chapter 17 full of surprises

'its locked - we can't open the bag,' said julian, and shook it vigorously as if that might make it flyopen and spill whatever contents it had!

'we don't know if it's got anything of value in it or not,' said dick, in deep disappointment. 'i mean -it might be some trick on that fellow paul's part - he might have taken the blue-prints, or whateverthey were he hid, for himself, and left the bag just to trick the others.'

'can we cut it open?' asked george.

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'no. i don't think so. it's made of really strong leather. we would need a special knife to cut throughit - an ordinary pen-knife wouldn't be any use,' said julian. 'i think we'll just have to assume thatwe've got the goods, and hope for the best. if they're not in here, it's just bad luck.

someone else has got them, if so.'

they all looked at the tantalizing bag.

now they would have to wait for ages before they found out whether their efforts had been successfulor not!

'well - what do we do now?' said george, feeling suddenly flat. 'go back all through that long tunnelonce more? i'll be glad to be in the open air again, won't you?'

'rather!' said julian. 'well - i suppose we'd better get down through that hole again.'

'wait!' said anne, her sharp eyes catching sight of something. 'look - what does all this mean?'

she shone her torch on to various signs on the wall.

again there were arrows drawn in white chalk - but, very oddly, a line of them ran downwards acrossthe wall of the little rocky room, right to the edge of the hole - and another line of arrows pointing theother way, ran horizontally across the wall!

'well - do you suppose that's just meant to muddle people?' said dick, puzzled. 'we know jolly wellthat the way out of this room is down that hole, because that's the way we came into it.'

'perhaps the other line of arrows means that there's a second way out,' suggested george. they alllooked round the little rocky room. there didn't seem any way out at all.

'where's timmy?' said anne, suddenly, flashing her torch round. 'he's not here! has he fallen downthe hole? i never heard him yelp!'

at once there was a great to-do. 'timmy, timmy, timmy! timmy! where are you?'

george whistled shrilly, and the noise echoed round and round the little room. then, fromsomewhere, there was a bark. how relieved everyone was.

'where is he? where did that bark come from?' said dick. 'it didn't sound as if it came from below,down that hole!'

there came another welcome bark, and the sound of timmy's feet. then to everyone's amazement,he appeared in the little rocky room as if by magic - appearing straight out of the wall, it seemed!

'timmy! where were you? where have you come from!' cried george, and ran to see. she came to astandstill and exclaimed loudly.

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'oh! what idiots we are! why, just behind this big jutting-out piece of rock, there's another passage!'

so there was! a very, very narrow one, it is true - and completely hidden from the children becauseof the enormous slab of rock that jutted out from the wall and hid it! they stood and stared at it,shining their torches on the narrow way. the arrows ran round the wall to it.

'we never even looked properly!' said dick. 'still - it's a passage that would be extremely dificult tospot - hidden round the corner of that rock - and very narrow at that. well, i do know one thing forcertain about that man called paul!'

'what?' asked anne.

'he's thin - thin as a rake!' said dick. 'no one but a skinny fellow could squeeze through this opening!

i doubt if you can, julian - you're the biggest of us.'

'well, what about trying?' said george. 'what does everyone say? this might be an easier, shorterway out - or it might be a harder, longer one.'

'it won't be longer,' said harry. 'by my reckoning we must be pretty well near the camp now. it'slikely that the way leads straight there - though where it comes out i can't imagine. guy and i haveexplored the camp pretty thoroughly.'

dick suddenly thought of something he had noticed at the camp - the big hole behind the slab ofstone, where he had seen the baby rabbit a day or two before! what had guy said about that? he hadsaid there was a great hole underground, which had been explored - but that it was probably just anancient storage place for food or for loot! he turned eagerly to harry.

'harry - would this lead to that enormous hole underground - the one that guy once told me had beenexplored, but was of no interest - probably just an old store-place?'

'let me see,' said harry. 'yes - yes, it might lead to that. most of these underground ways arethroughways - ways that lead from one place to another. they don't as a rule stop suddenly, but haveusually been of use as secret escape-routes or something of that kind. i think you may be right, dick -we're fairly near the camp, i'm sure, and we may quite well find that if we go on, instead of goingback, we shall come into the camp itself - probably through that great hole!'

'then come on,' said julian. 'it will certainly be a shorter way!'

they tried to squeeze through the narrow opening that led out of the little rocky room. dick gotthrough all right, and so did the others - but poor julian found it very very dificult and almost gaveup.

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'you shouldn't eat so much,' said dick, unkindly. 'go on - one more try, ju - i'll haul on your arm atthe same time!'

julian got through, groaning. 'i'm squashed flat!' he said. 'now, if anyone makes any more jokesabout too much breakfast, i'll pull his nose!'

the passage grew wider immediately, and everyone was thankful. it ran fairly straight, and then wentsteeply downwards, so that the five slithered about, and timmy found himself suddenly running.

then it came to a stop - a complete stop! this time it was not a blank wall of rock that faced them - itwas something else.

'a roof-fall!' groaned dick. 'look at that! now we're done!'

it certainly looked most formidable. earth, rocks and stones had fallen from the roof and blocked upthe whole passage-way. there was no use in going on - they would just have to turn and go back!

'blow it!' said dick, and kicked at the mass of earth. 'well - there's no use staying here - we'd betterturn back. my torch isn't too good now, and neither is yours, george. we don't want to lose any time- if our torches give out, we shall find things very difficult.'

they turned to go back, feeling very despondent. 'come on, timmy!' said george. but timmy didn'tcome. he stood beside the roof-fall, looking very puzzled, his ears cocked and his head on one side.

then he suddenly gave a sharp bark.

it made everyone jump almost out of their skins, for the sound echoed round and about in a veryqueer way.

'don't, timmy!' said george, almost angrily. 'whatever's the matter? come along!'

but timmy didn't come. he began to paw at the pile of earth and rocks in front of him, and barkedwithout stopping. wuff-wuff-wuff-wuff-wuff-wuff!

'what's up?' said julian, startled. 'timmy, what on earth's the matter?'

timmy took absolutely no notice, but went on feverishly scraping at the roof-fall, sending earth andstones flying all over the others.

'there's something he wants to get at - something behind this roof-fall,' said dick. 'or perhapssomebody - make him stop barking, george, and we'll listen ourselves and see if we can hearanything.'

george silenced timmy with difficulty, and made him stand quiet and still. then they all listenedintently - and a sound came at once to their ears.

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'yap-yap-wuff-wuff-wuff!'

'it's jet!' yelled harry, making everyone jump violently again. 'jet! then guy must be with him.

he never leaves guy! what's guy doing here? he may be hurt. guy! guy! jet!'

timmy began to bark wildly again and to scrape more furiously than ever. julian shouted to theothers above the barking.

'if we can hear jet barking, this roof-fall can't be very big. we'd better try and get through it.

two of us can work in turn with timmy. we can't all work at once, the passage is too narrow.'

then began some very hard work - but it didn't last as long as julian feared, because, quite suddenly,the mass of rubble and rock shifted as they worked, and a gap appeared at the top of the heap,between it and the roof.

dick began to scramble up, but julian called to him at once. 'be careful, ass! the roof can't be toogood here - it may come down again, and you'll be buried. go carefully!'

but before dick could go any further, a little figure appeared on the top of the rubble above theirheads, and slid down to them yapping loudly, and waving a long wiry tail!

'jet! oh, jet! where's guy?' cried harry, as the little dog leapt into his arms and licked his facelavishly, barking joyfully in between the licks.

'guy!' yelled julian. 'are you there?'

a weak voice came back. 'yes! who's that?' an absolute volley of voices anwered him.

'it's us! and harry! we're coming to you, we shan't be long!'

and it wasn't long, either, before the roof-fall was slowly and carefully climbed by each one -though timmy, of course, scrambled up, over and down at top speed!

on the other side of the roof-fall was a passage, of course, the continuation of the one the childrenhad come along. guy was there, sitting down, looking very pale. jet flung himself on him and lickedhim as if he hadn't seen him for a month, instead of just a minute or two before!

'hallo!' said guy, in a small voice. 'i'm all right. it's just my ankle, that's all. i'm jolly glad to...'

but before he could say a word more, harry was beside him, his arms round him, his voice choking.

'guy! oh, guy! i've been a beast, i wouldn't be friends! what happened to you? are you really allright? oh guy, we are friends again, aren't we?'

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'look out harry, old son,' said julian gently. 'he's fainted. now just let's be sensible and everythingwill come all right. flap your hanky at him, dick, and give him a little air. it's only the excitement!'

in half a minute guy opened his eyes and smiled weakly. 'sorry!' he said. 'i'm all right now. i onlyhope this isn't a dream, and that you really are here!'

'you bet we are!' said dick. 'have a bit of chocolate, then you'll know we're real!'

'good idea!' said julian. 'we'll all have some - and i've some biscuits in my pocket too. we'll eat andtalk - and we'll make plans at the same time. catch, guy - here's a biscuit!'