13 safe in the cave

they all peeped out between the fern fronds, lucy-ann holding her breath. yes, there were thetwo men, clambering about dangerously near the waterfall.

‘but what are they doing down there?’ said jack in wonder. ‘why look for us there? they musthave know we didn’t go that way, if they were following us.’

‘well, they must have seen me waving to you from behind the waterfall,’ said dinah. ‘theymust think that’s where our hiding place is.’

‘waving to us from behind the waterfall?’ said philip in the utmost amazement. ‘what are youtalking about, dinah? you must be bats.’

‘well, i’m not,’ said dinah. ‘that’s where lucy-ann and i were when you came up the slopethere to climb into the cave. we were standing behind the waterfall, and i tried my hardest toattract your attention and tell you that those two men were following you.’

‘but – how in the world did you get behind the waterfall?’ asked jack. ‘it was an idiotic thing todo. fancy climbing up those slippery rocks, and getting behind the water! you might have been . .

.’

‘we didn’t go that way, silly,’ said dinah. ‘we went another way.’ and she told jack and philipall about the hole at the back of the cave that led down into the cave of echoes, and the passagethat came out behind the roaring waterfall. the boys listened in the greatest amazement.

‘gosh! how extraordinary!’ said jack. ‘well, i suppose the men just caught sight of you downthere, dinah, and took their eyes off me and philip for a minute, and lost us. we must haveclimbed into this cave through the fern just as they were watching you. what a good thing!’

‘that’s why they’re messing about down there on those wet rocks,’ said philip, grinning. ‘theythink that that is our hiding place, behind the fall, and they want to get there and find us. theydon’t guess that isn’t the right way. i can’t for the life of me see how they can possibly get behindthe water from any of those rocks in front. if they’re not jolly careful, they’ll get swept off by thewater – and down they’ll go like lightning.’

lucy-ann shuddered. ‘i don’t want to see them do that,’ she said, and wouldn’t peep out of theferns any more.

but dinah and the boys watched in glee. they felt safe up there in their fern-hidden cave, and itwas fun to watch the two men slipping about on the rocks near the water, getting angrier andangrier.

kiki was still behind the waterfall, watching them with interest. suddenly she gave one of herdreadful cackles of laughter, and the men heard it even through the roar of the water. they lookedat one another, startled.

‘hear that?’ said juan. ‘somebody yelling their heads off, laughing at us. wait till i get them,that’s all. they must be just behind the sheet of water. how do they get there?’

it was impossible to get behind the waterfall from above or below. quite impossible. the menrealised this after they had fallen many times, and once almost slipped off a wet rock into thecascading water itself. they sat down on a ledge a good way from the water and mopped theirheads. they were hot and angry, and their clothes were soaked.

they were puzzled too. where had those boys come from? was there a whole camp of peoplesomewhere? were they hiding in the mountains? no, that could not be so, for they would haveseen them roving the countryside in search of food. there could only be a few people. they musthave sent out the boys to seek for food.

the children watched in delight. there was something very enjoyable in seeing their enemies ata loss, in being able to see their every action and yet not be seen themselves. even lucy-ann hadanother peep now that she knew they were no longer slipping about the waterfall.

‘we’d better go,’ said juan. ‘if that’s their hiding place they can keep it. we’d better getsomebody else here to help us. we could put him to guard this place. if he sat here, he could see ifanyone came up to get behind the water. come on, i’m fed up with this.’

they stood up. jack watched them through the fern fronds. were they going back to their hut,or to the plane, perhaps? then, seeing that they were going to pass rather near to the cave, the boyhastily closed the fronds and pushed the others back.

‘keep quiet,’ he said. ‘they may come fairly near.’

they came extremely near. they took a way that led them right past the cave itself. thechildren sat as still as stone, hearing the men scrambling along outside. suddenly the fern swayedand shook, and lucy-ann’s hand flew up to her mouth to stifle a scream.

‘they’re coming in, they’ve found us,’ she thought, and her heart almost stopped beating. thefern rustled again, and then there was quiet. the footsteps passed, and the children heard thevoices of the two men saying something they could not catch.

‘have they gone?’ wondered dinah, and looking at jack, she raised her eyebrows. he nodded.

yes – they were gone – but what a terrible fright everyone had had when they grasped hold of thefern to help them along! little did juan and pepi dream that four silent children sat within two feetof them then.

jack parted the fern again. there was no sign of the men. he felt sure they must have goneback, but he did not dare to go out and spy. ‘better lie low for a bit,’ he said. ‘we’ll have a meal.

i’ll creep out and spy around later on. where’s kiki?’

nobody knew. then dinah remembered she had been with them behind the waterfall. they hadgone back without her in their anxiety to warn the boys about the two men. she must still be there.

‘blow! we’d better go and fetch her,’ said jack. ‘i don’t really feel like moving just now, either– i’m really tired with dragging that heavy sack along so far.’

a voice spoke outside the cave . . . a gloomy, dismal, reproachful voice.

‘poor kiki! all alone! what a pity, what a kiki, poor pity!’

the children laughed, and jack parted the fronds cautiously, in case by any chance the menwere still anywhere about. kiki clambered through, looking very sorry for herself. she flew tojack’s shoulder and nibbled his ear gently.

‘all aboard!’ she said more cheerfully, and cracked her beak. dinah ruffled up the feathers onher head.

‘kiki must have flown out from behind the waterfall and come straight here,’ she said. ‘cleverkiki! clever old bird!’

‘god save the queen,’ said kiki. ‘wipe your feet!’

jack’s tin-opener came out again, and a choice of tins and jars was made. there was a small tinof biscuits still to be finished, and the children chose some pressed meat to go with them, and alarge tin of juicy apricots. jack opened the fronds just a little to let in enough daylight to see by.

once again they thoroughly enjoyed their meal, and kiki got into trouble for taking more than herfair share of apricots.

the children waited some time before they dared to creep out of the cave. when the sun waswell down, jack clambered out between the fronds, and had a good look round. there was no signof the men at all. jack found a high place from which, if he sat there, he could see for a good wayin any direction.

‘we’ll take it in turns to keep watch,’ he said. ‘you can come in half an hour, philip.’

they had a fine time clambering all about. they found some wild raspberries, and ate greatquantities of them. they were delicious. kiki ate them too, murmuring ‘mmmmmmmmm’ all thetime.

each of them took turn at keeping watch, but there was nothing to see. the sun went downbehind behind the mountains, and twilight came. they all went back to the cave.

‘it will be lovely to sleep here tonight,’ said lucy-ann, pleased. ‘this moss is so nice and soft.

like velvet.’

she stroked it. it felt like velvet too. she helped dinah to put down macks and a rug to lie on,and made pillows of pullovers and jerseys.

‘a drink of apricot juice and a few biscuits for everyone,’ said dinah, as they all sat down onthe ‘bed.’ she handed out the biscuits. jack parted the fern fronds and tied them firmly back.

‘must have a little air in the cave,’ he said. ‘it will get jolly stuffy with four of us here.’

‘five,’ said dinah. ‘don’t forget kiki.’

‘six,’ said philip, producing the lizard. ‘don’t forget dizzy lizzie.’

‘oh, i really hoped you’d lost her,’ said dinah crossly. ‘i haven’t seen her all day.’

they finished their biscuits and lay down. it was quite dark now outside. their ‘bed’ felt warmand soft. they all snuggled down, making nice cosy places for themselves.

‘i should really enjoy this, if only i knew that mother wasn’t worrying about us,’ said philip,pulling the rug over him. ‘i haven’t any idea at all where we are, but it’s a very beautiful place.

doesn’t that waterfall sound lovely, singing in the night?’

‘it’s singing jolly loudly,’ said jack, yawning. ‘but i don’t think it will keep me awake. oh,kiki, do move off my middle. i can’t imagine why you will keep perching there at night. go onone of my feet.’

‘wipe your feet,’ ordered kiki, and flew to jack’s right foot. she put her head under her wing.

‘tomorrow philip and i must go to that cave of echoes you told us about and stand behind thewaterfall,’ said jack. ‘fancy you girls having a little adventure like that all on your own!’

‘little adventure!’ said lucy-ann. ‘why, it was a jolly big one – especially when we suddenlysaw that we were just behind the waterfall!’

dinah was very much afraid that lizzie would run over her during the night, and lay awakesome time expecting the feel of her tiny feet. but lizzie was curled up in philip’s armpit, ticklinghim dreadfully when she moved.

lucy-ann was asleep almost at once, and soon the others were too. the waterfall roared allthrough the night without ceasing. the wind sprang up and moved the big fronds of the fern. afox or some other creature came sniffing up to the cave entrance, was alarmed at the smell ofhumans there and fled away silently.

nobody stirred, except philip when the lizard woke up, felt cramped, and made her way toanother nice warm spot, this time behind his ear. he awoke for a second, felt lizzie moving, andthen shut his eyes immediately again, pleased with the feel of the tiny feet.

towards morning a throbbing sound awoke all four children. it penetrated into the cave,sounding even louder than the waterfall. jack sat up at once, surprised. what could that be?

the noise grew louder and louder; it seemed as if it was coming right down on their heads.

whatever could it be?

rr-rr-rr-rr-rr-rr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !

‘it’s a plane!’ cried jack. ‘a plane! come to rescue us. out of the cave, quick!’

they all tumbled out of the cave and looked for the plane. one was climbing into the air, a largeshape against the sky. it had evidently come very near the side of the mountain, and had awakenedthem by its noise.

‘a plane to rescue us?’ said philip scornfully. ‘not likely! that’s the plane we came here in –the men’s plane, idiot!’