The Island of Adventure

  ‘Will you go and tell him now, straight away?’ asked Lucy-Ann tearfully.

  ‘I’ll go just as soon as ever I’ve had something to eat,’ said Philip, suddenly feeling so hungry that he felt he could eat a whole loaf, a pound of butter, and a jar of jam. ‘You’d better have something too, Lucy-Ann – you look as white as a sheet. Cheer up! Jack will soon be safe here, and we’ll all be laughing and talking like anything.’

  Dinah came down then, and set about getting some food. They were all very hungry, even Lucy-Ann. Dinah agreed that the only thing to do was to go to Bill Smugs and get him to go and rescue Jack before the men found him.

  ‘They’ll be so wild that we’ve escaped that they may be really tough with Jack,’ said Dinah, and then wished she hadn’t spoken the words, for Lucy-Ann looked scared to death.

  ‘Please go, Philip,’ begged the little girl. ‘Go now. If you don’t, I shall.’

  ‘Don’t be silly,’ said Philip, getting up. ‘You don’t want to make your way across the cliff on a dark night. You’d fall over the edge! Well – so long! I’ll be back.’

  Off went the boy, climbing the steep path to the top of the cliff. Then he set off to find Bill. He saw the lights of Joe’s car in the distance, coming home, and heard the noise of the engine. He hurried so that he would not be seen.

  ‘Bill will be surprised to see me,’ he thought. ‘He’ll wonder whoever it is, knocking at his door in the middle of the night.’

  But alas – Bill wasn’t there when Philip at last arrived at the shack. Now what was he to do?

  22

  A talk with Bill – and a shock

  Philip was filled with dismay. It had never occurred to him that Bill might not be at home. How awful! Philip sat down on a stool and tried to think – but he was tired out, and his brain wouldn’t seem to work.

  ‘What shall I do now? What shall I do now?’ he thought, and could not seem to think of anything else. ‘What shall I do now?’

  It was dark in the little shack. Philip sat on the stool, his hands hanging limply between his legs. Then he became aware of something at the back of the shack, and he turned to see what it was.

  To his great amazement he saw a red light there, glowing deeply. Then it disappeared. Then it came back again, went out, reappeared. It went on doing this for a few minutes, whilst Philip tried to think what it was, and why it seemed to be signalling. At last he got up and went over to the light. It came from a small bulb beside the radio. Philip had a look at it. He twiddled one or two knobs. A Morse code came from it when he twiddled another. Then by chance he saw, at the back of the set, a small telephone receiver, smaller than any he had seen before – almost a pocket size, he thought.

  He picked it up – and immediately he heard a voice crackling in the receiver. He lifted it to his ear.

  ‘Y2 calling,’ said the voice. ‘Y2. Y2 calling.’

  Philip listened in, astonished. He decided to speak to the voice.

  ‘Hallo!’ he said. ‘Who are you?’

  There was a moment’s silence. Evidently Y2, whoever he might be, was surprised. A cautious voice came over the phone again.

  ‘Who is there?’

  ‘A boy called Philip Mannering,’ said Philip. ‘I came to find Bill Smugs, but he isn’t here.’

  ‘Who did you say?’ said the voice.

  ‘Bill Smugs. But he’s not here,’ repeated Philip. ‘I say, who are you? Do you want me to leave a message for Bill? I expect he’ll be back some time.’

  ‘How long has he been gone?’ asked Y2.

  ‘Don’t know,’ said Philip. ‘Wait – I can hear someone. Here he comes, I do believe.’

  Joyfully the boy put down the tiny telephone receiver. He had heard the low sound of whistling outside, and footsteps. It must be Bill.

  It was. He came in, shining his torch – and he was so surprised when he saw Philip there that he stood stock-still without saying a word.

  ‘Oh, Bill!’ said Philip joyfully. ‘I’m so glad you’ve come. Quick! – somebody wants you on the phone – Y2 he says he is.’

  ‘Did you speak to him?’ said Bill, his voice sounding astonished. He picked up the tiny phone and spoke curtly.

  ‘Is that Y2? L4 speaking.’

  The voice evidently asked him who Philip was.

  ‘Boy that lives round here,’ said Bill. ‘What’s the news, please?’

  Then all that was said by Bill was ‘Yes. Of course. I’ll let you know. Thanks. No, nothing yet. Goodbye.’

  He turned to Philip when he had finished talking. ‘Look here, my boy,’ he said, ‘please understand that if you come paying calls here when I am out, you must on no account tamper with my possessions or meddle with my affairs.’

  Bill had never spoken so sternly before, and Philip’s heart sank. What would Bill say when he knew that the children had guessed his secret? He would think they had been meddling more than ever.

  ‘Sorry, Bill,’ he said awkwardly. ‘I didn’t mean to interfere at all.’

  ‘Why have you come at this time of night?’ asked Bill.

  ‘Bill – is this your pencil?’ asked Philip, taking it out. He hoped that when Bill saw it he would remember that he had dropped it down in the copper mines, and would guess, without Philip saying any more, that the children knew his secret. Bill stared at the yellow pencil stub.

  ‘Yes, that’s mine,’ he said. ‘But you didn’t come here at night to give me back my pencil. What have you come for?’

  ‘Oh, Bill – don’t be so cross,’ said poor Philip. ‘You see – we know your secret. We know what you are doing here. We know why you go to the island – we know everything.’

  Bill listened to all this as if he simply could not believe his ears. He stared at Philip in the utmost amazement. His eyes grew narrow, and his mouth hardened into a thin line. For a moment he looked very frightening.

  ‘You are going to tell me exactly what you mean by all this,’ said Bill, in a horrid sort of voice. ‘What is my secret? What is the “everything” that you know?’

  ‘Well,’ said Philip desperately, ‘we know that you and your friends are trying to work the copper mines again – and we know that you are here, with your boat and your car, to provide them with food – and to take away any copper they find. We know you’ve been down the mines, visiting the men there. We know you’ve given us a false name. But, please, Bill, we wouldn’t dream of giving you away – we hope you’ll get lots of copper.’

  Bill listened, his eyes still narrow – but as Philip went on talking, the twinkle came back into them, and his mouth looked like Bill’s again.

  ‘Well, well, well – so you know all that,’ said Bill. ‘And what else do you know? How did you get to the island? Not in my boat, I hope?’

  ‘Oh no,’ said Philip, relieved to see Bill looking friendly again. ‘We took Joe’s when he was out. We went right down into the mines too – that was where we found your pencil. But we don’t like your friends there, Bill. They took us prisoner – they’re horrid – and even when we mentioned your name to them and said we were friends of yours, they said they didn’t know it and wouldn’t let us go free.’

  ‘You told them you knew Bill Smugs?’ said Bill. Philip nodded.

  ‘What men did you see?’ asked Bill. His voice had become sharp again, and he snapped out his questions in rather a frightening manner.

  ‘Two – one call Jake and one Olly,’ said Philip. Bill made a note in his notebook. ‘What were they like?’ he asked sharply.

  ‘Well – but you must know them,’ said Philip in astonishment. ‘Anyway, I couldn’t really see much – either it was dark – or the light dazzled me. I just saw that Jake was tall and dark, with a patch over one eye, that’s all. But you must know what they are like yourself, Bill.’

  ‘See anyone or anything else?’ asked Bill.

  Philip shook his head. ‘No. We heard other miners at work, though – a terrific clattering, banging sort of noise, you know – they must have found
some part of the mine that was still rich in copper. Bill, are you finding much copper there? Will it make you rich?’

  ‘Look here, you didn’t come here tonight to tell me all this,’ said Bill suddenly. ‘What did you come for?’

  ‘I came to say that although Dinah and Lucy-Ann and I managed to fool Jake and get away – we had to leave Jack behind – with Kiki,’ said Philip. ‘And we are worried about him. You see, he might get lost for ever in those workings under the sea – or those friends of yours might find him and ill-treat him because they are angry at our tricking them as we did.’

  ‘Jack’s still there – on the island – in the mines!’ said Bill, looking quite shocked. ‘Good heavens! This is serious. Why didn’t you tell me that at first? My word, it looks as if everything’s going to be ruined by you kids.’

  Bill looked angry and upset. He went to his radio, fiddled about with the knobs, and then, to Philip’s amazement, began to talk in short, sharp tones, in a language the boy did not know.

  ‘It’s a transmitter as well as receiving set,’ thought Philip. ‘This is all very mysterious. Who is Bill talking to now? Have they all got a boss who is directing this copper mine affair? I suppose there’s very big money in it. Oh dear, I hope we haven’t really ruined things for them. What does Bill mean? How could we have spoilt anything? He’s only got to go over to the island, see his friends, tell them to set Jack free, and that would finish it. He might know he can trust us not to split on him.’

  Bill turned round. ‘We must get the boat at once,’ he said. ‘Come on.’

  With their torches throwing beams of light before them they went down to where the boat was kept. Bill began to push it out – and then he suddenly gave such a shout that Philip’s heart nearly jumped out of his body.

  ‘Who’s done that?’

  Bill shone his torch into the boat – and Philip saw, with a shock of dismay and fear, that someone had chopped viciously at the bottom of the boat – chopped so hard that there were holes there through which the water was even now pouring.

  Bill pulled her back on the beach again, his face very grim. ‘Do you know anything about that?’ he asked Philip.

  ‘Of course not,’ said the boy. ‘Golly – who did it, Bill? This is awful.’

  ‘Well – the boat is no use at all till she’s repaired,’ said Bill. ‘But somehow we’ve got to get over to the Isle of Gloom. We’ll have to take Joe’s boat. Come on. But mind – he mustn’t know a thing about it. There’s too much known about everything already – and too many people nosing about for my liking.’

  They set off over the cliffs, poor Philip so tired that he could hardly keep up with Bill. They came to Craggy-Tops, climbed down the cliff path and made their way to where Joe’s boat was always tied.

  But, to their intense surprise and despair, Joe’s boat was not there. It was gone.

  23

  Another secret passage

  After Philip had left, Lucy-Ann and Dinah tried to settle down to some sewing. But Lucy-Ann’s hands trembled so much that she kept pricking her finger.

  ‘I’d better go and tell Uncle Jocelyn that Aunt Polly has gone to bed, feeling ill,’ said Dinah. ‘Come with me, Lucy-Ann.’

  The two girls went off to the study and knocked at the door. They went in, and Dinah told her uncle about her aunt. He nodded, hardly seeming to hear.

  ‘Uncle Jocelyn,’ said Dinah, ‘have you any more maps of the Isle of Gloom? Or any books about it?’

  ‘No,’ said her uncle. ‘But wait – there’s a book about this house, Craggy-Tops, I think. You know that it was a great place for illegal goings-on and secret doings two or three hundred years ago? I believe there was a secret passage to it from the beach.’

  ‘Yes, there is,’ said Dinah. ‘We know it.’

  Her uncle became quite excited. He made her tell him all about it. ‘Dear me,’ he said, ‘I thought it had fallen in long ago. But these secret passages hewn out of the rock last for years. Still, I should think the one that goes under the sea to the Isle of Gloom has been flooded long since.’

  The two girls stared at the old man in amazement. Dinah found her tongue at last.

  ‘Uncle Jocelyn, do you mean to say there was another secret passage here – under the sea to the island? Why, it’s ever so far away!’

  ‘Well, there was supposed to be,’ said her uncle. ‘There’s something about it in that book. Now – where is it?’

  The girls waited in the greatest impatience whilst he found the book. He put his hand on it at last and Dinah almost snatched if from him.

  ‘Thank you, Uncle,’ she said, and before he could say she must not take it out of the room, she and Lucy-Ann rushed out of the door and sped to the sitting-room as fast as they could. Another passage . . . this time to the island itself! What a thrill! Surely Uncle Jocelyn must be mistaken.

  ‘It’s quite likely it’s true, though,’ said Dinah excitedly. ‘I know this whole coast is honeycombed with caves and passages – it’s noted for that. Some districts are, you know, Lucy-Ann. I expect the passage joins up with the mine-workings that extend right under the sea-bed. We know there are miles of them.’

  The girls opened the funny old book. They could not read the printing, partly because it was so faded and partly because the letters were shaped differently from the ones they knew. They turned over page after page, looking for maps or pictures.

  The book was apparently a history of Craggy-Tops, which was hundreds of years old. In those days it must have been almost a castle, built securely on the cliff rock, protected by the sea in front, and the cliff behind. Now, of course, it was half ruined, and the family lived only in the few rooms that were still habitable.

  ‘Look,’ said Dinah, pointing to a queer old map, ‘that’s what Craggy-Tops was like in the old days. What a fine place! Look at the towers – and what a grand front it had!’

  They turned over the pages. They came to one that had a kind of diagram on it. The girls studied it closely. Then Lucy-Ann gave a shout. ‘I know what this is – it’s the secret passage from the cellar to the beach. Isn’t it?’

  It was. There was no doubt about that. The girls felt excited. Perhaps the book would show the other passage too.

  There were two or three more diagram-like maps, some of them so faded that it was impossible to see what they were meant to represent. Dinah gave a sigh.

  ‘I wish I could read this old printing. If I could, I might be able to find out whether any of these maps are meant to show the other secret passage – the one to the island. It would be so exciting to discover that. What a thrill if we did! What will the boys say when we tell them there’s actually a way to the island under the sea itself?’

  That made Lucy-Ann think of Jack, and her face clouded over. Where was Jack? Had Philip got Bill Smugs to go out in his boat and rescue him? Were they even now bringing Jack safely back again?

  As she thought about this, she heard Philip’s voice in the passage outside the sitting-room. She jumped up in delight. Had Philip and Bill brought back Jack already? How marvellously quick they had been! She ran to the door joyfully.

  But outside there were only Bill and Philip – no Jack. Lucy-Ann called out to them.

  ‘Where’s Jack? Haven’t you rescued him? Where is he?’

  ‘Bill’s boat has been smashed up by someone,’ said Philip, going into the room. ‘So we came to get Joe’s. And that’s gone too. I suppose Joe is doing some of his usual night fishing. So we’re stumped – don’t know what to do.’

  The girls stared at the two in dismay. No boat – no way of rescuing poor Jack? Lucy-Ann’s eyes filled with tears as she thought of Jack lost in those dark endless caves, with those fierce men ready to catch him and imprison him. She felt glad he had Kiki with him.

  ‘Oh, Philip,’ said Dinah, suddenly remembering, ‘do you know what Uncle Jocelyn told us tonight? He said there used to be a way under the sea to the copper mines – to the island! He knew about the other secret passag
e, but he didn’t think it was still usable. He was surprised. Oh, Philip, do you suppose the secret passage to the island is still there? Do you think it has been flooded by the sea – or fallen in? Oh, how I wish we could find it!’

  Bill looked suddenly interested. He picked up the book Dinah held. ‘This is a book about the old house?’ he asked. Dinah nodded.

  ‘Yes – our own secret passage is in it, the one we found ourselves – and I expect the other is too, only we can’t understand the old maps and the printing.’

  ‘Well, I can,’ said Bill, and became lost in the book, turning over the pages slowly, skipping a few here and there, looking for details of the way to the Isle of Gloom.

  He suddenly began to look excited, and turned over one or two pages very quickly. He looked hard at first one queer map and then another. Then he asked a peculiar question.

  ‘How deep is your well here?’

  ‘The well?’ said Philip, in amazement. ‘Ooooh – awfully deep – deep as the shaft-hole in the island, I should think. It goes down below sea level, anyway, but there’s not a trace of salt in it, of course.’

  ‘Look here,’ said Bill, and spelt out a few words in the book to make them clear to the children, and then he turned to a map. It showed a deep shaft going down into the earth. ‘See?’ said Bill. ‘The beginning of the passage to the island is down at the bottom of your well. It’s quite obvious that that would be the place, anyway, if I’d thought about it – you see, to go under the sea-bed to the mines means that the entrance must be below sea level – and that’s the only spot here below sea level – the well, of course!’

  ‘Gosh!’ said all three children at once. The well! They hadn’t thought of that. How extraordinary!

  ‘But – there’s water at the bottom of the well,’ said Philip. ‘You can’t go through the water, surely.’

  ‘No – look,’ said Bill Smugs, and he pointed to the map. ‘The entrance to the passage is above the water-line of the well. See? These must be steps, I should think, cut in an opening of the shaft, leading upwards a little way, and then through a passage in the rock itself – a natural crack, I imagine, such as this coast is full of – which someone discovered, followed up, and by means of pickaxes or blasting, made into a usable passage.’