29

an exciting time

bill at last got the door open and went in. a shaft of light shone out from the room at once. ronnieshut the door quickly. jack found that his heart was beginning to thump again. those sentries –would they come back before bill had got the king?

the door opened again, but this time no shaft of light showed. bill had turned out the lampinside the room. someone was with him – the king. oh, good! thought jack.

the sentries were coming back. their feet could be clearly heard. bill hurried the king across tothe hidden door, opened it and pushed him through. ronnie followed, and then jack.

just in time! ‘do you suppose they’ll see the door is unbolted?’ said jack. ‘you didn’t have timeto bolt it.’

‘we’ll soon know!’ said bill. ‘i’m afraid they will notice it – it’s their job to check up on that,i’m sure.’

jack suddenly gave a little cry. ‘kiki! where is she? she was on my shoulder a minute ago, nowshe’s gone. i never felt her fly off in my excitement. oh, bill – she must be out there in the passagesomewhere.’

she was – and she was very much annoyed to find that jack seemed to have disappeared. wherewas he? she could hear the sentries coming nearer and nearer, and the sound of their clump-clump-clumping annoyed her.

she flew up to a jutting-out stone in the wall, and when the two men marched just below her,she hooted long and loud.

‘hoooooo! hooo-hooo-hooo!’

the sound of marching feet stopped abruptly. one of the men said something quickly to theother in a frightened voice.

kiki yapped like a dog and then snarled. it sounded most extraordinary in that dark, echoingpassage. the men looked all round. where was the dog?

‘mee-ow-ow-ow!’ wailed kiki, like a hungry cat, and then went off into a cackle of laughter.

‘wipe your feet, blow your nose, pop goes the weasel, pop-pop-pop!’

the men didn’t understand a word, of course, but that frightened them all the more. theyclutched each other, feeling the hairs on their head beginning to prickle in fright.

kiki coughed and cleared her throat in a remarkably human way. why that should have put thetwo sentries into an absolute panic she couldn’t guess! but it certainly did, and, casting their riflesaway, they fled down the passage at top speed, howling out something in their own language.

jack had heard all this, for he had opened the hidden door a little, feeling anxious about kiki.

he listened to her performance with a grin. good old kiki! he called her softly and she flew downto his shoulder in delight.

bill wondered what would be the best thing to do now. it would be dangerous to go back theway they had come, because the scared sentries would certainly arrive back with others to probeinto the mystery of the hooting and barking and mewing and coughing!

‘i wonder if the passage behind this hidden door leads anywhere except to the room you put thecount in,’ said bill to ronnie.

‘we’ll go and ask him,’ said ronnie, cheerfully. ‘i’ll poke this in his ribs and see if he’ll talk.’

‘this’ was his revolver. bill laughed.

‘you won’t need that. he’ll talk all right when he sees the king here. your majesty, perhapsyou would like to deal with the count, and command him to show us the way out?’

the king could talk perfect english. like gussy, he had been sent to england to be educated.

he nodded, his eyes gleaming. it was obvious that he would certainly enjoy a few words with thecount!

they went to the cell-like room into which ronnie had shoved the count, locking him in, nicelytied up. count paritolen was on the floor, looking furious. when he saw the king he looked sothunderstruck that bill laughed.

‘undo his legs, ronnie, but not his arms,’ said bill. ‘he should stand up politely before theking.’

the count’s legs were untied and he stood up, his face very pale indeed. the king began toaddress him in vigorous tauri-hessian. the count wilted – his head hung forward – and finally hefell on his knees, a picture of misery and fright. the king touched him contemptuously with hisfoot, and said a few more words. the count got up again, and said, ‘ai! ai! ai!’ eagerly, whichjack knew to mean ‘yes! yes! yes!’

‘he’s going to show us the way out,’ said bill. ‘good thing too. i seem to hear a tremendousnoise starting up somewhere in the distance. no doubt our friends the sentries have brought alltheir buddies along – and have discovered the unbolted door and the empty room. tell the countto get a move on, ronnie.’

with his arms still tied behind him the count stumbled out of the little bare room. he led themto a door opposite and kicked it open. a small stairway led downwards. ‘i’ll go first,’ said ronnie,and nipped in front of the count.

the steps led down to a little panelled room, rather like a small study. the count said a fewwords, nodding his head at a panel. ronnie stepped forward and slid the panel downwards. a holejust big enough for a man to squeeze through was now showing. nothing could be seen the otherside because something was hanging over it.

‘tapestry hangings,’ said bill, and knocked his hand against it. ‘well, well – nice lot of hidey-holes and secrets you’ve got here, count. very nice indeed. what do we do next? get behind thistapestry?’

‘he says it’s tapestry hanging in one of the bedrooms,’ said ronnie. ‘if we make our waybehind it a bit, we’ll come to an opening. here goes!’

he went through the hole, and made his way behind endless tapestry that hung loose fromceiling to floor. at last he came to where, as the count had said, there was an opening. it waswhere two different pieces of tapestry met. ronnie poked his way between them and found himselfin a bedroom. he saw beautiful furniture and carpets as he flashed his torch round. the room wasquite empty.

the others came out into the room too, having made their way behind the tapestry. jack sneezedbecause it was full of dust. kiki promptly sneezed too, much to the count’s amazement. he hadnot met kiki before!

‘now where?’ said ronnie, digging his revolver into the count’s ribs quite suddenly. the mangave a startled jump and almost fell over in fright.

‘i hardly think that poke in the ribs was necessary,’ said bill, with a grin.

‘no, not necessary – but awfully good for a nasty little double-crosser like him!’ said ronnie.

‘people who threaten others with this, that and the other when they are in power deserve a bit of afright from my gun. now then, count – the quickest and best way out, please!’

this last was said in tauri-hessian and the count replied at once, his words tumbling over oneanother in his desire to please this fierce englishman.

‘it’s easy now,’ said ronnie. ‘we apparently go down the back stairs into the deserted kitchenquarters, and just let ourselves out of the back door. nothing could be simpler!’

so down the back stairs they went, and into a vast kitchen. three cats were there, their eyesgleaming in the light of bill’s torch. kiki yapped like a small dog, and the cats fled into corners atonce.

‘kiki!’ said jack, with a laugh. ‘you’re irrepressible!’

kiki tried to repeat the word and couldn’t. bill was now unlocking the great back door. they allwent out into a big yard. then down to the castle gate, a massive wrought iron affair, whose keyshung most conveniently at the side. bill unlocked the gate and out they went, finding themselvesin the main street of borken.

‘now – where is the place we left the van?’ wondered bill. ‘jack, could you take ronnie to it?

ronnie, we’ll wait here for you.’

jack sped off with ronnie. he had been in the town several times and knew the way. he andronnie were soon in the field where they had left the van, and ronnie started it up at once.

it was not long before the van drew up beside the other three in the dark highway. they got in.

bill was behind with the count and jack. the king went in front with ronnie. it was queer to sitin the back, with all kinds of goods rattling on the shelves. the count, however, took no notice.

he was feeling extremely gloomy.

‘i say – where are we going? this isn’t the way back to the circus camp,’ said jack, suddenly.

‘no, i know,’ said bill. ‘i’m afraid we must go straight to the capital town of tauri-hessia, jack– the king needs to be there at the earliest possible moment. things are in a great turmoil, you see– nobody knows what is going to happen – no king – no prince – the count apparently trying totake things over – the prime minister a weak tool . . .’

‘yes, i see,’ said jack. ‘but as soon as the king appears, everything will be all right, won’t it?’

‘it will certainly be all right after he has appeared to his people and spoken to them,’ said bill.

‘he will have quite a lot of interesting things to tell them! i think, too, it is essential that gussyshould appear also – so that the people will be sure that he and his uncle are on good terms, andback each other up.’

‘oh, gussy will love that!’ said jack. ‘do we go back to get him?’

‘we do,’ said bill. ‘and we also get the others. i’m sure the king will want to see gussy’sfellow prisoners. he has a lot to hear about, you know.’

the king certainly wanted to meet all the others when he heard the amazing story that bill hadto tell him. it was all told when they reached the palace. then, after a delighted and amazedwelcome from a few servants on duty, the king retired to a little room with bill, ronnie and jack.

the count was sent off in disgrace with four soldiers in front of him and four behind!

‘left, right, left, right!’ shouted kiki after him. ‘god save the king!’

it was still dark, for the sun was not due to rise for another hour. jack suddenly yawned. hereally couldn’t help it.

‘you’d better have a snooze,’ said bill. ‘the king is sending his state car to fetch the othersfirst thing in the morning. he will lend you some of gussy’s clothes, he says, if you want to lookdecent. the others are being sent clothes too, especially, of course, gussy he couldn’t possiblyappear in his girls’ things!’

‘this is going to be fun from now on,’ said jack, trying to keep awake. ‘oh, gosh, i’m sleepy.

what are you going to do, bill? have a sleep, too?’

‘no. i’m going to get in touch with your aunt by radio,’ said bill, ‘and tell her you’re all safe.

i’ll get her to fly out tomorrow, and we’ll all be together again!’

jack fell on to a sofa, feeling that he couldn’t keep awake one moment longer. ‘good old bill,’

he said.

‘everything comes right when you’re here. good morning – i mean good night!’

and in half a second more he was fast asleep. what a night he had had!