29

all’s well that ends well

jack stood with his hands above his head, his mouth open in horror. hadthey escaped only to get caught again? he did not dare to shout.

philip climbed out and was treated in the same way; he too was shockedand dismayed. the man with the revolver waited in silence, covering theboys with his weapon, watching to see who would come out next. billclimbed out, his back to the man. he received the same order.

‘hands up! don’t dare to warn anyone following. stand there!’

bill swung round. he had put his hands up at once, but now he put themdown and grinned.

‘it’s all right, sam,’ he said. ‘put up your gun.’

sam gave an exclamation, and put his revolver into his belt. he held outhis hand to bill.

‘it’s you!’ he said. ‘i was left here in case any more fellows of the gangcame up. i didn’t expect you to bob up.’

the boys stared, open-mouthed. what was all this?

‘did you get a shock?’ said bill, noticing their surprise. ‘this is sam –one of our detectives – great friend of mine. well, sam – seeing you heregives me great hopes. what’s happened?’

‘come and see,’ said sam, with a grin, and he led the way. they all wentthrough the pass in the hills, following the burly sam. they came out on toopen ground, and made their way towards the coast.

they came suddenly on a truly interesting sight. lined up in a row, theirfaces sullen, were all the men from the mines. joe was there too, fierceanger in his face. two men stood near by, each with a revolver. all weaponshad been taken from the prisoners.

‘there’s joe!’ cried philip. joe looked at him with a scowl that turned tosurprise. so the boys and their friend had escaped! joe was immenselysurprised and racked his brains to think how anyone could have got out of alocked cave in a flooded mine and up a shaft whose ladder was completelysmashed at the bottom.

‘how were they caught?’ asked jack, in wonder. kiki saw joe and flewround his head, screeching and hooting and yelling. she recognised her oldenemy, and knew he could no longer harm her.

sam grinned at jack’s wonder. ‘well, bill cunningham here,’ he saidwith a nod towards bill, ‘he managed to tell us a good bit over the radio lastnight, and we put two and two together, and reckoned we’d better get going.

so we got going and came over to this island as fast as we could. we foundjoe’s boat here, and signs of an early departure – stacks of dud notes incrates on the beach – and all kinds of other interesting documents.’

‘how did you get here so quickly? there are no boats near on this coast,’

said philip.

‘we’ve got a few fast motor boats of our own,’ said sam. ‘we took twoof them and came along here top speed, down along the coast. there theyare.’

the boys turned, and saw two big and smart motor boats bobbing on thewater near the cove, each one in charge of a mechanic. nearby was joe’sown boat.

‘as soon as we spotted that the gang had wound up their business andwere going to go off with their dud money, we saw our chance,’ grinnedsam. ‘so we posted a man at each of the shaft-holes – we didn’t knowwhich one the gang used, you see – and then, up one of them came thewhole of the gang, one by one. and we got them nicely.’

‘just like you got us,’ said jack. ‘that was smart work. what are wegoing to do now?’

‘bill cunningham is head of this show,’ said sam, and turned anenquiring face to bill. bill looked at the boys apologetically.

‘sorry i had to give you a wrong name,’ he said. ‘but my own name is abit too well known in some quarters to give away when i’m on a job of thissort. so i was just bill smugs to you.’

‘you always will be,’ said philip. ‘i shall never think of you as anythingelse, bill.’

‘right,’ said bill, grinning. ‘bill smugs i am. now – what about gettingthese pretty gentlemen safely into the motor boats?’

the gang of fierce-looking men were pushed into the two boats. jake stillwore his black patch, but he glared so fiercely at kiki with his one free eyethat jack called the parrot to his shoulder. if looks could kill, kiki wouldcertainly have died under that glare of jake’s. the man was rememberinghow the bird had been locked up instead of the boy. that mistake hadprobably led to all this bad luck.

‘i think we’ll sail joe’s boat home,’ said bill to the boys. ‘come on. letthe motor boats go first and then we’ll follow. hi, sam! make for that house– you know – craggy-tops. there’s a good mooring-place there.’

‘right,’ said sam, and off the motor boats went, making a terrific roaringnoise over the sea. then bill and the boys set off in joe’s boat, and all threeboats went safely out of the gap in the rocks and on to the open sea beyond.

‘well, all’s well that ends well,’ said bill, as they put up the sail and setcourse for home. ‘but there were a few moments when i didn’t think wewere going to end up as well as we have done.’

the boys thought so too. philip wondered how the girls were getting on.

they would be worried by now.

‘i’m jolly hungry,’ said jack. ‘it’s ages since i had a good meal – reallyages.’

‘it must be,’ said bill. ‘never mind – soon be back now – then you cantuck in to your heart’s content.’

the girls and aunt polly heard the sound of the motor boats long beforethey came to shore. they went out to see what was making the noise. theywere filled with astonishment to see two big motor boats packed with men,and a sailing boat which looked like joe’s, all making for craggy-tops.

‘whatever does it all mean?’ said aunt polly, who was still looking whiteand ill. ‘oh dear! – my heart will never stand all this excitement.’

the motor boats nosed to the mooring-posts in the little harbour. thegirls ran down, and were amazed to see joe among the men. they stared atthem, trying to find the boys.

‘hallo, there!’ called sam. ‘are you looking for bill what’s-his-nameand the boys? they’re following after us in the other boat. have you got atelephone here, by any chance?’

‘yes, we have,’ said dinah. ‘what are all these men? why is joe withthem?’

‘tell you everything soon,’ said sam, getting out of the boat. ‘i musttelephone before i do anything. you show me the phone, there’s a goodgirl.’

sam put through a call, asking for four or five motorcars to be sent tocraggy-tops at once, to take away the prisoners. aunt polly, her heartbeating fast, listened in the greatest surprise. what could all this mean?

she soon understood when the sailing boat arrived, and bill and the boyscame into the house. they told her the whole story, and she sank back onthe couch in horror when she heard what a wicked and dangerous fellowjoe was.

‘as clever as a bagful of monkeys,’ said bill. ‘but he’s not got away withit this time – thanks to these four smart children.’

‘it’s funny,’ said jack. ‘we went to the island to find a great auk – andwe found instead a whole gang of men working at hidden printing-machinesdown in the mines.’

‘if i’d known you were doing things like that, i’d have sent you all tobed,’ said aunt polly severely. that made everyone laugh.

‘oh, naughty girl, naughty girl, polly!’ cried kiki, flying to aunt polly’sshoulder.

the cars arrived as the boys and bill were in the middle of a mostenormous meal. the men were packed into them and driven off swiftly.

sam said goodbye and departed with them.

‘good work, bill!’ he said as he went. and those kids want a pat on theback too.’

they got plenty of pats. the next day or two were so exciting that notone of the children slept properly at night.

for one thing they were taken to the nearest big town, and had to tell allthey knew to two or three very solemn gentlemen.

‘big wigs,’ said bill mysteriously. ‘very big wigs. jack, have you got thephotograph of that pile of tins you saw on the island? joe denies that heever took supplies there, and we’ve found some empty tins in the cellar atcraggy-tops which we may be able to identify by means of your snap.’

so even the little photograph of the tins came in useful, and was a bit ofwhat bill called the ‘evidence against the prisoners’.

another little bit of excitement was jack’s nugget. the boy wasdisappointed to hear that it was not valuable – but as a curiosity, a memoryof a great adventure, it was thrilling.

‘i shall take it back to school with me and present it to the museum wehave there,’ said jack. ‘all the boys will love to see it and handle it andhear how i got it. won’t they be envious! it isn’t everybody who gets lost inold copper mines and finds a nugget hidden away. the only thing is – i’mawfully disappointed it’s not valuable, because i did want to sell it andshare the money between us.’

‘yes,’ said lucy, ‘that would have been lovely. tufty’s share of it wouldhave paid for his and dinah’s schooling, so that their mother and aunt couldhave had a rest, and not had to work so hard. it’s a pity we couldn’t havegot a lot of money for it.’

but that didn’t matter a bit, because, most unexpectedly, a very large sumcame to the four children from another source. a reward had been offeredto anyone giving information that would lead to the discovery of thecounterfeiters – and it was naturally presented to the four children, thoughbill had his share of it too.

philip’s mother came to craggy-tops when she heard all about thestrange and thrilling adventure and its unexpectedly marvellous results.

jack and lucy-ann loved her. she was pretty and kind and merry,everything a mother should be.

‘it’s a shame your mother can’t have a nice home of her own and you anddinah with her,’ said jack to philip.

‘we’re going to,’ said dinah, her eyes glowing. ‘at last we’re going to.

there’s enough money now for mother to make a home for us herself, andstop working so hard. we’ve reckoned it all out. and what about you andlucy-ann coming to live with us, freckles? you don’t want to go back toyour crusty old uncle and horrid old housekeeper, do you?’

‘oh!’ said lucy-ann, her green eyes shining like stars. she fell on philipand hugged him tightly. dinah never did that, but philip found that he likedit. ‘oh! nothing could be nicer! we’d share your mother, and we’d havesuch fun together. but do you think your mother will have us?’

‘of course,’ said dinah. ‘we particularly asked her that. she says if she’sgot to put up with two children, she might as well put up with four.’

‘and kiki too?’ asked jack, a sudden doubt creeping into his mind.

‘well, of course!’ said dinah and philip together. it was unthinkable thatkiki should not live with them all.

‘what’s going to happen to your aunt polly and uncle jocelyn?’ askedjack. ‘i’m sorry for your aunt – she oughtn’t to live in this ruined old house,slaving away, looking after your uncle, being lonely and miserable and ill.

but i suppose your uncle will never leave craggy-tops?’

‘well, he’s got to now – and do you know why?’ said dinah. ‘it’sbecause the well water is salt. the sea did go into it, entering it from the oldpassage down there – so it’s undrinkable. it would cost too much to put thewell right, so poor old uncle had to choose between staying at craggy-topsand dying of thirst, or leaving it and going somewhere else.’

everyone laughed. ‘well, joe did some good after all when he floodedthe mines,’ said philip. ‘it has forced uncle jocelyn to make up his mind tomove – and aunt polly will be able to get the little cottage she has alwayswanted, and live there in peace, instead of in this great ruin – with no joe todo the rough jobs.’

‘oh – that horrid joe!’ said lucy-ann, with one of her shivers. ‘how idid hate him! i’m glad he’s locked away for years and years. i shall begrown up when he comes out of prison, and i shan’t be afraid of him anymore.’

bill arrived in his car, bringing with him a crate of ginger beer, for nowno one could drink the well water. the children cheered. it was nice to haveginger beer for breakfast, dinner and tea. bill presented aunt polly andphilip’s mother with a most enormous thermos flask full of hot tea.

‘oh, bill!’ said philip’s mother, with a little squeal that kiki promptlyimitated. ‘what an enormous flask! i’ve never seen such a giant. thank youso much.’

bill stayed to supper. it was hilarious especially when philip’s mouse ranout of his sleeve on to the table to dinah’s plate. that made everyone laugh.

lucy-ann looked round at the laughing company and felt glad. she wasgoing to live with a grown-up she would love, and children she was fond of.

everything was fun. everything had turned out right. what a good thing sheand jack had escaped from mr roy all those weeks ago, and run away withphilip to craggy-tops!

‘it’s been a grand adventure,’ said lucy-ann out loud. ‘but i’m glad it’sover. adventures are too exciting when they’re happening.’

‘oh no,’ said philip at once. ‘that’s the best part of an adventure – whenit’s happening. i think it’s a great pity it’s all over.’

‘what a pity, what a pity!’ said kiki, having the last word as usual. ‘wipeyour feet and shut the door. put the kettle on. god save the queen!’