28
trapped
the light gleamed on a revolver held by joe. bill felt angry with himself. ifhe hadn’t agreed to go back for that wretched parrot, this would never havehappened. joe was tough. he was not likely to be fooled as easily as jakehad been.
turn round, hold your hands above your heads and walk in front of me,’
ordered joe. ‘ah – there’s that parrot. i owe it quite a lot – well, i’ll pay medebt now.’
jack knew joe meant to shoot kiki and he gave the parrot a blow thatsurprised her very much. kiki rose high into the air in indignation,screeching, lost in the darkness. ‘keep away, kiki, keep away!’ yelled jack.
kiki remained lost in the darkness. something warned her that jack didnot want her near him. she sensed danger. she followed the little company,keeping well behind joe, flying from place to place as silent as a bat.
the three of them were soon shut in the now familiar cave. joe, who hadshouted for jake, locked the door himself. then the prisoners heard themgoing off.
‘well, we’re in a pretty pickle now, i’m afraid,’ said bill. ‘why in theworld did i agree to go back for that parrot? we may all lose our livesbecause of that, and these fellows may escape scot-free with their thousandsof false bank-notes, to spread them all over the country. we really are upagainst it now.’
‘i’m sorry i asked you to go back for kiki,’ said jack humbly.
‘i’m as much to blame as you,’ said bill, lighting a cigarette. ‘golly, it’shot down here.’
after what seemed to be an endless time, the door was opened again, andjoe came in, with jake, olly and two or three more men behind him.
‘we just want to say a fond goodbye to you,’ said joe, his face gleamingin the lamp-light. ‘we’ve finished up our business here. you came in at theend, bill smugs the cop, too late to do anything. we’ve got all the noteswe’ll ever be able to use now.’
‘so you’re clearing out, are you?’ said bill quietly. ‘smashing up themachines to hide your tracks – taking away all your stores and your packetsof dud notes. you won’t escape so easily. your machines will be found allright, smashed or not, and your . . .’
‘nothing will ever be found, bill smugs,’ said joe. ‘not a thing. thewhole of the police force can come to this island, but they’ll never findanything they can trace back to us – never!’
‘why?’ asked bill, unable to conceal his surprise.
‘because we’re flooding the mines,’ said joe, smiling wickedly andshowing his teeth. ‘yes, bill smugs, these mines will soon be flooded –water will pour into every tunnel, every passage, every cave. it will hide ourmachines, and all traces of our work. i am afraid it will hide you too.’
‘you’re not going to leave us here, surely,’ said bill. ‘leave me, if youlike – but take the boys up with you.’
‘we don’t want any of you,’ said joe, still in the same horribly politetones. ‘you would be in the way.’
‘you couldn’t be as cruel as that!’ cried bill. ‘why, they’re onlychildren.’
‘i have my orders,’ said joe. he did not seem at all the same stupid,grumpy fellow that the boys knew before – he was a different joealtogether, and not at all a pleasant one.
‘how do you propose to flood the mines?’ asked bill.
‘easily,’ replied joe. ‘we have mined part of the passage through whichyou came from craggy-tops, under the sea-bed. when we are safely aboveground, you will hear the muffled roar of a great explosion. the dynamitewill blow a hole in the roof of that under-sea passage – and the sea will pourthrough. as you will guess, it will rush into these mines, and fill them up tosea level. i am afraid you will not find things very pleasant then.’
jack tried to stand up to show joe that he was not afraid, but his kneeswouldn’t hold him. he was afraid, very much afraid. and so was philip.
only bill kept a really brave front. he laughed.
‘well – do your worst. you won’t escape so easily as you think. more isknown about you and this gang and its bosses than you imagine.’
one of the men said something to joe. he nodded. the boys felt certainthat the time was soon coming when the sea-bed was due to be blasted open– and then the waters would roar down and find their way into every nookand cranny.
‘well – goodbye,’ said joe, grinning and showing his teeth again.
‘see you soon,’ replied bill, in just as polite a tone. the boys did not sayanything. kiki, out in the passage, gave a cackling laugh.
‘i should have liked to kill that bird before i left,’ muttered joe, and wentout of the cave with the others. he slammed the door and locked it.
there was the sound of retreating footsteps and then silence. bill lookedat the boys.
‘cheer up,’ he said. ‘we’re not dead yet. we’ll give those fellows time toget some distance away, and then i’ll open this door and out we’ll go.’
‘open the door? how?’ asked jack.
‘oh, i’ve my little way,’ grinned bill, and pulled out a queer collection offiles and spindly keys. after a minute or two he set to work on the door, andin a very short time it was swinging open.
‘now for the shaft,’ said bill. ‘come on, before it’s too late.’
they made their way to the main passage and then half walked, half rantowards the big shaft. it took some time to get there.
just as they reached it, and looked upwards to where the faintest gleam ofdaylight showed, there came a curious sound.
it was a muffled roar, deep, deep down in the mines. it echoed round andabout in a frightening way.
‘well – joe spoke the truth,’ said bill soberly. ‘that was the dynamitegoing off. if it really has blown a hole in the sea-bed, the waters will evennow be rushing up that under-sea passage to the mines.’
‘come on, then,’ said philip, eager to get up into the open air. ‘come on.
i want to get into the sunshine.’
‘i must tie my nugget round me somewhere,’ said jack, who was stillmanfully carrying the heavy piece of copper. ‘why – what’s the matter,bill?’
bill had given a sharp exclamation that startled the boys. ‘look there,’
said bill, shining his torch on to the first few feet of the shaft-hole. ‘thosemen have gone up the shaft – and have carefully hacked away the laddernear the bottom so that we couldn’t climb up, even if we did escape fromthe cave. they were leaving nothing to chance. we’re done. we can’tescape. there’s no way of climbing up without a ladder.’
in despair the three of them gazed at the smashed-up rungs. kiki gave amournful screech that made them jump.
‘bill – i believe we might find some kind of a ladder in that big opencave where the boxes and crates of food were,’ said jack desperately. ‘ibelieve i saw one. shall we go back and see? i don’t expect the men havedone more than smash up the beginning rungs of the shaft-hole ladder –they’d know we couldn’t use the ladder higher up if there was nothing toclimb on lower down.’
‘are you sure there was a ladder in that cave?’ asked philip. ‘i don’tremember one.’
‘well – it’s our only chance,’ said bill. ‘come on – back we go to findit.’
but they didn’t reach the cave. they only went down the main passage alittle way and then they stopped in horror. something was swirling towardsthem – something black and strange and powerful.
‘the waters are in already,’ yelled bill. ‘come back. get to the highestpart. my word, the whole sea is emptying itself into the mines.’
the gurgling sound of water trickling down all the passages and intoevery cave was now plainly to be heard. it was a greedy, sucking sound, asound that frightened even bill. the three of them ran back to the mainshaft at once. it was higher than the rest of the ground round about – butsoon the water would reach there too.
‘it will find its own level, anyway,’ said bill. ‘all these shafts go downbelow sea level, a long way below – and the mines will certainly fill up tothe level of the sea. i reckon it will half-fill these shaft-holes too.’
‘but bill – we shall all be drowned!’ said jack, in a trembling voice.
‘can you swim?’ asked bill. ‘yes – of course you both can. well, listen,there’s just one hope for us. when the water fills up this shaft, we must risewith it – let it take us up. we can keep afloat all right, i think, if we don’tget panicky. then, when we reach the part of the ladder undamaged by themen, we can climb up. now, do you think you can keep your heads, and,when the water comes go up the shaft-hole with it?’
‘yes,’ said the boys pluckily. jack turned and looked nervously down thepassage. he could see the black water in the distance, gleaming in the lightof bill’s torch. it looked very horrible, somehow.
‘that’s the end of these mines, then, bill, isn’t it?’ said philip. ‘no onewill ever be able to come down here again.’
‘well, they were worked out anyway,’ said bill. ‘jack was lucky to find anugget to take back to show everyone. it was probably hidden by a long?ago miner who forgot where he had hidden it – and years and yearsafterwards jack found it.’
‘i must take it back with me,’ said jack. ‘i simply must. but i know ican’t hold it and swim too. it’s too heavy.’
bill stripped off his jersey and his vest. he wrapped the nugget in hisvest, knotted it, then tied a thick piece of string round it. he put his jerseyon again and then hung the nugget round his neck.
‘bit heavy,’ said he, with a grin, ‘but quite safe. you carry kiki, i’ll carrythe nugget.’
‘thanks awfully,’ said jack. ‘sure it won’t drag you down under thewater?’
‘i hardly think so,’ said bill, who was immensely strong.
‘the water’s coming nearer,’ said philip uneasily. ‘look!’
they all looked. it was advancing near to the little bit of rising groundunder the shaft where they stood.
‘isn’t it awfully black?’ said jack. ‘i suppose it’s the darkness that makesit look so black. it looks simply horrid.’
‘it will take a bit of time to get to our shaft,’ said bill. ‘let’s sit down andrest a bit whilst we’ve a chance.’
they sat down. philip’s mouse ran out of his sleeve, and then sat up onits hind legs, sniffing. kiki saw it and gave a squeal.
‘wipe your feet, i tell you!’ she said.
‘now, don’t you frighten woffly,’ said philip. the three of them watchedthe antics of the mouse whilst they waited. the water lapped nearer,sucking and gurgling in the passages.
‘it must be absolutely pouring down the hole in the roof of the under-seapassage,’ said philip. ‘i say, bill – will the water rush the other way too –down the undersea passage to craggy-tops – and make the well salt water?’
‘well, yes – i suppose it will,’ said bill, considering. ‘the well is belowsea level, of course – so the sea is bound to pour into it, through theentrance in the well-shaft. that’s bad, philip. it will mean that you and yourpeople won’t have well water any more – i can’t think what you’ll do.’
‘here comes the water to our feet now,’ said jack, watching a wavesweep up to them. ‘kiki, do sit still on my shoulder. tufty, where’swoffly?’
‘down my neck now,’ said philip. ‘ooh, isn’t the water cold!’
the mines were hot, so the water did feel cold – icy-cold. philip, jackand bill stood up and watched it swirling round their ankles. it rosegradually to their knees. it rose above them.
the three were standing right under the shaft, waiting for the moment tocome when the water would lift them up, enabling them to swim, or treadwater.
‘i’m frozen,’ said philip. ‘i never knew such cold water.’
‘it isn’t really cold,’ said bill, ‘but we feel so hot down here that thewater strikes us as very cold. it hasn’t had time to warm up yet.’
the water rose to their waists and them more rapidly to their shoulders.
‘god save the queen!’ said kiki, in a horrified tone, looking down fromjack’s shoulder at the restless black water below her.
soon bill and the boys were lifted off their feet, and swam with difficultyon the surface of the water in the shaft. ‘there’s so little room,’ panted jack.
‘we’re all on top of one another.’
they were certainly very crowded and it was tiring work trying to keepafloat when there was really no room for swimming. the water rosesteadily. bill had taken philip’s little torch and placed it between his teeth,so that its light shone round on the shaft-wall. he wanted to see whether theladder was still smashed, far up the shaft, or whether the men had onlydamaged the lower part.
he took the torch from his mouth at last. ‘we’re all right,’ he said. ‘theladder’s not smashed here. we have risen some way up the shaft with thewater, and now we can get on to the ladder. i’ll help you each up. go first,jack, with kiki. she’s getting so scared.’
jack splashed his way to the side of the shaft where the ladder was. billshone the torch there. jack clung to the rungs and began to haul himself up.
then, when he had climbed a good way up, philip followed. last of all billhauled himself up, feeling the drag of the heavy copper nugget on his neck.
it had been extremely difficult to keep afloat with it, but somehow he hadmanaged.
up they went – and up and up. it seemed ages before they were anywherenear the top. they soon stopped shivering, and got hot with climbing. theirwet clothes stuck to them uncomfortably. kiki talked in jack’s ear, verysorry for herself. she did not like this part of the adventure at all.
philip’s mouse didn’t like it either. it had clung to philip’s ear during hisstay in the water, when the boy’s head had been the only thing above thesurface – and now it didn’t at all approve of such wet clothes. it couldn’tseem to find a nice, dry, warm place anywhere.
‘we’re almost there,’ jack shouted down at last. ‘not far now.’
that was cheerful news. they hurried on, feeling new strength in theirarms and legs now that they knew their long and tiring climb was nearingan end.
jack climbed out first, kiki flying off his shoulder with a glad squeal.
then he stopped in astonishment. a man was sitting quietly by the head ofthe shaft, a revolver in his hand.
‘hands up!’ said the man, in a stern voice. ‘don’t dare to warn anyonefollowing you. stand there. hands up, i said!’
