11 an unexpected meeting
they went back into the castle and up the wide stone stair. dinah felt a little uncomfortable andkept close to the others. so did tassie. they went down the wide corridor and looked into roomafter room to find the one with the plank.
‘golly! don’t say it’s gone!’ said jack, after they had looked into about six rooms. ‘this is odd.
i’m sure the room wasn’t as far along as this.’
but it was – for in the very next room they saw the edge of their plank on the stone sill. theyhurried over to it. it was dark in that room. they all wished heartily they had a torch, anddetermined to bring both torches and candles with them next time!
jack went across first, with kiki clutching his shoulder, murmuring something about putting thekettle on. he got across safely, and then caught hold of the rope on the other side. he helpedlucy-ann across, then dinah and then tassie. lucy-ann slipped hurriedly down the cliffside,followed by dinah. tassie leapt down like a goat, without even touching the rope.
then came philip, and poor little button was left behind, yelping shrilly.
‘you go your own way and join us outside the castle!’ called back philip. button jumped up tothe sill but kept falling back. he could not reach it. the children heard him barking away byhimself as they made their way down the tunnel-like passage into the sunshine.
‘i may have to go back for button, you know, if he doesn’t come after us,’ said philip. ‘icouldn’t really leave him behind. but foxes are so sharp – i bet he’ll come rushing after us in aminute.’
‘keep a good lookout then,’ said jack, ‘because we want to know where he gets in and out, sothat we can use the place ourselves.’
but it wasn’t any good keeping a lookout, for suddenly button was at their heels, leaping up atphilip, making yelping sounds of happiness and love. nobody saw him come. nobody knew howhe had got out of the castle!
‘how annoying!’ said jack, with a laugh. ‘button, how did you get out?’
button couldn’t tell them. he kept so close to philip’s heels all the way home that philip couldfeel his sharp little nose the whole time. button was like a little shadow!
they were all so tired when they got in that they could hardly tell their adventures. when philiptold about the puddle of water below the pump, mrs mannering laughed.
‘trust you children to imagine something to scare yourselves with!’ she said. ‘probably thepump leaks a bit on its own. it’s funny about those old furnished rooms though. it shows how thevillagers fear the castle, if no one has interfered with the furniture! even thieves, apparently, willnot venture there.’
mrs mannering was intensely interested in the golden eagles. she and philip and jack talkedabout them till darkness fell. mrs mannering was quite willing for jack to try and take pictures ofthe young eagle with its parents.
‘if only you can make a good hide,’ she said, ‘and get the birds used to it, so that you can liethere and take what pictures you please, it would be marvellous. philip’s father used to do thingslike that.’
‘can i go with jack, please, aunty allie?’ asked lucy-ann, who couldn’t bear to let jack go offby himself for even a day or two.
‘no, you can’t, lucy-ann,’ said jack decidedly. ‘i’m the only one to be there, because if you orthe others start messing about too, we shall scare the birds and i shan’t get any decent pictures atall. i shan’t be gone long! you can’t hang on my apron strings all the holidays.’
lucy-ann said no more. if jack didn’t want her, she wouldn’t go.
‘you can come up each day and bring me food, if you like,’ said jack, as he saw lucy-ann’sdisappointed face. ‘and i can always signal to you from the tower. you know we could see thishouse from the tower, so, of course, you can see the tower from this house.’
‘oh yes – you could signal goodnight to us each night,’ said lucy-ann, cheering up. ‘thatwould be fun. i wonder which room is best to see the tower from.’
it so happened that it was her own bedroom that was the best. good! she could even watch thetower from bed. ‘jack, will you sleep in the tower?’ she said. ‘then i shall look at the tower wheni wake, and know you’re there. i’ll wave a white hanky from my window when i see you wavingone.’
‘oh – i don’t know where i’ll sleep,’ said jack. ‘the tower would be too draughty. i’ll curlmyself up in the rug in a warm corner somewhere – or maybe clear a place on one of those big oldcouches. if i can get the dust off!’
tassie couldn’t imagine how anyone could possibly dare to sleep alone in the old castle. shethought jack must be the bravest boy in the world.
‘time for you to go home, tassie,’ said mrs mannering. ‘go along. you can come backtomorrow.’
tassie disappeared, running off to her tumble-down cottage and her scolding, untidy mother.
the others helped mrs mannering to clear the supper away, and the two girls washed up, halfasleep.
they went to bed, to dream of the old deserted castle, of strange cobwebby rooms, high towers,screaming eagles – and a puddle on the floor below the pump!
‘that’s really a puzzle,’ said philip to himself, as he fell asleep. ‘but i’m too tired to think aboutit now!’
the next day was rainy. great clouds swept over the hillside, making it misty and damp. thesun hardly showed all day long. the little spring suddenly became twice as full, and made quite anoise as it gurgled down the garden.
‘blow!’ said jack. ‘i did want to go up to the castle today. i feel that that young eagle may fly atany time now, and i don’t want to miss its first flight.’
‘have you got plenty of films for your camera?’ asked philip. ‘you know how you keeprunning out of them just when you badly want them.’
‘well, it wouldn’t be much good wanting them if i hadn’t got enough!’ said jack. ‘i couldn’tbuy them in that tiny village. there’s only one shop.’
‘you could take the train and go off to the nearest big town,’ said mrs mannering. ‘why don’tyou do that, instead of staying here cooped up all day? i can see dinah is longing to squabble withsomeone!’
dinah laughed. she did hate being ‘cooped up’ as mrs mannering said, and it did make herirritable. but dinah was learning to control herself a little more now that she was growing older.
‘yes, it would be fun to take the train and go off shopping,’ she said. ‘let’s do it! we’ve justgot time to catch the one and only train that leaves the station, and we’ll come back by the one andonly train that returns!’
so they put on macks and sou’westers and hurried to catch the train. but they needn’t havehurried, really, for the leisurely little country train always waited for anybody coming along theroad.
it was twenty miles to the nearest town. it took the train a whole hour to get there, and thechildren enjoyed running through the valleys in between the ranges of high hills. once they sawanother castle on the side of a hill, but they all agreed that it wasn’t a patch on theirs.
button had been left behind with tassie, much to his dismay. the children had offered to taketassie with them, but the little girl was terrified of the train. she shrank back when they suggestedit. so they gave button to her with strict injunctions not to let him worry mrs mannering.
kiki, of course, went with jack. but then she went everywhere with him, making her remarks,and causing a great deal of amusement and interest. she always showed off in company andsometimes became very cheeky.
the children had left the train and were walking down the street, when suddenly a voice hailedthem, and made them jump. ‘hallo, hallo! whoever would have thought of seeing you here!’
the children turned round at once and kiki let out a delighted squawk.
‘bill smugs!’ cried the children, and ran to the ruddy-faced, twinkling-eyed man who hadhailed them. lucy-ann gave him a hug, dinah smiled in delight, and the two boys banged billsmugs on the back.
bill smugs was not his real name. it was a name he had told the children the year before, whenthey had come across him trying to track some clever forgers. he had not wanted them to knowwho he was nor what he was really doing – but although they now knew his real name, he was stillbill smugs to them, and always would be.
‘come and have lunch with me,’ said bill smugs. ‘or have you any other plans? i really mustknow what you are doing here. i thought you were at home for the holidays.’
‘what are you doing here?’ asked philip, his eyes shining. ‘on the track of forgers again? i betyou’re on some sort of exciting job.’
‘maybe, maybe not,’ said bill, smiling. ‘i shouldn’t tell you, anyway, should i? i’m probablyholidaying, just as you are. come on – we’ll go to this hotel. it looks about the best one this towncan produce.’
it was an exciting lunch. bill smugs was an exciting person. they talked eagerly about thethrilling adventure he had had with them the year before, when they had all got mixed up withcopper mines and forgers, and had been in very great danger. they reminded each other of thetimes they had shivered and trembled!
‘yes, that certainly was an adventure,’ said bill, helping himself to apple tart and ice cream.
‘and now, as i said before – you really must tell me what you are doing in this part of the world!’
the children told him, interrupting each other in their eagerness, especially jack, who waslonging to tell him every detail about the eagles. bill listened and ate solidly, giving kiki titbitsevery now and again. she had been delighted to see their old friend too, and had told him at least adozen times to open his book at page six, and pay attention.
‘what a pity you’re twenty miles away or more,’ said bill. ‘i’m stuck here in this district for atime, i’m afraid, and can’t leave. but if i can i’ll come over and see you. maybe your motherwould put me up for a day or two, then i can come up to this wonderful castle of yours and see theeagles.’
‘oh yes, do come!’ they all cried. ‘we aren’t on the telephone,’ added philip, ‘but never mind,just come – we are sure to be there. come at any time! we’d love you to.’
‘right,’ said bill. ‘i might be able to slip over next week, because it doesn’t look as if i’m goingto do much good here. can’t tell you any more, i’m afraid – but if i don’t make any headway withwhat i’m supposed to be doing, i’ll have a break, and come along to see you and your nice mother.
give her my kind regards, and say bill smugs will come and pay his respects if he possibly can.’
‘we’ll have to go,’ said jack regretfully, looking at his watch. ‘there’s only the one train backand we’ve got a bit of shopping to do. goodbye, bill, it’s been grand to bump into you like this.’
‘goodbye. see you soon, i hope!’ said bill, with his familiar grin. and off they ran to catchtheir train.
