The Valley of Adventure

  ‘All right, all right, old son,’ said Bill. ‘You shall come. Goodness knows what further adventure you’d get into if I left you behind.’

  Philip cheered up at once. He took Lizzie out of his pocket and introduced her to Bill. ‘Meet busy Dizzy Lizzie,’ he said, and Lizzie ran on to Bill’s knee.

  ‘Sounds like Kiki’s make-up,’ said Bill. ‘Busy Dizzy Lizzie! What a name for a lizard!’

  ‘I suppose we can’t get anything to eat here, can we?’ asked Philip, wondering if there were ever any eatables at a police station. ‘I’ve had chocolate to nibble at times, but that’s all.’

  ‘I was going to suggest that we should ask the good constable here to provide us with a really slap-up meal,’ said Bill. ‘We could go to the hotel, but you don’t look very presentable at the moment – you seem to exude bits of straw from top to toe. We’ll have a good meal and then give you a wash and brush-up.’

  The wind got up as they ate their meal. Bill stared out of the window. ‘Hope this wind dies down,’ he said. ‘Looks a bit stormy to me.’

  Bill was right. Just before it was time for them to set off in the car to the aerodrome, the telephone rang. Bill answered it. He listened gravely and turned to Philip.

  ‘There’s a gale warning out,’ he said. ‘Afraid it’s no good starting off yet, Philip. Very stormy weather where we want to go.’

  ‘Blow!’ said Philip, disappointed and anxious. ‘The others will be so worried, waiting and waiting for us.’

  ‘Yes, they will,’ said Bill. ‘But the aerodrome doesn’t give out warnings like this without reason. They are apparently expecting one of those sudden gale-storms that mean a plane must fly absolutely blind. Not so funny. We’ll have to wait a bit.’

  Philip looked upset. It would be too awful if those men got back to the valley before they did and perhaps caught the others. And he did so badly want Bill to catch the men red-handed – wanted him to get there before them and wait for them to come again and take away the treasures.

  ‘By the way, Bill – how do you know where to fly to?’ he asked suddenly. ‘I didn’t know what the valley was – or where – except that it is in Austria. Elsa and the old man told us that.’

  ‘It’s down in that interesting little notebook you gave me,’ said Bill, ‘together with other places where they may also find hidden treasures. Oh, that notebook told me quite a lot I wanted to know, Philip.’

  Bill got out a map and showed Philip exactly where the valley was. ‘It had a bad time in the war,’ he said, ‘and the only pass into it was bombed. It hasn’t been unblocked again, as far as I know. Plans were afoot to work on it this year. A man called Julius Muller – the one you were told to get in touch with – has been trying to get permission to unblock the valley and enter it.’

  ‘I wonder what happened to Otto,’ said Philip. ‘The poor prisoner, you know.’

  ‘His address is in the book,’ said Bill. ‘I have already asked for information about him, I daresay I shall get some soon.’

  He did. The telephone rang that afternoon and a voice informed Bill that Otto Engler had been found outside a big hospital, unconscious. He had almost died of heart trouble, but was making slight progress now, though he could not speak a word.

  ‘I bet those brutes ill-treated him and made him tell them the exact whereabouts of the treasure caves,’ said Philp, ‘and then took him and left him somewhere in the street, ill and terrified.’

  ‘Quite likely,’ agreed Bill. ‘They wouldn’t stop at much.’ The telephone bell rang again, and Bill took up the receiver once more.

  ‘Gale getting worse,’ he told Philip. ‘Have to put off our trip till tomorrow. Pity your mother’s so far away or we could have dropped in to see her. I’ve been trying to get her on the phone.’

  Philip did speak to his mother that afternoon, though it was only a three minute talk. Mrs Mannering was so relieved to hear his voice that she could hardly say a word herself. However, Philip found plenty to say, and had to stop halfway through because he was cut off.

  Next day dawned fair and warm. The wind had almost gone – blown itself out in the night, which had been extremely stormy and wild. Philip had awakened once or twice and had felt glad they had not tried to fly through it, for certainly it was a very wild storm.

  He had slept in a comfortable bed put up in the cell of the police station. This seemed very exciting to him. ‘First time I’ve ever passed a night in prison,’ he told Bill.

  ‘Well, I hope it will be the last,’ said Bill. ‘Prison is not a pleasant place, my boy.’

  Bill’s car was brought to the door. It was large and bright and swift. He and Philip got in, Bill started up the engine and they roared away. Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy miles an hour and more! Philip was thrilled.

  ‘She does go,’ he said. ‘Funny that a car seems faster than an aeroplane when you’re in it. Much more of a rush, somehow.’

  They reached the aerodrome at last. There was Bill’s plane, its propellers whirring fast. Beside it was another, very like it. Eleven men stood about, waiting. They saluted Bill.

  ‘Get into my plane,’ Bill ordered Philip. ‘I want a word with my men.’

  He had his word and got in. Five of the men got in Bill’s plane and six in the other. There was a terrific roar, and first Bill’s plane took off and then the other one. They flew into the wind, circled round, rose higher and then made off for the east.

  Philip gave a sigh of relief. Now things were on the move again. He would soon see the others. How glad they would be!

  After some time Bill spoke to Philip. ‘We’re coming to that valley of yours, Philip, now – or should be. Have a look out and see if you recognise it.’

  Philip looked down. ‘Oh yes!’ he cried. ‘That’s it! And look – there are four planes down there! That’s where we land! You’d better look out in case the men are about and shoot!’

  Bill’s plane roared down lower. It swung into the wind and landed perfectly. The second plane followed suit.

  The engines stopped. There was silence. Bill waited to see if anyone came running out. No, not a soul. He and the other men poured out. Philip followed.

  There seemed to be no one about at all. Bill told his men to scatter and make a search before they went any further. Soon one of them gave a shout. ‘Hey! There’s one of them here! All tied up like a chicken!’

  It was Pepi, half dead with cold and hunger. He was so glad to be set free that he did not show much surprise at seeing so many strangers. In charge of one of the men he tottered over to Bill.

  ‘Put him in the hut and lock him up,’ ordered Bill. ‘Who could have tied him up, Philip?’

  ‘I can’t imagine,’ said Philip, puzzled. ‘And look, Bill, here are two of our suitcases – fallen out of the tree, I suppose. Funny.’

  ‘There are still seven men to be accounted for,’ said Bill. ‘Right. Well, now – we’d better set off to these treasure caves. Look out, men, in case there’s any ambush. We don’t want to be shot up without warning.’

  They set off, Philip telling Bill the way. Bill was filled with amazement to see the valley, the towering mountains, the burnt ruins . . . it seemed so extraordinary to think of the four children marooned here in the middle of such thrilling adventures.

  ‘Can you hear the waterfall now?’ asked Philip eagerly, after a time. ‘I can! We’re getting near.’

  The men were amazed to hear the noise of the great waterfall, and even more astonished to see it. They did not say very much, for they were tough men, not easily surprised by anything. But they stood and stared for some time.

  ‘Now – careful – because we’re getting near to the cave entrance,’ said Philip at last. ‘Shall I go first? I think I’d better.’

  31

  An exciting finish

  Jack, Dinah, Lucy-Ann, Kiki and the old couple were still in the cave of stars. They had just finished their meal, and were wondering what to do. What a pity the old couple wouldn
’t come outside the mountain – it was such a lovely day!

  ‘We could easily go and sun ourselves there,’ said Lucy-Ann longingly. ‘There’s no danger from those men. They can’t get out of that locked door.’

  Just as she spoke, Jack clutched hold of her arm and made her jump. ‘Sh! I can hear voices.’

  They all listened fearfully. Yes – there were voices – coming down the tunnel that led from the cave of stalactites to the cave they were now in.

  ‘More men! Quick, hide!’ said Dinah urgently. In a panic the children began to run to the other end of the cave, stumbling and tripping, their feet echoing round the big vault.

  ‘Halt!’ cried a stern voice, and a big figure stood just inside the cave. ‘Stand still! Put your hands up!’

  Lucy-Ann knew that voice. Of course she did. ‘Bill! BILL!’ she squealed. ‘Oh, Bill, we thought you were never coming!’

  She ran across the cave and flung herself on the surprised Bill. Jack and Dinah followed, shouting in delight. Lucy-Ann caught sight of Philip and flung herself on him too.

  ‘Philip! Dear Philip, you did escape and get Bill!’

  Philip was astonished to see the children and the old couple there. He had left them in the treasure caves. How had they got out? And where were the men?

  The old couple came slowly up, half frightened to see so many people by the light of the powerful torches. Bill was gentle with them.

  ‘Poor frightened moles,’ he said to Philip. ‘Well, they will be well looked after and rewarded. Now – where are these men?’

  ‘I bolted them in,’ said Jack proudly. ‘They are prisoners in the treasure caves.’

  This was news to Philip – and, of course, to Bill too. They questioned Jack eagerly, and he told them how the old woman had shown them the hole behind the picture, and how they had managed to escape through it to the cave of echoes and from there to their own fern cave. Then how Jack had gone to the men’s hut, and had come up against Pepi and tied him up – finally how he had got his Great Idea, and slipped back to bolt the men in.

  ‘Well – that seems pretty good work to me!’ said Bill. ‘But it won’t be an easy job routing them out of those caves. I wonder if we could take them by surprise from the back – get in at the picture-hole and give them a shock.’

  ‘Oh yes!’ said Jack. ‘Of course you could. You could leave one or two of your men at the bolted door here, attracting the attention of the seven men – and whilst they are shouting and yelling at one another, the rest of your men could go in the other way and surprise them.’

  ‘That seems a very sound plan,’ said Bill, and gave some orders. He turned to Philip. ‘I’m leaving two men here. Take them to the bolted door in half an hour’s time, and they will then attract the men’s attention. Jack, you come with me and the others, and show me the way back to your fern cave, and through the cave of echoes to the passage that leads to the hole at the back of that picture.’

  The little procession set off. The two men left behind waited for half an hour and then went with Philip to the bolted door at the bottom of the curving steps. They rapped on it and shouted.

  An answering shout came from inside. ‘Who are you? Let us out! Open the door!’

  The men inside banged at the door and the men outside did the same. It was a perfect babel of noise. All the seven men were there, arguing, banging, demanding to be set free, and generally losing their tempers.

  Meantime Bill, Jack and the others had gone to the fern cave. They had crawled in, and found to their dismay that they had to wriggle through the drain-pipe hole at the back. One of them almost got stuck.

  ‘I must say you children manage to get into the most marvellous scrapes,’ said Bill, emerging from the hole into the cave of echoes. ‘My, I’m hot!’

  ‘Hot, hot, HOT, HOT!’ said the echoes at once. Bill jumped. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘That, that, THAT, THAT!’ shouted the echoes alarmingly. Jack laughed. ‘It’s only the echoes,’ he said. Kiki began to squawk, and then whistled like an express engine. The noise was deafening.

  ‘Kiki always does that here,’ said Jack, leading the way. ‘Shut up, Kiki! Bad bird!’

  Soon they were in the passage that led to behind the waterfall – but before they got there they came to the hole in the roof.

  ‘Have you got a rope on you, Bill?’ said Jack. ‘We’ve got to get up here. I used my rope to tie up Pepi. If you can get me on your shoulder, and shove me up, I can crawl into the hole, fix the rope and let it down.’

  It was soon done. One after another the men crawled into the hole, thinking that never in their lives had they done so much climbing, creeping and crawling. They looked at Jack in admiration. What a boy!

  Jack came to the hole behind the picture. He listened. Not a sound. The men were all at the bolted door, shouting, kicking and arguing.

  Jack gave the picture a push and it fell. The room was empty. He jumped down and the others followed one by one.

  ‘Hope there’s no more of this, sir,’ said one of the men to Bill. ‘You want thinner men for this job.’

  ‘Better go cautiously now,’ said Jack. ‘We are near the treasure caves. We go straight through three and then come to the cave of statues. That’s where the bolted door is.’

  ‘Quiet now,’ ordered Bill, and, treading softly in their rubber-soled shoes, the men moved slowly forward, revolvers glinting in their hands.

  Through the cave of gold – through the cave of books – through the cave of pictures. Jack laid his hand warningly on Bill’s arm. He could hear something.

  ‘It’s the men,’ he said. ‘Hark! – they must have got rocks or something to hammer at the door like that. They really will break it down, I should think, by the noise.’

  Bill stepped from the tunnel into the cave of statues. Although he had been prepared for them by Philip, he could not help jumping a little when he saw them in that dim greenish glow. His men stepped silently behind him.

  At the far end were the seven men. They had found a big rock and were using it as a battering-ram. Crash! It struck the door violently. Crash!

  ‘Now’s our chance,’ whispered Bill. ‘They have their hands full – not a revolver to be seen among them. Come on!’

  The men moved swiftly up behind Juan and the others. A sharp, stern voice barked out behind them:

  ‘Hands up! We’ve got you cold!’

  The men all had their backs to Bill. At his voice, they jumped in surprise, and put their hands above their heads at once. Then Juan swung round, his hands still high. His eyes swept the stern group of men in front of him.

  ‘How did you get here?’ he said, between his teeth. ‘What other way in is there? Who locked us in?’

  ‘No questions answered now,’ snapped Bill. He called loudly to the two men outside the door.

  ‘Hey, Jim! Pete! Unbolt the door. We’ve got ’em.’

  The door was unbolted. It swung open and Jim and Pete looked round it, grinning. ‘Pretty little play we had,’ said Pete. ‘Quite enjoyed it, I did.’

  Jack slipped down too. The girls had been told to keep away till the men had been captured. They were with the old couple in the cave of stars, waiting impatiently.

  Bill counted the men. ‘All seven here. Good. And we’ve got the eighth all right too. Pete, take these fellows back to the planes. Shoot at the first sign of trouble. I’ll stay here and have a look-see. It looks mighty interesting.’

  The men were marched off, handcuffed, swearing and stumbling. Jack watched them go, delighted to think that he had had the idea of bolting them in. Bill had clapped him on the back for that.

  Once the men had passed through the cave of stars, the girls came running to join Jack, Philip and Bill. They showed the astonished Bill everything. He whistled when he saw so many treasures.

  ‘Fortunes here,’ he said. ‘Well, it won’t be an easy task finding out where all these things came from and sending them back. Perhaps Julius Muller can help.’

&nbs
p; ‘And the old couple can too,’ said Lucy-Ann eagerly. ‘They know the histories of most of the statues, anyway.’

  The old man and his wife were collected on the way out and taken with everyone else to the planes. They made no objection now to going into the open air. They evidently thought that Bill was some Great Man Who Must Be Obeyed. They bowed to him whenever he spoke to them.

  ‘We’ll have to take them with us for questioning,’ said Bill. ‘But we’ll return them as soon as possible – to the village where this good man, Julius, lives. He may be good enough to look after these old people.’

  Everyone got into one or other of the planes. There were six of them. In three of them were the eight prisoners with their guards. In two others were pilots and the old couple. Bill’s plane carried the children.

  Their plane rose up, and the children looked down at the strange valley for the last time.

  ‘Yes, have a good look,’ said Bill. It will be in all the papers presently – the Valley of Treasure.’

  ‘No, Bill – the Valley of Adventure!’ said Jack. ‘That’s what we shall always call it – the Valley of Adventure!’

  ‘I’m glad we found Martha all right,’ said Lucy-Ann suddenly. ‘I did like her so much. She was sweet.’

  ‘Good heavens! Who’s Martha?’ said Bill, startled. ‘I thought the old woman was called Elsa. Don’t tell me Martha is someone we’ve left behind!’

  ‘Oh no, Bill – she’s sitting on Elsa’s knee now in one of the other planes – she might even lay an egg there,’ said Lucy-Ann.

  Bill looked even more astonished. ‘She’s a hen!’ explained Lucy-Ann. ‘She got left behind in the caves with the men and we were afraid she might have been killed by them. But she wasn’t. She hid under the table and came clucking to join us when we went to find her. You were busy looking at the gold, I expect.’

  ‘I must have missed her,’ said Bill. ‘To think I haven’t yet made the acquaintance of one of the ladies in this thrilling adventure. What a pity!’

  ‘What a pity, what a pity, what a pity!’ said Kiki at once. ‘Cluck-luck-luck! Pop goes Martha!’