by Enid Blyton
Tim did not want to leave George, but there was something very urgent in her voice. He took one last look at his mistress, gave her hand a lick and sped off down the passage. He knew the way now. Up the rocky steps he bounded and into the open air. He stopped in the old yard, sniffing. Where were Dick and Anne?
He smelt their footsteps and ran off, his nose to the ground. He soon found the two children out on the rocks. Dick was feeling better now and was sitting up. His cheek had almost stopped bleeding.
"Hallo," he said in surprise, when he saw Tim. "Here's Timothy! Why, Tim, old chap, why have you come to see us? Did you get tired of being underground in the dark?"
"Look, Dick- he's got something twisted into his collar," said Anne, her sharp eyes seeing the paper there. "It's a note. I expect it's from the others, telling us to go down. Isn't Tim clever to bring it?"
Dick took the paper from Tim's collar. He undid it and read it.
"Dear Dick and Anne," he read out aloud, "We've found the gold. Come on down at once and see it. Georgina."
"Oooh!" said Anne, her eyes shining. "They've found it. Oh Dick- are you well enough to come now? Let's hurry."
But Dick did not get up from the rocks. He sat and stared at the note, puzzled.
"What's the matter?" said Anne, impatiently.
"Well, don't you think it's funny that George should suddenly sign herself ‘ Georgina ’?" said Dick, slowly. "You know how she hates being a girl, and having a girl's name. You know how she will never answer if anyone calls her Georgina. And yet in this note she signs herself by the name she hates. It does seem a bit funny to me. Almost as if it's a kind of warning that there's something wrong."
"Oh, don't be so silly, Dick," said Anne. "What could be wrong? Do come on."
"Anne, I'd like to pop over to that inlet of ours to make sure there's no one else come to the island," said Dick. "You stay here."
But Anne didn't want to stay there alone. She ran round the coast with Dick, telling him all the time that she thought he was very silly.
But when they came to the little harbour, they saw that there was another boat there, as well as their own. It was a motor-boat! Someone else was on the island!
"Look," said Dick, in a whisper. "There is someone else here. And I bet it's the men who want to buy the island. I bet they've read that old map and know there's gold here. And they've found George and Julian and want to get us all together down in the dungeons so that they can keep us safe till they've stolen the gold. That's why they made George send us that note- but she signed it with a name she never uses- to warn us! Now- we must think hard. What are we going to do?"
Chapter Fifteen. DICK TO THE RESCUE!
DICK caught hold of Anne's hand and pulled her quickly away from the cove. He was afraid that whoever had come to the island might be somewhere about and see them. The boy took Anne to the little stone room where their things were and they sat down in a corner.
"Whoever has come has discovered Julian and George smashing in that door, I should think," said Dick, in a whisper. "I simply can't think what to do. We mustn't go down into the dungeons or we'll most certainly be caught. Hallo- where's Tim off to?"
The dog had kept with them for a while but now he ran off to the entrance of the dungeons. He disappeared down the steps. He meant to get back to George, for he knew she was in danger. Dick and Anne stared after him. They had felt comforted while he was there, and now they were sorry he had gone.
They really didn't know what to do. Then Anne had an idea. "I know!" she said, "we'll row back to the land in our boat and get help."
"I'd thought of that," said Dick, gloomily. "But you know perfectly well we'd never know the way in and out of those awful rocks. We'd wreck the boat. I'm sure we're not strong enough either to row all the way back. Oh, dear- I do wish we could think what to do."
They didn't need to puzzle their brains long. The men came up out of the dungeons and began to hunt for the two children! They had seen Tim when he came back and had found the note gone. So they knew the two children had taken it- and they couldn't imagine why they had not obeyed what George had said in the note, and come down to the dungeons!
Dick heard their voices. He clutched hold of Anne to make her keep quiet. He saw through the broken archway that the men were going in the opposite direction.
"Anne! I know where we can hide!" said the boy, excitedly. "Down the old well! We can climb down the ladder a little way and hide there. I'm sure no one would ever look there!"
Anne didn't at all want to climb down the well even a little way. But Dick pulled her to her feet and hurried her off to the middle of the old courtyard. The men were hunting around the other side of the castle. There was just time to climb in. Dick slipped aside the old wooden cover of the well and helped Anne down the ladder. She was very scared. Then the boy climbed down himself and slipped the wooden cover back again over his head, as best he could.
The old stone slab that Tim had sat on when he fell down the well was still there. Dick climbed down to it and tested it. It was immovable.
"It's safe for you to sit on, Anne, if you don't want to keep clinging to the ladder," he whispered. So Anne sat shivering on the stone slab across the well-shaft, waiting to see if they were discovered or not. They kept hearing the voices of the men, now near at hand and now far-off. Then the men began to shout for them.
"Dick! Anne! The others want you! Where are you? We've exciting news for you."
"Well, why don't they let Julian and George come up and tell us then?" whispered Dick. "There's something wrong, I know there is. I do wish we could get to Julian and George and find out what has happened."
The two men came into the courtyard. They were angry. "Where have those kids got to?" said Jake. "Their boat is still in the cove, so they haven't got away. They must be hiding somewhere. We can't wait all day for them."
"Well, let's take some food and drink down to the two we've locked up," said the other man. "There's plenty in that little stone room. I suppose it's a store the children brought over. We'll leave half in the room so that the other two kids can have it. And we'll take their boat with us so that they can't escape."
"Right," said Jake. "The thing to do is to get the gold away as quickly as possible, and make sure the children are prisoners here until we've made a safe getaway. We won't bother any more about trying to buy the island. After all, it was only the idea of getting the ingots that put us up to the idea of getting Kirrin Castle and the island."
"Well-come on," said his companion. "We will take the food down now, and not bother about the other kids. You stay here and see if you can spot them while I go down."
Dick and Anne hardly dared to breathe when they heard all this. How they hoped that the men wouldn't think of looking down the well! They heard one man walk to the little stone room. It was plain that he was getting food and drink to take down to the two prisoners in the dungeons below. The other man stayed in the courtyard, whistling softly.
After what seemed a very long time to the hidden children, the first man came back. Then the two talked together, and at last went off to the cove. Dick heard the motor-boat being started up.
"It's safe to get out now, Anne," he said. "Isn't it cold down here? I'll be glad to get out into the sunshine."
They climbed out and stood warming themselves in the hot summer sunshine. They could see the motor-boat streaking towards the mainland.
"Well, they're gone for the moment," said Dick. "And they've not taken our boat, as they said. If only we could rescue Julian and George, we could get help, because George could row us back."
"Why can't we rescue them?" cried Anne, her eyes shining. "We can go down the steps and unbolt the door, can't we?"
"No- we can't," said Dick. "Look!"
Anne looked to where he pointed. She saw that the two men had piled big, heavy slabs of broken stone over the dungeon entrance. It had taken all their strength to put the big stones there. Neither Dick nor Anne could hope to m
ove them.
"It's quite impossible to get down the steps," said Dick. "They've made sure we shan't do that! And you know we haven't any idea where the second entrance is. We only know it was somewhere near the tower."
"Let's see if we can find it," said Anne eagerly. They set off to the tower on the right of the castle- but it was quite clear that whatever entrance there might have been once, it was gone now! The castle had fallen in very much just there, and there were piles of old broken stones everywhere, quite impossible to move. The children soon gave up the search.
"Blow!" said Dick. "How I do hate to think of poor old Julian and George prisoners down below, and we can't even help them! Oh, Anne- can't you think of something to do?"
Anne sat down on a stone and thought hard. She was very worried. Then she brightened up a little and turned to Dick.
"Dick! I suppose- I suppose we couldn't possibly climb down the well, could we?" she asked. "You know it goes past the dungeons- and there's an opening on the dungeon floor from the well-shaft, because don't you remember we were able to put in our heads and shoulders and look right up the well to the top? Could we get past that slab, do you think- the one that I sat on just now, that has fallen across the well?"
Dick thought it all over. He went to the well and peered down it. "You know, I believe you are right, Anne," he said at last. "We might be able to squeeze past that slab. There's just about room. I don't know how far the iron ladder goes down though."
"Oh, Dick- do let's try," said Anne. "It's our only chance of rescuing the others!"
"Well," said Dick, 'I'll try it- but not you, Anne. I'm not going to have you falling down that well. The ladder might be broken half-way down- anything might happen. You must stay up here and I'll see what I can do."
"You will be careful, won't you?" said Anne, anxiously. "Take a rope with you, Dick, so that if you need one you won't have to climb all the way up again."
"Good idea," said Dick. He went to the little stone room and got one of the ropes they had put there. He wound it round and round his waist. Then he went back to Anne.
"Well, here goes!" he said, in a cheerful voice. "Don't worry about me. I'll be all right."
Anne was rather white. She was terribly afraid that Dick might fall right down to the bottom of the well. She watched him climb down the iron ladder to the slab of stone. He tried his best to squeeze by it, but it was very difficult. At last he managed it and after that Anne could see him no more. But she could hear him, for he kept calling up to her.
"Ladder's still going strong, Anne! I'm all right. Can you hear me?"
"Yes," shouted Anne down the well, hearing her voice echo in a funny hollow manner. "Take care, Dick. I do hope the ladder goes all the way down."
"I think it does!" yelled back Dick. Then he gave a loud exclamation. "Blow! It's broken just here. Broken right off. Or else it ends. I'll have to use my rope."
There was a silence as Dick unwound the rope from his waist. He tied it firmly to the last but one rung of the ladder, which seemed quite strong.
"I'm going down the rope now!" he shouted to Anne. "Don't worry. I'm all right. Here I go!"
Anne couldn't hear what Dick said after that, for the well-shaft made his words go crooked and she couldn't make out what they were. But she was glad to hear him shouting even though she didn't know what he said. She yelled down to him too, hoping he could hear her.
Dick slid down the rope, holding on to it with hands, knees and feet, glad that he was so good at gym at school. He wondered if he was anywhere near the dungeons. He seemed to have gone down a long way. He managed to get out his torch. He put it between his teeth after he had switched it on, so that he might have both hands free for the rope. The light from the torch showed him the walls of the well around him. He couldn't make out if he was above or below the dungeons. He didn't want to go right down to the bottom of the well!
He decided that he must have just passed the opening into the dungeon-caves. He climbed back up the rope a little way and to his delight saw that he was right. The opening on to the dungeons was just by his head. He climbed up till he was level with it and then swung himself to the side of the well where the small opening was. He managed to get hold of the bricked edge, and then tried to scramble through the opening into the dungeon.
It was difficult, but luckily Dick was not very big. He managed it at last and stood up straight with a sigh of relief. He was in the dungeons! He could now follow the chalk-marks to the room or cave where the ingots were- and where he felt sure that George and Julian were imprisoned!
He shone his torch on the wall. Yes- there were the chalk-marks. Good! He put his head into the well-opening and yelled at the top of his voice.
"Anne! I'm in the dungeons! Watch out that the men don't come back!"
Then he began to follow the white chalk-marks, his heart beating fast. After a while he came to the door of the store-room. As he had expected, it was fastened so that George and Julian couldn't get out. Big bolts had been driven home at the top and bottom, and the children inside could not possibly get out. They had tried their hardest to batter down the door, but it was no good at all.
They were sitting inside the store-cave, feeling angry and exhausted. The man had brought them food and drink, but they had not touched it. Tim was with them, lying down with his head on his paws, half-angry with George because she hadn't let him fly at the men as he had so badly wanted to. But George felt certain that Tim would be shot if he tried biting or snapping.
"Anyway, the other two had sense enough not to come down and be made prisoners too," said George. "They must have known there was something funny about that note when they saw I had signed myself Georgina instead of George. I wonder what they are doing. They must be hiding."
Tim suddenly gave a growl. He leapt to his feet and went to the closed door, his head on one side. He had heard something, that was certain.
"I hope it's not those men back again already," said George. Then she looked at Tim in surprise, flashing her torch on to him. He was wagging his tail!
A great bang at the door made them all jump out of their skins! Then came Dick's cheerful voice. "Hi, Julian! Hi, George! Are you here?"
"Wuffffff!" barked Tim, joyfully and scratched at the door.
"Dick! Open the door!" yelled Julian in delight. "Quick, open the door!"
Chapter Sixteen. A PLAN- AND A NARROW ESCAPE
DICK unbolted the door at the top and bottom and flung it open. He rushed in and thumped George and Julian happily on the back.
"Hallo!" he said. "How does it feel to be rescued?"
"Fine!" cried Julian, and Tim barked madly round them.
George grinned at Dick.
"Good work!" she said. "What happened?"
Dick told them in a few words all that had happened. When he related how he had climbed down the old well, George and Julian could hardly believe their ears. Julian slipped his arm through his younger brother's.
"You're a brick!" he said. "A real brick! Now quick-what are we going to do?"
"Well, if they've left us our boat I'm going to take us all back to the mainland as quickly as possible," said George. "I'm not playing about with men who brandish revolvers all the time. Come on! Up the well we go and find the boat."
They ran to the well-shaft and squeezed through the small opening one by one. Up the rope they went, and soon found the iron ladder. Julian made them go up one by one in case the ladder wouldn't bear the weight of all three at once.
It really wasn't very long before they were all up in the open air once more, giving Anne hugs, and hearing her exclaim gladly, with tears in her eyes, how pleased she was to see them all again.
"Now come on!" said George after a minute. "Off to the boat. Quick! Those men may be back at any time."
They rushed to the cove. There was their boat, lying where they had pulled it, out of reach of the waves. But what a shock for them!
"They've taken the oars!" said George, in dismay. "
The beasts! They know we can't row the boat away without oars. They were afraid you and Anne might row off, Dick- so instead of bothering to tow the boat behind them, they just grabbed the oars. Now we're stuck. We can't possibly get away."
It was a great disappointment. The children were almost ready to cry. After Dick's marvellous rescue of George and Julian, it had seemed as if everything was going right- and now suddenly things were going wrong again.
"We must think this out," said Julian, sitting down where he could see at once if any boat came in sight. "The men have gone off- probably to get a ship from somewhere in which they can put the ingots and sail away. They won't be back for some time, I should think, because you can't charter a ship all in a hurry- unless, of course, they've got one of their own."
"And in the meantime we can't get off the island to get help, because they've got our oars," said George. "We can't even signal to any passing fishing-boat because they won't be out just now. The tide's wrong. It seems as if all we've got to do is wait here patiently till the men come back and take my gold! And we can't stop them."
"You know- I've got a sort of plan coming into my head," said Julian, slowly. "Wait a bit- don't interrupt me. I'm thinking."
The others waited in silence while Julian sat and frowned, thinking of his plan. Then he looked at the others with a smile.
"I believe it will work," he said. "Listen! We'll wait here in patience till the men come back. What will they do? They'll drag away those stones at the top of the dungeon entrance, and go down the steps. They'll go to the store-room, where they left us- thinking we are still there, and they will go into the room. Well, what about one of us being hidden down there ready to bolt them into the room? Then we can either go off in their motor-boat or our own boat if they bring back our oars- and get help."
Anne thought it was a marvellous idea. But Dick and George did not look so certain. "We'd have to go down and bolt that door again to make it seem as if we are still prisoners there," said George. "And suppose the one who hides down there doesn't manage to bolt the men in? It might be very difficult to do that quickly enough. They will simply catch whoever we plan to leave down there, and come up to look for the rest of us."