10

night adventure

that night jack could not sleep. the moon was full and shone in at hiswindow. the moonlight fell on his face and he lay there, staring at the bigsilvery moon, thinking of the gulls he had seen gliding and circling on thewind, and the big black cormorants that stood on the rocks, their beaks wideopen as they digested the fish they had caught.

he remembered the isle of gloom, as he had seen it that morning. itlooked mysterious and exciting – so far away, and lonely and desolate. yetpeople had lived there once. why did no one live there now? was it sodesolate that no one could make a living there? what was it like?

‘i wonder if i could possibly see it tonight, in the light of the full moon,’

thought jack. he slipped off the mattress without waking philip, and wentto the window. he stared out.

the sea was silvery bright in the moonlight. where rocks cast shadows,deep black patches lay on the sea. the waters were calmer than usual, andthe wind had dropped. only a murmur came up to jack as he stood at thewindow.

then he stared in surprise. a sailing boat was coming over the water. itwas still a good way out, but it was making for the shore. whose boat wasit? jack strained his eyes but could not make it out. a sailing boat makingfor craggy-tops in the middle of the night! it was odd.

‘i’ll wake tufty,’ he thought, and went to the mattress. ‘tufty! philip!

wake up and come to the window.’

in half a minute philip was wide awake, leaning out of the narrowwindow with jack. he too saw the sailing boat, and gave a low whistle thatawoke kiki and brought her to jack’s shoulder in surprise.

‘is it joe in the boat?’ wondered philip. ‘i can’t tell if it’s his boat or notfrom here. anyway, let’s get down to the shore and watch it come in,freckles. come on. i’m surprised that he should be out at night, when he’salways telling us about “things” that wander around the cliff in the dark –but it probably isn’t him.’

they put on shorts and jerseys, and their rubber shoes, and made theirway down the spiral stair. they were soon climbing down the steep cliffpath. under the moon the sailing boat came steadily in, the night windbehind it.

‘it is joe’s boat,’ said philip at last. ‘we can see it plainly now. andthere’s joe in it. he’s alone, but he’s got a cargo of some sort.’

‘maybe he’s been fishing,’ said jack. ‘let’s give him a fright, philip.’

the boys crept up to where the boat was heading. joe was furling thesail. then he began to row to the shore, towards the little harbour where healways tied up his boat. the boys crouched down behind a rock. joebrought the big boat safely in, and then tied the rope to the post. he turnedto pull out whatever cargo he had – and at that very moment the boysjumped out at him, giving red indian whoops and rocking the boatviolently.

the man was taken unawares, lost his balance and fell into the water,going overboard with a terrific splash. he came up at once, his facegleaming in the moonlight. the boys did not like the expression on it. joeclimbed out of the water, shook himself like a dog, and came towards theboys determinedly.

‘golly – he’s going to lick us,’ said jack to philip. ‘come on – we mustrun for it.’

but the way to the house was barred by the big powerful body of theangry man.

‘now i’ll show you what happens to boys who come spying around atnight,’ he said between his teeth. jack tried to dodge by, but joe caught holdof him. he swung his big fist into the air and jack gave a yell. at the samemoment philip charged joe full in the middle, and the winded man gaspedfor breath, and let go of jack. the boys sped off over the beach at once,heading away from the steep cliff path that led to the house. joe was afterthem immediately.

‘the tide’s coming in,’ gasped jack, as he felt water running over hisankles. ‘we must turn back. we’ll be caught by the tide and poundedagainst the rocks.’

‘we can’t turn back. we shall be licked black and blue by joe,’ pantedphilip. ‘jack – make for that cave. we can perhaps creep up that secretpassage. we simply must. i really don’t know what he mightn’t do if he wasin a rage. he might even kill us.’

quite terrified now, the boys floundered into the cave, the waves runninground their ankles. joe came splashing behind them. ah – he had got thoseboys now! wait till he had done with them! they wouldn’t leave their bedsagain at night!

the boys found the hole in the floor of the cave they were looking forand disappeared down it into the darkness of the secret passage. they heardjoe breathing heavily outside in the upper cave. they hoped and prayed hewould not slip down the hole too.

he didn’t. he stood outside by the entrance, waiting for the boys to comeout. he had no idea there was a secret passage there. he stood, pantingheavily, clenching his fist hard. a big wave covered his knees. joe mutteredsomething. the tide was coming in rapidly. if those boys didn’t come outimmediately they would be trapped there for the night.

another wave ran up, almost as high as the angry man’s waist. it wassuch a powerful wave that he at once left the cave entrance and tried tomake his way back across the beach. he could not risk being dashed topieces against the cliff by the incoming tide.

‘those boys can spend the night in the caves, and i’ll deal with themtomorrow morning early,’ thought joe grimly. ‘as soon as the tide goesdown in the morning i’ll be there – and they’ll be mighty sorry forthemselves when i’ve finished with them.’

but the boys were not shivering inside the cave. they were once moreclimbing up the secret passage, this time in complete darkness. the passagewas terrifying enough – but not nearly so alarming as joe.

they came at last to the trap-door and pushed it open. they clamberedout on to the rocky cellar floor, and shut the trap-door.

‘take my hand,’ said jack, shivering as much with cold as with fright.

‘we’ll make our way towards the door as best we can. come on. you knowthe direction, don’t you? i don’t.’

philip thought he did, but he found that he didn’t. it took the boys sometime to find the cellar door. they felt all round the rocky walls of the cellar,and at long last, after falling over boxes of all kinds, they came to the door.

it was not locked. thank goodness they had taken away the key. philippushed at the door and it opened.

the pile of boxes on the other side fell over with a terrific crash thatechoed all round the cellar. the boys stood listening to see if anyone wouldhear and come. but nobody did. they piled up the boxes again as best theycould and crept up the cellar steps and into the moonlit kitchen.

they wondered where joe was. was he still waiting for them at theentrance to the caves?

he was not. he had made fast his boat, removed several things from it,and then had climbed the cliff path to the house. he had gone to hisbedroom, just off the kitchen, gloating over the thought of the two boysshivering in the caves, when a terrific noise came to his ears.

it was the pile of boxes overturning down in the cellar, but joe did notknow that. he stood in his bedroom, rooted to the ground. what was thatnoise? he did not dare to go and find out. if he had, he would have seen twofigures stealing through the moonlit kitchen towards the hall. he wouldhave seen them scurrying up the stairs as quietly as mice.

soon the boys were on their mattress, glad to be there safe and sound.

they chuckled when they thought of joe waiting in vain for them. and,down in his bedroom, joe chuckled to think of how he would wait outsidethe cave the next morning, armed with a rope, and give those two boys agood hiding.

they all fell asleep at last.

joe was up first, piling driftwood on the kitchen fire. he did his jobs, andthen tied the rope-end round his waist. it was time he went down to thebeach and caught those boys. the tide would soon be down low enough forthem to come out.

then he stopped still in the greatest astonishment – for into the kitchen,as bold as brass, came all four children, chattering away loudly.

‘what’s for breakfast? golly, i’m hungry.’

‘did you have a good night, boys? we did.’

‘fine. we must have slept all the night through.’ these words were fromphilip. jack joined in, delighted to see amazement and wonder appear onjoe’s face. ‘yes, we slept like logs. even if kiki had done her imitation of arailway express, i don’t think we’d have woken up.’

‘what’s for breakfast, joe?’ asked dinah. both the girls knew about theboys’ adventure the night before, and were entering into the fun of teasingjoe. he evidently still thought the boys were down in the caves.

‘you two boys been asleep in your room all night?’ asked joe at last,hardly able to believe his eyes and ears.

‘where else should we sleep?’ said philip impudently. ‘on the isle ofgloom?’

joe turned away, puzzled and taken aback. it couldn’t have been thesetwo boys last night. it was true he had not seen their faces clearly, but hehad felt certain they were philip and jack. but now that was plainlyimpossible. no one could have got out of those caves at high tide – and yethere were the boys. it was disturbing and puzzling. joe didn’t like it.

‘i’ll go down to those caves now and watch to see who comes out,’ hethought at last. ‘then i’ll know who it was spying on me last night.’

so down he went – but though he watched for two hours, nobody camefrom the caves. which was not very surprising, because there was nobodythere.

‘he just simply can’t understand it,’ said jack, grinning, as he watchedthe tall man from the cliff path. ‘what a good thing we didn’t tell anyoneabout the secret passage! it came in mighty useful last night.’

‘he’ll think you and philip were two of the “things” he’s always trying tofrighten us with,’ said dinah. ‘silly old joe! he must think we are babies tobe frightened of anything he would say.’

‘what are we going to do today when we’ve finished our jobs?’ askedlucy-ann, polishing the lamp she had been cleaning. ‘it’s such a fine day.

can’t we go for a picnic – walk over the cliff and along the coast?’

‘oh yes – and we’ll see if we can find that man i saw in a boatyesterday,’ said jack, remembering. ‘that would be fine. maybe he’ll let usgo in his boat. dinah, ask your aunt polly if we can take our dinner withus.’

aunt polly said yes, and in about half an hour they set off, passing joe onthe way. he was now working on his allotment, over the edge of the cliff,behind the house.

‘did you have a good night, joe?’ yelled philip. ‘did you sleep all nightlong, like a good boy?’

the man scowled and made a threatening noise. kiki imitated him, andhe bent down to pick up a stone to throw at her.

‘naughty boy!’ screeched kiki, flying high in