chapter 21 an astounding thing

the five children crouched behind the pile of crates. morgan pushed another crate up, so that theywere completely hidden. dick clutched julian.

'julian! we've made fools of ourselves! morgan was trying to find out the secret of old towershimself - with the help of the shepherd! they were about the only people in the neighbourhood whocould guess what was going on. the shepherd could see all the strange things we saw, whilewatching his sheep on the mountainside - and he told morgan...'

julian groaned.

'yes. no wonder he was angry when he thought we were meddling in such a serious matter. nowonder he forbade us to do anything more! gosh - we've been idiots! where is morgan now?

can you see him?'

'no. he's hiding somewhere. listen - here come the men!' said dick. 'there's a crack between twocrates here - i can see the first man. he's got an iron bar or something. he looks pretty grim!'

the men came out cautiously, evidently not sure how many people they were after. they advancedacross the cave, seven of them, all with weapons of some kind. two went to the upper 92river tunnel, two went to the one that led down to the sea, and the others began to hunt among thecrates.

they found the children first! it was aily's fault, poor child. she gave a sudden scream of fright -and in a trice the men had pulled away the crates. crash - one by one they fell to the ground - and theamazed men found themselves looking at five children! but not for long! with a terrifying barktimmy flung himself on the first man!

he yelled and began to fight him off, but timmy held on like grim death. morgan appeared from theshadows and surprised another of the men, jumping on him and getting him on the ground, at thesame time catching hold of a second man and tossing him away. he had the strength of a giant!

'run!' he yelled to the children, but they couldn't. two of the men had penned them into a corner, andalthough julian leapt at one of them, he was simply thrown back again. these men were strongminers, and though not a match for the giant like morgan, they could certainly take everyone elseprisoner - including the gentle shepherd! he too was penned into a corner - only morgan and timmywere fighting now.

'timmy will be hurt!' said george, in a trembling voice, and she tried to push one of the men away toget to him. 'oh look, ju - that man is trying to hit him with that bar!'

timmy dodged the bar and sprang at the man, who turned and ran for his life. timmy shot after himand got him on the ground. but there were too many men - and more were now coming up from thetunnel at the back of the cave, pouring in, with weapons of all kinds. all of them were amazed to seethe five children!

the men seemed mostly to be foreigners, and spoke a language the children couldn't understand.

but one man was not a foreigner - he was obviously the boss, and gave his orders as if he expectedthem to be obeyed. he hadn't joined in the fight at all.

the shepherd was soon overpowered, and his hands bound behind his back. morgan fought off forsome time - but then had to surrender. he was like an angry bull, stamping here, pulling there,roaring with rage as three men tried to tie his hands.

the boss came up and faced him.

'you will be sorry for this, morgan,' he said. 'all our lives we have been enemies - you down at thefarm - and i here at old towers.'

morgan suddenly spat at him.

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'where is your old mother?' he shouted. 'a prisoner in her own house! who has robbed her?

you, llewellyn thomas!' then he went off into a spate of welsh, his voice rising high as hedenounced the man in front of him.

julian admired the fearless morgan enormously, as he stood with his hands bound, defying the manwho had been a life- long enemy. how many quarrels had these two had, living in the samecountryside, trying their strength against one another? julian wished intensely that he had obeyedmorgan's command and left everything to him. but he had thought morgan was on the side of theenemy! how stupid he had been!

'it's all because of us that he's caught,' thought the boy, remorsefully. 'i've been a fool - and i thoughti was doing something clever - and right! and now we're all landed in this mess - the girls too! whatwill they do with us? i suppose the only safe thing for them to do is to keep us prisoner till they'vefinished this mining job, collected a fortune from the metal, whatever it is, and gone.'

llewellyn thomas was now giving some sharp orders, and the men were listening. timmy wasgrowling, held by the collar in a stranglehold by one of the men. if he tried to squirm away, the mantwisted his hand in the collar a little more and poor timmy was half-choked.

george was wild with despair. julian had to keep stopping her from trying to make a dash to timmy.

he was afraid that these rough men would strike her, though she was a girl. aily sat in a corner,hugging her lamb and dave, who had been far too scared even to take a little nip at any of the men!

morgan was held by two hefty miners - but, quite suddenly, he hurled himself sideways at one ofthem and sent him flying - and then at the other, who staggered away and fell over a tin.

with a great roar morgan stumbled to the pool, and waded to the entrance of the tunnel that led to thesea, his hands still tightly tied behind his back.

'the fool!' said llewellyn thomas. 'if he thinks he can get along that tunnel with his hands tied, he ismad! he will fall into that rushing river - and without his hands to help him, he will drown!

no - don't go after him. let him go - let him drown! we shall be well rid of him!'

the shepherd struggled to his feet to go after his master, knowing quite well that llewellyn was right- no man could get along that rough edge to the river without his hands to steady him, feeling alongthe wall at the side - and one slip would put him into the churning, hurrying river, that ran at full-peltdown to the sea far below, at the bottom of the hill.

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but morgan did not mean to escape. he was not going to struggle along beside that treacheroustorrent! he had come all the way up beside it, with the shepherd, and knew how easy it was to slip,on the wet rocky edge. no - morgan had another plan!

julian watched him disappear into the tunnel, and his heart sank. he too knew that no one could walkalong there without free hands to help him. but what could anyone do?

the boss turned to the other men, who were still staring after morgan. he was just about to saysomething to them, when a roar came to their ears.

not the roar of the torrent in the underground tunnel. not the roar of the strange rumbling mine.

no - the roar of a giant voice, that crashed out of the tunnel, and echoed round the cave.

it was morgan's enormous voice. morgan, calling the names of his seven great dogs! the childrenlistened in amazement at this unbelievable voice.

'dai! bob! tang! come to me! doon! joll! rafe! hal!'

the names echoed round and round the cave, and it seemed as if the place was full of giant voices.

aily, who was used to hearing the dogs called, didn't turn a hair - but the others crouched back inamazement at the sound of such a voice. surely no one in all the world had ever shouted so loudlybefore!

'dai! dai! rafe! rafe!'

the great voice boomed again and again, seeming to be louder each time. at first llewellyn thomas,the boss, was taken aback - but then he laughed sneeringly.

'does he think he can get his dogs up from the beach?' he said. 'all that way down the tunnel.

he's mad! let him be!'

then again the great voice roared out the names of the seven dogs belonging to morgan and theshepherd.

'dai! bob! tang! doon! joll! rafe! hal!'

at the last name, morgan's voice seemed to crack. the shepherd raised his head in dismay.

morgan had over-strained that great voice of his, and no wonder. no megaphone could possibly havebeen louder!

there was silence after that. morgan called no more. neither did he appear again. the children feltscared and depressed, and aily began to whimper.

the curious shuddering vibration began to creep into everything again, and the boss turned sharply,giving some more orders. two of the men ran to the tunnel at the back of the cave and 95disappeared. then things took on a curious shimmer, as if a heat-haze had spread everywhere, and itbegan to feel very warm in the cave.

suddenly something happened. at first it sounded far-off in the distance, a confused noise that madetimmy tug at his collar again and prick his ears. he barked, and the man who was holding him hithim.

'what's that noise?' said llewellyn thomas, sharply, looking all round. there was no telling where itcame from. but it grew louder - and louder - and then suddenly julian knew what it was!

it was the loud barking of seven angry dogs! the shepherd knew it too, and a glad smile came overhis face. he glanced at llewellyn to see if he recognised it as well.

yes - the boss had certainly recognised that dreadful sound now. he could hardly believe it!

surely it was not possible that morgan's voice, enormous as it was, had echoed all the way down thetunnel, and been heard by the sharp, pricked-up ears of the dogs who loved him?

but so it was! dai, the oldest dog, who loved his master more than any of them, had stood tense andlistening ever since morgan and the shepherd had left them. and, from somewhere far distant,echoing down to the end of the tunnel they were guarding, dai had heard the faint echoes of hismaster's beloved voice!

his bark had told the other dogs the news - and, led by dai, they had all rushed up the rocky tunnel,sure-footed on the slippery, rocky path beside the racing river.

they came to morgan, sitting beside the river, not far from the big cave, a little way down the tunnel.

it was a moment of joy for morgan and his dogs!

dai soon snuffled at his hands and bit the ropes in half. morgan was free!

'down now - and hush!' commanded morgan. he began to walk steadily back to the cave, thenmotioned the dogs before him.

'attack!' he cried in welsh.

and then, to the men's horror, the seven dogs raced out of the tunnel at a great speed, barking,growling, snarling - with a triumphant morgan behind them, so tall that he had to bend double toleave the tunnel.

the men fled, every one of them. llewellyn had turned to run even before the dogs appeared, andwas gone. dai leapt at one man and got him down, and tang leapt at another. the cave was filledwith snarls and growls and excited barking.

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timmy delightedly joined in, for his captor had rushed away too. even little dave ran to join thiswonderful fight, while the children stood amazed and thankful to see their enemy defeated!

'who would have thought of this?' said dick, sending the crates crashing down. 'what an astoundingthing! hurrah for morgan and his seven dogs!'