The Mystery of Adventure Island (21 page)

Climbing into the lead dinghy, the inspector yelled out to Sarah and Quigley. “You two come with me.”

Sarah climbed down into the craft as the wind whipped at her blonde hair. For
once
she was glad that she didn’t have long hair like her sister.

As Quigley joined her in the dinghy, two officers took the oars and started rowing towards the inlet. Followed by the other craft, they headed towards the frothing water, where rocks
could be seen
above the surface.

With Quigley helping with the directions, and Sarah yelling out every now and then, they were able to pass the rocks and reach the beach.

As the officer threw the oars on the sand, the inspector waved at the patrol boats to show that they were all right before heading up the side of the cliff.

~

Will looked down at the men who were now not far away. “We don’t have any pine cones left, so we need to get away from here. If I tie a rope to that nearby tree, we could climb down it and escape.”

“But how are you going to get across to it?” Amy asked looking at the gap that was in between the branches.

“I’ve climbed many trees before, so I’ll be fine. As for that gap, I’ll jump,” Will
said
.

“Just be careful,” Amy said.

“I will.” Will tied one end of the rope around a thick branch before tying the other around his waist. Climbing out onto a branch, he edged along it.

Amy looked down at the men. “If only we had something else to throw down.”

Joe suddenly thought of something. “I’ve got an idea.” He knelt down on the platform and lowered himself onto the first of the wooden footholds.

Looking down, he saw that the men had another five or so to go before they reached him. Knowing that he had to be fast, he climbed down another two footholds. Then, with Luke closing in, he grabbed an upper branch with his hands and, gripping tightly, stomped down onto the foothold.

It moved slightly. He tried again. It moved yet again.

“Hey!
Stop!”
Luke yelled.

Joe glanced down and saw the man hasten his pace. He realised he only had one chance.
One last chance to slow down the men.
One last chance to stop them from getting the paintings.
It was all up to him.

Taking a deep breath, he gripped the upper branch as hard as he could, raised his feet off the foothold, and pushed them down onto the wood with all the force that he could muster.

Nothing happened.

For a moment, Joe thought that it was all over. Then, suddenly, the wood gave way. Breaking into two pieces, it tumbled down, nearly hitting Luke in the face. Joe grimly smiled, but he
couldn’t
relax or shout out for joy yet. The battle
may have been won
, but the war was far from over.

He swung his legs
to and fro
before they landed on another branch. Standing on it, he pulled himself up onto the next foothold. He considered doing what he had done to the other one, but he realised it would be hard, if not impossible to do. There was no overhanging
branch which
meant that he would have nowhere to place his hands.

If the foothold fell, he would go down as well. To fall at this height would mean a serious injury, so that was out of the question. Anyway, as he looked down at the man who had now reached the place where the foothold used to be, he could see that he had
del
ayed him.

It was possible to climb up using the branches and not the foothold, which he would now have to do, but at least it had slowed them down.

Climbing up onto the platform, he was just in time to see Amy wrap her end of the rope tightly around a thick branch. She looked towards him. “Did you slow them down?”

“Yes, but not for long.”
Joe peered across to the other tree and saw that Will was safely across. He waved and Will waved back.

Joe turned to Amy. “You’d better go next.”

“Shall I take the paintings or will you carry them?” Amy asked.

“I’ll carry the rucksack.” Joe watched on as Amy took hold of the rope and, with both hands clutching it tightly, stepped out onto a nearby branch.

It was slow going for Amy, and as Joe looked down at the men and saw them trying to climb up, he knew that time was running out.
But
he didn’t say anything. He
didn’t
want his sister to rush and fall.

He watched as she reached the spot where she had to jump off the branch and land on the branch connected to the other tree. This was the trickiest bit and one that would require the biggest amount of concentration on her part.

Holding his breath, he waited for Amy to jump. It seemed like forever as he watched her steady herself. Then, she jumped.

As she clutched the other branch and held on, Joe sighed with relief. Tearing his eyes away from her, he looked down at the men.

They were making progress, much faster than he would have liked. After going to the rucksack, he put the two paintings inside and put it on.

He waited until Amy had reached Will before he grabbed the rope. He
hadn’t
wanted to hold onto it until she had finished, but maybe he should have.

Glancing down, he saw that Luke was almost at the platform. He realised that as soon as he went across, the man would follow him. He needed to find a solution and fast. An idea came into his head. One that was so wild that it might just work.

Joe yelled to Will. “Tie the rope to a higher branch.”

“What? Why?” Will asked.

“Just do it!” Joe yelled.

Will obeyed, and as he climbed up to a higher branch with the rope, Joe looked down at the edge of the platform as a hand became visible. He needed to get moving.

“What are you doing?” Amy shouted.

Joe
didn’t
answer as he untied his end of the rope as Will gave a wave and a nod to indicate that the rope was now tied.

Joe moved to the edge of the platform and stood where there was nothing blocking his way. If he crashed into a tree going fast, it would not be a pretty sight.

Looking back to see where the men were, he saw Luke clamber up onto the platform. He had to go now. He turned around and told himself to step off, but he
couldn’t
.

He muttered to himself as he tried to
ur
ge himself to step
off
.
But
he couldn’t. This was worse than all of his previous hair-raising escapades, such as being dragged along the water in Smugglers Cove and climbing
up
the cliff near
Bracknesh
Castle
.

“Give me the painting, boy,” Luke called out. “I won’t hurt you. I just want the paintings.”

“No!” Joe shouted, glancing back.
“Never.”

“Why, you...” Luke snarled as he reached out his hand to grab the rucksack.

Joe pulled the rope tight, closed his eyes, and stepped off.

~

The inspector peered through the binoculars as he looked towards the church. He was able to see two people
beside
the building. “Okay, men, let’s move in before it starts to rain again.” He looked towards Sarah and Quigley and then at an officer.
“Stay with those two here.
I don’t want them in harm’s way.” He ran down the hill.

Sarah turned to Quigley. “I want to see if the others are safe.”

“I’m sure they will be. As soon as all the men are caught—” Quigley said.

“I don’t want to wait that long,” Sarah replied. “If you don’t want to go, I’ll go by myself.”

As she walked off, the police officer yelled out. “Hey, you’re supposed to stay here until the inspector comes back.”

Sarah paused for a moment. “I’m going to find my brother and sister.” She raced off.

~

As soon as Joe heard the wind whip past his face, he opened his eyes. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he sailed closer and closer to the ground.

He could hear Amy and
Will
shout out, but couldn’t understand what they were saying. Gripping tightly to the rope, he hung on for dear life.

The ground seemed to rush towards him and he grimaced, expecting to smash into it.
But
, luckily that didn’t happen. As Joe swung back and forth, with each swing getting smaller than before, he looked up at the others and waved.

They waved back and he grinned with relief. Stepping off had been the most scary thing that he had ever experienced, and he had lived to tell the tale.

As the rope slowed down, he jumped onto the ground. Touching the dirt with his hands, he was glad to be on solid ground once more.

~

High in the trees, the others watched as Joe hurried to the tree that they were sitting in. Suddenly, he tripped, falling
fla
t on his face.

“Oh no!”
Amy exclaimed.

Will watched in horror as Marvin appeared from behind a tree and grabbed the paintings from the rucksack. “He must have been waiting for Joe and tripped him up.”

“And we can’t do anything,” Amy muttered.

The two of them could only stand still and watch on as the man, with a painting in each hand, took off running.

Amy saw Joe stagger to his feet. She
didn’t
think that he would race after the man who already had a good distance on him, and she was right.

Joe yelled up to them, “Sorry. There was nothing I could do.”

Will
turned
to Amy. “I guess that’s it then.”

Amy sighed. “I guess you can’t win all the time.”

~

Sarah was halfway down the hill when she spotted someone coming towards her. Hiding behind a tree, she saw it was Marvin. He was clutching a painting in each hand.

Sarah
didn’t
know what was going on, but she knew that she couldn’t let him escape. She saw that if he continued going in the same direction, he would pass very close to the tree that she was hiding
behind
.

An idea crept into her head. Hunting around, she picked up a long, thick stick and knelt down behind the tree.

Listening carefully, she heard Marvin approach. The seconds seemed like minutes as she waited for the right moment to put out her stick. She
couldn’t
put it out too soon in case the man saw it, but she couldn’t put it out too late either.

With both hands on the stick, she suddenly thrust it out. Two seconds later, his foot hit the stick and Marvin stumbled before falling to the ground.

As he scrambled to his feet and glared at her, she realised she
hadn’t
given a thought to what to do next after she had tripped him up.

Marvin glared at her. “Just wait till I catch you.” He stomped towards her angrily and she stumbled backwards, frightened.

Turning, she tripped over a rock and fell down. Before she could get to her feet, Marvin was standing over her.

 

Chapter 31:
Goodbye
Adventure
Island
!

 

Just as Marvin went to grab Sarah, a voice yelled out. “Hold it right there!”

Seething with anger, Marvin reluctantly raised his hands.

Sarah grinned as she caught sight of a police officer and Quigley running towards her.

The police officer had his pistol out and it
was aimed
at Marvin. Taking out a pair of handcuffs, he snapped them onto his wrists. “Get going up the hill.”