17
joe is angry
to the boys’ intense surprise, they found more of the deep narrow holes, allof them near the curious old ‘buildings’. ‘they can’t be wells,’ said jack.
‘that’s impossible. no one would want so many. they must be shafts, sunkdown deep into the earth here, for some good reason.’
‘do you think there were mines?’ asked philip, remembering that coalmines always had shafts bored down through the earth, so that men mightgo down and get the coal. ‘do you think there are old mines here? coalmines, for instance?’
‘no, not coal,’ said jack. ‘i can’t imagine what. we’ll have to find out. iexpect your uncle knows. wouldn’t it be exciting if it was a gold mine! younever know.’
‘well, it must have been worked out hundreds of years ago,’ said philip.
‘there wouldn’t be any gold left now, or it would still be worked. i say –shall we go down and see what there is to be seen?’
‘i don’t know,’ said jack doubtfully. ‘the old ladders aren’t much good,are they? we might fall hundreds of feet down – and that would be the endof us.’
‘what a pity, what a pity!’ remarked kiki.
‘yes, it would be a pity,’ said philip, with a grin. ‘well, perhaps we’dbetter not. hallo! – here’s another shaft, jack – a bit bigger one.’
the boys peered down this big one. it had a much better ladder than theothers. they went down it a little way, feeling very daring. they soon cameup again, for they did not like the darkness and the shut-in feeling.
and then they made a discovery that surprised them even more than theshafts. not far off, piled under an overhanging bit of rock, were some emptymeat and fruit tins.
this was such an extraordinary find that the boys could hardly believetheir eyes. they stood and stared at the tins, and kiki flew down to inspectthem to see if there was anything left to eat.
‘where do you suppose those came from?’ asked jack at last. ‘what aqueer thing! some are very rusty – but others seem quite new. who couldcome to this island – and why – and where do they live?’
‘it’s a mystery,’ said philip. ‘let’s have a jolly good look all round whilstwe’re here, and see if we can find anyone. better go carefully, because it’squite plain that whoever lives here doesn’t want it known.’
so the boys made a careful tour of the island, but saw nothing andnobody that could explain the mystery of the pile of tins. they wondered atthe green rocks on the southward side of the island, and again puzzled overthe green colour of the stream that ran into the sea there. there were manymore birds on the seaward side, and jack kept a sharp look-out for the greatauk. but he did not see one, which was very disappointing.
‘aren’t you going to take any photos?’ asked philip. ‘you said you were.
hurry up, because we oughtn’t to be much longer.’
‘yes – i’ll take a few,’ said jack, and hid behind a convenient rock tosnap a few young birds. then, having one more film left, a thought struckhim.
‘i’ll take a snap of that pile of tins,’ he said. ‘the girls mightn’t believeus if we bring home such a queer tale, but they’ll believe it all right if weshow them the photo.’
so he snapped the pile of tins too, and then, with one last look down thebig, silent shaft, the boys made their way back to the boat. there it lay, justout of reach of the water.
‘well, let’s hope we make as good a trip home as we did coming out,’
said jack. ‘i wonder if joe is back yet. i hope to goodness that the girls havedealt with him somehow if he is.’
they pulled the boat into the water and got in. they rowed over thesmooth moat to the exit between the rocks, where spray was being sent highinto the air from waves breaking on either side. they managed to avoid therock that had scraped the bottom of the boat before, and rowed quite easilyout of the passage.
they had some trouble just outside, where the sea was very choppyindeed. the wind had changed a little, and the sea was rougher. they put upthe sail and ran home in great style, exulting in the feel of the wind on theircheeks and the spray on their faces.
as they got near the shore after their long run, they saw the two girlswaiting for them, and they waved. dinah and lucy-ann waved back. soonthe boat slid to its mooring-place and the boys got out and tied it up.
‘did you find the great auk?’ cried lucy-ann.
‘is joe back?’ asked philip.
‘you’ve been ages,’ said dinah, impatient to hear everything.
‘we’ve had a fine adventure,’ said philip. ‘is joe back?’
all these questions were asked at the same moment. the most importantone was – was joe back?
‘yes,’ said dinah, with a giggle. ‘he came back about an hour ago. wewere watching for him. luckily, he went straight down into the cellar withsome boxes he brought back in the car, and we followed him. he openedthat inner door and went into the back cellar with the boxes – and the cellarwhere the trap-door is – and we remembered where you’d put the key ofthat door, got in, and locked him in. he’s banging away there likeanything.’
‘good for you!’ said the boys, pleased. ‘now he won’t know we’ve beenout in his boat. but how on earth are we going to let him out without hisknowing we’ve locked him in?’
‘you’ll have to think of something,’ said dinah. the boys walked up tothe house, thinking hard.
‘we’d better slip down quietly and unlock the door when he’s having arest,’ said philip at last. ‘he can’t keep banging at the door for ever. assoon as he stops for a bit of rest, i’ll quietly put the key in the lock andunlock the door. then i’ll slip upstairs again. the next time he tries thedoor, it will open – but he won’t know why.’
‘good!’ said the others, pleased. it seemed a very simple way of settingjoe free without his guessing that it had anything to do with them.
philip took the key and went down into the cellar as quietly as he could.
as soon as he got down there he heard joe hammering on the door. the boywaited till he had stopped for breath, and then pushed the big key quietlyinto the lock. he heard joe coughing, and turned the key at the samemoment, and then withdrew it. the door was unlocked now – and joe couldcome out when he wanted to. philip shot across the cellar to the steps, ranup them, out into the kitchen, and joined the others.
‘he’ll be out in a minute,’ he panted. ‘let’s slip up on to the cliff, and assoon as we see joe again, we’ll walk down to the house, pretending we arejust back from a walk. that will puzzle him properly.’
so they all ran up to the cliff, lay down on the top, and peeped over to seewhen joe appeared. in low voices the boys told the girls all they had foundon the isle of gloom.
the two girls listened in amazement. deep holes in the earth – a streamthat was bright green – a pile of food tins – how very strange! no one hadexpected anything like that. it was birds they had gone to see.
‘we simply must go back again and find out what those shafts lead downto,’ said jack. ‘we’ll find out, too, if there were once mines of some sortthere. perhaps your uncle jocelyn would know, dinah.’
‘yes, he would,’ said dinah. ‘golly, i wish we could get hold of that oldmap of the island he spoke about – the one he couldn’t find. it might showus all kinds of interesting things, mightn’t it?’
kiki suddenly gave one of her express-train screeches, which meant shehad sighted her enemy, joe. the children saw him down below, looking allround, evidently for them. they scrambled to their feet and walked jauntilydown the path to the house.
joe saw them and came to meet them, fury in his face. ‘you locked mein,’ he said. ‘i’ll tell miss polly of you. you ought to be whipped.’
‘locked you in!’ said philip, putting a look of sheer amazement on hisface. ‘where did we lock you in? into your room?’
‘down in the cellar,’ said joe, in a furious voice. ‘here’s miss polly. i’lltell of you. miss polly, these children locked me into the cellar.’
‘don’t talk nonsense,’ said aunt polly. ‘you know there is no lock on thecellar door. the children have been for a walk – look at them just comingback to the house – how can you say they locked you in? you must beimagining things.’
‘they locked me in,’ said joe sulkily, suddenly remembering that theinner cellar was his own secret place and that he had better not go into anydetails, or aunt polly would go down and discover the door he had socarefully hidden.
‘i didn’t lock him in, aunt polly,’ said philip earnestly. ‘i’ve been ever sofar away all morning.’
‘so have i,’ said jack, quite truthfully. aunt polly believed them, and asshe knew that the four children were always together, she imagined that thegirls had been with them. so how could any of them have played a trick onjoe? and anyway, thought aunt polly, there was no lock on the door to thecellar, so what in the wide world did joe mean? he really must be gettingconfused.
‘go and do your work, joe,’ she said sharply. ‘you always seem to haveyour knife into the children, accusing them of this and that. leave themalone. they’re good children.’
joe thought otherwise. he gave one of his famous scowls, made an angrynoise, beautifully copied by kiki, and returned to the kitchen.
‘don’t take any notice of him,’ said aunt polly. ‘he’s very bad-tempered,but he’s quite harmless.’
the children went back into the house, winking at one another. it wasnice to have aunt polly on their side. all the same, joe was piling upgrievances against them. they must look out.
‘funny,’ thought jack. aunt polly says joe is quite harmless – and billsmugs says he’s a dangerous fellow. one of them is certainly wrong.’
