chapter 25 what happened in the night

it was getting quite dark now. the sun had gone a long time ago, and the children could hardly seeone another as they sat together in the courtyard, munching hungrily.

"i've never known bread and cheese to taste so lovely," said dinah. "actually i didn't think thischeese was terribly nice yesterday — sort of sweetish — but today it's heavenly.""only because you're so hungry," said jack, giving kiki some of his. "it's goat-milk cheese, isn't it,bill? i say, look at micky stuffing himself.""pop goes micky," remarked kiki, coming in at the right moment as usual. "one, two, three, pop!""idiot," said jack. "well, bill — what are you thinking about?""quite a lot of things," said bill soberly. "we've had an extraordinary day. and i'm just planningwhat to do about it."

"wasn't that treasure wonderful!" said lucy-ann, her eyes shining.

jack had, of course, heard all about their adventures underground by now, and was very enviousbecause he was the only one who hadn't seen the treasure-chamber, with its remarkable collection ofriches. he had listened with amazement, and had wished and wished he had been with the others.

"what are your plans, bill?" asked philip, feeling that he could think sensibly again, now that he wasfree and had had a good meal. "i suppose we can't do much tonight.""no, we can't," said bill. "that's quite certain. we've been through enough today without taking onany more adventures. besides, the girls are nearly asleep, poor things!"so they were. excitement and exercise had completely tired them out. lucy-ann lay cuddled againstdinah, her eyes closed.

"well, i'm pretty sleepy myself," said jack. he yawned loudly. "i wouldn't mind a nice long snooze!""anyway, bill — what could we do, even if we wanted to do anything tonight?" asked philip,beginning to yawn too. "we can't escape! andros won't come back, that's obvious, if mr. eppy hasthreatened him with prison. after all, he's only a simple boatman! i expect mr. eppy gave him plentyof money too, to make up for us not having paid him.""yes — money and threats combined would soon send andros away," said bill. "in any case androswould know, of course, that mr. eppy had his own boat here — possibly two boats as he sent formore men and goods. so we shouldn't be absolutely stranded, as mr. eppy could always bring usback."

"gosh, yes — his boats must be somewhere, mustn't they?" said philip, waking up considerably.

"we've only got to find them, bill — and we're all right! hadn't we better snoop round now, beforethe others come back from underground?"

"no. nothing more tonight," said bill firmly. "i've already planned to do that tomorrow. when wefind mr. eppy's boat or boats, we'll be all right, i hope. now listen — i'm going to be on guard for thefirst four hours, and, after that, you, jack, and then you, philip, will have a two-hour watch, and bythat time it will be morning."

"what are we going to watch for? are we to wait for dear old eppy to pop his head out and say,'hallo, there'?" asked jack, with a grin.

"exactly," said bill. he had now lighted one of the lanterns, and it gave a weird light to the scene.

"you two boys are tired — you won't be any good at watching till you've had a sleep. you can haveyour turn when i wake you."

"right," said jack, settling himself against philip. "we'll let the big tough guy watch first. as a matterof fact, i believe i'm asleep already."

"what will you do if the others appear?" asked philip, with interest. "knock them on the head as theycome out of the hole?"

"probably," said bill, and he lighted his pipe. "you don't need to worry about that. good night! i'llwake you in four hours' time."

the two boys were asleep almost before he had finished his sentence. the smell of bill's tobaccowandered round the courtyard. micky smelt it in his sleep and cuddled closer to philip. he didn't likethe smell of tobacco. kiki was standing on jack, her head under her wing. the girls were absolutelystill, sleeping soundly, although they had such an uncomfortable resting-place.

bill put out the lantern. only the glow of his pipe shone in the courtyard now and again. he wasthinking hard. he went over all the happenings of the last two days. he considered mr. eppy'sassertion that the island was his. he puzzled over the whereabouts of the other creek, where probablymr. eppy's boat or boats were. he wondered how the little party underground was getting on. hehoped fervently they were well and truly lost in the labyrinth.

he made his plans for the next day. they would find the boats. that would be the first thing. whereon earth would the creek be — the second creek that andros had spoken about? perhaps it would . . .

a noise stopped his thoughts at once. he put down his pipe and stood up, a silent figure close besidethe broken column. he listened. the noise had come from underground, he was sure of that.

well — if it was the company coming back, he was in for a wakeful night! bill picked up a largepiece of wood that he had had his eye on all the evening. it had probably been part of a door orwindow-frame — now it would make a very good weapon!

he stood by the column, listening intently. a scraping noise came up to him — someone wasclimbing up the last part of the stone spiral. the noise stopped. the someone was evidently in thecolumn now. what was he doing? he appeared to be feeling about for something. "the food!"thought bill, with a grin. "well — it's gone!"a little whimper came up to him, and then a shaking voice said, in a low tone, "jack! philip! are youthere?"

"why — it's lucian!" thought bill, in astonishment. "well — he can't be alone!"he listened again. the whimpering began once more, rather like a miserable dog's. there was nosound of any other voice, or of anyone else coming up the stairway. bill made up his mind. he leaptup to the broken edge of the hole in the column, switched on his torch and looked down.

lucian was standing below him, his terrified face looking up, tears streaming down his cheeks. heput up his hand as if he expected bill to aim a blow down at him.

"lucian!" said bill. "what are you doing here? where are the others?""i don't know," wept poor lucian. "they only took me down as far as that vault place at the bottomof these steps. they wouldn't let me go any further with them. they told me to stay there till theycame back, and not stir. my uncle said he'd half kill me if he didn't find me waiting for them whenthey came back."

"didn't they come back, then?" said bill, keeping his torch flashed onto lucian's face.

"no. and it's hours ago," wept lucian. "i don't know what's happened to them. and i'm so hungryand cold and tired — and i'm frightened down there, too. i didn't dare to have my torch on all thetime in case the battery gave out."

bill believed the frightened boy. "come on up," he said. "here — take my hand and jump. go on,lucian, jump! surely you can leap up here."poor lucian couldn't. in the end bill had to get into the column and shove him up to the hole. eventhen lucian looked about to fall off. he was in a terrible state of nerves.

at last he was safely down in the courtyard, and bill gave him some bread and cheese. he fell on itas if he hadn't eaten for a month.

a thought suddenly struck him. "i say — how did you get free? i mean — weren't you all tied up?""yes," said bill grimly. "we were. but fortunately for you, we got free — yes, all of us — the boysare asleep over there — and the girls near by. no, don't wake them — they're tired out. if we'd allbeen tied up still, you would have stayed in that column all night. not a nice thought, lucian!""no," said lucian, and shivered. "i wish i hadn't come to this horrible island. what's going tohappen? are you going down to look for my uncle? he must be completely lost, you know.""he can stay lost, as far as i'm concerned," said bill. "in fact, it will do him good. your uncle is not aman i've any kindly feelings for at present.""no. he's horrible," agreed lucian. "once he'd found the treasure he'd planned to leave you strandedhere, all of you, and go off by himself to get more men to come and remove it.""nice, thoughtful fellow," said bill. "well, young man, you'd better get some sleep. and tomorrow,you're going to help us, to make up for the misdeeds of your nasty-minded uncle.""oh — i'd be very very glad to help you," said lucian, at once. "i would really. i'm on your side, youknow that."

"yes, i expect you are," said bill. "you'll have to be from now on, anyway!""how can i help you tomorrow?" asked lucian.

"by taking us to the creek where your uncle's boats are," said bill, at once.

"oh, of course — if only i remember where it is," said lucian anxiously. "i'm not awfully good atremembering routes, you know. but i daresay i'll remember that.""you'll have to," said bill grimly. "and now, go to sleep. no — don't go over to the boys. just staywhere you are. and mind — if your precious uncle arrives during the night, there's to be no warningto him from you. otherwise some unpleasant things will happen to you.""oh, i tell you i'm on your side now," protested lucian, and settled himself as comfortably as hecould. "good night, sir. see you in the morning!"