‘Meet Dizzy Lizzie,’ said Philip politely.
‘I say – they must think we’re queer visitors!’ said Dinah, keeping a watchful eye on Lizzie in case she came any nearer. ‘Walking in like this – with a parrot and a lizard – and staying to dinner!’
‘I don’t think they are bothering much,’ said Philip. ‘Just enjoying the change. It must be nice to have company after being alone so long.’
When they had finished the meal, the old woman spoke to her husband. He turned to the children.
‘My wife says, are you tired? Would you like a rest? We have a beautiful place to rest in, when we want to enjoy the sun.’
This surprised the children very much. The sun! How did these old people ever see the sun – unless they went through all the cave and passages to the hole that gave on to the mountainside?
‘Where do you go to rest then?’ asked Jack.
‘Come,’ said the old man, and led him out of the little cell-like room. Elsa took Lucy-Ann by the hand. They all followed the old man. He went along a broad passage, hollowed out of the rock.
‘I should think most of these tunnels were hollowed out by underground rivers at some time or other,’ said Jack. ‘Then they took a different course, and the tunnels dried up, and became these passages, linking all the caves together.’
The passage twisted a little and then quite suddenly came into daylight. The children found themselves on a flat ledge of rock, hung about by ferns and other plants, full in the sun. How simply delicious!
‘Another way into the treasure caves,’ said Dinah. But she was wrong. Nobody could possibly enter the caves by way of the ledge. The ledge of rock jutted over a great precipice that fell sheer down many hundreds of feet. No one, not even a goat, could climb up or down to it. It was, as the old man said, a fine, sunny resting place – but that was all.
Martha pecked about on the ledge of rock, though what she could find there the children couldn’t imagine. Kiki sat near by and watched her. She had formed a firm friendship with Martha. The children rather liked Martha themselves. She was such a nice, plump little thing, friendly and natural, and as much of a pet to the old couple as Kiki was to them.
They all lay down in the sun. It was delicious to feel its warm rays after being so long underground. As they lay there they heard something rumbling in the distance.
‘The waterfall,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Fancy – we must be fairly near it, if we can hear it!’
They lay there sleepily. The old fellow sat on a rock near by, smoking a pipe. He seemed very contented. Elsa had disappeared.
‘Isn’t it strange to think we’ve found the treasure – and can’t do anything about it at all!’ said Dinah. ‘We’re stuck here. No way of getting word to anyone. And never will have, as far as I can see, till the pass into the valley is unblocked – and that may not be for ages!’
‘Oh dear – don’t say such gloomy things,’ begged Lucy-Ann. Anyway, the men are gone. That’s one good thing. I felt awfully afraid when they were in the valley too. Thank goodness they’ve gone!’
She spoke too soon. There came a familiar throbbing noise – and the children sat up at once.
‘The plane’s back! Blow! Those men will be about again now – and maybe they’ve even got the real truth out of Otto – where the treasure really is!’ said Jack. ‘We shall have to be jolly careful now.’
24
Juan finds the caves
The children held a council of war. What would be the best thing to do? Suppose the men did know the way into the treasure caves now, and came to them? They would begin to take away the treasure, that was certain.
‘And we can’t stop them,’ said Philip. ‘They are jolly tough men. They wouldn’t let a pack of children and two old people prevent them from taking what they wanted. I can’t think why they’ve come back unless it is to search for the treasure again and find it this time.’
Everyone agreed with Jack. ‘If only we could escape and get news to Bill,’ sighed Philip. ‘But there simply isn’t a way.’
The plane had not come into sight – they had only heard the sound of its engines. The old man did not seem to have heard anything at all. The children decided not to tell him, in case he got into a panic.
‘What do you think it would be best for us to do?’ said Philip. ‘Stay here with the old couple and see if the men do come and take anything away? We can hide somewhere quite easily. Or go back to our own fern cave beyond the waterfall? I always felt safe there. And we’ve got plenty of food there too.’
‘There’s plenty here,’ said Dinah. ‘Let’s stay here. After all, if the men do come, we can hide in that stalactite cave – there are plenty of hiding places there, behind those frozen columns. They won’t see us. One of us could always be on guard there, to see who comes in or out.’
‘Perhaps you’re right,’ said Jack. ‘We must just wait and see what happens. Once the men really do find the treasure caves, there will be a lot of coming and going – taking the treasure to the plane – taking off with it in the air – coming back again to fetch more – and so on.’
‘Shouldn’t be surprised if they bring more planes here, as soon as they’ve discovered exactly where the treasure is,’ said Philip. ‘It would be a slow business taking one or two crates at a time.’
‘Lucy-Ann is asleep,’ said Dinah. ‘I think I’ll snooze too. It’s so lovely here in the sun. Those men won’t be along yet, so nobody needs to be on guard in the caves.’
‘It would be almost better to be on guard at the entrance,’ said Philip thoughtfully. ‘Then we could spot anyone in plenty of time.’
‘Yes, that’s a much better idea,’ said Jack, settling down to snooze too. ‘I’m sure the men won’t be along today. The sun’s going down. They’ll wait till tomorrow.’
That night the children spent in the old couple’s ‘bedroom.’ It was a smallish cave leading off from their ‘sitting room,’ where the children had had their meal. In the ‘bedroom’ was a pile of rugs, spotlessly clean, and the old people insisted on giving up this room to the children.
‘We can sleep in chairs,’ said the old man. ‘That will be no hardship.’
The old woman covered Lucy-Ann up carefully and even kissed her goodnight. ‘She really thinks I’m Greta, her lost grandchild,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘I just can’t stop her making a fuss of me, because I’m so sorry for her.’
In the morning, after another good meal, Jack said he was going to take first watch at the entrance to the passage that led to the caves. Philip was to take second watch, two hours later.
The boy settled himself down on the edge of the hole, under the big slab of rock that stuck out from the hillside. It was a fine sunny morning. The others thought they would go and examine some of the statues in the statue cave, and the old man said he would tell them their histories, and where they had come from.
Jack sat there, gazing out down the hillside. He could see a long way. He could see scores of high mountains around, one behind the other. The pine forests on them looked like short grass. He put his field glasses to his eyes to watch the birds around.
It was a disappointing district for wild birds. There seemed to be very few. Jack swung his glasses from side to side of the hill, examining everything.
And then he suddenly got a tremendous shock. He had trained his glasses on to a bush, behind which he thought he had seen a quick movement. He had wondered if some bird or animal was hiding there.
He saw no bird. Instead, he saw the head and shoulders of Juan – and Juan was gazing steadily up at him through a pair of field glasses, just as Jack was gazing down at him through field glasses too!
Jack was simply petrified. He stared down through his glasses, and Juan stared up, each seeing the other quite clearly. So Juan had come once more to seek the treasure! Had he come to that cliff-side by chance – or had he got the same map from Otto that Jack had had?
‘I’ve given the show away properly now,’ thought Jack angr
ily. ‘I’ve only got to pop into this hole and he’ll know where the entrance is at once. But if I wander away on the hillside, he’ll be after me. What a fix I’m in!’
Juan did not take his eyes off Jack. He knelt there by the bush, his field glasses fixed on the boy, watching his every movement.
‘He can’t possibly see the hole that I’m sitting on the edge of,’ thought Jack. ‘I think perhaps it would be best if I left this place and began to climb up the hillside. If I do, and Juan follows, he may miss the hole altogether.’
He was about to do this, when Philip leapt up beside him.
‘My turn now, Freckles,’ said Philip. ‘Hallo, what are you looking at?’
‘Pity you came just then,’ said Jack. ‘There is Juan down there, Philip – and he’s got his glasses trained on to me – and on you too now! I was just about to crawl up the hillside to make him chase me, and perhaps miss this hole, when you came. Now he’ll know there’s a cave here and he’ll be up in no time.’
‘Golly!’ said Philip, alarmed. ‘We’d better warn the others at once then.’
‘Yes, it’s the only thing to do now,’ said Jack, and he jumped back into the hole. ‘Come on. It won’t take Juan long to be up here. Blow! Why didn’t I think he might be about already?’
They made their way quickly along the passage and through the many caves. They came to the little cell-like room and found the others there. Jack hurriedly told them what had happened.
‘We must hide,’ he said. But the old couple did not seem to take this in. They would not hide.
‘We have nothing to be afraid of,’ said the old man in a dignified manner. ‘They will not hurt us.’
‘You have plenty to be afraid of,’ said Jack desperately. ‘Do come and hide!’
But they wouldn’t. Jack could not waste any more time in arguing, because he wanted to get the girls to safety. He hurried them off.
‘In the cave of stalactites?’ asked Dinah. Jack nodded. But when he came to the cave of silent statues, he paused. Wouldn’t this be a better place? Suppose they all stood at the back, in the dim shadows, and posed like statues? Would anyone notice them? It was worth trying.
‘Take shawls off some of the figures,’ said the boy. ‘Wrap them round you. Stand quite still right at the back there.’
It didn’t take long to drape themselves and stand right at the back. ‘Do you remember that game called statues that we used to play?’ whispered Lucy-Ann. ‘You had to stand quite still, or you were caught. I feel like that now.’
‘Well, be sure you stand still or you will be caught,’ said Jack. ‘Sh! Isn’t that somebody?’
‘Shhhhhh!’ said Kiki at once. Jack smacked her on her beak.
‘Be quiet! Do you want to give us away, silly bird?’
Kiki opened her beak to squawk and then thought better of it. She flew off somewhere and disappeared. Jack was quite glad to see her go, for he didn’t want her chattering and attracting attention to them.
A noise came from the tunnel beyond. Somebody was already there. It must be Juan.
‘He’s already gone through the cave of stalactites and the cave of stars,’ whispered Philip. ‘Now he’s in the tunnel leading here. He’ll be at the door in a minute. Pity we didn’t shut it. He might not have guessed how to twist that iron stud to get it open.’
The door was almost closed, but not shut. As the children watched it, in the dim greenish glow of the cave, they saw it slowly pushed open. Then the gleaming barrel of a revolver came round it. Juan was evidently taking no chances.
Lucy-Ann gulped. Oh dear! She hoped the gun wouldn’t go off. She didn’t like guns at all.
The door was opened wide and Juan stood there, revolver in hand. He gasped when he saw the silent figures standing about, their curious eyes gleaming.
‘Put your hands up!’ said Juan sharply, to the statues. The statues did nothing of the sort. Juan’s hand trembled. The children guessed he was feeling panicky as they had felt when they too had first seen the strange silent company.
‘Wipe your feet!’ ordered a sharp voice, and the children jumped violently. It was Kiki. She was sitting just above Juan, on a ledge of rock.
‘Who’s there?’ shouted Juan. ‘I tell you I’ll shoot if anyone moves.’
The statues didn’t move – not even the four live ones.
‘Who’s there?’ called Juan again.
‘Three blind mice,’ answered Kiki, and went off into a terrible cackle of laughter. It was almost too much for Juan. He backed a little, and tried to see which of the statues was talking.
‘Pop goes the weasel!’ said Kiki, and then began to cluck like Martha. Juan’s hand trembled again. But he advanced a little, going down the step into the cave. Then he saw, as the children had seen, that the figures were only bejewelled statues, and he laughed loudly.
‘Fool!’ he said to himself.
‘Fool!’ repeated Kiki, and Juan swung round at once.
‘Who’s there? One of you children, I suppose. Wait till I get you!’
Kiki began to mew like a cat. The man looked for this unexpected cat, then decided it was one of the children again, playing a trick on him. Kiki flew silently to the next cave and began to talk to herself there.
‘One, two, button my shoe, see how they run!’
The man took one more glance at the company of statues and went into the next cave. The children heaved a sigh of relief. But they dared not move yet.
It seemed a very long time till the man came back. With him came the two old people, evidently very frightened. Juan shouted at them in their own language, and the children could not understand a word.
Then, without another glance at the statues, Juan went through the stout oaken door and shut it. The bang echoed loudly through the cave and made everyone jump.
Then they heard another sound which made their hearts sink. It was the noise of strong bolts being shot home on the other side of the door.
Crash! Crash, crash! All three bolts were shot firmly into place. Now the door could not possibly be opened from the inside.
‘Did you hear that?’ groaned Jack. ‘We’re prisoners now. If only we’d hidden in the cave of stalactites or the cave of stars, we’d have been all right. We could have got out of the hole. Now we can’t. We’ll have to stay here till the men set us free – if they ever do.’
25
Philip’s astonishing plan
The old couple looked panic-stricken when four of the statues apparently talked and came alive. But when the children took off their borrowed draperies and carefully gave them back to the right statues again, the old couple saw who they were.
Elsa came running to Lucy-Ann and hugged her. The old man stood trembling.
‘What did he say to you?’ demanded Jack.
‘He said he was going to make us prisoners here, and that he was bringing others back with him to remove all our treasure,’ said the old man. Tears suddenly poured down his cheeks. ‘He is a bad man. Have I guarded these beautiful things all this time to let them fall into the hands of a man so bad?’
‘It’s sickening,’ said Jack. ‘We simply can’t do a thing! We shall just have to stand by and watch those rogues take away everything, pack them into crates and fly off with them!’
‘Let’s go out to that sunny ledge,’ said Dinah. ‘I can’t bear this gloom any more. I shall feel better when we are out there. Let’s ask the old man if his wife would bring a picnic meal out there, Jack. You and Philip can help her to bring it. I can’t think properly down here in the dark, with all those statues trying to listen.’
‘All right,’ said Jack, seeing that Dinah was on the point of tears. ‘You go off with Lucy-Ann and Kiki. We’ll soon come. You’ll feel better in the sunshine.’
‘Wasn’t Kiki clever to lead the man away from us?’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘He was scared when she suddenly spoke to him. So should I have been! I should have thought it was one of the statues speaking.’
She and Dinah made
their way to the sunny ledge. Dinah threw herself down there thankfully.
‘I don’t like this adventure any more, Dinah, do you?’ asked Lucy-Ann. ‘It’s not so bad if there’s something we can do – but we seem to be helpless here.’
‘I like to make adventures go the way I want them to,’ said Dinah rather sulkily. ‘I don’t like them to make me do things I don’t like. Don’t talk to me, Lucy-Ann. I shall snap at you. I feel cross.’
‘It’s only because of the strain we went through whilst we were pretending to be statues,’ said Lucy-Ann.
‘Don’t sound so grown-up,’ snapped Dinah. ‘It’s not that – I just feel bad tempered because I want to get out of this valley and I can’t.’
Lucy-Ann said nothing more. She settled down in the sun, waiting for the picnic that Jack and Philip would soon be bringing out with Elsa. Kiki sat murmuring to herself near by. Martha the hen arrived and began pecking about companionably. Kiki talked to her, and she clucked back.
Dinah forgot her bad temper when the others came out with a picnic meal. They had a good feast and then discussed all the morning’s happening once more. In the middle of the discussion they heard the sound of the plane again, and this time saw it rising high into the sky.
‘Why, they’re off again!’ said Jack in surprise. ‘Why?’
‘Probably to get other men along to help in removing everything, now they really do know where the treasure is,’ said Philip. ‘And as you suggested, Jack – they might even bring more planes.’
It was hateful feeling that they were complete prisoners. Jack and Philip went desperately to the bolted door once and tried to move it – but it was hopeless of course. The bolts were old but still very strong.
There was nothing to do, and they felt bored. They went to examine the statues more closely and to look at the old pictures and the musty old books.
The statues were loaded with magnificent jewels. Some of the figures were really beautifully made and dressed, but others were crude and garish. Each one, however, was adorned with jewels, though the children were not able to tell if all the gleaming brooches, dazzling earrings and necklaces, glittering bracelets, belts and rings were really valuable or not. Probably some were, and others were only semi-precious.