chapter 15 locked in the cave

dick, george and anne looked at one another in dismay. someone must have been lying in wait forthem, someone must have captured timmy and shut him up. and now they were captured, too!

timmy began to bark when julian shouted. he ran to the door. julian was hammering on it and evenkicking it.

a voice came from the other side of the door, a drawling voice, sounding rather amused.

'you came at an awkward time, that's all, and you must remain where you are till tomorrow.'

'who are you?' said julian fiercely. 'how dare you lock us in like this!'

75

'i believe you have food and drink with you,' said the voice. 'i noticed the packs on your backs, whichi presume contain food. that is lucky for you! now be sensible. you must pay the penalty of beinginquisitive!'

'you let us out!' shouted julian, enraged at the cool voice with its impertinent tone. he kicked thedoor again out of temper, though he knew that it wasn't the slightest use!

there was no reply. whoever it was outside the cave door had gone. julian gave the door one lastfurious kick and looked round at the others.

'that fellow must have been watching us from somewhere. probably followed us all the way to theold house, and saw the packs on our backs then. it must have been he that you heard down in thehouse when we were in the tower, anne.'

timmy barked again. he was still at the door. george called him. 'tim! it's no use! the door'slocked. oh dear, why did we let you go into that hole first? if you hadn't run on ahead and somehowgot yourself caught, you'd have been able to protect us when those men lay in wait!'

'well, what do we do now?' said anne, trying to sound brave.

'what can we do?' said george. 'nothing at all! here we are, locked and bolted in a cave inside thecliff, with nobody near except the fellow who locked us in. if anybody's got any good ideas i'd like tohear them!'

'you do sound cross!' said anne. 'i suppose there isn't anything to do but wait till we're let out. i onlyhope that man remembers we're here. nobody else knows where we are.'

'horrid thought!' said dick. 'still, i've no doubt that mrs. penruthlan would raise the alarm, and asearch-party would set out to find us.'

'what a hope they'd have!' said george. 'even if they did trace us to the old tower, they wouldn'tknow the secret entrance to the passage!'

'well, let's look on the cheerful side,' said julian, undoing the pack from his back. 'let's have somefood.'

everybody cheered up at once. 'i feel quite hungry,' said anne in surprise. 'it must be past our dinnertime now. well, anyway, eating will be something to do!'

they had a very good meal and felt thankful that mrs. penruthlan had packed up so much food.

if they were not going to be let out till the next day they would need plenty to eat!

76

they examined the boxes and crates. some were very old. all were empty. there was a big seaman'schest there, too, with 'abram trelawny' painted on it. they lifted the lid. that was empty, too, savefor one old brass button.

'abram trelawny,' said dick, looking at the name. 'he must have been a sailor on one of the shipsthat the wreckers enticed to the rocks. this chest must have been rolled up on the beach by the wavesand brought up here. i dare say this cave was the place where the man who owned that old house tookhis share of the booty and hid it.'

'yes, i think you're right,' said julian. 'that is why it has a door that can be locked. the wreckerprobably stored quite a lot of valuable things here from different wrecks, and didn't want any otherwrecker to creep up from the cave and take them. what a hateful lot they must have been!

well, there doesn't seem anything of real interest here.'

it was very, very boring in the cave. the children used only one torch because they were afraid that ifthey used the two they had brought they might exhaust both batteries, and then have to be in the dark.

julian examined the cave from top to bottom to see if there was any possible way of escape. but therewasn't. that was quite clear. the cave walls were made of solid rock, and there wasn't a holeanywhere through which to escape, big or small!

'that fellow said we'd come at an awkward time,' said julian, throwing himself down on the ground.

'why? are they expecting some smuggled goods tonight? they've signalled out to sea twice alreadythis week, as we know. hasn't the boat they expected come along yet? if so, they must be expecting ittonight, and so we've come at an awkward time!'

'if only we weren't locked in this beastly cave!' said george. 'we might have spied on them and seenwhat they were up to, and might even have been able to stop them somehow, or get word to thepolice.'

'well, we can't now,' said dick gloomily. 'timmy, you were an ass to get caught; you really were.'

timmy put his tail down and looked as gloomy as dick. he didn't like being in this low-roofed cave.

why didn't they open the door and go out? he went to the door and whined, scraping at it with hisfeet.

'no good, tim. it won't open,' said anne. 'i think he's thirsty, george.'

77

there was nothing for timmy to drink except home-made lemonade, and he didn't seem to like thatvery much.

'don't waste it on him if he doesn't like it,' said julian hastily. 'we may be jolly glad of it ourselvestomorrow.'

dick glanced at his watch. 'only half past two!' he groaned. 'hours and hours to wait. let's have agame of some sort, noughts and crosses would be better than nothing.'

they played noughts and crosses till they were sick of them. they played word-games and guessinggames. they had a light tea at five o'clock and began to wonder what mrs. penruthlan would thinkwhen they didn't turn up that evening.

'if mr. penruthlan is mixed up in this affair, and it's pretty certain that he is,' said julian, 'he'll not bebest pleased to be told to fetch the police to look for us! it's just the one night he won't want thepolice about!'

'i think you're wrong,' said george. 'i think he'd be delighted to have the police looking for lostchildren, and not poking their noses into his affairs tonight!'

'i hadn't thought of that,' said julian. how slowly the time went by. they yawned, talked, fell silent,argued and played with timmy. julian's torch flickered out and they took dick's instead.

'good thing we brought two torches!' said anne.

half past nine came and they all began to feel sleepy.

'i vote we try to go to sleep,' said dick, yawning hugely. 'there's a sandy spot over there, softer to lieon than this rock. what about trying to sleep?'

they all thought it was a good idea and went to the sandy spot. it certainly was better than the hardrock. they wriggled about in the sand and made dents for their bodies to lie in.

'it's still hard,' complained george. 'oh, timmy darling, don't snuffle all round my face. lie downbeside me and anne and go to sleep, too!'

timmy lay down on george's legs. he put his nose on his paws and heaved a huge sigh.

'i hope timmy's not going to do that all night,' said anne. 'what a draught!'

although they thought they couldn't possibly go to sleep, they did. timmy did, too, though he keptone ear open and one eye ready to open. he was on guard! no one could open that door or even comenear it without timmy hearing!

at about eleven o'clock timmy opened one eye and cocked both ears. he listened, not taking hishead off george's legs. he opened the other eye.

78

then he sat up and listened harder. george woke up when he moved and stretched out a hand totimmy. 'tim, lie down,' she whispered. but timmy didn't. he gave a small whine.

george sat up, fully awake. why was timmy whining? was there something going on outside thedoor, men passing perhaps, on their way to the cove? had the light been flashing out to sea and had itbrought in the boat the men were waiting for?

she put her hand on timmy's collar. 'what is it?' she whispered, expecting timmy to growl when henext heard something. but he didn't growl. he whined again.

then he shook off george's hand and went to the door. george switched on her torch, puzzled.

timmy scraped at the door and whined again. but still he didn't growl.

'ju! i believe someone is at the door!' called george, suddenly, in a low voice. 'i believe timmy canhear a search-party or something. wake up!'

everyone awoke suddenly. george repeated her words again. 'timmy's not growling. that means it'snot our enemies he hears,' she added. 'he'd growl like anything at the man who locked us in.'

'be quiet for a moment and listen,' said julian. 'let's see if we can hear anything ourselves. wehaven't got timmy's sharp ears, but we might be able to hear something.'

they sat absolutely still, listening. then julian nudged dick. he had heard something. 'quiet!' hebreathed. they listened again, hardly breathing.

they heard a little scrabbling noise at the door. then it stopped. george expected timmy to breakout into a fusillade of barks at once, but he didn't. he stood there with his head on one side and hisears cocked. he gave an excited little whine and suddenly scraped at the door again.

somebody whispered outside the door, and timmy whined and ran to george and then back to thedoor again. everyone was puzzled.

julian got up and went to the door himself, his feet making no sound. yes, there was most certainlysomebody outside, two people, perhaps, whispering to one another?

'who's there?' said julian suddenly. 'i can hear you outside. who is it?'

there was dead silence for a moment, and then a small familiar voice answered softly: 'it's me.

yan.'

'yan! gosh! is it really you?'

'iss.'

there was an amazed silence in the cave. yan! yan at this time of night outside the door of the verycave they were locked in! were they dreaming?

79

timmy went mad when he heard yan speaking to julian. he flung himself at the door, barking andyelping. julian put his hand on his collar. 'be quiet, idiot! you'll spoil everything! be quiet!'

timmy stopped. julian spoke to yan again. 'yan, have you got a light?'

'no. no light. it is dark here,' said yan. 'can i come to you?'

'yes, of course. listen, yan. do you know how to unlock and unbolt a door?' asked julian,wondering whether the half-wild boy knew even such simple things.

'iss,' said yan. 'are you locked in?'

'yes,' said julian. 'but the key may be in the lock. feel and see. feel for the bolts, too. slide themback and turn the key if there is one.'

the four in the cave held their breath as they heard yan's hands wandering over the stout door in thedark, tapping here and there to find the bolts and the lock.

then they heard the bolts being slid smoothly back. how they hoped their captor had left the key inthe lock!

'here is a key,' said yan's voice suddenly. 'but it is so stiff. my hand isn't strong enough to turn it.'

'try both hands at once,' said julian urgently.

they heard yan trying, panting with his efforts. but the key would not turn.

'blow!' said dick. 'so near and yet so far!'

anne pushed dick out of the way, an idea suddenly flooding into her mind. 'yan! listen to me, yan.

take the key out of the lock and push it under the bottom of the door. do you hear me?'

'iss, i hear,' said yan, and they heard him tugging at the key. there was a sharp noise as it camesuddenly out of the lock. then, lo and behold! it appeared under the bottom of the door, slid throughcarefully by yan!

julian snatched it up and put it into the lock his side. he turned the key, and unlocked the door.

what a wonderful bit of luck!