3 a grave mistake

bill was talking to three or four men very earnestly. he waved to the children, a tall, burly shadowin the night.

‘hallo, kids! i’m busy for a few minutes. you cut along to the aeroplane and wait for me. stowyour cases in at the back where mine is. i’ll be about ten minutes or so.’

‘right, bill,’ said jack, and the four of them moved off to where the taxi man had put theircases, beside an aeroplane not very far away.

it was dark where the aeroplane stood, but the children could see enough to pick up their cases.

they climbed up the ladder and into the cabin.

the inside of the plane was in darkness. the children had no idea how to put the lights on. theyfelt their way to the back of the plane and put down their things. they threw their rugs there too.

jack put kiki’s basket down carefully. kiki had been most indignant all the way.

‘humpy dumpy bumpy,’ she said. ‘pop goes the weasel!’

there was a large crate in the middle of the plane. the children wondered what was in it. was itempty or full? it must be something bill was taking back with him.

‘it’s blocking up all the inside,’ said jack. ‘we can’t sit down properly with that thing there.

let’s squat down on our rugs at the back. we’ll be quite comfortable there. perhaps bill will shiftthe crate a bit when he comes, and tell us where he wants us to sit.’

so they sat down patiently on their rugs and waited. the noise of the plane’s engines went onand on, and it was impossible to hear anything else, though once jack thought he could hearsomebody shouting.

he went to the door and looked out. but all was darkness and bill was nowhere to be seen.

what a time he was!

he went back to his place, yawning. lucy-ann was half asleep. ‘i wish bill would come,’ saidphilip. ‘i shall go to sleep if he doesn’t.’

then a lot of things happened very quickly indeed. over and above the sound of the enginecame the sound of shots – gunshots. that made the children sit up in a hurry.

then another shot sounded – and then there came the noise of someone clambering hurriedly upthe steps into the plane, and a man flung himself down in the control seat. another followed,panting, hardly to be seen in the darkness. the children sat as if they were frozen. what in theworld was happening? was one of the men bill? who was the other – and what was the hurry?

the first man took the controls of the plane, and to the children’s amazement it began to taxiforwards. they were off! but why hadn’t bill spoken to them? why hadn’t he at least lookedround to see that they were safely inside?

‘keep quiet,’ said jack to the others. ‘if bill doesn’t want to speak to us, there’s a reason.

maybe he doesn’t want the other fellow to know we’re here. keep quiet.’

the plane rose into the air, its propellers making a great whirring noise. it headed swiftly intothe wind.

the men shouted to one another, but the children could not make out what they were sayingbecause the noise of the engine was so loud. they sat quiet and still, hidden from view by the bigcrate standing in the middle of the plane.

bill said nothing to them at all. he didn’t call out to know if they were there. he didn’t send hiscompanion along to see if they were all right. he simply took no notice of them at all. it was veryqueer and lucy-ann didn’t like it a bit.

one of the men fiddled about and found a switch. he pulled it down and a light shone out justby the men, but the rest of the plane was still in darkness. philip peeped round the crate, meaningto catch bill’s eye if he could.

almost at once he came back to the others, and sat down very quietly. he said nothing.

‘what’s up?’ asked jack, sensing that philip was worried.

‘you go and look round that crate,’ said philip. ‘have a good look at the two men.’

jack went and peered round. he came back feeling puzzled and scared. ‘neither of those men isbill,’ he said. ‘golly – it’s funny!’

‘what do you mean?’ said lucy- ann in alarm. ‘one must be bill. why, this is bill’saeroplane!’

‘yes, but is it?’ said dinah suddenly. ‘look where the light catches those seats, lucy-ann –they are red – and the ones in bill’s plane were green. i remember them quite well.’

‘so they were,’ said jack, remembering too. ‘golly! we’re in the wrong plane!’

there was a long silence. nobody knew what to think about it. they were in the wrong plane –not bill’s at all! two strange men sat at the controls – men who would probably be extremelyangry when they found their unexpected passengers. neither jack nor philip liked the look of themen in the least. they had really only seen the backs of their heads, and the side face of the manwhen he had turned to shout to his companion – but neither of the boys had felt drawn to the twomen.

‘they’ve got such thick necks,’ thought jack. ‘oh, gosh this is awful! and there were thoseshots too – were they anything to do with these men? they clambered into the plane in a frightfulhurry and set off at once. i do believe we’ve stumbled into an adventure again.’

philip spoke cautiously to the others. it was no good whispering, because whispers couldn’tpossibly be heard. so philip had to speak loudly and trust that he would not be heard by the men infront.

‘what are we going to do? we have got into the wrong plane! that’s the fault of that stupidtaxi-man, putting down our things by the wrong aeroplane. it was so dark that we ourselvescouldn’t possibly tell which plane was which.’

lucy-ann sat close to jack, frightened. it wasn’t very nice to be high up in the air, lost in thedarkness, in the wrong aeroplane with men that none of them had seen before.

‘what can we do?’ wondered jack. ‘we really are in a mess. honestly, those two men won’thalf be mad when they see us!’

‘they might tip us out,’ said lucy-ann in alarm. ‘and we haven’t got parachutes on. jack,don’t let them know we’re here.’

‘they’ll have to know sooner or later,’ said dinah. ‘what idiots we are – getting into the wrongplane! i never thought of that.’

there was a silence again, with everyone thinking very hard.

‘shall we just stay here at the back of the plane on our rugs, and hope we shan’t be noticed?’

said philip. ‘then, when we arrive somewhere maybe we can slip out of the plane and look forhelp.’

‘yes – that’s the best idea,’ said jack. ‘we are well hidden here, unless the men come round tothe back for something. maybe they will arrive at their destination, get out without seeing us, andthen we can slip out ourselves and ask for help to get back home.’

‘i did want to stay with bill,’ said lucy-ann, almost in tears. ‘whatever will he be thinking?’

‘goodness knows!’ said jack gloomily. ‘he’ll be hunting all over the aerodrome for us. youknow, i believe that must have been bill i heard shouting, when i went to the door to see. he musthave gone to his own plane, found we weren’t there and yelled for us. dash! if only i’d guessedthat!’

‘well, it’s too late now,’ said philip. ‘i hope mother won’t be worried. oh dear – she’ll thinkwe’ve fallen headlong into another adventure. and we promised not to.’

the aeroplane roared on through the dark night. the children had no idea whether they wereflying north, south, east or west. then jack remembered his pocket compass and took it out.

‘we’re flying east,’ he said. ‘i wonder where we’re going to. i don’t somehow feel as if i’m in aplane at all, as i can’t look out and see the ground far below’

the others felt the same. lucy-ann lay down on the rugs and yawned. ‘i’m going to sleep,’ shesaid. ‘i shall only feel frightened and worried if i keep awake.’

‘it’s a good idea of yours,’ said philip, and he stretched himself out on the rugs too. ‘we shallbe sure to wake up if we arrive anywhere.’

‘anyone want a sandwich or bit of cake?’ asked dinah, remembering the picnic packet. butnobody did. the shock of finding themselves in the wrong aeroplane had taken away theirappetites completely.

soon all of them but jack were asleep. he lay awake, thinking hard. had bill been mixed up inthe shooting they had heard? were these two men anything to do with the job bill had beenworking on – the ‘secret’ job? it might be just possible that jack and the others might find outsomething that would help bill. it was important not to let the two men know that they had somehidden passengers in their plane.

kiki gave an exasperated screech in her basket. jack jumped. he had forgotten kiki. he tappedthe basket and spoke in as low a voice as he could, hoping that kiki would hear him.

‘shut up, kiki! don’t make a noise, whatever you do. it’s very important to be quiet. you hearme, kiki? you must be quiet, be quiet, be quiet.’

‘be quiet,’ repeated kiki, from inside the basket. ‘shhhhhhhhhh!’

jack couldn’t help smiling. yes,’ he said, putting his face close to the basket. ‘shhhhhhhh!’

kiki was quiet after that. she was a mischievous, noisy bird, but she would always be quiet ifjack wanted her to be. so she sat inside her basket, trying to tuck her head under her wing and goto sleep. but the loud sound of the plane’s engine upset her. she had never heard such a noisebefore. she longed to imitate it, but fortunately she didn’t try just then.

after a bit the two men changed places and the second one took over the controls. the first oneyawned and stretched. he got up and jack’s heart almost stopped beating in fright. was he goingto come to the back of the plane? he wondered whether or not to wake the others.

but the man did not come to the back. he stood up for a few minutes as if to stretch his legs,then lighted a pipe. blue smoke drifted to the back of the cabin. jack was most relieved to see theman sit down again.

the boy soon grew sleepy too. he lay down close to the others, quite glad of his coat, for it wasvery cold. soon he was asleep. only kiki kept awake, cracking her beak now and again, puzzledand wondering what this strange night adventure meant.

the plane flew on in darkness, passing over towns and villages, fields, rivers and woods. itpassed over the sea to where the lights of ships shone dimly. lights of the towns twinkled up, andhere and there the flare path of an aerodrome shone up to the sky. but the plane did not fly down.

it swept over them all, heading east, to the dawn.

then, just before dawn, it began to circle round more slowly. it dropped as it circled, and oncebanked so steeply that the children almost rolled over. it awoke them and they sat up, wonderingwhere they were. they remembered at once and looked at one another with wide eyes.

‘we’re going to land. where shall we find we are? look out for a quick escape as soon as weget the chance,’ they whispered to one another. ‘down we go – we’re landing!’