19

an adventure in the night

whirrrrrr! whirrrrrrrr!

‘ding-dong-ding-dong! ding-dong-ding-dong! ding-dong-ding-dong! ding-dong-ding-dong!

dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong !

jack sat down suddenly on a nearby chair, his heart thumping. it was only a clock chiming andstriking! but what a start it gave him! midnight – exactly midnight. well – the people in the castleought to be asleep, that was one thing to be glad of.

he got up and went back to the door. he went down the corridor again, and then, facing himround the next turning, he saw a great flight of stairs – a marble stairway, almost covered by a finesweep of thick, beautifully patterned carpet.

‘i suppose that leads down to the hall,’ thought jack. ‘down to the entrance. well, that gives mea guide – let me see – if the front entrance is down there – then the tower i want should be a bitfurther on. come on, kiki – down the corridor again!’

and down the endless corridor went the two of them. it was lighted by lamps, and was toobright for jack’s liking. the doors he passed now were shut. perhaps they were bedrooms. hecertainly wasn’t going to look in and see!

he came to a sturdy oak door set in the inside wall. he paused. the tower ought to be abouthere. would that door lead up to it? it looked different from the other doors he had passed. hetried the handle gently. it was a thick ring of iron and as he turned it sideways the door opened.

jack pushed it wide. stone steps led upwards, lighted by a dim lamp. he stood and debated withhimself. should he risk it and go up? yes – he felt sure this was the way to the tower.

he tiptoed up and came to the top. he looked round in surprise. he was on another floor now,and the layout here was different from the one below. he was in what looked like a great hall,draped with magnificent curtains. a gallery overhung one end. there was a small platform at theother end, and on it stood music stands. the floor was highly polished, and jack suddenly realizedwhat the hall was.

‘it’s a ballroom!’ he thought. ‘my word – what grand dances they must hold here! but now iseem to have lost my way to the tower again. perhaps there’s another stair somewhere!’

he went round the ballroom. on the other side, behind some curtains, he came to a door. heopened it and found that it led to a kind of ante-chamber. opening off this was a stone staircase – aspiral stair that wound upwards.

‘this is the tower staircase!’ thought jack, excited. ‘it must be. hallo – what’s that?’

he could hear the sound of nailed boots on stone! quick as lightning he slid behind a nearbycurtain. the footsteps came nearer, stamped, turned and went back again. how extraordinary!

jack put his head carefully round the curtain. going down a stone passage opposite was asoldier, gun on shoulder. he must be on guard – guarding the tower! he disappeared down thepassage, his footsteps sounding farther and farther away till jack could hear them no longer. thenback he came again to the foot of the tower stairway.

stamp-stamp! the sentry turned round once more and marched into the passage. jack watchedhim again. he was dressed in hessian uniform, very smart and decorative. jack had seen many ofthese soldiers while he had been with the circus. perhaps this soldier was hela’s father?

he waited till the sound of footsteps had completely died away again, then made a dart for theentrance to the spiral staircase. he ran up it swiftly, knowing that he had about half a minutebefore the return of the sentry.

round and round wound the stairway, and at the top it grew so steep that jack could no longerrun up the steps, but had almost to climb!

he came to a little stone landing with a round window. a chest stood beneath the window, andan old chair stood beside it. opposite jack was a big, sturdy door, made of dark oak, and studdedwith great nails. he looked at it. was lucy-ann behind that door? dare he call her name?

he tiptoed to the door. he pushed. it was fast shut. he turned the great handle, but still it wouldnot open. there was a keyhole there, but no key. he bent down to look through the keyhole, butcould see nothing.

he could hear nothing either. jack wished he knew what to do for the best. if he knocked on thedoor and called, he might find that the children were not there after all but that somebody else was.

and the somebody might not be at all pleased to see him! also, the sentry downstairs might hearhim and come rushing up – and there was no way of escape up on this little landing!

and then he saw something in the light of his torch – something very surprising – somethingthat told him for certain that the children were inside that room on the other side of the oak door!

a tiny creature had slipped under the wide space at the bottom of the door, and sat there,looking up at jack with large black eyes.

‘philip’s dormouse!’ whispered jack, and knelt down slowly. ‘snoozy! you are snoozy, aren’tyou! you’re philip’s dormouse! then philip is in there!’

the dormouse was very tame. it had lived for some time with four children who adored it,petted it and had never once frightened it. even dinah had fallen under its spell, and loved it,though she would not let it run all about her as the others did.

and now here it was, on jack’s hand, its whiskers twitching, its big eyes watching him andkiki. kiki looked at it in surprise, but made no attempt to hurt it.

‘did you hear me, outside the door?’ whispered jack. ‘did you leave philip and come to seewho the midnight visitor was? how can i wake philip? tell me!’

an owl hooted somewhere outside the castle. the dormouse leapt from jack’s hand in frightand scuttled under the door. the hoot of the owl gave jack an idea. the sentry would take nonotice of an owl’s hoot – but if he, jack, gave a hoot just under the crack of the door, it wouldcertainly wake up philip. it would sound far away to the sentry, but very near to philip! far farbetter than banging on the door, which was a noise that might echo down the stairs and make thesentry come bounding up!

jack lay down on his tummy. he put his face to the door, and placed his hands together to blowthrough his thumbs and hoot like an owl. this was the way to make a quavering hoot, so like anowl’s that no one, not even an owl, could tell the difference!

‘hoooo! hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!’ hooted jack, and the noise went under the door and into the roombeyond.

jack listened. something creaked – was it a bed? then a voice spoke – and it was philip’s!

‘gussy! did you hear that owl? it might have been in the room!’

but gussy, apparently, was asleep, for he made no answer. jack got up and put his mouth to thedoor, trembling in his excitement.

‘philip! philip!’

there was an astonished exclamation. then philip’s voice came, amazed. ‘who’s that? who’scalling me?’

‘it’s me – jack! come to the door!’

there was a pattering of feet the other side and then an excited breathing at the keyhole.

‘jack! good gracious! how did you get here? jack, how wonderful!’

‘no time to tell you my story,’ whispered jack. ‘are you all all right? how’s lucy-ann?’

‘we’re all well and cheerful,’ said philip. ‘we flew here . . .’

‘i know,’ said jack. ‘go on – what happened?’

‘and we were taken here by car,’ said philip, his mouth close to the keyhole. ‘and gussy wassick, of course. madame tatiosa, who met us in the car, was furious with him. she’s here, in thecastle – and her brother too, count paritolen. we don’t know what’s happening, at all – have youheard? gussy keeps worrying about his uncle.’

‘his uncle is still safely on his throne as far as i know,’ said jack. ‘but i expect they’ll have abust-up soon – everyone’s expecting it. then gussy will find himself in the limelight!’

‘jack – can you rescue us, do you think?’ asked philip, hopefully. ‘how did you get here? gosh,i’ve been thinking you were miles away, at quarry cottage! and here you are, outside the door ofour room. pity it’s locked!’

‘yes. if i only knew where the key was, it would be easy,’ whispered jack. ‘where does yourwindow face? east or north?’

‘north,’ said philip. ‘it’s just opposite a peculiar tower built all by itself – a bell-tower, with abell in it. gussy says it’s an alarm-tower – the bell used to be rung when enemies were sighted inthe old days. our window is just opposite that. now that we know you’re here we’ll keep lookingout.’

‘give my love to lucy-ann,’ said jack. ‘is she in the same room as you?’

‘no – the girls have another room,’ said philip. ‘look – let me go and wake them. they’d be sothrilled to speak to you.’

‘all right,’ said jack, and then he stiffened. footsteps! footsteps at the bottom of the spiralstairway. ‘someone coming!’ he whispered, hurriedly. ‘goodbye! i’ll try and come again andwe’ll make plans.’

he stood up, and listened. yes – that sentry was coming up the stairway. had he heardanything? jack looked round desperately. how could he possibly hide on this small landing? itwas impossible.

the chest! he ran to it and flashed his torch on it. he lifted the lid. there was nothing insideexcept an old rug. he stepped inside the chest, kiki fluttered in too, and jack shut down the lid.

only just in time! a lantern flashed at the last turn of the stairs and the sentry came on to thelanding. he held up the lantern and looked round. all was in order. he clumped downstairs again,his nailed boots making a great noise. jack’s heart slowed down and he heaved an enormous sigh.

he got out of the chest and listened.

philip’s voice at the keyhole again made him jump. ‘he’s gone! he always comes up everyhour. jack – i never asked you. have you got old kiki?’

‘rather! she’s been with me all the time,’ said jack, longing to tell philip what a success kikiwas at the circus. but philip didn’t know about that either, of course. he didn’t even know howjack had got to tauri-hessia. what a lot there would be to tell him and the others!

kiki began to whisper too. ‘blow your nose, shut the door, ding-dong-bell, polly’s got a cold.

god save the king!’

philip chuckled. ‘it’s good to hear her again. shall i get the girls now?’

‘no,’ said jack. ‘i’d better go while it’s safe. goodbye, philip.’

he went very quietly down the spiral stairway. he stood and listened. where was the sentry? hemust have gone down the passage again, on his regular beat. jack slipped across the ante-room,and into the great ballroom.

he stood there for a moment, looking round the dimly lighted room. and then something caughthis eye and he jumped.

on the far side was a great picture – and as jack looked at it, it moved! it moved sidewaysacross the wall, and behind it appeared a black hole.

good gracious! whatever was happening now?