12 jack is left at the castle

mrs mannering was delighted to hear that they had by chance met bill smugs again, for she feltvery grateful to him for the help he had given the children in their amazing adventure the yearbefore.

‘if he comes, i will sleep in with you girls and he can have my room,’ she said. ‘good old bill!

it will be nice to see him again. he must lead an interesting life, always hunting down criminaland wicked people.’

‘i bet he’d have been after the wicked old man who used to live in the castle!’ said lucy-ann.

‘it will be fun to take him up there. jack, i hope it won’t be raining tomorrow again.’

but it was. jack felt very disappointed. he was afraid that the old eagle might take the youngone away. but it was no good going up the hill in this pouring rain. for one thing, the clouds wereso low that they sailed round the hillside itself, big patches of moving mist. he would get lost if hetried to go up.

‘i suppose tassie could find her way up even in the mist,’ he said. tassie was there. she raisedher bright black eyes to him and nodded.

‘yes,’ she said. ‘i will take you now if you like.’

‘no,’ said mrs mannering firmly. ‘wait till tomorrow. i think it will be fine then. i’m not goingto have to send out search-parties for you and tassie!’

‘but, mother, tassie could find her way up this hillside blindfold, i’m sure she could!’ saidphilip. however, mrs mannering didn’t believe in tassie and her powers as much as the childrendid. so jack had to wait for the next day.

luckily it was fine. the sun rose out of a clear sky, and not even the smallest cloud showeditself. the hillside glistened and gleamed as the sun dried the millions of raindrops left on twig andleaf. it was a really lovely day.

‘we’ll all come up with you, jack,’ said philip, ‘and help to carry what you want. you’ll need acouple of thick rugs, and some food – a candle or two and a torch – and your camera and films, ofcourse.’

they all decided to have a day up at the castle again, and leave jack behind when they cameback in the evening. so, about eleven o’clock, with the morning sun blazing hotly down on theirbacks, they began the climb up the hill.

button came, of course, and kiki. kiki was to stay with jack. the eagles evidently didn’t mindher. in fact it was quite possible that they might make friends with her, and jack might get someinteresting photographs.

carrying various things, the little party set off once more. dinah was glad to feel her torchsafely in her pocket. she didn’t mean to stand in dark rooms again and feel cobwebs clutching ather hair!

they climbed in through the window as before. button again appeared in the courtyard fromsomewhere, though still no one knew where. kiki flew to the crag on which the eagles had theirnest, yelping her eagle scream in what was plainly meant to be a kindly greeting.

the startled eagles rose up in surprise, and then seeing the strange and talkative bird again,circled round her. quite clearly they didn’t mind her in the least. they probably took her to besome sort of strange eagle cousin, as she spoke their language!

it wasn’t long before jack climbed up to see if the young eagle was still in the nest. it was! themother had just brought it a dead rabbit, and the young eagle was busy on the meal. when it sawjack it stood over the rabbit with wings held over it, as if afraid that jack would take it.

‘it’s all right,’ said the boy gently. ‘eat it all. i don’t want any. i only want a picture of you!’

he looked around for a place to make a good hide in. there was one spot that looked ideal. itwas a thick gorse bush, almost on a level with the eagles’ ledge. jack thought he could probablysqueeze into the hollow middle of it, and make an opening for his camera in the prickly branches.

‘the only thing is – i’ll get terribly pricked,’ he thought. ‘never mind. it will be worth it if i getsome good pictures! i bet the eagles will never know whether i’m hiding in that bush or not!’

he told the others, and they agreed with him that it would be a splendid place, if a bit painful.

the bush was quite hollow in the middle, and once he was there he could manage not to bepricked. it was the getting in and out that would be unpleasant.

‘you’ll have to wrap this rug round you,’ said lucy-ann, holding up the thick rug she hadbrought. ‘if you creep in with this round you, you’ll be all right.’

‘good idea,’ said jack.

they went up to the tower-top and had their dinner there again, seeing the countryside spreadout below once more in all its beauty.

‘i’d like bill smugs to see this,’ said jack. ‘we must bring him up here when he comes.’

‘where do you think you will sleep tonight, jack?’ asked lucy-ann anxiously. and will youwave your hanky from the tower before you go to sleep? i’ll watch for it.’

‘i’ll wave my white shirt,’ said jack. ‘you probably wouldn’t notice anything so small as ahanky, though you can borrow my old field-glasses and look through them, if you like. they’re inmy room.’

‘oh yes, i will,’ said lucy-ann. ‘i shall easily see your shirt. i hope you won’t be too lonely,jack.’

‘’course not. i’ll have kiki. nobody could possibly be lonely with that old chatterbox of abird,’ said jack, scratching kiki’s feathered poll.

‘pop goes the weasel,’ said kiki, and nibbled at jack’s ear.

‘you haven’t said where you’ll sleep, jack,’ said lucy-ann. ‘you won’t really sleep on one ofthose old sofas, will you?’

‘no, i don’t think so. more likely in a sandy corner of the courtyard,’ said jack. ‘there’s asandy bit over there, look – it’ll be warm with the sun. if i curl up there and wrap the rugs allround me, i’ll be very snug.’

‘i’d rather you slept out in the courtyard somehow, than in the strange old castle!’ said lucy-ann. ‘i don’t like those musty, dusty, fusty rooms!’

‘musty, dusty, fusty!’ sang kiki, delighted. ‘musty, fusty, dusty, musty, fusty . . .’

‘shut up, kiki,’ said everyone; but kiki loved those three words, and went to repeat them overand over again to button, who sat listening, his ears cocked, and his little foxy head on one side.

‘it’s time for us to go,’ said philip at last. they had tried in vain to find the place where buttonhad got in and out, and had wandered once more all over the castle, switching on their torches, andexploring even more thoroughly than before. only the three rooms they had seen before werefurnished – the sitting room, the dining-room and the kitchen. there was no bedroom furnished,which, as philip pointed out, was rather a pity, as jack could probably have made himselfcomfortable in a big old four-poster bed!

jack said goodbye to them all as they went across the plank. he held button in his arms, quitedetermined to follow him and find out where he went when he got out of the castle. he was notgoing to set him free till the others had gone. one by one they crossed the plank and disappeared.

their voices died away. jack was alone.

he went down the wide corridor, down the stone stairway that led to the dark hall, and out intothe courtyard, where the last rays of the sun still shone. when he came to the yard, he set thewriggling fox cub down.

‘now you show me where you go,’ he said. button darted off at once – far too quickly for jack!

by the time the boy had run a few steps after him, the fox cub had disappeared, and there was notrace of him.

‘blow!’ said jack, annoyed. ‘i did mean to discover the way out you went, this time – butyou’re so jolly nippy! i suppose you have already joined the others now.’

jack went to try and arrange his camera safely in the gorse bush. he had a very good cameraindeed, given to him last christmas by bill smugs. in his pocket were many rolls of film. heought to be able to take a fine series of pictures of those eagles.

he wrapped one of the rugs round him, as lucy-ann had suggested, and began to squeezethrough the prickly branches. some of the prickles reached his flesh even through the thick rug.

kiki sat beside the bush, watching jack in surprise.

‘what a pity, what a pity, what a pity!’ she said.

‘it is a pity that i’m being pricked like this!’ groaned jack. but he cheered up when he saw whata fine view of the eagles’ nest he had – and of the ledge where the eagles sat to look out at thesurrounding country. the distance was perfect, and jack rejoiced.

by making an opening in the bush on the side where the nest was, he managed to point hiscamera in exactly the right direction, and lodged it very firmly on its tripod legs. he lookedthrough it to see what kind of a picture he would get.

‘perfect!’ thought the boy joyfully. ‘i won’t take one now, because the light is awkward. buttomorrow morning would be exactly right. then the sun will be just where i want it.’

the little eagle caught sight of the camera peering out of the bush. it did not like it. it cowereddown in the nest, afraid.

‘you’ll soon get used to it,’ jack thought. ‘i hope the old birds will too. oh, kiki, did you haveto get into the middle of the bush too? there’s really only just room enough for me!’

‘fusty, musty, dusty!’ whispered kiki, evidently thinking that jack was playing a game of hide-and-seek with somebody and mustn’t be given away. ‘fusty, musty, dusty.’

‘silly old bird,’ said jack. ‘now get out, please. i’m coming out too. it’s certainly fusty andmusty in this gorse bush, even if it isn’t dusty!’

kiki crawled out and then jack forced his way out, trying to protect himself from the pricklystems. he stood up, stretched himself, took the rug and went down the crag lightly, leaving hiscamera in position. it was clear that there would be no rain that night!

the boy read a book until daylight faded. then he remembered about waving his shirt from thetower. so up he went, hoping he hadn’t left it too late for lucy-ann to see.

he stood on the top of the tower, and stripped off his white shirt. then he waved it gaily in thestrong breeze there, looking down on the cottage far below as he waved. and from the topmostwindow there came a flash of white.

lucy-ann was waving back.

‘he’s just waved,’ she called to dinah, who was undressing. ‘i saw the white shirt. good. nowi know he’s all right and will soon be curling himself up to go to sleep.’

‘why you must fuss so about jack i don’t know,’ said dinah, jumping into bed. ‘i never fussabout philip. you’re silly, lucy-ann.’

‘i don’t care,’ thought lucy-ann, as she settled down in bed. ‘i’m glad to know jack is safe.

somehow i don’t like him being all alone in that horrid old castle!’