chapter 14 the secret passage

julian paused on the last step of the spiral staircase and listened. not a sound came from the near-byroom. 'who's there?' said julian, sharply. 'i know you're there! i heard you!'

still not a sound! the kitchen, overgrown with weeds and dark with ivy and the white rambling rose,seemed to be listening to him, but there was no answer!

julian stepped right into the room and looked round. nothing was there - nobody was there! theplace was absolutely empty and quiet. julian went through a doorway into another room. that wasempty, too. the old house only had four rooms altogether, two of them very tiny, and every one ofthem was empty. timmy didn't seem disturbed at all, either, nor did he bark as he certainly wouldhave done if there had been any intruder there.

'well, timmy, it's a false alarm,' said julian, relieved. 'must have been a rabbit, or even a bit of wallcrumbling and falling. what are you sniffing at there?'

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timmy was sniffing with interest at a corner near the doorway. he stood and looked at julian as if hewould like to tell him something. julian went over to see what it was.

there was nothing there except for some rather flattened weeds, growing through the floor.

julian couldn't think why timmy should be interested. however, timmy soon wandered away andwent all round the place, wondering why they had come to such a peculiar house.

'dick! bring the girls down!' shouted julian up the stone stairway. 'there doesn't seem to be anyonehere, after all. it must have been some small animal that anne heard.'

the others clattered down in relief. 'i'm sorry i gave you all a shock,' said anne. 'but it did sound likesomebody down there! however, i'm sure timmy would have barked if so! he didn't seem at alldisturbed.'

'no. i think we can safely say that it was a false alarm,' said dick. 'what do we do next? have ourlunch? or hunt about to see if we can find the entrance to the passage that leads from here down tothe coves?'

julian looked at his watch. 'it's not really time for lunch yet, unless you're all frightfully hungry,'

he said.

'well, i'm beginning to feel jolly hungry,' said dick. 'but, on the other hand, i feel i can't wait to findthat passage! where on earth is the entrance?'

'i've been in all four rooms,' said julian. 'none of them seems to have anything but weeds in, no olddoor leading out of the walls, no trapdoor. it's a puzzle.'

'well, we'll all have a jolly good hunt,' said george. 'this is the sort of thing i like. timmy, you hunt,too!'

they began to explore the four rooms of the old house. as weeds grew more or less all over the floorthey felt that there could be no trapdoor. if there had been, and the man with the lamp used it, theweeds would surely have shown signs of it. but they grew quite undisturbed.

'listen,' said julian at last. 'i've got an idea. we'll make timmy find the entrance.'

'how?' said george at once.

'well, we'll make him smell the oil drips on the steps, and follow with his nose any others that havedripped in the weeds,' said julian. 'i don't suppose the lamp dripped only on the steps. it must havedripped all the way from the passage entrance, wherever it is, to the top of the tower.

couldn't timmy sniff them out? they would lead us to the entrance we're trying to find!'

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'all right. but i'm beginning to believe there is no entrance,' said george, getting hold of timmy'scollar. 'we've looked over every single inch of this house. come on, tim, you've got to perform amiracle!'

timmy's nose was firmly placed over the oil-drip on the bottom stair. 'sniff it, timmy, and follow,'

said george.

timmy knew perfectly well what she meant. george had trained him well! he sniffed hard at the oiland then started up the stone steps for the next oil patch. but george pulled him back.

'no, tim. not that way. this way. there must be other oil drips on the floor of the house.'

timmy amiably turned the other way. he found an oil drip at once, on a patch of weeds growing onthe floor. he sniffed it and went on to another and another.

'good old timmy,' said george, delighted. 'isn't he clever, ju? he's following where the man walkedwhen he carried that lamp! go on, timmy, where's the next drip?'

it was an easy, strong-smelling trail for timmy to follow! he followed it, sniffing, out of one roominto another, smaller one. then into a third, bigger one, which must have been the main room, for ithad a very big fire-place. timmy went straight to the fireplace, his nose to the ground. in fact, hewent right into the hearth, and there came to a stop. he looked round at george and barked.

'he says the trail ends here,' said george, in excitement. 'so the entrance to the secret passage mustbe in this big fire-place!'

the others crowded to the hearth. julian produced his torch and shone it up the chimney. it was anenormous one, though part of the top of it had now fallen away. 'nothing there,' said julian.

'but - hallo - what's this?'

he now shone his torch to the side of the big fireplace and saw a small, dark cavity there, barely bigenough for a man to get into. 'look!' he said, excited. 'i believe we've found it. see that small hole?

well, i bet if we crawl through that we'll find it's the way to the secret passage! good old timmy!'

'we shall get absolutely filthy,' said anne.

'you would say that!' said george, scornfully. 'who cares? this may be very important, mayn't it,ju?'

'rather!' said julian. 'if we're on to what we think we are, and that's smuggling with a big s, it isimportant. well, what about it? lunch first, or exploring that hole?'

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'exploring, of course,' said dick. 'what about letting old tim go first? i'll give him a leg-up.'

timmy was hoisted up to the black hole, and disappeared into it with delight. rabbits? rats?

what were the children after? this was a fine game!

'now i'll go,' said julian, and clambered up. 'it's a bit difficult to squeeze into. dick, you help anneand george up next, and then you come.'

he disappeared, and one by one the others also hoisted themselves to the hole and crawled in, too.

anne wished she had shorts on, like george. even a short skirt was a nuisance in performances ofthis kind!

the hole was merely an entrance to a narrow standing-place at the side of the chimney. julian gotdown from the hole, and stood still for a moment, wondering if this was just an old hiding-place, andnot an entrance to anywhere, after all. but then, just to the right of his feet, he saw another hole thatdropped sharply downwards.

he flashed his torch down, and saw iron hand-grips at one side. he called back and told the others.

then he descended into the hole, at first using the grips for his feet and then for his hands as well.

the hole went down as straight as a well. it came to a sudden end, and julian found himself standingon solid ground. he turned round, flashing his torch.

there was the passage, in front of him! it must be the one that led down to the coves, the one that theman with the lamp must have used long ago, when he went to gloat over the groaning ships on therocks.

julian could hear the others coming down the shaft. he suddenly thought of timmy. where was he?

he must have fallen headlong down the hole and found himself suddenly at the bottom. poor tim!

julian hoped he hadn't hurt himself, but as he hadn't yelped, perhaps he had fallen like a cat, on hisfeet!

he called up to the others. 'i've found the passage. it starts at the bottom of the shaft. i'll go along it alittle way and wait for you all to come. then we can keep together in a line.'

soon everyone was safely down the shaft. george began to worry about timmy. 'he must have hurthimself, ju! falling all that way; oh, dear, where is he?'

'we'll soon come across him, i expect,' said julian. 'now, keep close together, everybody. the pathgoes downwards pretty steeply, as you might expect.'

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it certainly did. in places the four children almost slithered along. then julian discovered iron staplesfixed here and there in the steepest places, and after that they held on to them in the most slipperyspots.

'these iron staples would be jolly useful to anyone coming up,' said julian. 'it would be almostimpossible to climb up this passage without something to help the climber to pull himself up. ah,here's a more level stretch.'

the level part soon became much wider. and then, quite suddenly, it became a cave! the four cameout into it in surprise. it was rather low-roofed, and the walls were made of black rock, that glistenedin the light of the torch.

'i wish i could find timmy,' said george, uneasily. 'i can't even hear him anywhere!'

'we'll go on till we come to the cove,' said julian. 'this must lead us right down to the shore,probably to the very cove where the ships were wrecked. look, there's a kind of rocky arch leadingout of this cave.'

they went through the archway and into yet another passage that wound between jutting rocks,which made it rather dificult to get through at times. then suddenly the passage divided into two.

one fork went meandering off towards the seaward side, the other into the cliff.

'better take the seaward side,' said julian. they were just going to take the right-hand passage whengeorge stopped and clutched at julian. 'listen!' she said. 'i can hear timmy!'

they all stopped and listened. george had the sharpest ears of the lot, and she could hear himbarking. so could the others after a few moments. bark-bark-bark! bark-bark-bark! yes, it wastimmy all right!

'timmy!' yelled george, making the others jump almost out of their skins. 'timmy!'

'he can't hear you all this way away,' said dick. 'gosh, you made me jump. come on, we'll have totake the cliff passage. timmy's barking comes from that direction, not this.'

'yes, i agree,' said julian. 'we'll go and collect him, and then come back and take the other passage.

i'm sure it leads down to the sea.'

they made their way along the left-hand passage. it was not difficult, because it was much wider thanthe one they had already come down. timmy's barking became louder and louder as they went down.

george whistled piercingly, hoping that timmy would come rushing up. but he didn't.

'it's funny that he doesn't come,' said george, worried. 'i think he must be hurt. timmy!'

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the passage wound round a corner, and then once more divided into two. to the children's surprisethey saw a rough door set into the rocky wall of the passage on the left-hand side. a door! how veryextraordinary!

'look, a door!' said dick, amazed. 'and a jolly stout one, too.'

'timmy's behind it!' said george. 'he must have gone through it and it shut behind him. timmy!

we're here! we're coming!'

she pushed at the door, but it didn't open. she saw that it was lightly latched, and lifted the old ironlatch. the door opened easily and all the four went through into a curious cave beyond. it was morelike a low-roofed room!

timmy flung himself at them as soon as they came through the door. he wasn't hurt. he was sopleased to see them that he barked the place down! 'woof! wooooof!'

'oh, timmy, how did you get here?' said george, hugging him. 'did the door click behind you?

my word, what a queer place this is! it's a storeroom - look at all the boxes and crates and things!'

they looked round the strange cave, and at that moment there was a soft click. then something slidsmoothly into place. julian leapt to the door and tried to open it.

'it's locked! somebody's locked it, and bolted it! i heard them. let us out, let us out, i say!'