‘I have quite a clear idea of where to go now. Come along – as quietly as possible. We will make for the main passage, and then see if we can spot Jack anywhere about – or hear of him.’

  They made their way very carefully up the wide main passage, off which many side galleries went. Bill held his finger over the beam of his torch so as not to make too much light. They were not yet near the cave where the children had seen the bright light and heard noises. But they would come to it sooner or later, Philip knew.

  ‘Sh!’ suddenly said Bill, stopping so quickly that Philip bumped into him. ‘I can hear something. It sounded like footsteps.’

  They stood and listened. It was weird standing there in the darkness, hearing the muffled boom of the great waters moving restlessly on the rocky bed of the sea overhead. Philip thought he could hear a noise too – someone’s foot kicking against a loose pebble.

  Then there was complete silence. So on they went again, and then once more they thought they heard a noise, this time near to them. And Bill felt sure that he could hear someone breathing not far off. He held his own breath to listen.

  But perhaps that other, hidden person was holding his breath too, for Bill could hear nothing then. It was very weird. He moved forward silently with Philip.

  They came to a sudden corner, and Bill groped round it, for he and Philip had put out their torches as soon as they had heard any noise. And, as Bill reached out to grope for the wall, someone else also reached out, coming in the opposite direction. Then, before Philip knew what was happening, he heard loud exclamations, and felt Bil
l and somebody else struggling together violently just in front of him. Golly, now what was happening?

  25

  An extraordinary find

  And now – what had happened to Jack and Kiki all this time? A great deal – some of it most astonishing and unbelievable.

  Jack had not known that the others had escaped – in fact, he had not even known that they had been imprisoned. He had wandered off after the parrot, and had become quite lost. The men, as we know, had heard Kiki squealing and shouting some hours later, when they had been chasing Philip and the girls, but they had gone down the wrong passage after them and had not seen them.

  So there was poor Jack, lost and terrified, with a forlorn Kiki clutching hard at his shoulder. The boy wandered down a maze of galleries, coming to more and more old abandoned workings. He was afraid that his torch would give out. He was afraid of the roof falling in on top of him. He was afraid of a great many things.

  ‘I may be lost for ever down here,’ he thought. ‘I may be wandering miles away from that main passage.’

  He suddenly came to a great hole in the roof above him, and realised that he had come to another shaft. ‘Of course – there were quite a number of them,’ Jack thought, his heart beginning to thump. ‘Thank goodness – now I can climb up and get out into the open air.’

  But, to the boy’s dismay, there was no way of getting up the shaft. Whatever ladder or rope there had once been had rotted or fallen away – there was absolutely no way of climbing up.

  It was awful to stand there at the bottom, knowing that freedom, daylight and fresh air were at the top, and yet with no means of reaching them.

  ‘If I were a baby, I bet I’d burst into tears,’ said Jack out loud, feeling something suspiciously like tears pricking at the back of his eyelids. ‘But I won’t do it. I must just grin and bear it.’