chapter 13 in the wreckers' tower

dick and anne came hurriedly up to the old stone stairway when they heard what julian and georgiehad said. oil! that could only mean one thing, a lamp in the tower.

they all stood and looked at the big splashes of oil on each step.

'come on up,' said julian at last. 'i'll go first. be careful how you go because the tower's in a verycrumbly state.'

the tower was built at one end of the old house, and its walls were thicker than the house walls.

the only entry to it was by a doorway inside the house. in the tower was a stone stairway that wentvery steeply up in a spiral.

'this must once have been the door of the tower,' said dick, kicking at a great thick slab of wood thatlay mouldering away beside the stone doorway. 'the tower doesn't seem to hold anything but thisstone stairway, just a look-out, i suppose.'

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'or a place for signalling to ships to entice them on the rocks,' said george. 'oh, timmy, don't pushpast like that; you nearly made me fall, these stone steps are so steep.'

as dick said, the tower seemed to hold nothing but a stairway spiralling up steeply. julian came tothe top first and gave a gasp. the view over the sea was astonishing. he could see for miles over thedark cornflower-blue waters. near the coast the churning of the waves into white breakers and sprayshowed the hidden rocks that waited for unwary ships.

george came up beside him and stared in wonder, too. what a marvellous sight, blue sky, blue sea,waves pounding over the rocks, and white gulls soaring on the stiff breeze.

then dick came up, and julian gave him a warning. 'be careful. don't lean on the walls at all, they'recrumbling badly.'

julian put out his hand and touched the top of the tower wall near him. it crumbled and bits fell awaybelow.

big pieces had fallen away here and there, leaving great gaps in the wall round the top of the tower.

when anne came up also, julian took her arm, afraid that with such a crowd up there someone mightstumble against a crumbling wall and fall from the tower.

george had hold of timmy's collar and made him stand quite still. 'don't you go putting your greatpaws up on the wall,' she warned him. 'you'll find yourself down in the nettles below in no time ifyou do!'

'you can quite well see what a wonderful place this is for flashing a light at night over the sea,'

said dick. 'it could be seen for miles. in the old days, when sailing ships got caught in the storms thatrage round this coast at times, they would be thankful to see a guiding light.'

'but what a light!' said julian. 'a light that guided them straight on to those great rocks! let me seenow. are those the rocks near those coves we went to the other day?'

'yes, i think so,' said dick. 'but there are rocks and rocks, and caves and coves round here. it'sdifficult to tell if they are the same ones we saw.'

'the ships that sailed towards the light must have been wrecked on the rocks down there,' said julian,pointing. 'how did the wreckers get there? there must have been a path from here somewhere.'

'the wreckers' way, do you think?' said dick.

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julian considered. 'well, i don't know. i imagine that the wreckers' way must have been a wayleading to the sea from inland somewhere, certainly a way that was convenient for the villagers touse. no, i'll tell you what i think happened!'

'what?' said everyone.

'i think, on a stormy night long ago, the people who lived here in this house went up into the towerand flashed their false light to any ship that was sailing out on the waters. then, in great excitement,they watched it sailing nearer and nearer, perhaps shown up by lightning, perhaps by the moon.'

everyone imagined such a ship, and george shivered. poor wretched ship!

'when the ship reached the rocks and crashed on them, the signallers in the tower gave a differentsignal, a signal to a watcher up there on the hills,' said julian, pointing behind him. 'a watcher whowas standing on the only spot from which the flash could be seen! may be the light gleamed steadilyto entice a ship in, but was flashed in code to the watcher on the hills, and the flashing said, 'ship onrocks. tell the others, and come to the feast!' '

'how simply horrible!' said anne. 'i can't believe it!'

'it is difficult to think anyone could be so heartless,' said julian. 'but i think that's what happened.

and then, i think, the people who lived in this house went down from here to the near-by coves andwaited for their friends to come along the other way, the wreckers' way, wherever that is.'

'it must be a secret way,' said dick. 'it must have been a way known only to those villagers who werewreckers. after all, wrecking was against the law, and so this whole business of showing lights andwrecking ships must have been kept a dead secret. we heard what old grandad said, that everywrecker who knew the way had to vow he would tell no one else.'

'old grandad's father probably lived in this very house, and climbed the stone stairway on a wildnight, and lighted the lamp that shone out over the stormy sea,' said julian.

'that's why yan said he was 'frit' of this tower,' said george. 'he thinks his grandad's dad still lightsit! well, we know better. somebody else lights it, somebody who can't be up to any good either!'

'and, don't let's forget, somebody who may still be about somewhere!' said julian, lowering his voicesuddenly.

'gosh! yes,' said dick, looking round the little tower as if he expected to see a stranger there,listening. 'i wonder where he keeps his lamp. it's not here.'

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'the oil splashes are on almost every one of the stone steps,' said anne. 'i noticed as i came up. i betit's a big lamp. it has to give a light far out to sea!'

'look, it must have been stood on this bit of the wall,' said dick. 'there are some oily patches here.'

they all looked at the dark patches. dick bent down and smelt them. 'yes, paraffin oil,' he said.

george was looking at the wall on the other side of the tower. she called to the other three.

'and here's a patch on this side!' she said. 'i know what happened! once a ship had been caught bythe light and was on its way in, the men with the lamp put it on the other side of the tower to signal tothe watcher on the hills, to tell him the ship was caught!'

'yes. that's it,' said anne. 'but who could it be? i'm sure nobody lives here, the place is an absoluteruin, open to the wind and the rain. it must be somebody who knows the way here, sees to the light,and does the signalling.'

there was a pause. dick looked at julian. the same thought came into their minds. they had seensomebody wandering out in the stormy night, twice!

'could it be mr. penruthlan, do you suppose?' said dick. 'we couldn't imagine why he was out herein the storm the first night we came out to watch for the light.'

'no, he's not the man with the light, he's the watcher on the hills!' said julian. 'that's it! that's why hegoes out on wild nights, to see if there's a signal from the tower, flashing to say that a ship is comingin!'

there was an even longer pause. nobody liked that idea at all.

'we know he tells lies, we know he goes through people's pockets, because we saw him,' went onjulian after a few moments. 'he fits in well. he's the man who goes and stands in that special spot onthe hills and watches for a light!'

'what does he do after that?' said anne. 'didn't we hear that there were no wrecks here now, becauseof the lighthouse higher up the coast? what's the point of it all, if there isn't a wreck?'

'smuggling,' said julian shortly. 'that's the point. probably by motor-boat. they choose a wild nightof storm and wind, when they will be neither seen nor heard, wait out at sea for the signalling light toshow them all's clear, and then come in to one of these coves.'

'yes, and i bet the wreckers' secret way is used by someone who steals down to the cove and takesthe smuggled goods!' said dick, excited. 'three or four people, perhaps, if the goods are heavy.

gosh! i'm sure we're right.'

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'and it's the watcher on the hill who tells his friends, and down they go to the coves together. it'smost ingenious,' julian said. 'nobody sees the light on the tower except the boat waiting, and nobodysees the signal inland except the one watcher on the hills. absolutely fool-proof.'

'we are lucky to stumble on it,' said dick. 'but what puzzles me is this. i'm pretty certain that the manwho lights the lamp didn't come the way we came - we'd have seen trodden- down weeds orsomething. we should certainly have found some sort of a path his feet had made.'

'yes. and there wasn't anything, not even a broken thistle,' said anne. 'there must be some other wayinto this old house.'

'of course there is! we've already said there must be a way for the man who lights the lamp to getdown to the coves from here!' said george. 'well, that's the way he gets here, of course. he comes upthe passage from the cove. how stupid we are!'

this idea excited them all. where was the passage? nobody could imagine! it certainly wasn't in thetower, there was no room for anything in that small tower except for the spiral staircase leading to thetop.

'let's go down,' said anne, and began to descend the steps. a slight noise below made her stop.

'go on,' said george, who was just behind her. anne turned a scared face to her.

'i heard a noise down there,' she whispered.

george turned to julian immediately. 'anne thinks there's somebody down there,' she said, in a lowvoice.

'come back, anne,' ordered julian at once. anne climbed back, still looking scared.

'would it be the man who does the lamp?' she whispered. 'do be careful, julian. he can't be a niceman!'

'nice! he must be a beast!' said george, scornfully. 'are you going down, ju? look out, then.'

julian peered down the stone steps. there was really nothing for it but to go down and see who wasthere. they couldn't possibly stay up in the tower all day long, hoping that whoever it was would goaway!

'what sort of noise did you hear?' julian asked anne.

'well, a sort of scuffling noise,' said anne. 'it might have been a rat, of course, or a rabbit. it was justa noise, that's all. something's down there, or somebody!'

'let's sit down for a moment or two and wait,' said dick. 'we'll listen hard and see if we can hearanyone.'

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so they sat down cautiously, george with her hand on timmy's collar. they waited and they listened.

they heard the wind blowing round the old tower. they heard the distant gulls calling,'ee-oo, ee-oo, ee-oo'. they heard the thistles rustling their prickles together down below.

but they heard nothing from the kitchen at the foot of the tower. julian looked at anne. 'no sound tobe heard now,' he said. 'it must have been a rabbit!'

'perhaps it was,' said anne, feeling rather foolish. 'what shall we do then? go down?'

'yes. i'll go first though, with timmy,' said julian. 'if anyone is lying in wait, he'll be annoyed to seeour timmy. and timmy will be even more annoyed to see him!'

just as julian was getting up, a noise was quite distinctly heard from below. it was, as anne haddescribed, a kind of scuffle, then silence.

'well, here goes!' said julian, and began to descend the steps. the others watched breathlessly.

timmy went with julian, trying to press past him. he hadn't seemed worried about the noise at all!

so perhaps it was only a rat or rabbit!

julian went down slowly. who was he going to find - an enemy, or a friend? careful now, julian,there may be somebody lying in wait!