20

prisoners underground

the children huddled against the wall, trying to see what was in the cavebefore them, blinking their eyes in the brilliant light.

there were boxes and crates in the cave, but nothing else. no man wasthere. but in the near distance was somebody at work, making that queerclattering, banging noise.

‘let’s go back,’ said lucy-ann, frightened.

‘no. but look – there’s a passage going off just here,’ whispered philip,flashing his torch into a dark tunnel near by. ‘we’ll creep down there andsee if we come across the miners working somewhere near.’

so they all crept down the tunnel. as they went down it, pressingthemselves closely against the rocky sides, a rock fell from the roof. it gavekiki such a fright that she gave a squawk and flew off jack’s shoulder.

‘here, kiki!’ said jack, afraid of losing her. but kiki did not come backto his shoulder. the boy stumbled back up the passage to look for her,whistling softly in the way he did when he wanted to call her to him. theothers did not realise that he was no longer with them, but went on downthe tunnel, slowly and painfully.

and then things happened very quickly. someone came swiftly up thetunnel with a lantern, whose light picked out the three children at once.

they cowered back against the wall and tried not to be dazzled by thelantern. the man carrying it paused in the greatest astonishment.

‘well,’ he said, in a deep, rather hoarse voice. ‘well – if this doesn’t beateverything!’ he held his lantern up high to see the children more clearly.

then he called over his shoulder.

‘jake! come and take a look-see here. i’ve got something here that’llmake your eyes drop out.’

another man came swiftly up, tall and dark in the shadows. he gave aloud exclamation as he saw the three children.

‘well, what do you think of that!’ he said. ‘children! how did they comehere? are they real? or am i dreaming?’

‘it’s children all right,’ said the first man. he spoke to the three, and hisvoice was rough and harsh.

‘what are you doing here? who are you with?’

‘we’re by ourselves,’ said philip.

the man laughed loudly. ‘oh no, you’re not. it’s no good spinning thatkind of tale to us. who brought you here, and why?’

‘we came ourselves in a boat,’ said lucy-ann indignantly. ‘we know thegap in the rocks, and we came to see the island.’

‘why did you come down here?’ demanded jake, coming nearer. nowthe children could see what he was like, and they didn’t like the look of himat all. he had a black patch over one eye, and the other eye gleamedwickedly at them. his mouth was so tight-lipped that it almost seemed as ifhe had no lips at all. lucy-ann cowered away.

‘go on – why did you come down here?’ demanded jake.

‘well – we found the shaft hole – and we climbed down to see the oldmines,’ said philip. ‘we shan’t split on you, don’t be afraid.’

‘split on us? what do you mean? what do you know, boy?’ asked jakeroughly.

philip said nothing. he didn’t really know what to say. jake nodded hishead to the first man, who went behind the children. now they could not goforwards or backwards to escape.

lucy-ann began to cry. philip put his arm round her, and wondered, forthe first time, where jack was. lucy-ann looked round for him too. shebegan to cry more loudly when she saw he was not there.

‘lucy-ann, don’t tell these men that jack is gone,’ whispered philip. ‘ifthey take us prisoner, jack will be able to escape and bring help. so don’tsay a word about him.’

‘what are you whispering about?’ asked jake. ‘now, look here, my boy –you don’t want any harm to come to your sisters, do you? well – you justtell us what you know, and maybe we’ll let you go.’

philip was alarmed at the man’s tone. for the first time it dawned on theboy that there might be danger. these men were fierce – they wouldn’t letthree children share their secrets willingly. suppose they kept them prisonerunderground – starved them – beat them? who knew what might happen?

philip made up his mind to tell a little of what he guessed.

‘look here,’ he said to jake, ‘we know who you are working with, see?

and he’s a friend of ours. he’ll be mighty angry if you do us any harm.’

‘oh, really!’ said jake, in a mocking tone. and who is this wonderfulfriend of yours?’

‘bill smugs,’ said philip, feeling certain that everything would be allright at the mention of bill’s name.

‘bill smugs?’ said the man, with a jeering note in his voice. and whomay he be? i’ve never heard of him in my life.’

‘but you must have,’ said philip desperately. ‘he brings you food, andsignals to you. you know he does. you must know bill smugs and his boat,the albatross.’

the two men stared intently at the children. then they spoke togetherquickly in a foreign language. they seemed puzzled.

‘bill smugs is no friend of ours,’ jake said, after a pause. ‘did he tell youthat he knew us?’

‘oh no,’ said philip. ‘we only guessed it.’

‘then you guessed wrong,’ said the man. ‘come along – we’re going tomake you comfortable somewhere till we decide what to do with childrenwho poke their noses into things that don’t concern them.’

philip guessed that they were going to be kept prisoners somewhereunderground, and he was alarmed and angry. the girls were frightened.

dinah didn’t cry, but lucy-ann, forlorn because jack was not by her, criedwithout stopping.

jake prodded philip to make him go along in front of him. he turned thechildren off into a narrow passage running at right angles from the tunnelthey were in. a door was set across this passage and jake unbolted it. hepushed the children inside the cave there, which looked almost like a smallroom, for it had benches and a small table. jake set his lantern down on thetable.

‘you’ll be safe here,’ he said, with a horrid crooked grin. ‘quite safe. ishan’t starve you, don’t be afraid of that.’

the children were left alone. they heard the door bolted firmly andfootsteps dying away. lucy-ann still wept.

‘what a bit of bad luck!’ said philip, trying to speak cheerfully. ‘don’tcry, lucy-ann.’

‘why didn’t those men know bill smugs?’ said dinah, puzzled. ‘weknow he must bring them food, and probably take away the copper theymine.’

‘easy to guess,’ said philip gloomily. ‘i bet old bill gave us a wrongname. it sounds pretty peculiar, anyway – bill smugs – i never heard aname like that before, now i come to think of it.’

‘oh – you think it isn’t his real name?’ said dinah. ‘so of course thosemen don’t know it. dash! if only we knew his real name, everything wouldbe all right.’

‘what are we going to do?’ wept lucy-ann. ‘i don’t like being a prisonerin a copper mine under the sea. it’s horrid.’

‘but it’s a very thrilling adventure, lucy-ann,’ said philip, trying tocomfort her.

‘i don’t like a thrilling adventure when i’m in the middle of it,’ weptlucy-ann. neither did the others, very much. philip wondered about jack.

‘what can have happened to him?’ he said. ‘i hope he’s safe. he’ll beable to rescue us if he is.’

but at that moment jack was anything but safe. he had wandered up thetunnel looking for kiki, had turned into another passage, found kiki, turnedto go back – and then had lost his way. he had no idea that the others hadbeen caught. kiki was on his shoulder, talking softly to herself.

philip had the map, not jack. so, once the boy had lost his way, he hadno means of discovering how to get back to the main passage. he turnedinto one tunnel after another, found some of them blocked, turned back, andbegan wandering helplessly here and there.

‘kiki, we’re lost,’ said jack. he shouted again and again, as loudly as hecould, and his voice went echoing through the ancient tunnels very weirdly,coming back to him time and time again. kiki screeched too, but there wasno answering call.

the children shut up in the cell-like cave fell silent after a time. therewas nothing to do, nothing to say. lucy-ann put her head down on herarms, which she rested on the table, and fell fast asleep, tired out. dinah andphilip stretched themselves out on the benches and tried to sleep too. butthey couldn’t.

‘philip, we’ll just have to escape from here,’ said dinah desperately.

‘easy to say that,’ said philip sarcastically. ‘not so easy to do. howwould you suggest that we escape from a cave set deep in a copper mineunder the sea, a cave which has a stout wooden door to it well bolted on theoutside? don’t be foolish.’

‘i’ve got an idea, philip,’ said dinah at last. philip grunted. dinah’s ideaswere rather farfetched as a rule.

‘now, do listen, philip,’ said dinah earnestly. ‘it’s quite a good idea.’

‘what is it?’ said philip grumpily.

‘well, jake or that other man will be sure to come back here sooner orlater with food,’ began dinah. ‘and when he comes, let’s all be gasping andholding our breaths and groaning.’

‘whatever for?’ asked philip in astonishment.

‘so as to make him think the air is very bad in here, and we can’t breathe,and we’re almost dying,’ said dinah. ‘then maybe he’ll let us go out intothe passage for a breath of air – and you can reel towards him, kick out hislight – and we’ll all escape as quickly as we can.’

philip sat up and looked at his sister with admiration. ‘i really do thinkyou’ve got an idea there,’ he said, and dinah glowed with pleasure. ‘yes, ireally do. we’ll have to wake lucy-ann and tell her. she must play her parttoo.’

so lucy-ann was awakened and told the plan. she thought it was verygood. she began to gasp and hold her head and moan in a most realisticway. philip nodded his head.

‘that’s fine,’ he said. ‘we’ll all do that when we hear jake or the otherfellow coming. now, whilst there’s still time, i’d better find where we areon the underground map, and see exactly what direction to take as soon aswe’ve kicked the man’s light out.’

he spread the map out on the table and studied it. ‘yes,’ he said at last. ‘isee where we are. there’s the big cave that was lighted up – see? and thelittle passage off it where we were caught – and here’s the passage we weretaken down – and here’s the little cave we’re in now. now, listen, girls – assoon as i’ve kicked out the man’s light, take my hand and keep close by me.

i’ll lead you the right way, and find the shaft-hole again. then up we’ll go,join up with old jack somewhere, and get to the boat.’

‘good,’ said dinah, thrilled – and at that very moment they heardfootsteps coming to the wooden door.