chapter 19 a lot of excitement

julian turned the key in the lock and opened the door. a stately old woman sat in a chair beside thewindow, reading a book. she did not turn round.

'and why have you come at this time of the morning, matthew?' she said, without turning round.

'and how did you find the manners to knock? are you remembering the time when you knew how tobehave to your elders and betters?'

'it isn't matthew,' said julian. 'it's us - we've come to set you free.'

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the old woman turned at once, gaping in amazement. she got up and went over to the door, and thefive saw that she was trembling.

'who are you? let me out of that door before matthew comes! let me out, i tell you!'

she pushed by the four children and the dog, and then stood uncertainly in the passage.

'what shall i do? where shall i go? are those men here still?'

she went back into her room and sank down in her chair again, covering her face with her hands.

'i feel faint. get me some water.'

anne sprang to pour out a glass of water from a jug on a table. the old woman took it and drank it.

she looked at anne.

'who are you? what is the meaning of this? where is matthew? oh, i must be going mad!'

'mrs. thomas - you are mrs. thomas, aren't you?' said julian. 'little aily, the shepherd's daughter,brought us here. she knew you were locked up. you remember her mother, don't you?

she told us she used to come and wait on you.'

'aily's mother - maggy - yes, yes. but what has aily to do with this? i don't believe it. it's anothertrick. where are the men who killed my son?'

julian looked at dick. it was clear that the poor old lady was not herself - or else this suddenappearance of the children had upset her.

'those men that my llewellyn brought here - they wanted to buy my house,' she said. 'but i wouldn'tsell it, no, i wouldn't. do you know what they said to me? they said that in this hill, far, far belowmy house, was a rare metal - a powerful metal - worth a fortune. what did they call it now?'

she looked at the children, as if expecting them to know. she shook her head as they didn't answer.

'why should you know about it - you are only children. but i wouldn't sell it - no, i wouldn't sell myhouse - nor the metal below. do you know what they wanted it for? for bombs to kill people with!

and i said no, never will i sell this place so that men can dig the metal and make bombs.

it is against the law of god, i said, and i, bronwen thomas, will not do such a thing!'

the children listened in awe. the old lady seemed beside herself, and rocked to and fro as she spoke.

'so they asked my son, and he said no, as i had. but they took him away and killed him - and nowthey are at work below. yes, yes, i hear them - i hear the noises creeping up, i feel my 83house shake, i see strange things. but who are you? and where is matthew? he keeps me here,locked in my room. he told me about llewellyn, my poor dead son; he is a wicked man, matthew, heworks with those men, those evil men!'

she seemed to forget the four children for a little while. they wondered what to do. julian saw thatthe poor woman was not fit to take down the stairs with them, and through the tunnel - and certainlyshe could not get out of the pot-hole. he began to wish that he hadn't been so hasty in his ideas ofrescue. it would really be best to lock the door again and leave her here in safety until he could getthe police - for certainly now the police must come.

'we will leave you now,' he said, 'and send someone soon to bring you out of here. we are sorry wedisturbed you.'

and, to the astonishment of the others, he pushed them out of the room, turned the key in the lockagain, and put it into his pocket!

'aren't we going to take her with us?' said george, surprised. 'poor, poor old thing!'

'no. how can we?' said julian, troubled. 'we must go to the police, no matter what morgan says.

i see it all now, don't you? the mother forbidding the son to sell the old place, in spite of theenormous amount of money offered - the son refusing too - and the men making a plot to get insomehow and down to this metal, whatever it is - and work it...'

'and killing the son?' said dick. 'well, it may be so - but i should have thought that was a prettydrastic thing to do! surely the son would have been reported missing very quickly, and the policewould have made enquiries. nobody said the son was missing or dead, did they, except the old lady?'

'well, let's not talk about it now,' said julian. 'we've got to do something. i'm sorry to leave old mrs.

thomas still locked up in that room, but i honestly think she would be safer there than anywhereelse.'

they went down the two flights of stairs to the picture gallery. aily was there, still cuddling her twopets. she was pleased to see them, and ran up smiling. she didn't seem to notice that they hadn't theold woman with them.

'man down there very cross!' she said, and laughed. 'he wake now - he shout and bang!'

'goodness - i hope he won't see us,' said julian. 'we've got to get out of here, quick, and go to thepolice. let's hope he won't come rushing at us, or call in that fierce dog.'

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they went downstairs at top speed, looking out for matthew. but there was no sign of him in person -though there was a most tremendous row going on somewhere, of shouting and banging.

'aily lock door,' said aily, suddenly, pointing in the direction of the sounds. 'man lock old woman -aily lock man!'

'did you? did you really lock him in?' said julian, delighted. 'you really are a monkey - but what agood idea! i wish i'd thought of it!'

he went to the door of the room in which the angry matthew was.

'matthew!' he called sternly. there was a dead silence, and then matthew's astonished voice camethrough the shut door.

'who's that? who locked me in? if it's one of you men, you'll be sorry for it! silly joke to play on me,when you know i've got to go up and see to old mrs. thomas!'

'matthew - this isn't one of the men,' said julian, and how the others admired his cool, determinedvoice! 'we have come to rescue mrs. thomas from that tower - and now we are going to the police toreport all this, and to report too that her son has been killed by the men who are working far belowthis house.'

there was an astonished silence. then matthew's voice came again.

'what's all this? i don't understand! the police can't do anything. mr. llewellyn, the son, isn't dead -my word, no, he's all alive and kicking - and he won't be very pleased with you, whoever you are.

clear off at once - but let me out before you go. i'm surprised that alsatian outside didn't get you, thati am!'

it was the children's turn to be amazed now. so the son wasn't dead! then where was he? and whyhad matthew told old mrs. thomas such a cruel untruth? julian asked him at once.

'why did you tell mrs. thomas her son was dead then?'

'what's it to do with you? mr. llewellyn, he told me to tell his mother that. the old lady wouldn't lethim sell that stuff deep down under the house - the stuff that gets hold of cars and bicycles, andploughs, and makes them heavy as lead. magnetises them, so they say. well, if he wants to sell it,why shouldn't he? but what i say is this - he shouldn't sell it to foreigners, no, that he shouldn't! if i'dhave known that - well - i wouldn't have taken money from him to act like i did!'

the voice rose and fell as matthew told his extraordinary tale. then the man banged frantically onthe door again.

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'who are you? you let me out! i've been kind to the old lady - you ask her - though she's difficult, andstrange in her ways. i've been loyal to mr. llewellyn, though he's not easy, no, that he's not. who areyou, i say? let me out; let me out! if mr. llewellyn catches me locked in here, he'll kill me! he'll sayi've let his secret out. he'll say... let me out, i say!'

'he sounds a bit mad,' said julian, thankful that the man was locked up. 'he must be a bit simple too,to believe all that the son told him, and do everything he was told to do. well - we'd better go to thepolice. come on - we'll go back the way we came.'

'let's just have a look down that river to see what the men are up to,' said dick. 'just you and i,julian. it's such a chance - we needn't be seen, and it would only take a few minutes. the girls couldwait somewhere with tim.'

'i don't think we ought to stop now,' said julian, 'i really don't.'

'no, don't let's,' said anne. 'i don't like this house. it's got a horrid 'feel' about it. and i can't imaginewhat the 'shuddering' would be like, when the men start their work again deep down below -whatever it is!'

'well, come along then,' said julian, and, completely ignoring matthew's yells and bangs, the childrenmade their way through the kitchen and down the cellar-steps, flashing on their torches to light theirway.

'i bet matthew is wild that we've left him locked up,' said dick, as they went through the vast cellars.

'serves him right! taking bribes from the son - and telling lies to that poor old woman.

hallo, we've come to where the men smashed the walls here, to get along the river tunnel. i supposethey found that was the easiest way to go down to where the precious metal was -whatever it is!'

they stood looking through the smashed walls at the gurgling river.

'come, come,' said aily, dragging at julian's hand. 'bad mans there!'

she was holding dave, her little dog, in case he fell into the rushing river, but fany the lamb wasgambolling loose as usual. and, quite suddenly, she skipped off down the river tunnel, her tailwhisking behind her madly.

'fany, fany!' cried aily. 'fany bach!'

but the lamb, thinking that she was going the right way, gambolled on, deafened by the rushing ofthe water. aily ran after her, as sure-footed as the lamb, hopping and skipping over the rough rockybank of the river.

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'come back, you little ass!' yelled julian. but aily either did not or would not hear, and shedisappeared into the blackness of the tunnel almost at once.

'she hasn't got a torch, ju - she'll fall in and drown!' yelled george, in a panic. 'timmy, go after her,fetch her back!'

and away went timmy obediently, running as fast as he could beside the black, churning water,hurrying on its way downwards to the sea.

julian and the others waited anxiously. aily didn't come back, nor did any of the animals - andgeorge began to be very panicky about timmy.

'oh, julian - what's happened to tim - and the others?' she said. 'they've no torches - oh, why did ilet timmy go? we all ought to have gone!'

'they'll come back all right,' said julian, much more confidently than he felt. 'that child aily can seein the dark, i really do believe - and she knows her way about like a dog.'

but when, after five minutes, not one of the four had come back, george started forward, flashing hertorch on the rocky path beside the river.

'i'm going to find timmy,' she said. 'and nobody's going to stop me!'

and she was gone before the boys could get hold of her! julian gave a shout of aggravation.

'george! don't be an ass! timmy will find his own way back. don't go down there - you don't knowwhat you may find!'

'come on,' said dick, starting off down the river too. 'george won't come back, we know that -not unless she finds tim and the others. we'd better go quickly before anything awful happens!'

anne had to follow the boys, her heart beating fast. what a thing to happen! just the very worstpossible!