Mystery of Banshee Towers (10 page)

Behind him came Bets, then Larry, then Daisy, Ern and Pip being the last two. Larry and Pip held the other torches, which gave a very good light in the black darkness of the strange passage. Ahead were the two dogs, very pleased and excited to think that Fatty and the others were using the passage they had found some days before!

“My word - isn’t it steep!” shouted Fatty, and made the others jump - for his voice sounded very strange in the narrow passage - not at all like Fatty’s usual voice! It was muffled and mysterious, and had a queer echo.

“Steep-tee-eep!” came the echo. The dogs didn’t like it. They stopped, pricked their ears, and whined.

“It’s all right, Buster.” said Fatty. “Only the echo. Carry on!”

“Carry-on, arry-on - on - on!” said the echo, and the dogs barked angrily. That was worse still, of course! The rocky passage was immediately full of wild barks, and the dogs were very frightened indeed. Was this place full of hundreds of dogs? They made their way back to Fatty in alarm, and he patted them, and spoke quietly, trying to defeat the curious echo.

“Now, now - it’s all right. Good dogs! VERY good dogs! Go on now - show us the way.”

“Way,” said the echo, also quietly. “Way-way-waaaaay!”

After they had all climbed a good while, very glad indeed of their torches, Fatty stopped for a rest. The last bit had been very steep indeed. He waited until the others had come up close, and then spoke.

“We
should
be near Banshee Towers now,” he said. “You remember that there is a trap-door under the old cauldron - well, that means that any noise we make now may echo up into the Armour Room. So be very quiet, please - just in
case
anyone is there.”

Without a word, and making as little noise as possible, the six went climbing up. Fatty made the dogs keep close to him, so that he could prevent them barking.

But before they came to the trap-door they came to something that surprised them very much! Fatty saw it first, of course, because he was leading. His torch suddenly showed him a big space just in front, and he stopped in surprise. The tunnel had widened out into a kind of underground room - a room with an uneven rocky floor, and equally uneven rocky walls. Fatty was able to stand completely upright. He shone his torch round the underground room in surprise.

He gave a short whistle. “Whew! What’s all this? Quick, everyone, come and look!”

They crowded into the strange rocky room. It was quite empty except for three things: a piece of peculiar-looking machinery - something that looked like a deflated balloon - and a chair!

“What on
earth
is all this?” said Pip, shining his torch on the machinery.

“At a guess I should say it was the machinery that sets the dear old banshee wailing at the top of her voice!” said Fatty.

“Are you sure?” said Bets. “What’s that balloon thing for? Shine your torch on it, Fatty.”

“I should think that this balloon is inflated by a pump worked by that bit of machinery,” said Fatty. “And then, when it
de
flates, it makes that screaming, wailing banshee noise.”

“But how is it that it’s heard all over Banshee Towers?” asked Bets, puzzled.

“Oh, there are probably amplifiers in every room,” said Fatty, who always seemed to know everything. “You know - things that magnify any sound, and make it tremendously loud. Don’t you remember how loud the wailing was when we heard it the other day? And how clear and distinct it was?”

“Oh yes,” said Bets, shivering as she remembered the horrible noise. “But Fatty - what a peculiar thing to do - to fill the place with wails like that! I should have thought it would frighten people away - not bring them here!”

“Yes. It seems a bit odd when you put it like that, Bets,” said Fatty, fiddling about with the machinery. “I wonder how this works. What’s this wheel for?”

He turned the wheel to the right. Nothing happened. He turned it to the left - and, very suddenly indeed, something began to work inside the machinery - clank - click - clonk - click - clunk…

“It’s working! Turn it off, quick!” cried Bets, afraid of what might happen. But Fatty didn’t. He watched the machine, a little grin on his face. Oh, Fatty, Fatty - you know quite well what you’ve done!

The balloon-thing began to move. Buster saw it trembling, and he growled and showed his teeth. Bingo immediately did the same. The balloon grew bigger and bigger - and then came another loud click, and something fell into place and began whining. The children couldn’t see what it was.

“I bet that’s the amplifier getting ready to work!” said Fatty, his eyes gleaming. “We’ll hear something in a minute. Don’t be scared, little Bets. It’s only machinery. Ah - here we go!”

And then, from the now fully-inflated balloon, came a weird, unhappy sound - a wailing that held everyone spellbound, it seemed so human! Bets took Fatty’s hand at once, frightened at the strange noise. It sounded so very very heart-rending.

“It’s only a very clever trick, Bets,” said Fatty, in a low voice. “Just a bit of machinery - and a specially fitted-up balloon - and an amplifier to make the wails very loud indeed. All fitted neatly into a most convenient underground hole in a rock. I wonder if Mr Engler is at the bottom of this!”

“Oh. Fatty - PLEASE stop the machine!” begged Bets. “I HATE this wailing. I HATE it.”

Fatty pulled a little lever. The machinery slowed down. The balloon gradually deflated. The wailing grew slower and softer, and then stopped altogether. There was a marvellous silence, and everyone enjoyed the sudden peace. Bets heaved an enormous sigh.

“Ooooooooo! I shall never hear a more horrible noise in all my life than that wailing. Fatty, no real banshee could ever have wailed like that, surely.”

“I should find it very difficult to believe in a real banshee, Bets,” said Fatty, examining the machinery carefully, by the light of his torch. “I even find it difficult to believe in a man like Engler, who is wicked enough to rig up a thing like this. But unfortunately,
he’s
real enough! Well, what do we do now?”

“Fatty, please let’s go up through the trap-door if we can, and have a look at those pictures again,” begged Ern. “I do want to see if Bets remembers the one that the boat was in. If she does, I’ll know I’m right about it. If she doesn’t - well, then there’s no mystery. I’m beginning to hope there isn’t! What with banshees, and disappearing boats, and hidden machinery I feel rather sick!”

“Well, don’t be sick in here Ern, there really isn’t room!” said Fatty, briskly. “Right - we’ll go up through the trap-door - providing nobody’s about. But I think that if there had been, we should have had a visitor down here pretty quickly, trying to find out WHY the banshee wailed all on her own! I have a feeling that the place really
is
shut up today.”

Fatty went to an opening in the furthest wall of the queer little rock-room, and shone his torch into it. “Just as I thought!” he announced. “Steps! Steps cut into the rock, just like a ladder! I bet it’s the steps we saw leading down from that hole in the hearth, where the trap-door was!”

The others crowded round him. Yes - there were the steps that they had seen the other day from above! “I’ll go first,” said Fatty. “Better make no noise, just in
case
anyone’s about. But I feel certain there isn’t, or whoever was here would have come rushing to see why the banshee machinery was suddenly working!”

Everyone was silent as Fatty climbed the rocky steps. He soon came to the top, but could see nothing above his head but the trap-door set firmly in its place. “Here goes!” said Fatty, and gave it a push upwards. It upset the iron cauldron standing over it and this fell over on its side with a terrific clatter that scared Fatty almost as much as it frightened the others down below!

He stood at the top of the steps, listening. To his enormous relief he could hear nothing - no shouts of surprise, no clatter of running feet - nothing! The place must be completely empty. Well, thank goodness for
that
!

Fatty climbed out of the trap-door hole and looked round. The place seemed absolutely deserted. Well, now they could examine the pictures to their heart’s content - and maybe solve the mystery of the missing boat!

One by one he hauled the others up from the hole in the hearth. The dogs were handed up last of all by Ern, and were very glad to scurry around and stretch their legs properly! How they had hated that wailing!

“I want to look at that lovely sea-picture,” said Bets, at once. “Ern, come with me.”

She and Ern hurried through the Armour Room into the great hall where the pictures hung. Yes - there they all were, in their blues and greens, sunshiny, stormy, windy, some of them stretching from floor to ceiling.

“Here’s that boat-picture,” called Ern, standing in front of it. “Do you remember it, Bets?”

“Oh
yes
!” said Bets. “Yes - there was a little red boat that’s not there now. I
know
there was one, Ern, it was on this wave here, wasn’t it?” And Bets touched one of the waves not far from the bottom of the picture.

“Yes!” said Ern, triumphantly. “That’s
exactly
where it was, Bets. I told you that, didn’t I, Fatty? Now Bets has told you too. We can’t both be wrong!”

“Fatty - where do you think the boat has gone?” said Bets, really puzzled. “It doesn’t look as if it’s been washed out or painted over.”

“A big wave probably caught it and it sank to the bottom,” said Pip, solemnly. “That’s the simplest explanation, Bets.”

“Don’t be so
silly
!” said Bets, quite worried over the vanished boat. “Fatty, I’d like to look at some of the other pictures too.”

But before they could do that, dogs, who had been wandering happily about together, suddenly stood still and began to growl, their hackles rising on their necks. Fatty shushed everyone at once.

“Get back into the Armour Room, girls. Somebody’s coming!” he whispered. “Buck up. You’ll have to get down the trap-door quickly, and run for your lives! We shall be in real trouble if we’re found here. Larry and Pip, look after the girls!”

The two girls shot off into the Armour Room with Pip and Larry, and were soon down the steps. They wanted to wait for Ern and Fatty, but Larry wouldn’t let them. “You’re in my charge now,” he said. “Quickly now - get along underground!”

Fatty too went to the Armour Room with Ern, hoping there would be time for them both to slip down the hole. But there wasn’t! He just managed to push the cauldron quickly over the trap-door and step back on to the hearth-rug.

Footsteps came to the door of the room and a voice snapped out. “Stand where you are! What’s all this? How did you get in, you boys! Answer me at once!”

14 - PRISONERS -
NOW
WHAT CAN BE DONE?

It was Mr Engler who stood there, shouting! He looked extremely angry, and his face was very red. Behind him stood the turnstile man, a sneering smile on his face. Buster flew at them, with Bingo behind him, and both dogs were kicked hard by the two men, and howled in pain.

“Call off these dogs, or I’ll kill them,” said Mr Engler, pulling a great sword from the wall, where it had been hanging.

“SIT, Buster, SIT, Bingo!” shouted Fatty, his heart cold with fear. To his enormous relief both dogs sat at once, growling savagely, their hackles still up. Thank goodness Buster had been trained to be instantly obedient, thought Fatty. Bingo, of course, had just copied Buster. How fierce they both looked, showing their teeth, longing to get at these two men who dared to shout at Fatty and Ern.

“Good thing they obey you,” said Mr Engler, still holding the sword. “I like dogs, or I wouldn’t give them a chance. Now explain your presence here, please. The door was locked - so I presume you came in through one of the windows. I saw that one was open when I came - the one on the first floor. Easy enough to climb up ivy, isn’t it - easy to break into a place. You boys will have to explain all that when you come before the police!”

Fatty was thankful that the man thought they had broken in through an open window. He said nothing. He was certainly not going to explain about the trap-door in the hearth! If the man didn’t know of it, well and good!

“Oh, don’t take us to the police, sir,” blurted out Ern, thinking of Goon’s face, if he, Ern, were taken to the police station. “Please don’t. We weren’t doing any harm, reely we weren’t. We were just looking round, like.”

“I’ve seen these kids before, sir,” said the turnstile man. “Cheeky lot they are, too. Six of them have been coming up - with these dogs. I
told
them dogs weren’t allowed. I was a bit afraid these kids might find out what we…”

“Shut up, Flint, you fool!” snapped Mr Engler, clearly afraid that he was about to say something he didn’t want the boys to hear. “Go and begin to load the van. and be sharp about it. I’ll deal with what’s not ready, and you can fetch it later.”

He turned to the two listening boys. “I’m afraid you are going to have a very poor week-end,” he said. “I’ve decided
not
to hand you over to the police - but to leave you all alone here, without food or drink for two or three days. Just to teach you what happens to lads who break into places! Oh, you needn’t think you can get out of the window you so easily slipped in by! I shall tie you up and lock you in this room, and when I come back on Monday - or maybe Tuesday - I’ll listen to your apologies and let you go - perhaps!”

“But, sir - our parents will be so worried,” began Fatty. “We haven’t done any harm. We apologize
now
. We do really. Don’t we, Ern? “

“Ooooh yes,” said Ern, fervently, a little surprised to hear Fatty talking in such a humble voice. Why, Fatty sounded
scared
! “First time I’ve ever seen him frightened,” thought Ern.

“You can apologize when you next see me, and have had time to think what fools you have both been,” said Mr Engler. The turnstile man grinned sarcastically. He was very, very glad to see that “cheeky fat boy” as he thought of him, standing there, caught so easily.

“Tie them up,” said Mr Engler, to the turnstile man. “I’m going to see if Poussin is there. He’s about due now.”

Fatty wondered who Poussin was. It was a French name, so maybe it was the French artist. He stood waiting for the turnstile man to tie up him and Ern. “Got to go and get some rope, if you want me to tie them up,” said the man, turning.