27 the adventure boils up
but it was not anyone – it was a peal of thunder so loud that the noise had penetrated even down tothe underground room.
‘i hope the girls won’t be frightened,’ said bill, thinking of them scurrying down the hillside inthe darkness. ‘i wonder if it’s raining.’
‘they’ll be all right with tassie, i think,’ said jack. ‘she will know places to shelter in. shewon’t be silly enough to stand under trees or anything like that. there are a few little caves hereand there in the hillside. maybe they’ll use those till the storm is past.’
silence again. it was astonishing how so many people, all standing rather uncomfortably in suitsof armour, could manage to do so without a single creak or clank!
one man cleared his throat, and the sound was strange in the hidden room.
‘don’t do that again, jim,’ said bill. there was dead silence once more. jack sighed softly. itwas unbearably exciting to stand hidden in armour, wet with perspiration, almost panting withheat, waiting for the other men to come.
then suddenly, sounding quite loud, there came the noise of a door being unlocked. then thetapestry on one wall shook – and someone lifted it up from behind!
everyone stiffened inside the suits of armour. eyes peered through the visors. who wascoming?
a man came out from behind the tapestry, and folded it back, hanging one end on a nail, so thatothers following could come into the room easily. jack saw an opening behind, leading into thewall. from it came soft-footed men, one after the other – and with them they brought philip!
the shaggy-browed man came first. then came the bearded man, the one bill called scar-neck,dragging philip. scar-neck had the neck of his shirt closed, and jack could see no sign of the tell-tale scar.
philip was putting on a bold face, but jack knew he was feeling scared. after him came threemore men, all ugly fellows, with sharp eyes and stern mouths. they came into the room, talking.
they left the secret way open, and jack wondered where it led to.
philip’s hands were bound behind his back, so tightly that the rope bit into his skin. scar-neckflung him into a chair.
it was soon clear that philip had only just been captured. scar-neck rounded on him almost atonce.
‘how long have you been in the castle? what do you know?’
‘i was here with the girls,’ said philip. ‘i hid under the bed. you never looked there. i wasn’tdoing any harm. we only came to play about in this old castle. we didn’t know it belonged toanyone.’
‘get the girls,’ growled scar-neck to the shaggy man. ‘bring them over here. we’ll cross-question the whole three of them. to think that a parcel of kids should waste our time like this!’
the shaggy-browed man went over to the bed, where, he imagined, the two girls would, asusual, be sleeping. but when he pulled back the curtain, they were not there! he stared, and thenroughly pulled off the blankets and rugs.
‘they’re not here!’ he said, in an astonished voice. the bearded man turned at once.
‘don’t be a fool! they must be here somewhere! we know they can’t get out of this room onceit’s shut.’
‘the boy may have let them out from above,’ said the shaggy man. scar-neck swung round onphilip. the boy was amazed that the girls had gone, but he was not going to show it.
the shaggy man hunted under the bed – but it was plain to everyone that the girls had gone.
scar-neck spoke roughly to philip.
‘did you let them out?’
‘no,’ said philip. ‘i didn’t. i was hiding here, i tell you, under the bed. i wasn’t at the top.’
‘well – who let them out, then?’ said the shaggy man, and his brows knitted together so thatthey almost hid his sharp eyes.
‘now – you tell us everything!’ said scar- neck, and his voice was suddenly ugly andthreatening.
philip said nothing, but stared defiantly at the man. scar-neck lost his temper, raised his fist,and gave philip such a blow on the side of the head that the boy fell off his chair. he pickedhimself up.
jack, beside himself with anger, saw philip’s left ear glow bright scarlet, and begin to swell.
‘now will you talk?’ said scar-neck, his voice growing with rage. the others looked on, sayingnothing.
still philip said nothing. jack felt proud. how brave he was! then, to his horror, the man tookout a revolver and laid it on the table beside him.
‘we have ways of making sulky boys talk,’ he said, and his eyes gleamed with rage.
philip didn’t like the look of the shining weapon. he blinked a little, and then stared at scar-neck again. but still he said nothing.
what would have happened next if there hadn’t been a sudden and surprising interruption,nobody knew! but all at once, like a stone from a catapult, button, who had slunk under a chair onthe far side of the room when the men arrived, shot out and threw himself on philip.
everyone leapt to his feet, and scar-neck caught up his revolver. when they saw that thenewcomer was only a fox cub, they sat down again, feeling angry at their sudden fright.
scar-neck was furious. he lashed out at the cub, and sent him rolling to the ground. buttonbared his small white teeth.
‘don’t hurt him,’ said philip, in alarm. ‘he’s only a cub. he’s mine.’
‘how did he get down here? when the girls got out, i suppose?’ growled the shaggy man.
‘i don’t know,’ said philip, puzzled. ‘i tell you, i really don’t know how the girls got out, norhow the cub got in. it’s as much a mystery to me as to you.’
‘if this kid is telling the truth, we’d better finish up and get going,’ said the shaggy man,sounding rather anxious. ‘there must be others about, though goodness knows we’ve kept a goodenough watch. let’s settle up our business and go.’
a rumble of thunder came down into the secret room again. the men looked at one anotheruneasily.
‘what’s that?’ said the shaggy man.
‘thunder, of course,’ growled scar-neck. ‘what’s the matter with you? getting nervy justbecause a bunch of silly kids are playing around? what they want is a good beating, and i’ll seethis boy gets it before we go, anyway, even if those girls have gone!’
button curled up quietly at philip’s feet. he was afraid of these men. scar-neck nodded to oneof the others, and he got up. he went to the drawer where the documents were kept, unlocked it,and drew out the sheaf of papers there. he put them in front of scar-neck.
then began a long discussion in a language that philip did not understand. but bill understoodit! bill could speak eight or more different languages, and he listened eagerly to all that was said.
philip sat listlessly on his chair, his wrists hurting him, and his left ear now twice its size. hecould not even rub it because his hands were so tightly tied behind his back.
button licked his bare leg. it was comforting. philip wondered where the girls had gone. howhad they got out? he was glad to know they had probably escaped. had help come? had jackmanaged to find someone? would they rescue him too?
he wished he was standing safely inside the suit of armour he had hidden in before. he glancedround at it, and then stared in the utmost amazement.
surely eyes were gleaming behind that visor? philip had extremely good eyesight, and it sohappened that the rays of the lamp shone directly into the visor of the armour he was looking at. itseemed to philip as if there were real eyes behind it, not the usual hollow space.
he glanced at the next suit of armour, and saw what he imagined were eyes there too – and thenext one! he felt terribly scared. had all these suits of armour come alive all of a sudden? whowas inside? he could see that most of them were filled. he began to tremble.
scar-neck noticed him and laughed. ‘ah, so you are beginning to be afraid of what may happento boys who interfere in somebody else’s business! maybe you will talk soon!’
philip said nothing. he began to think clearly, and it was soon plain to him that it must befriends inside the armour, and not enemies. how silly of him to be scared! but it really had beenan eerie feeling to see gleaming eyes looking at him from behind those visors.
‘so that’s how it is the girls have gone,’ he thought. ‘now i understand. jack did get help – andthey’ve had the idea of doing what i did – hiding in the armour to see what is happening! well, imustn’t give them away, whatever happens! i wonder if one of them is old freckles.’
feeling very much better now, the boy gave another look round at the armour. he did not dareto stare too hard, in case one of the men followed the direction of his look and saw what he saw.
another rumble of thunder came down into the room, louder this time. the air was almostunbearably hot down there, and the men in the armour had hard work not to gasp. perspiration randown their bodies, and they longed to shift their positions a little. but they dared not move.
bill was listening intently to all that was being said, though philip could not make out a singleword. papers were spread out on the table, but bill could not see what they were. they looked likeblueprints of some sort, details of machinery perhaps. it was impossible for him to see.
scar-neck rolled them up at last. then he turned to philip.
‘well, our job is done. we shall not have the pleasure of seeing you or your friends any more.
but before we go we shall teach you what it means to spy on us! where’s that rope?’
‘don’t you dare touch me!’ cried philip, jumping to his feet. scar-neck took the rope.
then, to his unutterable horror, one of the suits of armour walked off its pedestal, held up a stiffand clanking arm, at the end of which shone a wicked-looking revolver, and said:
‘the game’s up, scar-neck. we’ve got you all!’
the voice sounded hollow. scar-neck and the others stared in the utmost dismay, and thenlooked round at the other suits of armour, which were also coming alive! it seemed like a baddream – but a dream that had too many revolvers in it!
‘hands up!’ said bill’s sharp voice.
scar-neck began to put his hands up – but suddenly he turned, took hold of the oil lamp, andsmashed it on the ground. in a moment the room was pitch dark!
