by Paul Moxham
With Quigley helping with the directions, and Sarah yelling out every now and then, they were able to pass the rocks and reach the beach.
As the officer threw the oars on the sand, the inspector waved at the patrol boats to show that they were all right before heading up the side of the cliff.
~
Will looked down at the men who were now not far away. “We don’t have any pine cones left, so we need to get away from here. If I tie a rope to that nearby tree, we could climb down it and escape.”
“But how are you going to get across to it?” Amy asked looking at the gap that was in between the branches.
“I’ve climbed many trees before, so I’ll be fine. As for that gap, I’ll jump,” Will said.
“Just be careful,” Amy said.
“I will.” Will tied one end of the rope around a thick branch before tying the other around his waist. Climbing out onto a branch, he edged along it.
Amy looked down at the men. “If only we had something else to throw down.”
Joe suddenly thought of something. “I’ve got an idea.” He knelt down on the platform and lowered himself onto the first of the wooden footholds.
Looking down, he saw that the men had another five or so to go before they reached him. Knowing that he had to be fast, he climbed down another two footholds. Then, with Luke closing in, he grabbed an upper branch with his hands and, gripping tightly, stomped down onto the foothold.
It moved slightly. He tried again. It moved yet again.
“Hey! Stop!” Luke yelled.
Joe glanced down and saw the man hasten his pace. He realised he only had one chance. One last chance to slow down the men. One last chance to stop them from getting the paintings. It was all up to him.
Taking a deep breath, he gripped the upper branch as hard as he could, raised his feet off the foothold, and pushed them down onto the wood with all the force that he could muster.
Nothing happened.
For a moment, Joe thought that it was all over. Then, suddenly, the wood gave way. Breaking into two pieces, it tumbled down, nearly hitting Luke in the face. Joe grimly smiled, but he couldn’t relax or shout out for joy yet. The battle may have been won, but the war was far from over.
He swung his legs to and fro before they landed on another branch. Standing on it, he pulled himself up onto the next foothold. He considered doing what he had done to the other one, but he realised it would be hard, if not impossible to do. There was no overhanging branch which meant that he would have nowhere to place his hands.
If the foothold fell, he would go down as well. To fall at this height would mean a serious injury, so that was out of the question. Anyway, as he looked down at the man who had now reached the place where the foothold used to be, he could see that he had delayed him.
It was possible to climb up using the branches and not the foothold, which he would now have to do, but at least it had slowed them down.
Climbing up onto the platform, he was just in time to see Amy wrap her end of the rope tightly around a thick branch. She looked towards him. “Did you slow them down?”
“Yes, but not for long.” Joe peered across to the other tree and saw that Will was safely across. He waved and Will waved back.
Joe turned to Amy. “You’d better go next.”
“Shall I take the paintings or will you carry them?” Amy asked.
“I’ll carry the rucksack.” Joe watched on as Amy took hold of the rope and, with both hands clutching it tightly, stepped out onto a nearby branch.
It was slow going for Amy, and as Joe looked down at the men and saw them trying to climb up, he knew that time was running out. But he didn’t say anything. He didn’t want his sister to rush and fall.
He watched as she reached the spot where she had to jump off the branch and land on the branch connected to the other tree. This was the trickiest bit and one that would require the biggest amount of concentration on her part.
Holding his breath, he waited for Amy to jump. It seemed like forever as he watched her steady herself. Then, she jumped.
As she clutched the other branch and held on, Joe sighed with relief. Tearing his eyes away from her, he looked down at the men.
They were making progress, much faster than he would have liked. After going to the rucksack, he put the two paintings inside and put it on.
He waited until Amy had reached Will before he grabbed the rope. He hadn’t wanted to hold onto it until she had finished, but maybe he should have.
Glancing down, he saw that Luke was almost at the platform. He realised that as soon as he went across, the man would follow him. He needed to find a solution and fast. An idea came into his head. One that was so wild that it might just work.
Joe yelled to Will. “Tie the rope to a higher branch.”
“What? Why?” Will asked.
“Just do it!” Joe yelled.
Will obeyed, and as he climbed up to a higher branch with the rope, Joe looked down at the edge of the platform as a hand became visible. He needed to get moving.
“What are you doing?” Amy shouted.
Joe didn’t answer as he untied his end of the rope as Will gave a wave and a nod to indicate that the rope was now tied.
Joe moved to the edge of the platform and stood where there was nothing blocking his way. If he crashed into a tree going fast, it would not be a pretty sight.
Looking back to see where the men were, he saw Luke clamber up onto the platform. He had to go now. He turned around and told himself to step off, but he couldn’t.
He muttered to himself as he tried to urge himself to step off. But he couldn’t. This was worse than all of his previous hair-raising escapades, such as being dragged along the water in Smugglers Cove and climbing up the cliff near Bracknesh Castle.
“Give me the painting, boy,” Luke called out. “I won’t hurt you. I just want the paintings.”
“No!” Joe shouted, glancing back. “Never.”
“Why, you...” Luke snarled as he reached out his hand to grab the rucksack.
Joe pulled the rope tight, closed his eyes, and stepped off.
~
The inspector peered through the binoculars as he looked towards the church. He was able to see two people beside the building. “Okay, men, let’s move in before it starts to rain again.” He looked towards Sarah and Quigley and then at an officer. “Stay with those two here. I don’t want them in harm’s way.” He ran down the hill.
Sarah turned to Quigley. “I want to see if the others are safe.”
“I’m sure they will be. As soon as all the men are caught—” Quigley said.
“I don’t want to wait that long,” Sarah replied. “If you don’t want to go, I’ll go by myself.”
As she walked off, the police officer yelled out. “Hey, you’re supposed to stay here until the inspector comes back.”
Sarah paused for a moment. “I’m going to find my brother and sister.” She raced off.
~
As soon as Joe heard the wind whip past his face, he opened his eyes. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he sailed closer and closer to the ground.
He could hear Amy and Will shout out, but couldn’t understand what they were saying. Gripping tightly to the rope, he hung on for dear life.
The ground seemed to rush towards him and he grimaced, expecting to smash into it. But, luckily that didn’t happen. As Joe swung back and forth, with each swing getting smaller than before, he looked up at the others and waved.
They waved back and he grinned with relief. Stepping off had been the most scary thing that he had ever experienced, and he had lived to tell the tale.
As the rope slowed down, he jumped onto the ground. Touching the dirt with his hands, he was glad to be on solid ground once more.
~
High in the trees, the others watched as Joe hurried to the tree that they were sitting in. Suddenly, he tripped, falling flat on his face.
“Oh no!” Amy exclaimed
.
Will watched in horror as Marvin appeared from behind a tree and grabbed the paintings from the rucksack. “He must have been waiting for Joe and tripped him up.”
“And we can’t do anything,” Amy muttered.
The two of them could only stand still and watch on as the man, with a painting in each hand, took off running.
Amy saw Joe stagger to his feet. She didn’t think that he would race after the man who already had a good distance on him, and she was right.
Joe yelled up to them, “Sorry. There was nothing I could do.”
Will turned to Amy. “I guess that’s it then.”
Amy sighed. “I guess you can’t win all the time.”
~
Sarah was halfway down the hill when she spotted someone coming towards her. Hiding behind a tree, she saw it was Marvin. He was clutching a painting in each hand.
Sarah didn’t know what was going on, but she knew that she couldn’t let him escape. She saw that if he continued going in the same direction, he would pass very close to the tree that she was hiding behind.
An idea crept into her head. Hunting around, she picked up a long, thick stick and knelt down behind the tree.
Listening carefully, she heard Marvin approach. The seconds seemed like minutes as she waited for the right moment to put out her stick. She couldn’t put it out too soon in case the man saw it, but she couldn’t put it out too late either.
With both hands on the stick, she suddenly thrust it out. Two seconds later, his foot hit the stick and Marvin stumbled before falling to the ground.
As he scrambled to his feet and glared at her, she realised she hadn’t given a thought to what to do next after she had tripped him up.
Marvin glared at her. “Just wait till I catch you.” He stomped towards her angrily and she stumbled backwards, frightened.
Turning, she tripped over a rock and fell down. Before she could get to her feet, Marvin was standing over her.
Chapter 31: Goodbye Adventure Island!
Just as Marvin went to grab Sarah, a voice yelled out. “Hold it right there!”
Seething with anger, Marvin reluctantly raised his hands.
Sarah grinned as she caught sight of a police officer and Quigley running towards her.
The police officer had his pistol out and it was aimed at Marvin. Taking out a pair of handcuffs, he snapped them onto his wrists. “Get going up the hill.”
Marvin grunted as he turned and walked up the hill, but not before he glared at Sarah one last time. But before he could say anything, the officer pushed him forward.
Sarah turned to Quigley and hugged him tight. “Thanks.”
Quigley comforted her. “It’s all right now.” He glanced down at the ground at the two paintings. “What are those?”
Sarah picked up the tubes and looked at the nametags. “Vincent Van Gough. Hey, these must be the paintings.”
Quigley chuckled. “Well, well, no wonder he was angry. They’ll be worth a couple of hundred pounds.” As he heard voices, he looked down the hill and smiled as he saw Will, Joe, and Amy along with a police officer.
Sarah followed his gaze and yelled out in delight as she raced towards them. She could tell that they were disappointed. “What’s wrong?”
“One of the men got away with the paintings,” Joe said. “We tried our hardest, but—”
“You mean the paintings by Vincent Van Gough?” Sarah interrupted.
Joe frowned. “Yes, but how did you know?”
Sarah smiled as she looked towards Quigley. He was holding the two paintings in his hands.
The others followed her gaze and smiled in delight. “How did you do it?” Amy cried out.
“I saw him coming and I tripped him up,” Sarah replied, her green eyes shining.
Amy hugged her little sister. “I was worried about you.”
“And I was worried about you too,” Sarah said. “Did you hear that Inspector Price is here?”
“Yes,” Will said. “We were at the tree house when we saw the pilot rush past. Before we could stop him, several police officers, along with the inspector, appeared. We told them where the other men had disappeared to and they rushed off, but not before the inspector told us where you were.”
“Let’s go to the top of the hill and see if we can see them,” Joe suggested. As the others nodded, he turned and headed up the hill, the others following close behind.
~
Darkness had fallen by the time the patrol boat pulled up alongside the pier. The criminals were led down the gangplank and five police officers, who had been waiting patiently on the pier, took them away.
As the children walked down the gangplank a few moments later, they heard a shout. Looking along the pier, they saw their parents rushing towards them. Yelling out, the four children ran and hugged them.
Mr Mitchell smiled at the inspector as he joined them a few moments later. “Thanks for bringing them home.”
Inspector Price grinned. “It’s the least I could do after Sarah told me about the art thieves. You might not know it, but we’ve been after that particular bunch of criminals for two years.”
“What about Nancy? Was she really part of the gang?” Joe asked.
“From what you told me earlier,” Inspector Price said, “and from the quick chat I had with the criminals, I would say that she is Susan Thomas, someone we’ve had our eyes on for some time.”
“Will you try to catch her?” Will questioned.
“We’ll do our best,” the inspector replied, “but I don’t have high hopes. Anyway, we’ve caught the rest of the criminals, so there’s no chance of the operation starting up again. So, good job.”
“It was more luck than anything,” Joe admitted. “After all, if no one had been on Windswept Island, we would have camped there and then we wouldn’t have seen the men.”
“But it was still a brave effort on your part.” The inspector looked at Will. “Your escape to France might not have turned out the way you expected it to, but the good thing is that it enabled us to catch the men flying the seaplane as well.” The inspector turned to Sarah. “Hiding in that rowboat must have been hair-raising at times, and from what I’ve heard about the bicycle chase, you had quite an adventure.”
Inspector Price glanced at Amy and Joe. “You two also did a good job. If you hadn’t delayed the men by stealing the paintings, then they probably would have made their escape long before I arrived at the island. So, good job all of you.”
He looked up as Quigley joined them. “And if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have had such an easy time making landfall at the island.”
Quigley smiled. “I just had to help. I wouldn’t want nothing to happen to these nice kids. They’re a good bunch.”
“It’s a shame about the boat, though,” Will said.
“Especially after all the time we spent painting it,” Amy added.
“It was a dear little boat,” Sarah piped up. “I’ll miss it.”
“Don’t worry,” the inspector said. “I just remembered something that should raise your spirits.”
“What?” Joe asked eagerly.
“There was a reward offered for anyone who could give us information about the art thieves, and since you helped us catch them, you are entitled to it,” the inspector said.
“How much?” Will asked.
“I don’t know exactly, but it’ll certainly cover the cost of a new sailboat,” Inspector Price replied. He looked at his watch. “It’s getting late. I’d better go and take care of the criminals. I’ll be in touch with you soon.”
“Thanks once again for bringing them back safely,” Mr Spencer said.
The inspector waved his hand dismissively. “It was my pleasure. After all, it’s not every day four children help you catch a gang of criminals that you’ve been after for more than two years.” He turned and walked away.
Joe looked at his parents. “You’ll never believe the adventures we’ve had.”
�
��You should have seen the tree house,” Amy said. “We had to—”
“Why don’t you tell us in the car?” Mrs Mitchell suggested as she looked at her watch. “It’s getting quite late.”
“My, so it is,” Mr Spencer exclaimed. “We’d better be going too.”
As the parents walked to where they had parked their cars, Will turned to the others. “Even though the men took me hostage, I still enjoyed solving the mystery of Rocky Island.”
“It should be called Adventure Island,” Amy said, “just as Quigley called it. After all, everyone who goes there seems to have an adventure.”
“The mystery of Adventure Island. I like the sound of it,” Joe said. “So, how about we meet up at Darby’s tomorrow for an ice cream?”
“What for? To discuss the next mystery?” Will teased.
“No, but that isn’t such a bad idea.” Joe grinned. “After all, we still have two weeks before we go back to school, so let’s make the most of it. Oh, and last one to reach the cars has to buy the ice creams!” Joe raced off down the pier.
“Hey! Wait!” Amy shouted. She ran after Joe, determined not to be beaten as usual.
The End
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Author Note
Thank you for buying and reading this story and, if you liked it, please leave a review on Amazon. You, the readers, are the only reason that I continue to write this series. So the more reviews I get, the longer I will continue to write. Thank you.
Want More?
Here are a couple of teasers for stories that have been released recently or will be released soon.
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The Mystery of the Hidden Suitcase
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For the first time in years, it snows in the seaside village of Smugglers Cove. While tobogganing near Brackness Castle, Joe makes a surprising discovery.
Why has someone hidden a suitcase in the bushes? How do the children escape from the castle tower? What's the meaning of the cryptic message?