31 the end of the castle of adventure
there was a shriek from the cottage. it was lucy-ann of course. she came flying out of the door,her eyes shining, and flew straight at jack. she almost bowled him over in her joy at seeing himagain.
‘jack! you’re back! and philip! wherever did you get to? we were awfully worried aboutyou!’
dinah and tassie came running out too, exclaiming in pleasure. ‘were you all right in thestorm? we got so worried about you! tassie’s been up the hill and she says half the castle hasfallen down the hill!’
‘were you all right in that storm?’ asked jack, as they all went into the little house. ‘we werevery worried about you three girls having to go down the hill in that awful deluge! did you gethome before the storm really broke?’
‘well, the rain had begun, and there was thunder rolling round nearly all the time, but nolightning,’ said dinah. ‘we were soaked by the time we got here. tassie wouldn’t let us rest foreven a minute on the hill – she kept saying that there would be another landslide – and she wasright!’
‘good old tassie,’ said jack. ‘she just got you back in time. i simply can’t begin to tell youwhat it was like up in the castle!’
but he did tell them, of course, and they listened with their eyes wide open in horror. what anight!
‘where’s kiki?’ asked jack, looking all round. ‘i thought she would be here to greet me.’
‘she keeps flying off to look for you,’ said tassie. ‘but she comes back. she won’t be long, i’msure.’
she wasn’t. in about ten minutes’ time she was back, sailing through the air, shouting loudly tojack.
‘how many times, how many times, how many times, fusty, musty, dusty, jack, jack, jack!’
she flew to his shoulder and pecked his ear lovingly. philip put up his hand to his left ear, whichwas still swollen.
‘don’t you fly on to my shoulder and peck my ear,’ he said to kiki. ‘it’s not ready for peckingor nibbling yet!’
the girls got breakfast for everyone, and talked nineteen to the dozen, happy at having the boysand bill. bill sent his three men up the road to find his car.
‘and now,’ said bill, when they had finished eating, ‘what about a sleep, boys? i’m tired out!’
jack was almost asleep as it was, and philip kept yawning. so the boys went up to sleep on theirbeds and bill put himself on the couch in the kitchen. the girls went out into the garden to talk.
they had to put waterproofs down on the grass because it was so wet. the day was lovely now,with not a cloud to be seen. it was fresh and cool. the stormy heat had completely gone.
they lazed there, chattering, with kiki joining in now and again. button was asleep on philip’smiddle upstairs. kiki was not sleepy, so she did not go with jack, but contented herself with takinga look at him now and again through the window, to make sure he was there.
‘there’s someone coming,’ said dinah suddenly. she sat up and looked.
‘it’s bill’s three men,’ said lucy-ann, lazily.
the men came into the garden. they looked serious.
‘where’s the boss? we want him,’ said one.
‘he’s asleep, so don’t disturb him yet,’ said dinah.
‘sorry, missie, but i’m afraid we must disturb him,’ said the man. ‘we’ve got news.’
‘what news?’ asked lucy-ann. ‘have you found the car?’
‘yes,’ said the man. ‘but we’ll tell our news to the boss, missie.’
‘well, he’s in the kitchen,’ said dinah.
the men moved off to the kitchen. they woke bill, and the three girls heard them telling himsomething in urgent, serious voices. bill came out, and the girls looked enquiringly at him.
‘what’s up, bill?’ asked dinah. ‘have they found your car – and is it smashed up, orsomething?’
‘they’ve found my car all right,’ said bill, slowly. ‘and they’ve found something else too.’
‘what!’ asked the three girls together.
‘well, apparently scar-neck and his friend went off over the landslide quite safely, and thenfound my car standing where we left it,’ said bill. ‘they must have got into it and turned it round– and then the deluge struck them, and another landslide began!’
‘are they – killed?’ asked dinah.
‘well, i imagine so,’ said bill. ‘we don’t know. the landslide caught the car and took it along.
it dumped it upside-down in a gully, where these men found it – with scar-neck and the otherfellow inside.’
‘can’t they get them out then?’ asked dinah, rather pale.
‘the doors are jammed,’ said bill. ‘have you got a wire tow-rope, or any good strong rope thatwon’t break? if you have, we’ll take it and try to get the car the right way up. then we may beable to open the roof and get the men out.’
dinah fetched some wire rope from the shed. she gave it to bill in silence. none of the girlsasked to go with the men. this seemed a terrible ending, even to two bad men.
they waited impatiently for the boys to awake, and when at last they came down, yawning andcomplaining of feeling hungry again, the girls ran to tell them the news.
‘golly!’ said jack, startled. ‘fancy them finding the car like that! they must have thought it wasa bit of luck. and then another landslide catches them – what a frightful shock they must havehad!’
bill came back some hours later. the children ran to meet him.
bill was smiling. ‘neither of the men is dead,’ he said. ‘scar-neck has concussion and is quiteunconscious and rather badly hurt. the other fellow has a broken leg, and was stunned too. buthe’s come round.’
‘so you’ve captured them both after all!’ said philip. ‘well done, bill!’
‘what about the car?’ asked dinah.
‘looks wrecked to me,’ said bill. ‘but i don’t mind that. i reckon i shall be handed out a newcar when my chief knows i’ve got scar-neck and his friend to pass over to him. it’s quite a scoopfor me – though i’d never have stumbled on to their secret if it hadn’t been for you children!’
‘well, we’d have been in a pretty pickle if you hadn’t turned up,’ said jack. ‘whatever willaunt allie say when she comes back and hears all that has happened since she has been gone?’
‘she’ll say she can’t turn her back for a day or two without us all getting into mischief!’ saidphilip, with a grin. ‘where are the men, bill?’
‘i sent tom down to the village for help, instead of taking him back to the car with me,’ saidbill. ‘and they sent up a couple of stretchers and a doctor who happened to be down there – sothey will be on their way to hospital by now, i imagine – and when they wake up, they’ll each finda nice burly policeman sitting by the side of their bed!’
‘oh, bill – what an adventure!’ said dinah. ‘i never dreamt we’d plunge into all this when wefirst came here – and it’s all happened so quickly. i hope we shall have nice peaceful holidays forthe rest of the time. i’ve had enough adventures to last me for a year!’
‘i want to stretch my legs,’ said jack. ‘what about walking up the hillside, bill, and having alook to see what has happened to the castle?’
‘right,’ said bill, so they set off up the road to the castle. but they could not go nearly so far asusual, because the landslide had come a good deal farther down, and the hillside was a terrible,jumbled mass of wet rocks, heaps of soil, uprooted trees and running streams – a desolate-lookingregion, indeed.
‘it’s horrid,’ said lucy-ann. then she turned to gaze at the frowning castle, higher up. ‘thecastle looks different. something’s happened to it. let’s climb up and see.’
so they climbed up higher, taking the little rabbit path they always used. what a difference theyfound as they came near the castle!
‘two of the towers have gone, and most of the walls,’ said lucy-ann, awed. ‘we can walkright into the courtyard now, over the rubble of stones. what a noise they must have made whenthey fell!’
‘and look at the castle! the middle part of it has fallen in! it’s not much more than a shellnow!’ said jack, staring.
it looked almost a ruin. philip stared hard at it. ‘the middle part must have crashed down intothe big hall,’ he said. ‘no wonder you couldn’t move that entrance stone, bill. there must be tonsof fallen boulders on top of it!’
bill looked rather solemn. he could see what a narrow escape from death they had all had. ifthey had been anywhere else in the castle or courtyard they would have been crushed and buried.
being down in the hidden room had saved their lives!
‘goodbye to my camera and all our rugs and things,’ said jack.’
‘i’ll replace everything you have lost,’ promised bill, who, now that he had actually capturedscar-neck, was ready to promise the whole world to anyone! and i’ll give you all a fine presenteach for letting me share such a grand adventure!’
‘me too?’ said tassie, at once. she liked bill.
‘you too,’ said bill. ‘what would you like, tassie?’
three pairs of shoes all for myself,’ said tassie solemnly, and the others laughed. they knewtassie wouldn’t wear them. she would just keep them and love and admire them – but she wouldnever wear them. tassie didn’t need to!
‘let’s go back,’ said lucy-ann. ‘i don’t want to look at that ruin any more.’
‘nor do i,’ said dinah, ‘but somehow i feel as if it’s better as a ruin, open to anyone who caresto explore it, than as a castle owned by wicked old men, or spies like scar-neck. i like it betternow! i’m glad to think of those musty old rooms all buried away – they were horrid!’
‘fusty, musty, dusty!’ sang kiki, in delight. ‘pop goes the fusty, musty, dusty!’
‘idiot!’ said jack. ‘you will always have the last word, won’t you, kiki?’
then down the hill they went in the sunshine, leaving behind them the sad, broken old castle, itsroof open to the wind and the rain, its proud towers fallen.
‘the castle of adventure!’ said jack. ‘you were right, philip – it was the castle of adventure!’
