24 juan finds the caves
the children held a council of war. what would be the best thing to do? suppose the men didknow the way into the treasure caves now, and came to them? they would begin to take away thetreasure, that was certain.
‘and we can’t stop them,’ said philip. ‘they are jolly tough men. they wouldn’t let a pack ofchildren and two old people prevent them from taking what they wanted. i can’t think why they’vecome back unless it is to search for the treasure again and find it this time.’
everyone agreed with jack. ‘if only we could escape and get news to bill,’ sighed philip. ‘butthere simply isn’t a way.’
the plane had not come into sight – they had only heard the sound of its engines. the old mandid not seem to have heard anything at all. the children decided not to tell him, in case he got intoa panic.
‘what do you think it would be best for us to do?’ said philip. ‘stay here with the old coupleand see if the men do come and take anything away? we can hide somewhere quite easily. or goback to our own fern cave beyond the waterfall? i always felt safe there. and we’ve got plenty offood there too.’
‘there’s plenty here,’ said dinah. ‘let’s stay here. after all, if the men do come, we can hide inthat stalactite cave – there are plenty of hiding places there, behind those frozen columns. theywon’t see us. one of us could always be on guard there, to see who comes in or out.’
‘perhaps you’re right,’ said jack. ‘we must just wait and see what happens. once the men reallydo find the treasure caves, there will be a lot of coming and going – taking the treasure to the plane– taking off with it in the air – coming back again to fetch more – and so on.’
‘shouldn’t be surprised if they bring more planes here, as soon as they’ve discovered exactlywhere the treasure is,’ said philip. ‘it would be a slow business taking one or two crates at a time.’
‘lucy-ann is asleep,’ said dinah. ‘i think i’ll snooze too. it’s so lovely here in the sun. thosemen won’t be along yet, so nobody needs to be on guard in the caves.’
‘it would be almost better to be on guard at the entrance,’ said philip thoughtfully. ‘then wecould spot anyone in plenty of time.’
‘yes, that’s a much better idea,’ said jack, settling down to snooze too. ‘i’m sure the men won’tbe along today. the sun’s going down. they’ll wait till tomorrow.’
that night the children spent in the old couple’s ‘bedroom.’ it was a smallish cave leading offfrom their ‘sitting room,’ where the children had had their meal. in the ‘bedroom’ was a pile ofrugs, spotlessly clean, and the old people insisted on giving up this room to the children.
‘we can sleep in chairs,’ said the old man. ‘that will be no hardship.’
the old woman covered lucy-ann up carefully and even kissed her goodnight. ‘she reallythinks i’m greta, her lost grandchild,’ said lucy-ann. ‘i just can’t stop her making a fuss of me,because i’m so sorry for her.’
in the morning, after another good meal, jack said he was going to take first watch at theentrance to the passage that led to the caves. philip was to take second watch, two hours later.
the boy settled himself down on the edge of the hole, under the big slab of rock that stuck outfrom the hillside. it was a fine sunny morning. the others thought they would go and examinesome of the statues in the statue cave, and the old man said he would tell them their histories, andwhere they had come from.
jack sat there, gazing out down the hillside. he could see a long way. he could see scores ofhigh mountains around, one behind the other. the pine forests on them looked like short grass. heput his field glasses to his eyes to watch the birds around.
it was a disappointing district for wild birds. there seemed to be very few. jack swung hisglasses from side to side of the hill, examining everything.
and then he suddenly got a tremendous shock. he had trained his glasses on to a bush, behindwhich he thought he had seen a quick movement. he had wondered if some bird or animal washiding there.
he saw no bird. instead, he saw the head and shoulders of juan – and juan was gazing steadilyup at him through a pair of field glasses, just as jack was gazing down at him through field glassestoo!
jack was simply petrified. he stared down through his glasses, and juan stared up, each seeingthe other quite clearly. so juan had come once more to seek the treasure! had he come to thatcliff-side by chance – or had he got the same map from otto that jack had had?
‘i’ve given the show away properly now,’ thought jack angrily. ‘i’ve only got to pop into thishole and he’ll know where the entrance is at once. but if i wander away on the hillside, he’ll beafter me. what a fix i’m in!’
juan did not take his eyes off jack. he knelt there by the bush, his field glasses fixed on the boy,watching his every movement.
‘he can’t possibly see the hole that i’m sitting on the edge of,’ thought jack. ‘i think perhaps itwould be best if i left this place and began to climb up the hillside. if i do, and juan follows, hemay miss the hole altogether.’
he was about to do this, when philip leapt up beside him.
‘my turn now, freckles,’ said philip. ‘hallo, what are you looking at?’
‘pity you came just then,’ said jack. ‘there is juan down there, philip – and he’s got his glassestrained on to me – and on you too now! i was just about to crawl up the hillside to make him chaseme, and perhaps miss this hole, when you came. now he’ll know there’s a cave here and he’ll beup in no time.’
‘golly!’ said philip, alarmed. ‘we’d better warn the others at once then.’
‘yes, it’s the only thing to do now,’ said jack, and he jumped back into the hole. ‘come on. itwon’t take juan long to be up here. blow! why didn’t i think he might be about already?’
they made their way quickly along the passage and through the many caves. they came to thelittle cell-like room and found the others there. jack hurriedly told them what had happened.
‘we must hide,’ he said. but the old couple did not seem to take this in. they would not hide.
‘we have nothing to be afraid of,’ said the old man in a dignified manner. ‘they will not hurtus.’
‘you have plenty to be afraid of,’ said jack desperately. ‘do come and hide!’
but they wouldn’t. jack could not waste any more time in arguing, because he wanted to get thegirls to safety. he hurried them off.
‘in the cave of stalactites?’ asked dinah. jack nodded. but when he came to the cave of silentstatues, he paused. wouldn’t this be a better place? suppose they all stood at the back, in the dimshadows, and posed like statues? would anyone notice them? it was worth trying.
‘take shawls off some of the figures,’ said the boy. ‘wrap them round you. stand quite stillright at the back there.’
it didn’t take long to drape themselves and stand right at the back. ‘do you remember that gamecalled statues that we used to play?’ whispered lucy-ann. ‘you had to stand quite still, or youwere caught. i feel like that now.’
‘well, be sure you stand still or you will be caught,’ said jack. ‘sh! isn’t that somebody?’
‘shhhhhh!’ said kiki at once. jack smacked her on her beak.
‘be quiet! do you want to give us away, silly bird?’
kiki opened her beak to squawk and then thought better of it. she flew off somewhere anddisappeared. jack was quite glad to see her go, for he didn’t want her chattering and attractingattention to them.
a noise came from the tunnel beyond. somebody was already there. it must be juan.
‘he’s already gone through the cave of stalactites and the cave of stars,’ whispered philip. ‘nowhe’s in the tunnel leading here. he’ll be at the door in a minute. pity we didn’t shut it. he mightnot have guessed how to twist that iron stud to get it open.’
the door was almost closed, but not shut. as the children watched it, in the dim greenish glowof the cave, they saw it slowly pushed open. then the gleaming barrel of a revolver came round it.
juan was evidently taking no chances.
lucy-ann gulped. oh dear! she hoped the gun wouldn’t go off. she didn’t like guns at all.
the door was opened wide and juan stood there, revolver in hand. he gasped when he saw thesilent figures standing about, their curious eyes gleaming.
‘put your hands up!’ said juan sharply, to the statues. the statues did nothing of the sort. juan’shand trembled. the children guessed he was feeling panicky as they had felt when they too hadfirst seen the strange silent company.
‘wipe your feet!’ ordered a sharp voice, and the children jumped violently. it was kiki. she wassitting just above juan, on a ledge of rock.
‘who’s there?’ shouted juan. ‘i tell you i’ll shoot if anyone moves.’
the statues didn’t move – not even the four live ones.
‘who’s there?’ called juan again.
‘three blind mice,’ answered kiki, and went off into a terrible cackle of laughter. it was almosttoo much for juan. he backed a little, and tried to see which of the statues was talking.
‘pop goes the weasel!’ said kiki, and then began to cluck like martha. juan’s hand trembledagain. but he advanced a little, going down the step into the cave. then he saw, as the childrenhad seen, that the figures were only bejewelled statues, and he laughed loudly.
‘fool!’ he said to himself.
‘fool!’ repeated kiki, and juan swung round at once.
‘who’s there? one of you children, i suppose. wait till i get you!’
kiki began to mew like a cat. the man looked for this unexpected cat, then decided it was oneof the children again, playing a trick on him. kiki flew silently to the next cave and began to talkto herself there.
‘one, two, button my shoe, see how they run!’
the man took one more glance at the company of statues and went into the next cave. thechildren heaved a sigh of relief. but they dared not move yet.
it seemed a very long time till the man came back. with him came the two old people, evidentlyvery frightened. juan shouted at them in their own language, and the children could not understanda word.
then, without another glance at the statues, juan went through the stout oaken door and shut it.
the bang echoed loudly through the cave and made everyone jump.
then they heard another sound which made their hearts sink. it was the noise of strong boltsbeing shot home on the other side of the door.
crash! crash, crash! all three bolts were shot firmly into place. now the door could notpossibly be opened from the inside.
‘did you hear that?’ groaned jack. ‘we’re prisoners now. if only we’d hidden in the cave ofstalactites or the cave of stars, we’d have been all right. we could have got out of the hole. nowwe can’t. we’ll have to stay here till the men set us free – if they ever do.’
