26 the getaway

in about an hour’s time philip heard the sound of footsteps and then the bolts of the door were shotback. juan’s revolver appeared round the opening door again. but this time there was no kiki totalk to him – nobody to be seen or heard except the silent company of statues.

juan came down into the cave. other men followed him. philip watched them through a fold ofthe shawl. he hoped they wouldn’t start stripping the jewels off the statues at once, or they mightdiscover him.

the men exclaimed in wonder at the statues. they had powerful torches with them which theyswitched on at once. philip was not prepared for that. he shrank back into his corner, glad of thedraping shawl.

the men were a rough-looking lot, and they called out to one another in surprise as they saw thegleaming jewels on the necks and arms of the statues. some of them grabbed brooches andnecklaces at once. juan gave a sharp order and the men replaced them sulkily.

philip counted the men. there were eight. otto was not among them, but that was notsurprising. juan, pepi and luis were there. there were two men for each aeroplane, apparently.

juan led the way to the next cave, through the tunnel. their footsteps echoed hollowly as theypassed through. philip wondered if they would all go on to the next cave – and the next. if so, hecould slip out of the open door straight away, and make his way down the hillside at once.

he listened. he could hear the men’s voices from the next cave, where the pictures were. thenfootsteps again, farther away. then only a faint murmur of voices.

‘they’ve gone to the cave of books – and then they’ll go to the cave where the gold is,’ thoughtphilip. ‘i’ve plenty of time to get through the door and away.’

he dropped his shawl on the floor and went quietly to the door. he was through it in a trice. upthe winding steps he went, off to the cave of stars – then to the cave of gleaming stalactites. hebegan to feel safer. he didn’t think there would be anyone on guard outside the hole, but he meantto be careful there.

there was nobody on guard. the hillside was empty. philip climbed out of the hole and beganto make his way downwards. soon he was well on his way, keeping a sharp look-out the wholetime just in case all the men had not gone down into the caves.

he was tired and hungry by the time he reached the men’s hut. thank goodness the door wasopen and there was nobody about! the boy got himself a good meal. he found a box containingbars of chocolate, and slipped some of the bars into his pocket, in case he had to go some timewithout food.

then he went along to the planes. there they were, four of them, looking quite big as he walkedbeside them. which should he get into?

he climbed up into the cabin of each and looked inside. in the last one there was a big heap ofcoats and rugs. it seemed the best plane to get into. he could pile the things over him and hidehimself that way. he didn’t at the moment see any chance of squeezing himself into a crate, asdinah had suggested. anyway, the crates were not in the plane, they were under the tarpaulins,where they had always been.

having decided exactly what he was going to do, he had plenty of time left on his hands. heknew that the men would not be back for some time. they would be carrying heavy, awkwardloads and would go far more slowly than he had gone.

he amused himself by snooping around. he went into the hut and found a coat hanging upthere. he ran his hands through the pockets, thinking that any information he could get hold ofmight be useful to bill, when he got to him.

there was a notebook in one of the pockets. philip flipped over the pages. he could makenothing of it. it contained sentences in some kind of code, and plenty of numbers. perhaps billcould make head or tail of it. he couldn’t!

he went to the cowshed. there was nothing to be seen there but the still-open tins of fruit,swarming with flies. philip stared at them. ‘oh yes – they are what jack left for otto,’ he thought.

‘ugh, look at the flies!’

he took a stick, dug a hole and buried the evil-smelling tins and their contents. then he strolledoff again and came to the tree where they had all once hidden. he squinted up and saw something.

‘golly, what’s that?’

then he remembered. ‘of course – we left our suitcases up there. i’d forgotten all about them.

fancy them still being there!’

he debated whether to get them down and hide them. ‘no,’ he thought, ‘they might be found,and then the men might start looking for me. i’ll leave them there.’

he kept a good look out for the returning men as the afternoon wore on. he helped himself tosome biscuits and a tin of peaches at about five o’clock. still no sign of the men.

but about ten minutes later he saw them far away in the distance. he was by the planes, waiting,ready to jump into the one he had chosen as soon as he saw the men coming.

he counted the men quickly. yes – eight – so they were all back. he climbed up the steps andleapt into the cabin. he went to the pile of rugs and coats and got underneath, pulling them overhim so that not even the toe of his shoe showed.

‘good thing it’s a hot day,’ he thought. ‘the men certainly won’t want their coats or macks.’

he heard the voices of the men. evidently they were pleased with their successful day. thenthere was a silence. they had passed the planes, and were on their way to the hut. ‘probably getthemselves a meal, and then pack up the things they have brought from the treasure caves,’

thought philip. he yawned. he felt sleepy now that he was lying down.

soon he was asleep, and he slept so soundly that he did not even stir when, some hours later,two men entered his plane. but he did wake when the propellers swung round as the enginessuddenly roared out! he nearly gave himself away by sitting up in a fright.

then he remembered where he was, and lay perfectly still, wondering if it was nighttime. hecould see nothing under the pile of coats, of course. it might have been midnight or noon for all heknew.

one by one the planes took off. philip’s plane went last of all. he felt it leave the ground like abird and then he was away in the air.

‘they haven’t seen me! they don’t guess they’ve got me on board!’ thought philip, delighted.

‘it was easy after all. hurrah!’

he fell asleep again, and the planes roared on through the night. where were they going? to asecret landing-place? to an ordinary aerodrome?

the other children, who were sleeping that night out on the ledge, heard the roar of the planesas they left. it was such a hot night that they had felt stifled indoors and had begged the old coupleto let them take the rugs out on the ledge.

‘you will not walk in your sleep?’ the old man had said. ‘you might walk off the ledge!’

‘not one of us walks in our sleep,’ said jack. ‘we’ll be all right.’

elsa, the old woman, had not wanted lucy-ann to sleep out on the ledge at all, and had almostcried when lucy-ann had insisted. kiki and martha were both there too. but the lizard wasn’t.

she was with philip, sharing his adventure.

the children had had a horrid day. the men had found both them and the old couple in the‘sitting room’ and had shouted at them and questioned them, and frightened them very much. theold man had told them that he had been living in the caves for a long time, guarding the treasure,and the men had jumped to the conclusion that the children also had been living there with them.

‘good thing they didn’t ask us how we got to this valley,’ said jack afterwards. ‘they just tookit for granted that we and the old people came here together ages ago.’

the old man and woman had rushed to the rescue of their beloved statues when the men hadbegun to strip off the jewellery. the men had struck the poor old things and shouted at them. theold man had taken his weeping, trembling wife away, and the children had done their best tocomfort them.

they had not gone near the men again, but had gone to sit on the sunny ledge, and wondered ifphilip had managed to escape. ‘i’m sure he did,’ said lucy-ann. ‘all the men kept together, andphilip could easily have slipped out of the cave of statues when they came to question us.’

the men had gone at last, taking with them a haul of jewels, one very precious figure, somepictures and a few old papers. two of them carried a box of the gold between them. the childrenpictured their difficulties, hauling it up and down the mountainside.

the men had bolted the door behind them again, and once more the little company wereprisoners. how they wondered what was happening to philip! had he managed to hide in one ofthe aeroplanes? would he slip into a crate? when would the planes go off?

they knew that the planes had gone when they awoke in the night to hear the throb of theengines. they all sat up and listened. kiki gave a squawk and pecked martha to wake her.

‘there go the planes,’ said jack. ‘i bet philip’s in one. now we shall soon be rescued. what ashock for bill when he hears all about us! do you think bill will fly over in his aeroplane too?’

‘i hope so,’ said lucy-ann fervently. ‘i’m longing to see bill again. i sometimes feel as if we’llbe in this valley all our lives.’

‘don’t be silly,’ said dinah. ‘oh, kiki, leave martha alone. whatever are you doing to her tomake her cluck like that?’

‘shhhh!’ said kiki cheekily.

‘don’t talk back to me!’ said dinah, lying down again. ‘well, i’m glad we heard those planes.

good luck to you, philip, wherever you are!’

‘good luck!’ called the others, and kiki echoed the words too. ‘good luck!’

‘cluck-luck-luck!’ said martha the hen, sounding exactly as if she was joining in with the goodwishes as well!