15 the hidden room
jack wandered back to his hide. he felt safe there. he was sure no one would ever think of lookingin the very middle of a prickly, thick gorse bush for anyone. as evening fell he felt sleepy. shouldhe try and go to sleep now, and keep awake later on? could he possibly go to sleep in the hollowgorse bush?
he curled up in the thickest rug and made a pillow of another one. kiki crawled in beside himand perched uncomfortably on his knees, her head bent to avoid a prickly bit of gorse. the eagleswere not to be seen. the young one was down in the nest. anyway, the light was now too bad tobother about photographs.
jack managed to fall asleep. he snored a little, for he had his head in an uncomfortable position.
kiki imitated the snore perfectly for a little while, and then, as jack made no remark about it toher, put her head under her wing and slept too.
jack slept till midnight. then he awoke suddenly, feeling dreadfully uncomfortable. hestretched out, wondering where he was, and was immediately and painfully pricked by the gorse.
he drew his legs in again hastily.
‘i’m in the gorse bush, of course,’ he said to himself. ‘i must have been asleep for ages. what’sthe time?’
he looked at the phosphorescent hands of his watch and saw that it was ten past midnight.
‘hm,’ said jack, ‘just about the time that someone in the castle starts to wake up! i suppose, if iam going to do any tracking, i’d better get out of here and watch and listen.’
he crept painfully out of the bush, disturbing kiki, who protested loudly till he made her besilent. ‘i’ll leave you behind if you make a row like that!’ whispered jack furiously. kiki fellsilent. she always knew when jack wanted her to be quiet.
now he was out of the bush, climbing silently down the crag, glad of the faint light of themoon, now a little bigger than the night before. he came into the yard and stood listening.
there was no sound to be heard except the wind blowing fairly hard. and then jack thought heheard the far off sound of water splashing again – and the clank of the pump handle!
he stood listening. after a while he felt sure he heard quiet footsteps on stone somewhere – wasit someone walking on the castle wall – going to the tower to flash a torch again?
‘well, if he’s gone to the tower, he’s safely out of the castle,’ thought jack. ‘i’ll go in and see ifi can discover any signs of him – where he hides, for instance. he must live somewhere! but itdidn’t look as if anyone had gone into any of those furnished rooms in the castle. so where in theworld does he hide? and what about food? gosh, it’s a mystery!’
the boy stole quietly into the castle, kiki on his shoulder. he was too excited to feel frightenedtonight. now that he was certain someone else was in the castle besides himself he was tooanxious to find out about them to feel any real fears.
he went into the hall of the castle – and at once something struck him with surprise – there wasa light coming from somewhere! a dim light certainly, but a light. jack stared round him, puzzled.
then he saw where it came from. it came from the floor – or rather, underneath the floor of thehall! the boy stepped forward cautiously. he came to a hole in the floor of the hall – there was notrap-door; it looked exactly like a hole, and yet jack was sure it had never been there before – andup from this hole came the light.
jack looked down. stone steps went down into whatever was below – cellar or dungeon, hedidn’t know. he ran swiftly to the front entrance of the castle to see if anyone was in the tower. ifthere was, there would be time for him to slip down the steps and explore.
he saw a flash from the tower. good. whoever was there was signalling again. it would be aminute or two before they came back. there would be time to explore this curious opening. in aflash jack was down the stone steps and then looked around him in the very greatest surprise.
he seemed to be in a kind of museum! he was in a large, underground room, with tapestries onthe stone walls, and a thick covering on the floor. round the room stood suits of armour, just asthere often are in a museum. old heavy chairs stood here and there, and a long narrow table, withcrockery and glass on it, ran the length of the room.
jack stared round in the utmost astonishment. everything was old – but it was plain that thisroom was not neglected and deserted as the other furnished rooms were. there were no cobwebshere, no dust.
in the corner was a big old four-poster bed, hung with heavy tapestries. jack went over to it. ithad obviously been slept in, for the pillows were dented, and the sheets hurriedly thrown back as ifsomeone had leapt out in a hurry.
there was a pitcher of ice-cold water on the table. ‘got from the pump, i suppose!’ thoughtjack. ‘so that’s why there are always puddles on the floor there. someone goes for water eachnight.’
kiki flew to a suit of armour and stood on the helmet, looking in through the visor as if sheexpected to glimpse someone inside. jack giggled a little. evidently kiki thought the suits ofarmour were real people and couldn’t understand them at all.
at this moment he thought he heard a noise, and in sudden fright he darted up the stone steps tothe top, taking kiki with him. he hopped out just in time, and fled to the dark shadows at the backof the hall. then, fearing that the person whose footsteps he heard might see him by the light ofthe torch he was using, he went into one of the furnished rooms – the old drawing-room.
but in going inside he fell over a stool and came to the ground. the footsteps outside stoppedsuddenly. the torchlight went out. evidently the person was standing perfectly still and listeninghard. he had heard the noise.
with his heart beating fast jack slipped round the corner of an old couch, and knelt there, withkiki on his shoulder. both were as quiet as they could be, but jack couldn’t help feeling certainthat the man who was listening must be able to hear the beating of his heart!
the boy heard a cautious footstep coming into the room. then there was silence again. thenanother footstep sounded, a little nearer. jack’s hair began to prickle on his scalp and stand upstraight. if the man came round the couch and switched on his torch, he would be bound to seejack.
the boy’s heart pounded away, and his forehead felt suddenly wet. kiki clung to his shoulder,feeling the fright of her master. she couldn’t bear it any longer.
she suddenly rose into the air and flew at the head of the unseen man, giving one of the yelpingscreams she had picked up from the eagles. he uttered a startled exclamation, and tried to beat offthe bird. his torch clattered to the floor. jack hoped fervently that it was broken.
kiki screeched again, this time like an express train, and the man lashed out at her. he caught afeather and ripped it out. kiki found jack once more, and perched on the crouching boy, growlinglike a dog.
‘good heavens, this place is full of birds and dogs!’ said someone, in a disgusted voice, deepand hoarse. the man felt over the floor for his torch and at last found it.
‘broken!’ he said and jack heard the click as he tried to switch it on. ‘one of those eagles, isuppose. what does it want to come indoors for?’
muttering, the man went out. jack heard a curious grating sound and then there was completesilence. he did not dare to get up for a long time, but crouched behind the enormous old sofa. kikiappeared to have gone fast asleep on his shoulder.
at last he got cautiously up and tiptoed to the door, glad of his rubber shoes. he peeped out.
there was now no light to be seen shining up dimly from underground. all was darkness andsilence. jack stared at the back of the hall. somewhere over there had been a strange opening,leading to a hidden room – an old room, so full of strange things that it looked like a museum.
maybe it was the very room where the wicked old man had hidden his guests and starved them sothat they were never heard of again! jack didn’t like the thought at all.
without trying to see what had happened to the curious opening, he ran into the courtyard andmade his way back to the old gorse bush. he felt safe there. he crawled in, accompanied bygroans and protestations from kiki, and tried to settle down to go to sleep again.
but he couldn’t. his mind was full of that strange room, and he kept shuddering when heremembered how nearly he had been caught. if it hadn’t been for old kiki he would certainly havebeen discovered. another step or two and the man, whoever he was, would almost have troddenon him!
he wished that the others were with him. he longed to tell them. well, they would be uptomorrow, so he must wait in patience. there didn’t seem any likelihood of the hidden mancoming out in the daytime. he was keeping well hidden for some reason. he wouldn’t expose hishiding-place by day and come out.
‘how does he get food?’ jack wondered. it was easy to get water from the pump. but whatabout food? well, perhaps that was what he signalled about from the tower. his torch sentmessages to friends. in that case other people might come. how in the world did they get in?
‘i believe this is an adventure!’ said jack suddenly, and a funny feeling crept up his body. ‘yes,it is. it’s the same feeling i had last year – when we sailed away to the isle of gloom, the island ofadventure, where so many things happened to us. golly, what will the others say when i tell themwe’ve jumped straight into the middle of an adventure again! the castle of adventure! philip wasright when he called it that.’
after an hour or two of thinking and wondering, jack at last fell asleep again. he awoke to findlittle fingers of sunlight coming through the gorse bush, and was glad that the day had come. heremembered the nighttime happenings, and wondered if that curious museum-like room couldhave been real.
‘well, i certainly couldn’t have dreamt a room like that,’ thought jack, tickling kiki to wakeher. ‘it would be impossible!’
he crawled out of the bush and breakfasted on biscuits and plums, which the others had broughtto him the day before. he sat and looked thoughtfully at the castle. who was hiding there?
suddenly he went stiff and looked in amazement at two men walking through the courtyard.
they were going towards the castle. how in the world had they got in? there simply must besome way in – or had the men keys to one of the big gates or doors?
the men went into the castle. evidently unlike the hidden man, they did not fear being seen indaylight. ‘will the hidden man tell them he thought there was someone about last night?’ thoughtjack in a panic. ‘will they come and look for me?’
