22 tassie is very brave
then jack heard the unmistakable sound of button yelping, and he knew that part of the noisemust be made by the fox cub. he bent over the tunnel, and flashed his torch on to see down itsnarrow mouth.
he saw a white face staring up at him, and he jumped. it was tassie’s. she was lying still forthe moment, but began to wriggle again when the light flashed on her.
‘tassie! what are you doing? tassie!’ said jack, in a low but most astonished voice.
tassie didn’t answer. she squeezed herself up a bit more, until her head and shoulders wereoutside the tunnel. then jack gave her a pull and she came out at once. button followed, lookingvery forlorn. tassie had him on a lead, and he couldn’t get away.
tassie sat down and gasped painfully. she put her head over her knees, which were drawn up,and seemed quite unable to speak a word. jack flashed his torch over her. she was soaking wetand unspeakably dirty. mud streaked her face and arms and legs.
she was shivering with cold and fright. jack made her get up and go with him to the crag. heput her behind a rock, and fetched the rugs. he made her strip off the soaked dress she wore, andcover herself from head to foot with a couple of rugs. then the boy sat close to her to warm her.
kiki perched on her shoulder and pressed against her cold cheek. soon tassie’s breath grew moreeven, and she turned to look at jack, trying to summon up a faint smile.
‘where’s philip?’ she whispered at last.
‘with the girls,’ said jack, not wanting to tell her everything at once. ‘don’t worry for a minuteor two. get your breath back. you’re exhausted.’
he sat with his arm round her, feeling the pounding of her heart shaking her body. poor tassie!
how had she managed to get so exhausted?
but she soon recovered, as her body grew warm. she pressed against jack. ‘i’m so hungry,’ shesaid.
jack fed her with biscuits and salmon from the tin. then she drank the rest of the peace-juice,whilst kiki copied the gulping noises she made.
‘now i feel better,’ she said. ‘what has been happening, jack?’
‘well, suppose you tell me a few things first,’ said the boy. ‘and keep your voice low. thereare enemies about.’
this was news to tassie. her eyes widened and she looked round, scared. ‘is it that wicked oldman?’ she whispered.
‘of course not,’ said jack. ‘tassie, did button take you our note?’
‘yes,’ said tassie. ‘but, jack, i gave my mother the slip and came up here yesterday to spend afew hours with you – and oh, jack, the plank was gone. where’s it gone?’
‘that’s just what i should like to know!’ said jack grimly. ‘well, what did you do then?’
‘i went back home,’ said tassie. ‘and i was worried about you. then this morning button cameto find me, and i saw his string collar, and the letter someone had tied to it.’
‘go on,’ said jack.
‘well – i couldn’t read it,’ said tassie, with tears in her voice. and there was nobody to ask.
my mother was angry with me, and mrs mannering had gone away. i didn’t like to go to the farmwith it – so i suddenly thought i would make a lead for button, and when next he went up to thecastle to look for philip, i would go with him, and find the way he went.’
‘that was clever!’ said jack admiringly. tassie felt pleased.
‘so i found an old dog lead,’ she said, more cheerfully, ‘and i fastened it to his collar, and iwent wherever he went that day. he was awfully angry about it. he kept trying to bite the lead,and he almost tried to bite me too!’
jack patted the little fox cub who was lying quietly beside them. ‘he didn’t understand whatwas happening,’ he said. ‘well – he brought you up here at last, i suppose?’
‘yes. after he had wandered for miles on the hillside, and almost worn me out, going up anddown, up and down!’ said tassie. ‘when it was dark he decided to come and look for philip again– and he shot off like an arrow then!’
‘i bet he did,’ said jack. ‘poor old button – he must wonder where philip has gone to!’
‘well, he dragged me behind on the lead,’ said tassie, ‘and brought me all the way up besidethe spring. below the castle it goes into a narrow sort of tunnel – terribly narrow in parts – and oh,jack, it goes right underneath the wall! think of that! and comes up the other side!’
‘did you really wriggle all the way?’ said jack, in amazement. ‘what a marvel you are, tassie!
but didn’t the water pour down on you all the time?’
‘oh yes – it nearly choked me sometimes,’ said tassie. ‘and it was so icy-cold! but most of theway up the spring the tunnel wasn’t too bad – it was through rock, and it had worn it away, so thatthe water ran in a kind of channel in the rock, and there was space for me to wriggle up moreeasily. it was at the beginning and at the end, where it comes up in the castle yard, that it was sonarrow. once i thought i was really stuck! i couldn’t go up and i couldn’t go down – and i thoughti might have to stay there for ever, because no one would ever know where i was!’
‘poor tassie!’ said jack, giving her a hug. ‘you’re a very brave girl. wait till philip hears aboutthis! he’ll think you are wonderful.’
tassie glowed with delight. she hoped philip would be pleased with her. she had come to helpthem. and now, in her turn, she questioned jack eagerly, wanting to know everything that hadhappened to her four friends since they had left her.
jack told her the story. she listened in alarm and astonishment. philip hiding in a suit of oldarmour – down in a hidden room – the girls prisoners there – cruel men wandering about furtively,nobody knew why – secret passages – why, it was like a dream! but at least here was jack withkiki, safe and sound!
‘could you wriggle down the tunnel with me, and we’ll fetch help?’ said tassie.
‘that’s just what i thought of doing,’ said jack. ‘i think i’d better go tonight, tassie, and notwait to take the two girls. anyway i’m afraid there would be more risk of someone getting stuckin that watery tunnel. i’d better go and get help as soon as possible. you’d better stay here and tellthe girls what has happened. you can hide in my old gorse bush till they come tomorrowmorning.’
tassie sighed with relief. she did not in the least want to go back down that terrible way again.
she would dream about it all her life long! neither did she really want to stay in the courtyardalone for the night, but jack said he would leave both kiki and button with her, and they couldsleep in the gorse bush all together.
‘so you be brave and do that,’ he said. ‘maybe you’ll see philip tomorrow too. he will besurprised to hear your adventures!’
tassie, still clad in the rugs, went with jack to the place near the wall, where the bubblingspring ran into the beginning of the tunnel. jack marvelled how anyone could wriggle down muchless wriggle up, with water splashing into her face all the time.
‘now, you go straight back to the bush with button and kiki, wrap yourself up warmly in therugs, and go to sleep,’ said jack. ‘don’t let kiki see me disappearing down here, or she’ll want tofollow me.’
so tassie obediently went back to the gorse bush and crawled inside. she curled up in the rugslike a little animal, with button on her feet and kiki perched on her middle, waiting for jack.
tassie hoped kiki would not fly off when she found jack did not come. she might make a dreadfulnoise if she found he had disappeared!
jack crawled head-first into the cold water. he wriggled into the tunnel. it smelt damp andnasty. he dragged his body down, using hands and elbows to lever himself along. it wasn’t at allpleasant.
‘i wish button had found some better way of getting into the castle and out!’ thought the boy.
‘how could tassie have crawled up, with the water splashing into her face half the time? she’sreally a heroine!’
when he had got down some way, the rather earthy tunnel gave way to hard rock. jack thoughthe must be under the wall by now. the tunnel widened out considerably, and the boy sat on aledge to rest. he was worried about his rolls of film. he had wrapped them up very carefully in asou’wester one of the children had brought up to the castle, and had tied the strings round tightly.
it would be too sickening if his precious films were spoilt.
he began to shiver with the cold, for he was now soaked through. as long as he was dragginghimself along the tunnel he was warm, for it was very hard work – but as soon as he stopped, thecold got him, and he shook like a leaf.
he went on again. it was quite dark, and he could only feel his way along. he went onwriggling down the watery passage, glad when it was wide and high, anxious when it closed in onhis body, and made it difficult for him to get along.
it seemed hours before he reached the outlet, but at last he was there! he dragged himself out,and sat panting on a patch of soft heather. he hoped that never in his life again would he have tocrawl through a tunnel like that! he was sure that if the girls had been with him, someone wouldhave got stuck with fright, and would not have been able to go either up or down, after a while. itwas just as well that he had decided they must not all use this way of escape.
he began to shiver, and he stood up, his knees shaking after his long ordeal underground. hewas not as exhausted as tassie, but he was almost tired out.
‘i shall get an awful chill if i don’t get warm,’ he thought, and he set off down the hill, glad ofthe bright moonlight.
he stumbled along, looking eagerly for a sight of spring cottage as he at last dropped downinto the lane that led to it. yes – there it was, black with the moonlight behind it, its roof silveredand shining.
then suddenly jack stopped. he had seen something that struck him as odd.
‘there’s smoke – smoke coming from the chimney!’ he said to himself, and he leant against atree. ‘what does that mean? can aunt allie be back? no, tassie would have known. well, then –who has lighted the kitchen fire? who is there? oh, surely one of those wretched men hasn’t gonethere to find out something about the girls?’
he crept near to the cottage. he came to the little garden. there was a light shining out of one ofthe windows!
jack tiptoed to the window, anxious and puzzled. he looked cautiously in. someone was sittingin a tallbacked armchair that had its back to jack. was it mrs mannering?
a cloud of smoke suddenly came from the chair – thick blue pipe-smoke!
‘it’s a man,’ whispered jack to himself. ‘whoever can it be?’
