Five Fall Into Adventure (16 page)

- the sea’s too rough for us to attempt any swimming, and the cliff’s unclimbable above the ledge!’

‘I’ll go and have a look and see if they have blocked up that hole,’ said Dick. ‘They may be bluffing.’

But it hadn’t been bluff. When Julian and Dick shone their torches on to the hole in the roof, they saw that a great rock was now blocking it up.

They could not get through the hole again. It was impossible to move the rock from below. They went soberly back to the front cave and sat out on the ledge in the light of the sinking sun.

‘It’s a pity poor Jo was found,’ said George. ‘And an even greater pity she had to give up the key! Now Red and the others will go free.’

‘They won’t,’ said Jo, surprisingly. ‘I didn’t give them the key of the tower room. I’d another key with me - the key of the kitchen larder! And I gave them that.’

‘Well, I’m blessed!’ said Julian, astounded. ‘The things you do, Jo! But how on earth did you happen to have the key of the larder?’

Jo told them how she had taken it out and locked herself in when she was having a meal there.

‘I had to unlock the door to get out again, of course,’ 'she said. ‘And I thought I’d take that key, too, because, who knows? - I might have wanted to get into that larder again and lock myself in with the food!’

‘No one will ever get the better of you, Jo,’ said Dick with the utmost conviction. ‘Never.

You’re as cute as a bagful of monkeys. So you’ve still got the right key with you?’

‘Yes,’ said Jo. ‘And Red and my Dad and Jake are still locked up in the tower room!’

‘But suddenly a most disagreeable thought struck Dick. “Wait a bit!’ he said. ‘What’s going to happen when they find they’ve got the wrong key? They’ll be down here again, and my word, what’ll happen to us all then!’

The thought that the men might soon return even angrier than they had been before was most unpleasant.

“Famous Five 09 - Five Fall Into Adventure” By Enid Blyton
72

‘As soon as Markhoff tries the key in the door of the tower room he’ll find it won’t unlock it, and he’ll know that Jo has tricked him!’ said George.

‘And then he’ll be in such a fury that he’ll tear down here again, and goodness knows what will happen to us!’ groaned Julian. ‘What shall we do? Hide again?’

‘No,’ said Dick. ‘Let’s get out of here and climb down the cliff to the sea. I’d feel safer there than up here in this cave. We might be able to find a better hiding-place down on the rocks in that little cove.’

‘It’s a pity my boat’s smashed,’ said George, with a sigh for her lovely boat. ‘And, I say -

how are we going to get old Timmy down?’

There was a conference about this. Timmy couldn’t climb down, that was certain. Jo remembered the rope still hanging down the side of the cliff to the ledges below - the one she had tied there to help Julian and Dick climb up the steep sides of the cliff.

‘I know,’ she said, her quick mind working hard again. ‘You go down first, Julian, then Dick. Then George can go - each of you holding on to the rope as you climb down, in case you fall.

‘Then I’ll haul up the rope and tie old Timmy to it, round his waist - and I’ll lower him down to you. He’s so sleepy still, he won’t struggle. He won’t even know what’s happening!’

‘But what about you?’ said Dick. ‘You’ll be last of all. Will you mind? You’ll be all alone up on this ledge, with the men coming behind you at any minute.’

‘No, I don’t mind,’ said Jo. ‘But let’s be quick.’

Julian went down first, glad of the rope to hold to as his feet and hands searched for crevices and cracks. Then came Dick, almost slipping in his anxiety to get down.

Then George climbed down, slowly and anxiously, not at all liking the steep cliff. Once she glanced down to the sea below, and felt sick. She shut her eyes for a moment and clung with one hand to the rope.

It was a dreadful business getting Timmy down. George stood below, anxiously waiting.

Jo found it very difficult to tie Timmy safely. He was big and heavy, and didn’t like being tied up at all, though he really seemed hardly to know what was going on. At last Jo had got the knots well and securely tied, and called out to the others.

‘Here he comes. Watch out that the rope doesn’t break. Oh, dear - I wish he wouldn’t struggle - now he’s bumped himself against the cliff!’

It was not at all a nice experience for poor Timmy. He swung to and fro on the rope as he was slowly let down, and was amazed to find that he was suspended in mid air.

Above him Jo panted and puffed.

‘Oh, he’s so awfully heavy! I hope I shan’t have to let go. Look out for him!’ she screamed.

The weight was too much for her just at the last, and the rope was let out with rather a rush. Fortunately Timmy was only about six feet up then, and Julian and George managed to catch him as he suddenly descended.

‘I’m coming now,’ called Jo, and without even holding the rope, or looking at it, she climbed down like a monkey, seeming to find handholds and footholds by magic. The others watched her admiringly. Soon she was standing beside them. George was untying Timmy.

‘Thanks awfully, Jo,’ said George, looking up gratefully at Jo. ‘You’re a wonder. Tim must have been frightfully heavy.’

“Famous Five 09 - Five Fall Into Adventure” By Enid Blyton
73

‘He was,’ said Jo, giving him a pat. ‘I nearly dropped him. Well - what’s the next move?’

‘We’ll hunt round this queer little cove a bit and see if there’s any place we can hide,’

said Julian. ‘You go that way, George, and we’ll go this.’

They parted, and began to hunt for a hiding-place. As far as Julian and Dick could see there was none at all, at least on the side they were exploring. The sea swept into the cove, swelling and subsiding - and just outside the great waves battered on to the rocks.

There was certainly no chance of swimming out.

There was suddenly an excited shriek from George. ‘Ju! Come here. Look what I’ve found!’

They all rushed round to where George was standing, behind a big ledge of rock. She pointed to a great mass of something draped with seaweed.

‘A boat! It’s covered with seaweed - but it’s a boat!’

‘It’s your boat!’ yelled Dick, suddenly, and began to pull the fronds of seaweed madly off the hidden boat. ‘Markhoff didn’t smash it! It’s here, perfectly all right. He couldn’t find it -

it was hidden so well with seaweed - so he just came back to Red and told him a lie.’

‘He didn’t smash it!’ shouted Jo, and she, too, began to pull away the seaweed. ‘It’s quite all right - there’s nothing wrong with it. He didn’t smash it!’

The four children were so tremendously surprised and joyful that they thumped each other ridiculously on the back, and leapt about like mad things. They had their boat after all - George’s good, sound boat. They could escape, hip hip hurrah!

A roar from above made them fall silent.

They gazed up, startled. Markhoff and the other two men were on the ledge far above, shouting and shaking their fists.

‘You wait till we get you!’ yelled Markhoff.

‘Quick, quick!’ said Julian, urgently, pulling at the boat. ‘We’ve got just a chance. Pull her down to the water, pull hard!’

Markhoff was now coming down the cliff, and Jo wished she had untied the rope before she herself had climbed down, for Markhoff was finding it very useful. She tugged at the boat with the others, wishing it wasn’t so heavy.

The boat was almost down to the water when something happened. Timmy, who had been gazing at everything in a most bewildered manner, suddenly slid off the ledge he was on and fell straight into the sea. George gave a scream.

‘Oh, Timmy! He’s in the water, quick, quick - he’s too doped to swim! He’ll drown!’

Julian and Dick didn’t dare to stop heaving at the boat, because they could see that Markhoff would soon be down beside them. George rushed to Timmy, who was splashing around in the waves, still looking surprised and bemused.

But the water had an amazing effect on him. It was cold and it seemed to bring him to his senses quite suddenly. He became much more lively and swam strongly to the rock off which he had slipped. He clambered out with George’s help, barking loudly.

The boat slid into the water, and Julian grabbed at George. ‘Come on. In you get. Buck up!’

Jo was in the boat and so was Dick. George, trying to clutch at Timmy, was hauled in, too. Julian took a despairing look at Markhoff, who was almost at the end of the rope, about to jump down. They just wouldn’t get off in time!

“Famous Five 09 - Five Fall Into Adventure” By Enid Blyton
74

Timmy suddenly slipped out of George’s grasp and tore madly over to the cliff barking warningly. He seemed to be perfectly all right. The sudden coldness of the sea had washed away all his dopeyness and sleepiness. Timmy was himself again!

Markhoff was about five feet above the ledge when he heard Timmy barking. He looked down in horror and saw the big dog trying to jump up at him. He tried to climb up quickly, out of Timmy’s reach.

‘Woof!’ barked Timmy. ‘Woof, woof, woof! Grrrrrrr!’

‘Look out - he’ll have your foot off!’ yelled one of the men above on the ledge.

‘He’s mad - angry - he’s savage. Look out Mark!’

Markhoff was looking out! He was terrified. He clambered up another few feet, and then found that Timmy was making runs at the cliff to try and get up after him. He went up a bit further and clung to the rope with one hand, afraid of falling and being pounced on by the furious Timmy.

‘Come on, Timmy!’ suddenly cried George. ‘Come on!’

The four of them had now got the boat on the waves, and if only they had Timmy they could set off and row round the rocks at the cave entrance before Markhoff could possibly reach them.

‘Timmy! Timmy!’

Timmy heard, cast a last regretful look at Markhoff’s legs, and bounded across to the boat. He leapt right in and stood there, still barking madly.

Markhoff dropped down the rope to the ledge - but he was too late. The boat shot out to the entrance of the cove and rounded it. In half a minute it had disappeared round the rocky corner and was out at sea.

Julian and Dick rowed steadily. George put her arms round Timmy and buried her face in his fur. Jo did the same.

‘He’s all right again, quite all right,’ said George, happily.

‘Yes, falling into the cold water did it,’ agreed Jo, ruffling up his fur. ‘Good old Timmy!’

Timmy was now snuffling about in the bottom of the boat joyfully. He had smelt a lovely smell. Jo wondered what he had found. Then she knew.

‘It’s the packet of sandwiches we brought with us in the boat and never ate!’ she cried.

‘Good old Timmy - he’s wolfing the lot!’

‘Let him!’ said Julian, pulling hard at the oars. ‘He deserves them all! My word, it’s nice to hear his bark again and see his tail wagging.’

And wag it certainly did. It never stopped. The world had come right again for Timmy, he could see and hear properly again, he could bark and caper and jump - and he had his beloved George with him once more.

‘Now for home,’ said Julian. ‘Anne will be pleased to see us. Gosh, what a time we’ve had!’

“Famous Five 09 - Five Fall Into Adventure” By Enid Blyton
75

EVERYTHING OKAY

It was getting dark as George’s boat came into Kirrin Bay. It had seemed a very long pull indeed, and everyone was tired out. The girls had helped in the rowing when the boys had almost collapsed from exhaustion, and Timmy had cheered everyone up by his sudden high spirits.

‘Honestly, his tail hasn’t stopped wagging since he got into the boat,’ said George. ‘He’s so pleased to be himself again!’

A small figure was on the beach as they came in, half-lost in the darkness. It was Anne.

She called out to them in a trembling voice.

‘Is it really you? I’ve been watching for you all day long! Are you all right?’

‘Rather! And we’ve got George and Timmy, too!’ shouted back Dick, as the boat scraped on the shingle. ‘We’re fine!’

They jumped out, Timmy too, and hauled the boat up the beach. Anne gave a hand, almost crying with joy to have them all again.

‘It’s bad enough being in the middle of an adventure,’ she said, ‘but it’s much, much worse when you’re left out. I’ll never be left out again!’

‘Woof,’ said Timmy, wagging his tail in full agreement. He never wanted to be left out of adventures either!

They all went home - rather slowly, because they were so tired. Joan was on the look-out for them, as she had been all day. She screamed for joy when she saw George.

‘George! You’ve got George at last! Oh, you bad children, you’ve been away all day and I didn’t know where and I’ve been worried to death. George, are you all right?’

‘Yes, thank you,’ said George, who felt as if she was about to fall asleep at any moment.

‘I just want something to eat before I fall absolutely sound asleep!’

‘But where have you been all day? What have you been doing?’ cried Joan, as she bustled off to get them a meal.

‘I got so worked up I went to the police - and what a silly I felt - I couldn’t tell them where you’d gone or anything. All I could say was you’d gone to find a man called Red, and had rowed away in George’s boat!’

‘The police have been up and down the coast in a motor-boat ever since,’ said Anne.

‘Trying to spot you, but they couldn’t.’

‘No. Our boat was well hidden,’ said Dick. ‘And so were we! So well hidden that I began to think we’d stay hidden for the rest of our lives.’

The telephone bell rang. Julian jumped. ‘Oh, good - you’ve had the telephone mended.

I’ll go and ’phone the police when you’ve answered this call, Joan.’

But it was the police themselves on the telephone, very pleased to hear Joan saying excitedly that all the children were back safely. ‘We’ll be up in ten minutes,’ they said.

In ten minutes’ time the five children and Timmy were tucking into a good meal. ‘Don’t stop,’ said the police sergeant, when he came into the room with the constable the children had seen before. ‘Just talk while you’re eating.’