29 the secret passage
as jack was speaking, there came the most tremendous clap of thunder he was ever to hear in hislife. it made him jump violently and cling to bill. it was the loudest noise he had ever heard.
with it came a flash of lightning that lighted up the hills around for miles upon miles. therethey were, unbelievably clear and somehow unreal, for half a second. then they went back intopitch darkness again. but a queer feeling ran through all three when the flash came.
bill suddenly pulled them back a little. ‘i think the castle has been struck!’ he said. ‘yes, it has– look!’
one of the towers, lit up by the next flash, was seen by the two boys to be in the act of falling!
in a second it was gone as darkness came back again. then, through the insistent thudding of therain, came the sound of the crashing of stone upon stone, as the tower fell to the ground.
‘the storm is absolutely on top of us!’ shouted jack. ‘let’s go back to the hidden room, bill.
i’m afraid. i felt that flash of lightning, i’m sure i did. bill, the thunder is in the courtyard, it is, itis!’
bill was almost inclined to believe that it was, as it rolled round in rumbling crashes. thenanother flash came, and once more the three felt a queer shock, as the lightning seemed to flashthrough them.
‘i believe if we hadn’t got rubber-soled shoes on we’d have been struck dead!’ thought billsuddenly. ‘gosh, the castle has been struck again – this time the main building. it will be in ruinsif this goes on!’
he hustled the boys back to the steps that led to the hidden room. down they went, and thenpaused in awe – for now it seemed as if the castle itself was falling!
hurriedly bill pulled at the spike that shut the entrance. he felt he would like to have solidstone between him and the storm now. with relief he saw the stone slide sideways and upwards,and the entrance was closed.
almost immediately there came a terrific sound of falling stone, crashing on to stone below, andthe room shook.
‘the castle is falling on top of us!’ cried philip, and he went pale. it really sounded as if it was.
bill thought part of it must again have been struck by lightning, and have fallen inwards. hewondered if what they heard was the floor above falling down into the hall! it sounded like that.
more crashing noises came, not made by the thunder, and then comparative silence. no onespoke for a while.
‘i can see how that landslide happened,’ said bill at last. ‘a storm like this could easily causeundermining of the road, and a landslide would result. i shouldn’t be surprised if there was anotherone tonight. i should think even more of the road will be destroyed.’
‘that rain was so terrific,’ said jack. ‘i’ve never heard anything like it. i bet the poor girls arescared, down in the cottage by themselves.’
‘yes – i wish we were with them,’ said bill. he took a glance at the captives. they looked veryfrightened. what they could hear of the storm and the falling of the castle was evidently fillingthem with forebodings as to what might be going to happen next!
‘you know, i’ve just realised that i’m awfully hungry,’ said philip suddenly. ‘i’ve had nothingto eat since i went off by myself to explore that secret passage.’
‘you must be famished!’ said bill. ‘i feel pretty hungry myself too. there seems to be a nicepile of tins over there. i think it might while away the time a bit, and make us forget this awfulstorm, if we attacked the contents.’
jack and philip examined the tins. they chose one tin of spiced meat, one tin of tongue and twoof peaches. they opened them, and put generous helpings on to the plates stacked on a side table.
bill found drinks. it was so hot that the beer he found in bottles was more than usually welcometo the men. the boys feasted on ginger beer and lemonade, both of which were there too.
everyone felt better after the meal. the storm seemed to be dying down. bill glanced at hiswatch.
‘half-past five!’ he said, with a yawn. ‘i didn’t think it was so late. well, as the storm is dying,maybe we could get out into the courtyard for a breath of air. it will be daylight now. i canperhaps see my men off down the hillside with their prisoners.’
‘yes. i’m dying for a breath of air,’ said philip, whose face was bright scarlet with heat. ‘howdo you open the entrance, from down here, bill?’
‘up there by the ceiling,’ said bill, and showed philip how. there was a hidden lever there. hepulled at it – but it did not move. he pulled again.
‘it won’t budge,’ said bill, surprised. ‘here, tom, you try. you’re as strong as a horse.’
tom took his turn, but he could not move the lever either. the stone would not move an inchfrom the entrance, to unblock it.
then both bill and tom tried together. the stone moved an inch or two – and then stopped. nofurther efforts made any difference. it wouldn’t move any more.
bill went up the steps as far as he could and tried to peer through the crack, but he could seenothing at all. he came back.
‘i’m afraid part of the castle has fallen in on top of the entrance,’ he said. ‘the lever is strongenough to move that heavy stone, but we are not strong enough to shift whatever is on top of it bypulling hard. we can’t get out.’
‘we’ll have to use the other way then, the passage i went down yesterday,’ said philip, noddinghis head towards the opening behind the tapestry.
‘yes,’ said bill. ‘i only hope that hasn’t done any slipping and sliding too! still, you said it wasmade out of the solid rock, didn’t you? it should be quite all right.’
it was steadily getting hotter and hotter in the underground room. button, who had retired underthe bed during the fight, now came out and rolled over on his side by philip, his pink tonguehanging out like a dog’s.
‘he’s thirsty,’ said jack. ‘give him a drink.’
‘there’s nothing except ginger beer left,’ said philip, and poured some out on a plate. buttonwas so thirsty that he drank it all up, then sat down and licked his mouth round thoughtfully, as ifto say, ‘well – that was certainly nice and wet – but what a strange taste!’
‘we shall all be cooked if we don’t make a move,’ said bill. ‘come on – we’ll try our luck thisway. i’ll go first.’
he went into the hole in the wall, and pushed at the door there. it opened. bill went through,shining his torch in front of him.
the two boys followed. then came the three men with their captives, who were now verysubdued indeed. they had not uttered a word for a very long time.
the passage was narrow, but fairly straight at first. bill’s torch showed that it was built in thestone foundations of the castle itself.
‘it’s likely that there are dungeons built down here too,’ said bill. ‘it’s a strange old place.
there are probably more hidden rooms as well. the old legends about the place talk of more thanone room.’
after a while the stone of the tunnel walls turned to solid rock, uneven of surface. the air wassurprisingly fresh. it was deliciously cool after the oven-heat of the room they had left behind.
now the passage wound about a little, as if to follow the vagaries of the rock. bill thought partof the passage was artificial, and part natural. it was plain that it went straight through the top ofthe hill, in a downward direction.
in some places it sloped quite steeply, and they all slithered a little. then they suddenly heardthe noise of water!
they stopped. bill looked back at philip. ‘water!’ he said. ‘did you see any before when youcame down here?’
philip shook his head. ‘no,’ he said. ‘it was all quite dry. we haven’t yet come to the ledge ihid on.’
they went on, puzzled – and suddenly they saw what made the noise! the deluge of rainsoaking down into the hillside was trying to get away somewhere, and was running down in atorrent, underground. it had found a weak place in the wall of the passage, and had poured downinto it. it was now running like a river down the tunnel, making a roaring, gurgling noise.
‘goodness!’ said jack, peering over bill’s shoulder, and seeing the rushing water by the light ofhis torch. ‘we can’t go down there now!’
‘it’s not very deep,’ said bill, looking at it. ‘i believe we shall be able to wade along all right.
it’s lucky for us that the passage goes downhill, not uphill, or we should have had the waterpouring to meet us!’
he put his foot into it, and found that it was about knee-deep. the current was fairly powerful,but not enough to sweep anyone from their feet, though they had to take care to keep their balance.
they all waded into the torrent. it was cold and the coolness was welcome to them. splashingthrough the water they went on their way again. button was curled tightly round philip’s neck. hehated the water.
they went on a good way. then philip pointed up to a rocky ledge near the roof of the passage.
‘that’s where i hid,’ he said. ‘see? it was quite a good place, wasn’t it? nobody would havefound me if they hadn’t really been looking for me.’
they went on past philip’s ledge. the water was a little deeper now, and stronger, because thepassage sloped more steeply just there. it was slow going. jack, who was getting very tired,thought it would never come to an end. he liked adventures, but he began to feel he would ratherlike a rest from this one.
all at once the passage began to slope down very steeply indeed, so steeply that the torrentmade quite a waterfall! bill stopped.
‘well, i don’t see how we can get down here, unless we just slide down in the water!’ he said.
‘ah, but wait a minute – i believe there are stone steps leading downwards. yes, there are. weshall be all right if we don’t let the water rush us off our feet!’
he went first, very cautiously, feeling for the steps with his feet. the boys followed, equallycautiously, jack almost being rushed off his feet once or twice by the surging fall of water.
suddenly bill put his torch out – and daylight appeared in front! the stone steps led out on tothe opposite side of the castle hill – they were there at last!
bill leapt out of the water and came out of a narrow opening in the hillside, almost completelycovered by brambles. ‘well – here we are!’ he said. ‘safe after all!’
