21

a daring plan

‘where shall we go?’ said jack. ‘in your van? nobody can overhear us there, can they?’

they went inside the little van and shut the door. pedro looked puzzled – what was all thisabout?

jack began to tell him. he told him about gussy staying with them at quarry cottage and howhe turned out to be the prince. pedro’s eyes almost fell out of his head at that! he told him of thekidnapping, and how he, jack, had stowed away first at the back of the car, and then in theaeroplane, in order to follow the others.

‘you’re a wonder, you are!’ said pedro, staring at jack in the greatest admiration. ‘you’re . . .’

jack wouldn’t let him say any more. he went on rapidly with his story, and brought it right upto date, telling pedro of his adventure of the night before.

‘i never heard anything like this in my life!’ said pedro, amazed. ‘why didn’t you ask me tocome with you? you knew i would. it was a dangerous thing you did, all by yourself.’

‘well – i’m used to adventures,’ said jack. ‘i just had to find out about my sister, anyway – andthe others too, of course. now, pedro – this is where i want your help. i must rescue the four ofthem before the king is kidnapped or killed, and gussy is put on the throne. you see, if gussy ismissing, there wouldn’t be much point in doing away with his uncle. they must have gussy to putin his place, because they want a kid there, so that they can make him rule as they like. countparitolen and his sister, madame tatiosa, and the prime minister will be in power then. do youunderstand?’

‘yes, i understand,’ said pedro. ‘but i’m not used to seeing history happening before my eyeslike this. i can’t think it’s real, somehow’

‘it is real,’ said jack, urgently. ‘very very real. and, pedro, if we can get philip here, in thecircus, he could manage those bears as easily as fank. i tell you, he’s a wizard with animals – itdoesn’t matter what they are. why, once, in an adventure we had, a crowd of alsatian dogs chasedus – we thought they were wolves, actually – and philip turned them all into his friends as soon asthey came up to him!’

pedro listened to all this with a solemn face. he was much impressed. he had guessed, ofcourse, that there was something unusual about jack – but the story he had to tell was soextraordinary that he could hardly believe it all. he did believe it, though. he was sure that jackwould never lie about anything.

‘well – what do you want me to do?’ he asked at last. ‘i’ll do anything, of course. but honestly,jack, i don’t see how we can rescue your four friends from the tower room of borken castle –locked in, with a sentry at the foot of the stairs! it’s impossible!’

jack sat and frowned. he was beginning to think it was impossible too. plans had gone roundand round in his head for hours – but none of them was any good.

he couldn’t get in through that window over the wash house again, he was sure. the ladderwould have been discovered by now, and taken away. also – even if he did get in that way, howcould he let philip and the others out of that locked room? he didn’t even know where the keywas!

‘and to go in the other way wouldn’t be any good either,’ he thought. ‘down that trap door andall through those passages – i’d only come up against the back of that big picture, and i’ve no ideahow to make it move away from its place! and then again i’m no better off if i do – i still don’tknow where the key to that tower room is!’

pedro sat and frowned too. to think that he and jack could perhaps save the starting-up of ahorrible civil war – and they couldn’t think of even one sensible thing to do!

‘jack,’ he said at last, ‘do you mind if we tell someone else about this? my two best friends hereare toni and bingo, the acrobats – they might be able to think of some plan. it’s their job to thinkof good ideas!’

jack looked doubtful. ‘would they give my secrets away, though?’ he said. ‘it’s important thatnobody else should know what we know – once the count suspected that anyone was trying torescue the four prisoners he holds, he would spirit them away somewhere else, and probably hurryhis plans on so that we couldn’t possibly stop them.’

‘you needn’t worry about toni and bingo,’ said pedro. ‘they’re the best pals i ever had, andready for anything. this is the kind of job they’d jump at – it’s right up their street. i’ll go andfetch them now.’

he went off across the field, and jack sat and worried. he wasn’t happy about telling anyoneelse. soon the van door opened and in came pedro with toni and bingo. they didn’t look in theleast like acrobats, in their ordinary clothes. they were slim, lithe young men, with shocks of hairand cheerful faces.

‘what for you want us?’ said toni, the rope-walker, in broken english. ‘it is trouble with theboss?’

‘no,’ said pedro. ‘look here, jack – shall i tell them? – i can speak to them in italian, whichthey know best, and it’ll be quicker.’

‘right,’ said jack, wishing that he could use half a dozen languages as easily as this much-travelled circus boy.

he didn’t understand a word of what followed. pedro spoke rapidly, using his hands excitedlyjust as all the spaniards, french and italian people did in the circus. bingo and toni listened, theireyes almost falling out of their heads. what a story!

then they too began to chatter in excitement, and jack could hardly contain himself in hisimpatience to find out what they were saying. pedro turned to him at last, grinning broadly.

‘i have told them everything,’ he said. ‘and it pleases them! they have an idea for rescue – asurprising idea, jack – but a very very good one!’

‘what?’ asked jack, thrilled. ‘not too impossible a one, i hope!’

‘shall i tell him?’ said pedro, turning to toni, ‘i can tell him more quickly than you.’

‘tell him,’ said toni, nodding his head.

‘well,’ said pedro, ‘they got the idea when i told them how you escaped out of that trap door inthe tall bell tower. i told them it was exactly opposite the window of the tower room – and theysaid it would be easy to throw a rope across from the top of the tower, to the window!’

‘yes – but i don’t see what good that would be,’ said jack, puzzled. ‘i mean – the otherscouldn’t get across it – they’d fall.’

‘listen!’ said pedro. ‘you have seen the trapeze swings that toni and bingo use in theiracrobatic tricks, haven’t you? well, those swings can be attached to the wire rope by pulleywheels, and run to and fro. would your friends agree to sit on a swing in turn, and be pulledacross, hanging from the wire rope? it would be easy!’

‘good gracious!’ said jack, startled. ‘my word! what an idea! it’s not workable!’

‘si, si! it is wukkable!’ said toni, excitedly. ‘we go up the bell tower. we get rope across toyour friends – i walk across – easy! i pull swing behind me, hanging on rope. i place each boy orgirl safe on swing – and i run back on rope dragging swing by wire – one, two, three, four times,and everyone is safe! good idea, no?’

‘is it really possible?’ said jack. ‘it sounds very dangerous.’

‘ah, no, no – it is simple, this way,’ said toni. ‘i do it all, i, toni!’

bingo nodded his head. he apparently agreed with toni that it was a good and perfectlypossible idea. it would certainly only have been thought of by wire walkers or acrobats, jack wassure.

‘and then, zis boy – how you call him – feelip – he will take fank’s bears and make themgood?’ said toni. ‘everybody plizzed!’

‘everybody pleased,’ agreed jack, getting excited too. after all – these acrobats were used tothings of this kind. it seemed nothing to them – though to ordinary people it appeared to be a verydangerous and quite impossible feat.

‘tonight we go,’ said toni. ‘we have all things ready. we tell the boss – no?’

‘no – not yet,’ said pedro, considering. ‘and not very much, when we do tell him. nothingabout the prince or anything like that – only just that we’ve got a friend of jack’s to help with thebears. i’ll have to think up some way of explaining the other three – but i’m not worrying aboutthat yet.’

toni and bingo went off to their van, talking nineteen to the dozen. this was evidentlysomething they were going to enjoy very much!

jack could hardly keep still now. he kept on and on thinking about toni’s plan. would it be allright? would lucy-ann be too afraid to swing across on a trapeze-perch, and be caught at theother end of the rope by bingo? what about gussy? his hair would stand on end! and yet whatbetter way was there? there wasn’t any other way at all!

the circus opened as usual, and again there were grumbles about the non-appearance of thebears. fank tried to get up, but it was no use. he couldn’t even stand. the bears, hearing the circusbeginning, and the shouts of the side-shows, became restless and excited. they had allowed noone in their cage that day, not even to clean it, and their food had been hurriedly poked betweenthe bars.

they wouldn’t even eat that! it lay in their cage untouched. they padded up and down the floor,heads down, grunting and growling all the time.

the show was over at last, and the townsfolk wentback to borken, chattering and laughing. jack helped pedro to clear up the litter, pick up thefallen benches, and sweep the big circus ring.

‘thinking about tonight?’ whispered pedro as he passed him. ‘i bet toni and bingo are! i sawtoni taking one of the trapeze swings out to shorten the rope, so that he could use it tonight.’

they had a late supper, and then ma yawned. ‘bed!’ she said, and creaked up into her caravan.

the two boys went into theirs, and sat waiting for the acrobats to come and say they were ready.

there came a tap at the door. pedro opened it. ‘come!’ said toni’s voice, and pedro and jackslipped like shadows out of their van. the four of them made their way in the darkness up theslope of the hill. above them towered the great castle, its shadowy bulk looking sinister andmysterious.

they came to the bell tower. toni and bingo had already had a good look at it in the daylight.

‘in we go,’ said pedro, in a low voice. he flashed on his torch as soon as they were safely inside.

the torch lighted up the strong wire rope that bingo carried, and the trapeze swing that toniheld. they all looked up into the roof of the bell tower. how were they to get up by the great bell?

‘there are iron rungs up the wall,’ said toni. ‘i go first! follow me!’