Five Go Down to the Sea (13 page)

Everybody cheered up at once. „I feel quite hungry," said Anne in surprise. „It must be past our dinnertime now. Well, anyway, eating wil be something to do!"

They had a very good meal and felt thankful that Mrs Penruthlan had packed up so much food. If they were not going to be let out til the next day they would need plenty to eat!

They examined the boxes and crates. Some were very old. Al were empty. There was a big seaman"s chest there, too, with „Abram Trelawny" painted on it. They lifted the lid. That was empty, too, save for one old brass button.

„Abram Trelawny," said Dick, looking at the name. „He must have been a sailor on one of the ships that the Wreckers enticed to the rocks. This chest must have been rol ed up on the beach by the waves and brought up here. I dare say this cave was the place where the man who owned that old house took his share of the booty and hid it."

„Yes, I think you"re right," said Julian. „That is why it has a door that can be locked. The Wrecker probably stored quite a lot of valuable things here from different wrecks, and didn"t want any other Wrecker to creep up from the cave and take them. What a hateful lot they must have been! Well, there doesn"t seem anything of real interest here."

It was very, very boring in the cave. The children used only one torch because they were afraid that if they used the two they had brought they might exhaust both batteries, and then have to be in the dark.

Julian examined the cave from top to bottom to see if there was any possible way of escape. But there wasn"t. That was quite clear. The cave walls were made of solid rock, and there wasn"t a hole anywhere through which to escape, big or small!

„That fel ow said we"d come at an awkward time," said Julian, throwing himself down on the ground. „Why? Are they expecting some smuggled goods tonight? They"ve signalled out to sea twice already this week, as we know. Hasn"t the boat they expected come along yet? If so, they must be expecting it tonight, and so we"ve come at an awkward time!"

„If only we weren"t locked in this beastly cave!" said George. „We might have spied on them and seen what they were up to, and might even have been able to stop them somehow, or get word to the police."

„Well, we can"t now," said Dick gloomily. „Timmy, you were an ass to get caught; you real y were."

Timmy put his tail down and looked as gloomy as Dick. He didn"t like being in this low-roofed cave. Why didn"t they open the door and go out? He went to the door and whined, scraping at it with his feet.

„No good, Tim. It won"t open," said Anne. „I think he"s thirsty, George."

There was nothing for Timmy to drink except home-made lemonade, and he didn"t seem to like that very much.

„Don"t waste it on him if he doesn"t like it," said Julian hastily. „We may be jolly glad of it ourselves tomorrow."

Dick glanced at his watch. „Only half past two!" he groaned. „Hours and hours to wait.

Let"s have a game of some sort, noughts and crosses would be better than nothing."

They played noughts and crosses til they were sick of them. They played word-games and guessing games. They had a light tea at five o"clock and began to wonder what Mrs Penruthlan would think when they didn"t turn up that evening.

„If Mr Penruthlan is mixed up in this affair, and it"s pretty certain that he is," said Julian, „he"ll not be best pleased to be told to fetch the police to look for us! It"s just the one night he won"t want the police about!"

„I think you"re wrong," said George. „I think he"d be delighted to have the police looking for lost children, and not poking their noses into his affairs tonight!"

„I hadn"t thought of that," said Julian. How slowly the time went by. They yawned, talked, fel silent, argued and played with Timmy. Julian"s torch flickered out and they took Dick"s instead.

„Good thing we brought two torches!" said Anne.

Half past nine came and they all began to feel sleepy.

„I vote we try to go to sleep," said Dick, yawning hugely. „There"s a sandy spot over there, softer to lie on than this rock. What about trying to sleep?"

They all thought it was a good idea and went to the sandy spot. It certainly was better than the hard rock. They wriggled about in the sand and made dents for their bodies to lie in.

„It"s stil hard," complained George. „Oh, Timmy darling, don"t snuffle all round my face. Lie down beside me and Anne and go to sleep, too!"

Timmy lay down on George"s legs. He put his nose on his paws and heaved a huge sigh.

„I hope Timmy"s not going to do that all night," said Anne. „What a draught!"

Although they thought they couldn"t possibly go to sleep, they did. Timmy did, too, though he kept one ear open and one eye ready to open. He was on guard! No one could open that door or even come near it without Timmy hearing!

At about eleven o"clock Timmy opened one eye and cocked both ears. He listened, not taking his head off George"s legs. He opened the other eye.

Then he sat up and listened harder. George woke up when he moved and stretched out a hand to Timmy. „Tim, lie down," she whispered. But Timmy didn"t. He gave a small whine.

George sat up, ful y awake. Why was Timmy whining? Was there something going on outside the door, men passing perhaps, on their way to the cove? Had the light been flashing out to sea and had it brought in the boat the men were waiting for?

She put her hand on Timmy"s collar. „What is it?" she whispered, expecting Timmy to growl when he next heard something. But he didn"t growl. He whined again.

Then he shook off George"s hand and went to the door. George switched on her torch, puzzled. Timmy scraped at the door and whined again. But stil he didn"t growl.

„Ju! I believe someone is at the door!" cal ed George, suddenly, in a low voice. „I believe Timmy can hear a search-party or something. Wake up!"

Everyone awoke suddenly. George repeated her words again. „Timmy"s not growling.

That means it"s not our enemies he hears," she added. „He"d growl like anything at the man who locked us in."

„Be quiet for a moment and listen," said Julian. „Let"s see if we can hear anything ourselves. We haven"t got Timmy"s sharp ears, but we might be able to hear something."

They sat absolutely stil , listening. Then Julian nudged Dick. He had heard something.

„Quiet!" he breathed. They listened again, hardly breathing.

They heard a little scrabbling noise at the door. Then it stopped. George expected Timmy to break out into a fusil ade of barks at once, but he didn"t. He stood there with his head on one side and his ears cocked. He gave an excited little whine and suddenly scraped at the door again.

Somebody whispered outside the door, and Timmy whined and ran to George and then back to the door again. Everyone was puzzled.

Julian got up and went to the door himself, his feet making no sound. Yes, there was most certainly somebody outside, two people, perhaps, whispering to one another?

„Who"s there?" said Julian suddenly. „I can hear you outside. Who is it?"

There was dead silence for a moment, and then a smal familiar voice answered softly:

'It"s me. Yan."

„Yan! Gosh! Is it real y you?"

„Iss."

There was an amazed silence in the cave. Yan! Yan at this time of night outside the door of the very cave they were locked in! Were they dreaming?

Timmy went mad when he heard Yan speaking to Julian. He flung himself at the door, barking and yelping. Julian put his hand on his col ar. „Be quiet, idiot! You"l spoil everything! Be quiet!"

Timmy stopped. Julian spoke to Yan again. „Yan, have you got a light?"

„No. No light. It is dark here," said Yan. „Can I come to you?"

„Yes, of course. Listen, Yan. Do you know how to unlock and unbolt a door?" asked Julian, wondering whether the half-wild boy knew even such simple things.

„Iss," said Yan. „Are you locked in?"

„Yes," said Julian. „But the key may be in the lock. Feel and see. Feel for the bolts, too.

Slide them back and turn the key if there is one."

The four in the cave held their breath as they heard Yan"s hands wandering over the stout door in the dark, tapping here and there to find the bolts and the lock.

Then they heard the bolts being slid smoothly back. How they hoped their captor had left the key in the lock!

„Here is a key," said Yan"s voice suddenly. „But it is so stiff. My hand isn"t strong enough to turn it."

„Try both hands at once," said Julian urgently.

They heard Yan trying, panting with his efforts. But the key would not turn.

„Blow!" said Dick. „So near and yet so far!"

Anne pushed Dick out of the way, an idea suddenly flooding into her mind. „Yan! Listen to me, Yan. Take the key out of the lock and push it under the bottom of the door. Do you hear me?"

„Iss, I hear," said Yan, and they heard him tugging at the key. There was a sharp noise as it came suddenly out of the lock. Then, lo and behold! it appeared under the bottom of the door, slid through carefully by Yan!

Julian snatched it up and put it into the lock his side. He turned the key, and unlocked the door. What a wonderful bit of luck!

Julian flung open the door. Timmy leapt past him and yelped with delight to find Yan standing outside. He fawned on the boy and licked him, and Yan laughed.

„Let"s get out of here, quick!" said Dick. „That man may be along at any moment, you can"t tel ."

„Right. Explanations later," said Julian. He hustled everyone out, took the key from the inside lock and shut the door. He inserted the key into the outside lock and turned it. He shot the bolts, took out the key and put it into his pocket. He grinned at Dick.

„Now if that fel ow comes along to see how we are he won"t even know we"re gone! He won"t be able to get in to see if we"re there or not."

„Where shall we go now?" asked Anne, feeling as if she was in a peculiar kind of dream.

Julian stood and considered. „It would be madness to go back up the passage and into the old house," he said. „If there"s any signal ing going on, and there"s pretty certain to be, we shall be caught again. We"d be sure to make a noise scrambling out of that hole in the fire-place."

„Well, let"s take that other passage we saw, the righthand one," said George. „Look, there it is." She shone her torch on it. „Where does it lead to, Yan?"

„To the beach," said Yan. „I went down it when I was looking for you all, but you weren"t there, so I came back and found that door. There is nobody on the beach."

„Well, let"s go down there, then," said Dick. „Once we feel we"re out of danger"s way we can plan what"s best to do."

They went along the other passage, their torch showing them the way. It was a steep tunnel, and they found it rather difficult going. Anne managed to give Yan a squeeze.

„You were clever to find us!" she said, and Yan gave her a smile which she couldn"t see because of the dark.

They heard the sound of waves at last and came out into the open air. It was a windy night, but stars were shining in the sky, and gave quite a fair light after the darkness of the passage.

„Where are we exactly?" said Dick, looking round. Then he saw they were on the same beach as they had been a few days before, but a good way farther along.

„Can we get back to the farm from here?" said Julian, stopping to consider exactly where they were. „Gosh! I think we"d better hurry. The tide"s coming in! We"ll be cut off if we don"t look out!"

A wave ran up the sand almost to their feet. Julian took a quick look at the cliff behind them. It was very steep. They certainly couldn"t climb it in the darkness! Would there be time to look for a cave to sit in til the tide went out again?

Another wave ran up, and Julian"s feet felt suddenly wet. „Blow!" he said. „This is getting serious. The next big one wil sweep us off our feet. I wish the moon was out. These stars give such a faint light."

„Yan, is there a cave we can go to, a cave open to the air, not inside the cliff?" said George, anxiously.

„I take you back by the Wreckers" Way," said Yan, surprisingly. „Iss. You come with me."

„Of course, you said you knew the Wreckers" Way," said Julian, remembering. „If it comes out near here, we"re in luck"s way! Lead on, Yan. You"re a marvel! But do hurry, our feet got wet again just then, and at any moment a giant of a wave may come!"

Yan took the lead. He led them into cove after cove, and then came to a larger one than usual. He took them to the back of the cove, and led them a little way up a cliff path.

He came to a great rock. He squeezed behind it and the others followed one by one.

Nobody could ever have guessed that there was a way into the cliff behind that rock.

„Now we are in the Wreckers" Way," said Yan proudly, and led them on again. But suddenly he stopped and the others all bumped into one another. Timmy gave a short, warning bark, and George put her hand on his col ar.

„Somebody comes!" whispered Yan, and pushed them back. Sure enough, they could hear voices in the distance. They turned and hurried back. They didn"t want to walk into any more trouble!

Yan got to the front and led them back to the big rock. He was trembling. They all squeezed out behind it, and Yan went along the cliff face to a tiny cave, real y only a big ledge with an overhanging roof. „Ssssssssss!" he said warningly, sounding like a snake!

They sat down and waited. Two men came out from behind the rock, one a big man, and one a smal one. Nobody could see them clearly, but Julian hissed into Dick"s ear:

„I"m sure that"s Mr Penruthlan! See how enormous he is!"

Dick nodded. It was no surprise to him to think that the giant farmer should be mixed up in this. The five children held their breath and watched.

Yan nudged Dick and pointed out to sea. „Boat comes!" he whispered.

Dick could see and hear nothing. But in a few moments he did hear something, the whirr of a fast motor-boat! What sharp ears Yan must have! The others heard the noise, too, through the crashing of the waves on the rocks.

„No light," whispered Yan, as the noise of the boat grew louder.