chapter fifteen who is on the island?
"sh!" said julian, at once. "get down behind this bush, quick, everyone!"they had left the cove and were walking towards the castle when timmy growled. now they allcrouched behind a mass of brambles, their hearts beating fast.
"don't growl, timmy," said george, in timothy's nearest ear. he stopped at once, but he stood stiffand quivering, on the watch.
julian peeped through the bush, parting the brambles and scratching his hands. he could just seesomebody in the courtyard - one person - two persons - maybe three. he strained his eyes to try andsee, but even as he looked, they disappeared.
"i believe they've moved those big stones over the entrance to the dungeons, and have gone downthere," he whispered. "stay here, and i'll creep out a bit and see. i won't let anyone spot me."he came back and nodded. "yes - they've gone down the dungeons. do you think they can be thesmugglers? do you suppose they are storing their smuggled goods down there? it would be amarvellous place, of course."
"let's get back to the cave while they are underground," said george. "i'm so afraid timmy will givethe game away by barking. he's just bursting himself trying not to make some sort of noise.""come on, then!" said julian. "don't go across the courtyard - make for the shore and we'll scrambleround it till we get to the cave. then one of us can pop up through the hole and hide behind that biggorse bush there to see who the smugglers are. they must have come in by boat either from thewreck, or by rowing cleverly through the rocks off-shore."69
they got to the cave at last and went in. but no sooner had julian shinned up the rope, helped by theothers, than timothy disappeared! he ran out of the cave while the others' backs were turned, andwhen george turned round there was no timmy to be seen!
"timmy!" she called in a low voice. "timmy! where are you?"but no answer came! timmy had gone off on his own. if only the smugglers didn't see him!
what a bad dog he was to do that!
but timmy had smelt something exciting - he had smelt a smell he knew - a dog-smell - and hemeant to find the owner of it and bite off his ears and tail! "gr-r-r-r-r-r!" timmy was not going toallow dogs on his island!
julian sat close beside the gorse bush, watching all round. there was nothing to be seen on the wreck,and there was no ship out to sea. probably the boat that had brought the strangers to the island washidden down below among the rocks. julian looked behind him, towards the castle -and even as he looked, he saw an astonishing sight!
a dog was sniffing about the bushes not far away - and creeping up behind him, all his hackles up,was timothy! timothy was stalking the dog as if he were a cat stalking a rabbit! the other dogsuddenly heard him and leapt round, facing timothy. timmy flung himself on the dog with a blood-curdling howl, and the dog howled in fright.
julian watched in horror, not knowing what to do. the two dogs made a fearful noise, especially theother dog whose howls of terror and yelps of rage resounded everywhere.
"this will bring the smugglers up, and they will see timmy and know there's someone on the island,"thought julian. "oh, blow you, timmy! - why didn't you stay with george and keep quiet?"from the walls of the ruined castle came three figures, running pell-mell to see what was happeningto their dog - and julian stared at them in the very greatest amazement - for the three people were noother than mr. stick, mrs. stick and edgar!
"golly!" said julian, crawling round the bush to get to the hole quickly. "they've come after us!
they've guessed we've gone here and they've come to look for us, the beasts, to make us go back!
well, they won't find us! but oh, what a pity timmy's given the show away!"there came a shrill whistle from down below him. it was george, who, hearing the row from thedogs, was feeling worried, and had sent out her piercing whistle for timmy. it was a whistle the 70dog always obeyed, and he let go his hold of the dog and shot off to the cliff-top at once, just as thethree sticks arrived on the scene, and picked up their bleeding, whining mongrel.
edgar tore after timmy, up to the cliff-top. julian dropped down to the cave when he spotted edgarappearing. timmy ran to the hole and dropped bodily down, landing almost on top of julian. heflung himself on george.
"shut up, shut up!" said george, in an urgent whisper to the excited dog. "do you want to give ourhiding-place away, you idiot?"
edgar, panting and puffing, arrived on the cliff-top, and was completely amazed to see timothyapparently disappear into the solid earth. he hunted about for a bit, but it was clear that the dog wasno longer on the cliff.
mr. and mrs. stick came up too. "where did that dog go?" shouted mrs. stick. "what was he like?""he looked awfully like that horrible dog of the children's," said edgar. his voice could clearly beheard by everyone down in the cave. the children kept as quiet as mice.
"but it couldn't be!" came mrs. stick's voice. "the children have gone home - we saw them, and thedog too, making off towards the railway. it must be some sort of stray dog left here by a tripper.""well, where is he, then?" said mr. stick's hoarse voice. "can't see no dog anywhere about now.""he disappeared into the earth," said edgar, in a surprised voice.
mr. stick made a rude and scornful noise. "you tell lovely tales, you do," he said. "disappeared intothe earth! what next? fell over the cliff, i should think. well, he got his teeth into poor tinker goodand proper. my word, if i see that dog, i'll shoot him!""he might have some hiding-place about this cliff," said mrs. stick. "let's have a look!"the children sat as quiet as mice. george with a warning hand on timmy's collar. they could hearthat the sticks were really very near. julian expected one of them to fall down the hole at anymoment!
but mercifully they didn't happen on the hole that led down to the cave. they stood quite near to it,though, while they were discussing the problem.
"if it's the children's dog, then those tiresome kids must have come to this island, instead of goinghome," said mrs. stick. "that would upset our plan all right! we shall have to find out. i'll have nopeace till i know."
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"we can soon find out," said mr. stick. "no need to worry about that. their boat will be heresomewhere - and they'll all be about, too! it's impossible for four children, a dog and a boat to behidden on this small island once anyone starts hunting for them! edgar, you go round that way.
clara, you get along round about the castle. they may be hiding somewhere in the ruins. i'll have alook about here."
the children crouched together in the cave. how they hoped that their boat would not be found!
how they hoped that no one would find any traces of them at all! timmy growled softly, wishing thathe could go and find that stinker-dog again! it had been lovely to bite his ears hard.
edgar was half-scared of finding the children, and a good deal more scared of coming up againsttimmy somewhere. so he did not make much of a search for either the children or the boat. he wentinto the cove where the boat had been pulled up, and although he saw traces where the vessel hadbeen hauled up, barely smoothed out by the sea-water at high-tide, he did not notice the seaweedyprow of the boat sticking out round the rock behind which it was hidden.
"nothing here!" he called to his mother, who was going round and about the ruins, looking into everylikely nook. but she found nothing either, and neither did mr. stick.
"couldn't have been the children's dog," said mr. stick, at last. "they'd be here if he was, and sowould their boat, but there's no sign of them at all. that dog must have been some wild stray.
have to look out for him, no doubt about it. gone wild, i should think."the children relaxed after about an hour, thinking that the sticks must have given up looking forthem. they boiled the kettle to make some tea, and anne began to cut some sandwiches. timmy wastied up in case he wandered out again to look for stinker.
they ate their tea quietly, not speaking above a whisper. "the sticks haven't come here to look forus, after all," said julian. "it's quite plain from what they said that they thought we had gone to catchthe train home, taking george and timmy with us.""then what are they here for?" demanded george, fiercely. "it's our island! they've no right here.
let's go and turn them off! they're scared of timmy. we'll take him with us and say we'll set him onto them if they don't clear out."
"no, george," said julian, "do be sensible. we don't want them rushing off and telling your father weare here, or he may lose his temper and come flying home to order us back. and -there's another thing i've thought of."
"what?", asked the others, seeing julian's eyes gleam in the way they did when he had an idea.
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"well," said julian, "don't you think it's possible that the sticks are something to do with thesmugglers? don't you think they may come here to take off smuggled goods, or to hide them till theycan take them off in safety? mr. stick is a sailor, isn't he? he would know all about smuggling. i bethe's in the pay of the smugglers all right.""i believe you're right!" said george, in excitement. "well - we'll wait till the sticks have gone, andthen we'll go down into the dungeons and see if they've hidden anything there! we'll find out theirlittle game and stop it! it will be terribly thrilling, won't it?"
