28 the day after the storm
as soon as he had shot the bolts safely home, jack collapsed. his tussle with pepi, his long runthrough the wind and the rain, and the terrific excitement of making the men prisoners had beentoo much for him. he sank down on the steps outside the bolted door, and lay there quite still.
it was dark there. the old couple felt about for jack in alarm. what was happening to the poorboy?
they found his torch in his pocket and took it out. they switched it on and looked anxiously atjacks pale face and closed eyes. they tried to drag him up the steps.
‘his clothes are wet,’ said the old woman, feeling jacks soaked jersey and shorts. ‘he will get achill, a terrible chill. maybe he will die of it. what shall we do, old man?’
the old man answered her in her own language. ‘we will drag him up these steps. we willmake him comfortable in the cave of stars. you shall wrap him in your shawl and he shall have mycoat.’
together the old couple managed to drag jack up the steps. how they panted and groaned. theycould not get him any further than the top. the old man stripped off jack’s wet things and put hiscoat round him. the old woman wrapped him all round in her thick shawl. they squeezed out hiswet things and hung them on the rocky wall to dry.
they were frightened. what were they going to do now? those men were bolted in the caveswith what was left of their precious treasure. how angry they would be when they discoveredwhat had happened!
jack soon came to himself again. he sat up, wondering where he was. he had been in a kind ofhalf faint, half asleep. he clutched at his clothes. what on earth had he got on? a shawl? gracious,was he dressed up as a statue again?
the old people heard him moving and switched on the torch again. they looked anxiously athim and were relieved to see that he was no longer so white.
‘you are better now?’ asked the old man gently.
‘yes, thanks. i’m all right,’ said jack, pulling at the shawl. ‘whatever’s this?’
‘your clothes were so wet,’ said the old man. ‘we had to take them off to dry them or youwould have got a terrible chill. you have my coat and my wife’s shawl.’
‘oh – well, thank you,’ said jack, feeling rather foolish in the coat and shawl. ‘sorry i gave youa fright. but i just conked out – that run up the mountainside, i suppose. i say – wasn’t it a goodidea bolting those men in?’
‘ah – but what will they do to us when they know?’ said the old man sadly.
‘nothing! how can they?’ said jack. ‘they are on the wrong side of the bolted door, aren’tthey? don’t you worry, we’re all right!’
he got up. his legs were not very steady, but he could walk all right. ‘i’m just going to theentrance of the caves to see if by any chance that awful wind storm has died down,’ he said. ‘if ithas, i’ll make my way to the fern cave, where the two girls are. they’ll be scared by themselves.’
somehow he stumbled along to the entrance. the clouds were so low and black that it was likenight outside. rain still swept over the hillside in great torrents. it was quite impossible to go out.
‘i should get completely lost,’ thought jack. ‘golly, the girls will be so worried about me! ihope they won’t be frightened all by themselves. well, it’s no use – i’ll have to spend the nighthere with the old people – but it won’t be very comfortable.’
it wasn’t comfortable. they found a place in the cave of stars, a rounded, hollowed-out basin ofrock, with only a few sharp edges. for the sake of warmth they all huddled together. jack tried tomake the old people take back their coat and shawl, saying that his clothes were almost dry.
but the old woman grew very angry when he suggested this, and scolded her husband hard inwords that jack could not understand, but whose meaning he could guess.
‘my old one says that you are a bad bad boy to talk of putting on wet clothes,’ said the oldfellow. ‘we will press close together. it is not cold in this cave.’
it wasn’t very cold, it was true. jack lay between the old man and his wife, looking up at theroof of the strange cave. he watched the curious greenish-blue stars shine and fade, flicker andglow. there were hundreds of them, most enchanting to watch. jack wondered about them for along time and then fell asleep.
in the morning the old people awoke first and felt stiff and uncomfortable. but they did notmove for fear of disturbing jack. he awoke at last and sat up. he saw the glowing stars above andaround, and knew where he was at once.
‘i wonder what the time is,’ he said, looking at his watch. ‘half past seven! gracious, i wonderwhat those men are doing! are my clothes dry?’
luckily they were. jack put them on quickly, and gave back the coat and shawl with warmthanks. ‘now, you stay here a bit,’ he said to the old couple. ‘i’m just going to the bolted door tosee if i can hear anything.’
he went off, feeling quite himself again now. as soon as he came to the top of the curvingstairway that led down to the oaken door, he heard bangs and crashes. ah – the men haddiscovered that they were bolted in!
crash! bang! thud! smash!
they were hammering at the stout door for all they were worth. how they shouted and yelled,how they kicked at that door and tried to smash it down!
jack stood at the top of the steps and grinned in delight. serve them right! they were getting ataste of their own medicine. they had locked the children in – and now they themselves wereprisoners.
suddenly there was a loud bang that made jack jump. it was a revolver shot. the men wereshooting at the door, hoping to smash the bolts.
bang! bang! bang!
jack went back a little way, afraid that a bullet might glance off somehow and hit him, thoughthis was impossible. bang ! bang !
the bolts could not be smashed. the men gave the door a few more blows with something thenstopped. jack ran back to tell the old couple all about it.
but they were frightened, so it wasn’t much fun telling them. ‘i think i’ll take you to the ferncave, where the girls are,’ he told the old man. ‘we have food and rugs in that cave. come withme.’
the old couple wouldn’t stir out of the place they knew so well. they were terrified of the openair, of the hillside and the outer world. they shrank back and nothing that jack could say wouldmake them change their minds.
‘well, i shall just have to go to the girls myself then,’ said jack at last. ‘i’ll bring them backhere with food and rugs. we might as well all be together. those men are no longer a danger to us.
they can’t possibly get out. even if they find the hole behind that picture, i’m sure they won’t getany further than the cave of echoes.’
he said good-bye to the frightened old people and went out into the sunshine. it was warm onhis head and back – delicious. the sky was blue again, and the wind had gone.
he made his way to the waterfall, arriving there without any mistake, for he could follow the‘signposts’ easily now. he was hailed by the girls as soon as they saw him. they were peeping outthrough the fern fronds.
‘jack! you didn’t come back last night! oh, jack, i hardly slept at all, wondering what hadhappened to you,’ cried lucy-ann.
‘what happened?’ asked dinah, who was looking rather pale. she too had been very anxious,especially when the storm had come.
‘heaps!’ said jack. ‘marvellous news! best in the world!’
‘gracious! is philip back then? – and bill here?’ cried lucy-ann at once.
‘no – that’s not my news,’ said jack. ‘do you know what i’ve done? bolted those men into thecaves. what do you think of that?’
‘what a wonderful idea!’ said the girls together. ‘but what about the old people?’ asked dinah.
‘oh, i got them out first,’ said jack. ‘and i found pepi back by the cowshed place, and tied himup properly. he’s bound to that big tree where we once hid.’
‘ jack ! how marvellous you are!’ cried lucy-ann. ‘did you fight him?’
‘well – not exactly,’ said jack. ‘he caught me, and i kicked him hard. and just then the windblew hard and a couple of our suitcases fell out of the tree and knocked him out. it was as much ofa surprise to me as to him.’
‘oh – of course – we left our suitcases up there!’ said dinah. ‘oh, jack – what a good thing wedid!’
‘pepi must have had a most uncomfortable night,’ said jack. ‘the rain and wind were his onlycompanions.’
he told them how he had left the old couple in the cave of stars, and related the tale of the angrymen trying to smash down the door.
‘i can’t get the old people to leave the caves,’ he said. ‘so we’d better take rugs and food and goback there to keep them company. they lent me their coat and shawl last night when my thingswere soaked. we can’t leave them alone there without food or bedding.’
‘oh dear – i do like this cave so much better than anywhere else,’ sighed lucy-ann. ‘still –those old people have been very good to us. is martha there too, jack?’
‘golly! – no, i’d forgotten all about her,’ said jack, remembering. ‘i hope those men don’t killand eat her.’
this was a dreadful thought, and made poor lucy-ann quite dumb for a minute or two. poormartha. surely the men would leave her alone?
kiki, of course, was as delighted to see jack as the girls had been. she nestled on his shoulder,making crooning noises all the time he was talking, pulling at his ear and ruffling up his hair. jackscratched her poll, delighted to have her again.
the girls collected a few tins, and jack piled rugs over his shoulder. then, with kiki flyingahead, they set off to follow the familiar ‘signposts’ to the treasure caves. the sun beat downhotly. it was a really lovely day.
‘i wish i could draw a plan of how that hole behind the picture leads to our fern cave,’ saiddinah. ‘the mountain is riddled with holes and caves. i say, isn’t the waterfall loud this morning?
– and it seems bigger than ever. i suppose it’s all the rain last night.’
they arrived at the entrance to the caves at last and went in. they made their way to the cave ofstars and the old couple greeted them warmly and joyfully. the old woman was full of delight tosee lucy-ann again, and greeted her lovingly.
‘i’m hungry,’ said lucy-ann, trying to wriggle out of elsa’s arms. ‘very hungry.’
they all were. it was a strange place to have a meal in – the cave of stars. the children watchedthe flickering, shining lights, quite entranced by them. if only lucy-ann could take some home forher bedroom ceiling! she wished this once again as she watched the shining stars.
‘well, now, all we’ve got to do is to wait,’ said jack, arranging the pile of rugs for everyone tosit on as comfortably as possible. ‘everything rests with philip now. those men evidently don’tknow he hid in a plane or they would have said something. he must have escaped all right. whatis he doing, i wonder?’
