by Энид Блайтон
“Good idea, Nora,” said Mike. “We could easily take it in turns to keep watch for that.”
“I feel jolly hungry.” said Peggy. “Isn’t it about time we had our dinner? All this exploring has taken ages. What’s the time, Jack?”
Jack looked at his watch. “It’s getting late,” he said. “We’ll go back to the beach and eat our dinner there. Come on! We don’t want to eat in this dark, dismal room!”
They went back to the secret passage. It was easier going down it than up. Bending their heads down every now and again the children made their way down it, stumbling over the rough, rocky path underfoot. Nora’s torch had no more light showing in it, so she walked close behind Jack, trying to see by the light of his.
At last they came to the cave that was over the shore cave. The rope hung down through the hole that led to the steps down the cave-wall. Jack got hold of it. He began to climb down - but he hadn’t gone far before he gave a shout of dismay.
“I say! What do you think’s happened?”
“What?” cried everyone anxiously.
“Why, the tide’s come in whilst we’ve been exploring, and the shore cave is full of water!” shouted Jack. “It’s almost up to the roof of the cave. We can’t possibly get down this way.”
He climbed back into the cave above. The children looked at each other gloomily by the light of their torches.
“What idiots we are!” said Mike. “We never thought about the tide. If we had thought we’d have known it was coming in and that we’d be nicely caught by it. It won’t be out of this cave for ages.”
“What are we going to do?” said Nora. “I’m so hungry. Can’t we eat our dinner now?”
“It’s damp and cold here,” said Jack, with a shiver. “We shall all get chills if we sit in this cave. We’d better go back to that underground room. At least it’s dry there. We can light our candles and eat our food by their light. Our torches won’t last much longer if we use them such a lot.”
So back they toiled up the secret passage till they came to the underground room. And there, where many a time the smugglers had sat and feasted and smoked, the four children undid their kit-bags and took out all the delicious things that Dimmy had put in for them.
Veal and ham pies had never tasted quite so good! And as for the ginger cake, the children could have done with twice as much! They finished up every scrap of everything, hard-boiled eggs and all, and then drank the sweet lemonade.
“That’s better,” said Jack, grinning round at the others by the light of four shining candles. “I was hungry.”
Mike looked at his watch. “It’s four o’clock,” he said. “I don’t suppose that cave will be clear till at least half-past five - and even then the beach is washed by huge waves that might sweep us off our feet. What a bore!”
“I’m simply longing to have a look at the tower of the Old House from the window of our tower,” said Nora. “I do want to see who the prisoner is. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could rescue him!”
“Jack, couldn’t we escape through the grounds straightaway now?” said Peggy. “If we went up into the cellars again, and into the scullery, and down the tradesmen’s entrance to the back gate we could easily get home in ten minutes - instead of waiting for hours for the tide to go out of the cave!”
“Well, we’ll have to be jolly careful,” said Jack, who also didn’t want to wait for hours for the tide. “I’ll go first as usual and see that all’s clear.”
They all went up the eighteen steps into the cellar. Jack slipped up the steps to the scullery. No one was there. He could hear voices in the kitchen, but he guessed that the maids there were having their tea.
Everything was quiet. Jack gave a low whistle and the others came up the steps quietly. They tiptoed to the back door, where a row of empty milk-bottles stood, waiting for the milkman.
And then they saw something that filled them with dismay! Two big Airedale dogs were roaming about the garden!
“Look!” whispered Jack. “They’ll never let us pass. I’d forgotten that they’d got dogs to guard the place.”
Nora looked as if she were going to cry. First it was the tide that stopped them - and now it was two dogs.
“Do you think they’d hurt us if we tried to slip out of the grounds?” said Peggy.
“No,” said Jack, “but they’d bark the place down, and we’d be found at once. Wait a minute whilst I think what to do.”
“Ay, ay, Captain!” said Mike. The others waited obediently. Jack was always good at thinking of ideas when they were in a fix.
“I know what,” said Jack at last. “We’ll go into this little wash-house here and hide behind that heap of sacks. They must call in the dogs when a tradesman comes, or they wouldn’t get any goods. Well, we’ll wait till someone comes - the milkman or the baker - and as soon as the dogs are called in, we will slip out! We won’t go down the back path, we’ll make for that tree over there and climb it. I believe we could drop on to the top of the wall from its branches and get down the other side quite safely.”
“Good idea!” said Mike. They all crouched down in the little wash-house, first of all shutting the door so that no dog could wander inside and find them.
They waited. Jack sometimes popped his head up and peeped out of the window, but no one came. Then they heard the rattling of the milk-cart down the lane and Jack grinned at the others.
“Be ready,” he whispered. The milkman got down from his cart and rang a bell at the back gate. At once the two dogs set up a terrific barking. Luiz appeared round the house and called them. He tied the dogs to a tree and shouted to the milkman.
“All right! The dogs are tied. You can come in.”
The milkman went up the path with some bottles and some butter. A voice came from the kitchen. “Come right in, please.” He disappeared inside the scullery.
“Now’s our chance!” whispered Jack. “Luiz is gone. The dogs are tied. Run!”
The four of them ran through the wash-house door and sprinted across the grass to the tree that Jack had pointed out. The dogs saw them and began barking again, pulling at their leads as if they would break them.
“Lie down and be quiet!” yelled a voice from somewhere around the house. The dogs went on barking - but in a minute or two the children were safely up the tree, hidden in the branches. Still the dogs went on barking and barking.
Luiz appeared again, and shouted at them. “Quiet, I tell you!” he yelled. “It’s only the milkman!”
But the dogs knew that it wasn’t and they barked till they were hoarse. The children waited till Luiz had gone again and then one by one they climbed from a branch to the top of the wall, and dropped down to the other side in safety.
How glad they were! How they tore down the slope to Peep-Hole, giggling as they went. What an adventure they had had!
“Secret caves and passages, and finding a prisoner, and nearly getting caught ourselves!” panted Mike, as they reached Peep-Hole. “It’s all too exciting for anything!”
“And now we’ve got to find out who the poor prisoner is,” said Nora. “That’s what I’m longing to know!”
Dimmy met them in the hall. “So you’re back again,” she said. “Did you have a good picnic? What a lovely sunny day it has been, hasn’t it?”
“Has it?” said the children, trying to remember - but all they could remember was darkness and dampness in the secret passage and caves and cellar! “We really didn’t notice if the weather was sunny or not, Dimmy!”
“What nonsense you do talk!” said Dimmy. “Go and get ready for tea. I’ve got you the last of the big red eating gooseberries out of the garden!”
“Good old Dimmy-Duck!” yelled Mike, and he tore upstairs to wash - but before he washed he went to his window to look across at the tower window of the Old House. When would he see somebody looking out there?
The Prisoner in the Tower
The four children were in a great state of excitement. They could talk about noth
ing else but the secret passage and the prisoner in the tower, though when Dimmy was there they had to stop, and talk of other things.
“We simply must keep it all a secret,” said Mike. “I’m quite sure Dimmy would be scared. The only thing I’m wondering about is - how are we going to keep a watch on the tower of the Old House in the daytime, without Dimmy wondering what we are doing? It was easy enough at night - but in the daytime it won’t be so easy.”
“Well, we’ll have to be out of our rooms whilst Dimmy is cleaning them each day,” said Peggy. “But as soon as the cleaning is done we could take it in turns to go into the top bedroom and watch, without Dimmy knowing. We could have fairly long watches - say three hours. We needn’t keep our eyes on the tower all the time - we could read or something and keep looking up. I shall do my knitting.”
“And I shall do my jigsaw,” said Mike. “I can do that and keep looking up easily.”
“We’ll begin to-morrow morning,” said Jack. “I hope Dimmy doesn’t go up to our bedroom and find one of us there - she’ll think we’ve quarrelled or something!”
They took a look at the tower in the distance as they went to bed that night. But there was nothing to be seen. Nobody looked out. A dim light shone, that was all.
“There must be somebody there now,” said Jack. “Or they wouldn’t have a light. Goodness, I’m sure I shall never go to sleep to-night! My mind keeps thinking of secret caves!”
They did lie awake rather a long time, but at last they were all asleep and dreaming. They dreamt of caves and passages and towers and prisoners, and had just as exciting a time in their sleep as they had had in the daytime.
Mike looked at the distant tower as soon as he jumped out of bed next morning, but there was no one there. Jack took a glance as he was about to go downstairs - and he gave a cry.
“There’s someone at the window!”
Mike came rushing to see - but Jack pushed him back. “Don’t go too near our window. If we can see them they can see us - and it looks to me as if it’s only Mr. Diaz.”
The two boys kept back a little so that no one could see them. Yes - it was Mr. Diaz - and he was looking straight at their window.
“Keep quite still, Mike,” he said. “He’s just trying to find out how much we can see of his tower, I’m sure!”
Mr. Diaz drew back after a while. Dimmy rang the breakfast bell again downstairs, and Peggy came bounding up the winding staircase to find out what the boys were doing.
That day the children began their three-hourly watches - and it was just as Peggy was taking over from Jack about six o’clock that evening that they first saw the Prisoner!
Jack had been carving a wooden boat with his penknife, sitting patiently for three hours at one side of the window so that Mr. Diaz would not catch sight of him if he should happen to look out once more. Every minute or two Jack glanced over to the distant tower, but he had seen no one there.
Then Peggy came running up the stairs to take her turn at watching - and just as Jack was getting up from his chair, and Peggy was picking up her knitting, they both happened to glance at the far window.
And they both saw the same thing!
“It’s a little boy!” said Jack, in the greatest astonishment. “He doesn’t look more than seven or eight!”
“He doesn’t look English,” said Peggy. “Even from here he looks very dark-haired and dark-eyed.”
The little boy in the distant tower leaned on the window-sill. Jack took up the field-glasses that lay near at hand and looked through them. He could then see the little boy looking as near as if he were in the garden of Peep-Hole!
“He looks awfully pale and miserable.” said Jack. “Almost as if he were crying!”
“Let me see,” said Peggy. Jack gave her the glasses. She looked through them. “Yes,” she said. “He certainly does look sad. I’m not surprised, either, if he’s a prisoner!”
“Let’s wave to him!” said Jack suddenly. “He’ll be glad to see other children.” lack leaned right out of his window, and began waving violently.
At first the boy in the tower did not notice. Then Jack’s moving arm attracted his attention, and he stared. Jack almost fell out of the window, because he waved so hard. Peggy squeezed beside him and waved too. The boy smiled and waved back. First he put one hand out of the window and then both, and waved them like flags!
“Good! He’s seen us,” said Jack, pleased. “Now the next thing is - how are we going to find out who he is?”
Peggy had a good idea. “If we did some big letters in black ink, and held them up at the window one after the other, to spell out words, he would know we were friends!”
“Good idea!” said Jack. “It looks as if it’s going to be rainy to-night, so we could all come up here and do the letters then. Dimmy’s got a friend coming in to see her, I know, so she won’t mind us coming up here.”
“I wonder if she’s got some black ink,” said Peggy.
“We’ll ask her. I’ve got some sheets of drawing paper we can use.”
The little boy at the tower window suddenly disappeared and did not come back. “I expect somebody came into the tower room and he came away from the window in case they guessed that he was signalling to someone,” said Jack.
Mike and Nora came running in through the garden at that moment, for it was raining. They rushed up to the bedroom at the top of their tower to see why Jack hadn’t come down to the beach.
When they heard about the boy prisoner in the tower of the Old House, they wished that they had seen him too. They were thrilled when Jack told them that they were all going to make giant black letters so that they might spell out words to the prisoner.
Peggy ran to see if Dimmy had any black ink, but she hadn’t.
“I’ve only the ordinary blue ink,” said Dimmy, rummaging in her desk. “But look - here’s some black charcoal. Will that do instead?”
“Oh yes!” cried Peggy. “Thank you, Dimmy. You won’t mind if we all play in Mike’s bedroom this evening, will you? You are having a friend to keep you company, aren’t you?”
“Oh yes,” said Dimmy. “I’ll be glad to have you four monkeys out of my way! You do what you like up there, but have the windows open so that you get plenty of fresh air.”
“Oh, we’ll be very particular about the windows, Dimmy!” said Peggy, laughing, and she ran off with the box of black charcoal.
She took the big white drawing sheets from her box, and went up to Mike’s bedroom. She gave some to each of the children, and opened the box of black charcoal.
“We shall make our hands black!” she said. “Isn’t the charcoal nice and black, Mike? The letters we make will show up well, and the prisoner will easily be able to read them.”
“Make them about a foot and a half tall and as thick as you can,” said Jack, sketching out a big letter A. “I’ll do the first six letters, you do the next six, Mike, Peggy the next six, and Nora the next. Whoever has finished first can do the odd two letters left. Look at my big A! I guess the prisoner could easily see that from his window.”
It was indeed a fine big A, nearly as high as the stool on which Jack was sitting. It was thickly done too, and surely anybody would be able to read it from quite a distance.
It did not take the children very long to finish all the letters. Peggy had done hers first, so she did Y and Z too, though she was sure they would not want to use the Z.
They had kept their eye on the tower window, but the boy had not appeared again. Now, with the rainy sky, the dark was coming down. A faint light appeared in the distant tower window. For a moment the children saw the outline of a boy’s head and shoulders at the window, and then it was gone again.
“We can’t do any signalling till to-morrow,” said Jack. “What a pity! All the letters are ready!”
Again the next day the children kept a three-hourly watch, and about two o’clock in the afternoon Jack and Nora saw the boy prisoner. He came to the window and leaned out as far as he coul
d.
“He’s looking down into the grounds to make sure that nobody can see him waving to us,” said Jack. “Sensible fellow!”
Jack waved from his window, and the boy saw him and waved back. “Now we’ll do a bit of letter-work!” said Jack excitedly. “Give me the letters I want, Nora, please, and I’ll send him a message. I hope he can read!”
“What message are you sending?” asked Nora.
“Well. I think I’ll just say ‘WE ARE FRIENDS,’ ” said Jack. “Hand me the letters one by one.”
So Nora handed Jack the big letters drawn in black on the white paper. First a big W, then a big E, and so on. The boy prisoner watched the letters eagerly.
He read the words as the letters made them and nodded his head and smiled and waved. Then he began making letters with his fingers - but Jack could not see them so far away. He snatched up the field-glasses and looked through them. The boy began his message again. He held up one finger first.
“That’s ‘I,’ ” said Jack. Then the boy slanted his two first fingers together and crossed them with a middle finger.
“That’s ‘A,’ ” said Jack. Then the boy turned his hands the other way and made the letter M with four fingers.
“ ‘M’! ” said Jack. “ ‘I AM’ he has spelt out so far, Nora.”
The boy went on making the letters very cleverly with his fingers - and he spelt out the message “I AM A PRISONER.”
By this time Mike and Peggy had come upstairs to get their bathing-suits, which they had forgotten - but when they saw what was going on they sat down excitedly on Mike’s bed, whilst Jack spelt out the prisoner’s message.
“Jack, ask him who he is!” cried Nora, dancing up and down in excitement. So Jack spelt out the question with his black letters. And, dear me, what a surprising answer he got!
The Rope-Ladder
Jack had been watching the boy’s answer through the field-glasses. The others sat near him, waiting eagerly to know who the boy was. They could see him making letters with his fingers, but they could not see what letters they were for, unlike Jack, they had no glasses to help them.