The Ship of Adventure

  ‘Oh, Bill!’ said Lucy-Ann almost in tears. ‘It’s too bad. Isn’t there any way through?’

  ‘Well – send Micky to see,’ said Bill. ‘If there’s even a small hole Micky will find it. You know what monkeys are. Send him, Philip.’

  ‘Go, Micky – go and hunt about,’ said Philip. Micky looked at him enquiringly. He did not like this business of exploring dark passages, but he leapt off Philip’s shoulder and obediently went off on an exploration of his own. Kiki watched him and then flew to a ledge at the top of the immense stone doorway.

  ‘Send for the doctor,’ she said in a hollow voice. ‘Polly’s got a cold. Send for the doctor.’

  Micky bounded up to join her. He scurried about, putting his paw here and there, into crannies and crevices. But obviously there was nothing to find, for he soon came back and leapt on to Philip’s shoulder, nestling closely into his neck.

  ‘No go,’ said Bill. He set the lantern down on the floor, meaning to put the map away. Just as he was folding it up Lucy-Ann gave an astonished cry.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ said Jack, startled.

  ‘Look – what’s that over there – on the floor? Surely, it’s – it’s – a torch battery!’

  Philip saw the thing she meant and went to pick it up. He brought it to the light of the lamp. ‘Yes – that’s just what it is – an old worn-out battery from a torch rather like Bill’s. Bill – you haven’t dropped a battery, have you?’

  ‘Of course not,’ said Bill. ‘Yes, this is certainly an old battery – somebody must have thrown it down and put a new battery into his torch – whoever he may be! We are obviously not the only ones to know this place!’

  Lucy-Ann shivered. She was sorry she had spotted that battery now. It made her feel uneasy. Who had been in this walled-up cave, and why?

  ‘Let’s go, Bill,’ she said. ‘We can’t do any good here – it’s all walled up. Let’s go back to Andros. I don’t like this.’

  ‘Right. We’ll go back,’ said Bill. ‘In any case, we ought to go now. We’ve been here ages, and we’ve got to get back to the ship tonight. Come along.’

  They made their way out of the cave, down the narrow passage in the rocky hill and came to the hole. They climbed round the two-fingered rock and made their way to the creek.

  And then they got a terrible shock. The motor boat was gone! They stared as if they could not believe their eyes.

  ‘Where’s the boat?’ said Dinah feebly.

  They looked up the creek and down. No sign of the boat at all. How very extraordinary! And then Jack gave a cry and pointed out to sea.

  ‘Isn’t that it? Look – right out there?’

  They all strained their eyes, and Bill nodded his head grimly. ‘Yes – that looks like it. What on earth made Andros go off without us? What an astounding thing to do!’

  ‘He was fast asleep in the boat when I got the lantern,’ said Jack. ‘Never stirred. Everything seemed all right then.’

  ‘Blessed if I understand it,’ said Bill, looking bewildered. ‘He seemed a good trustworthy chap – and I haven’t even paid him. What in the world has possessed him to act like that?’

  ‘That boat’s going pretty fast,’ said Philip. ‘Almost out of sight now. Well, well, well – here we are marooned on our treasure island, sure as eggs are eggs!’

  Lucy-Ann was very much alarmed. She took Bill’s arm. ‘What are we going to do?’ she said. ‘Are we to stay here, Bill?’

  ‘Lucy-Ann, of course we are,’ said Jack before Bill could answer. ‘Where are we to go if we don’t stay here? Have you got an aeroplane stowed away somewhere, ready for this emergency?’

  ‘Shut up, Jack,’ said Bill, putting his arm round Lucy-Ann. ‘We shall be all right, don’t fret, Lucy-Ann. It’s only one of our adventures!’

  19

  All kinds of shocks

  They stood there for a little while, not certain what to do. It was all so very unexpected. Then Bill shook himself and grinned round at the others.

  ‘Well – it looks as if we’ve got to spend the night here, doesn’t it? – and get our supper ourselves. Thank goodness we’ve got the food that extraordinary boy brought on his donkey! And Jack’s got the rest of our picnic lunch as well.’

  ‘Oh, yes – I’d forgotten that!’ said Dinah, pleased. She had been thinking they would have nothing to eat.

  ‘We can go and tuck in straight away,’ said Bill. ‘We’ll find somewhere to sleep all right – it’s very warm, and we shan’t come to any harm. I don’t particularly want to go and find one of those farms we saw, in case Andros takes it into his head to call back for us. He must have gone crazy.’

  It was a curious evening that they all spent on Thamis. They went to find the store of food and had a very good meal indeed. They put the rest of it safely back in the cool place they had stored it in at first. Then they went wandering round the silent, ruined old city again. Lucy-Ann found an old pot with a broken neck, which she was very pleased with. Jack found some kind of metal fork – at least that is what he took it to be – with two of its prongs gone.

  Bill had been hunting about for some place to sleep in. He had not been very successful. At last he chose a room not far from the ruined temple, one that had three walls and a little roof left. It was overgrown with thick grass but would have to do for a bedroom.

  The sun was going down. It would soon be gone. Bill decided to put the food in the ‘bedroom’ too – it would be handy if they wanted any. He and the boys removed it from the place it was in and put it carefully in some thick, cool grass. They were glad there was such a lot!

  When the sun disappeared everyone felt tired. Lucy-Ann was yawning her head off, and so was Kiki. Micky explored the ruined little room thoroughly, approved of it and settled down on Philip as soon as the boy had made himself a fairly soft bed in the thickly growing grass.

  The four children fell asleep at once. Kiki perched herself quietly on Jack’s middle as soon as she knew he was asleep. He had pushed her off two or three times, but this time he did not wake, and she remained where she was, her head tucked under her wing.

  Bill lay and looked up at the stars he could see through the holes in the roof. He was angry with himself for bringing the children to Thamis. Now they had landed in difficulties again – all because of a legendary and most elusive treasure, one that certainly had not existed for years – if it had ever existed at all!

  He puzzled over the boy on the donkey who had brought the food. He puzzled over the blocked-up entrance and the battery Lucy-Ann had found. But more than anything he puzzled over the sudden disappearance of Andros.

  He was just about to fall off to sleep when he heard a noise. Micky must have heard it too, because he stirred and his small head looked round the ‘bedroom’. Bill lay and listened, holding his breath. Was it a noise he had heard?

  Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a voice! Then another voice, deep and complaining. Where did they come from?

  He sat up cautiously and listened again. The voices came once more, and then Bill heard footsteps – footsteps coming down the ruined city street! He did not like it at all. Who on earth was walking through the old dead city in the middle of the night?

  Kiki had heard the voices too. She flew out of the room she was in and hid herself under the ledge of an arch, waiting. The footsteps came nearer. The voices came too, talking together. Bill silently posted himself beside a broken window opening and watched. There was only starlight to see by, but he might be able to make out something.

  Two dark figures came up the street. They stopped every now and again. It seemed to Bill as if they were looking in the ruined buildings to find something. Would they look into this one and find the children? Bill debated whether he should go out and accost these people. Who were they, anyway?

  Then he decided that people who walk the streets of a ruined city at dead of night are not perhaps the best people to ask help from, and he remained where he was.

  The two d
ark figures arrived nearby. He heard their voices again, but they spoke in a foreign language – Greek, probably – and he could not understand a word. They were obviously looking for something, Bill thought – and then he suddenly guessed what it was.

  The food, perhaps! Maybe the boy had brought it for them – and they had not been there – but Bill had, and had got it instead. Now the men were looking for it, sure that the boy had dumped it somewhere.

  ‘They’ll look in here then, sure as anything,’ thought Bill. But they didn’t. Just as they got to the broken doorway, near where the parrot was perched, Kiki went off like a pistol shot.

  CRACK!

  The children all woke up at once and sat up. They were too startled to make a sound, and as soon as they heard Bill’s ‘Shh!’ they sat silently waiting.

  The two men were most alarmed. Bill could see them clutching one another. They said something rapidly, obviously asking each other what that noise was.

  Kiki considered them. She didn’t like them. She began to cackle with laughter, and this horrified the men more than anything else could have done. Kiki’s laughter was so completely idiotic that it froze them to the marrow.

  Kiki stopped. She swelled out her throat and began to make her famous noise of an express train screeching through a tunnel, getting louder and louder and louder. It was a magnificent effort and had very satisfactory results.

  The men yelled too, in panic, and set off as fast as they could, certain that something terrible was coming after them. Kiki sent another pistol shot after them and then relapsed into cackles.

  ‘Well, really, Kiki,’ said Bill, when the two men were completely gone. ‘What a performance!’

  ‘Who was it out there, Bill?’ asked Dinah.

  ‘I’ve no idea,’ said Bill. ‘But I have a feeling it was two hungry fellows come to look for the food the small boy presented us with today. Anyway, they’ve departed in a great hurry.’

  ‘Kiki was marvellous, wasn’t she?’ said Jack. ‘Good old Kiki! Clever bird!’

  Kiki gave an outsize hiccup. ‘Pardon! Send for the doctor! Pop goes the weasel.’

  ‘Yes. Very nice. But that’s enough now,’ said Jack. ‘Bill, who do you think those men were?’

  ‘I’ve just told you – I’ve no idea,’ said Bill. ‘This place beats me. Come on, let’s go to sleep again. I don’t somehow think those fellows will come back – and if we have any other visitors I’ve no doubt Kiki will deal with them!’

  They settled themselves off to sleep again. Bill lay awake wondering a little more, then he too fell asleep. He did not wake till morning.

  The others were already awake. Jack had awakened very thirsty and had gone to look for water. He found a well beside a tumbledown house some way down the hill, and saw water in it. It was not long before he had rigged up a way of bringing up the water, which was crystal clear and cold. He tied string round the broken pot Lucy-Ann had found and lowered it down the well. It did not hold much water because the neck was broken, but it was enough for them all to quench their thirst. They had breakfast off the rolls and cheeses, and hoped the boy would come again that day!

  ‘Go down and see if there’s any sign of the boat, Jack,’ said Bill when they had finished. So off he went, and soon came back to report that the creek was empty. No boat was anywhere to be seen.

  ‘Well – we shall just have to wait about, that’s all,’ said Bill. ‘It will only be a question of time till we are taken off. Tim will wonder what’s happened, for one thing. Or Andros will discover he’s done a crazy thing, and come back for us!’

  At about twelve o’clock they heard the dong-dong-dong of the donkey’s bell again, and round the same corner came the imp of a boy. Bill knew what to do this time! He and the others unpacked the food, the boy was paid and, with the donkey’s bell ringing loudly, he departed, much better pleased with his reception. Everyone stared after him.

  ‘Really very extraordinary,’ said Bill. ‘Let’s hide the food quickly, before the real recipients come along. We’ll have a meal ourselves too. I’m hungry!’

  They dragged the food to the room in which they had slept the night before, and had a good meal before they hid the rest. Bill wondered if he should find his way to one of the farms for help. But what help could they give? And what kind of a reception would he get? Anything might happen to him on this lonely island. He might be robbed and kept prisoner, or even killed.

  Jack asked Bill to give him the map to study – the redrawn one. ‘Not that it’s going to be much use,’ said Jack with a grin. ‘Now that I’m on Thamis I don’t think so much of it as I did. And it’s difficult to believe in treasure when all you can see around you is a lot of ruins.’

  Bill gave him the map. Jack took it into the space once occupied by the temple, and sat down in a corner. Lucy-Ann came to sit with him. Kiki settled between them, murmuring companionably.

  The two red heads bent over the map together. ‘It’s got so many things on it that I can’t make anything out,’ said Jack. ‘“Two-Fingers” – well, we know what that means, all right – and now look here – a lot further on it says “Bell”. Well, what does that mean? Bell! What has a bell? A donkey, of course – and schools have bells – and—’

  ‘Churches,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘I expect this old temple had a bell once upon a time. I wonder where it was.’

  She looked round and about but could see no place where a bell could have hung.

  Jack looked at her suddenly. ‘Lucy-Ann – of course – a temple would have a bell. The temple may be one of the clues, one of the guides to the treasure.’

  ‘Do you think so?’ said Lucy-Ann doubtfully. ‘But – surely the treasure would have been hidden deep underground somewhere – not in the temple up here. We know the entrance to the secret passage was far down the hill, just above the creek.’

  ‘Would it be hidden under the temple, perhaps?’ said Jack. ‘Or somewhere near? Maybe the temple had vaults. I say – that’s an idea! If this one once had vaults, they must still be there. Vaults don’t become ruins, like buildings. They’re not exposed to wind and rain and sun. Vaults! Yes – going deep down into the hill – reached by an underground passage from the creek – a passage that could be approached easily enough from the sea – could be used by sailors who wanted to smuggle in goods. Lucy-Ann, there must be vaults! Come on – we’ll look for them.’

  Lucy-Ann, half excited, half disbelieving, got up and followed Jack. He began to hunt all over what must have once been the courtyard. It was too overgrown to tell if any way could be found underground.

  They leaned against a great half-broken column to rest themselves. There was a large piece out of the column just above their heads, and Kiki flew up there to perch. At that moment Micky came bounding into the old courtyard of the temple, followed by the others. He saw Kiki and leapt up beside her.

  She wasn’t expecting him, and was startled and angry. She gave him such a violent nip that he lost his balance on the ledge – and fell backwards into the inside of the enormous column!

  He shrieked with fright as he fell, and Kiki poked her head inside the hole to see what had happened to him.

  ‘All gone,’ she announced in a hollow voice. ‘All gone. Ding-dong-bell.’

  ‘You idiot, Kiki!’ shouted Philip. ‘Hey, Micky, Micky! Come on up!’

  But there was no Micky. Only a little whimpering cry came up. ‘He’s hurt,’ said Philip. ‘Here, Jack, give me a leg-up. I’ll go down into the column after him. He can’t have fallen very far.’

  Jack gave him a leg-up. He got on to the broken place, swung his legs in and was about to jump down when he stopped and looked in cautiously.

  ‘Hey, Bill!’ he called. ‘Hand me your torch. I’d better look before I leap, I think. There’s something odd here!’

  Bill handed him up his torch. Philip switched it on and looked down into the hollow of the great column. He turned and looked back at the others.

  ‘I say – it’s amazing. It looks
as if there’s steps at the bottom of this column! What do you think of that?’

  20

  Exploring the treasure route

  Everyone was amazed. Steps! Stone steps leading downward at the base of the hollow stone column! Jack gave a loud whoop.

  ‘I bet they go to the vaults!’

  ‘What vaults?’ asked Dinah in astonishment. But Jack was too excited to tell her.

  ‘Bill – let’s go down. Come on. We’re on the track of the treasure. Didn’t the map say “Bell”? Well, the temple must have a bell. I bet the treasure’s somewhere underneath!’

  ‘You’re talking double Dutch,’ said Bill, not following this at all. ‘Philip – come down. Don’t attempt any scatterbrained exploration till we get the lanterns, and till I have a look myself. Do you hear me?’

  ‘Yes, right, Bill,’ said Philip reluctantly, and jumped down. ‘Micky’s down there somewhere – he must have fallen on the steps and gone bumping down. I can still hear him whimpering.’

  ‘I expect he got a bit of a shock,’ said Bill. ‘Go and get the lanterns and also the food, you boys. If we are going underground, we’d better prepare ourselves!’

  Before the boys returned Micky had come back – a Micky very frightened and sorry for himself indeed. He looked for his beloved Philip but he wasn’t there, so he went to Lucy-Ann and let her nurse him like a baby. He whimpered all the time, and Lucy-Ann was very distressed.

  ‘Now, now – you haven’t really hurt yourself,’ she consoled him. ‘Just a bruise or two, I expect. It was very, very naughty of Kiki. Still, you’ve made a wonderful find, Micky. Really wonderful!’

  Kiki was very ashamed of herself. She went into a corner and put her head under her wing. Nobody took any notice of her at all.

  The boys came back. Bill had had a good look down the hollow column with his torch. It puzzled him how the ancient folk, who had used the column as a way of getting underground, had made an entry in it. He could see no way of entry at all – except, of course, through the great hole broken in the column.