the five on a treasure island

15. dick to the rescue

DICK caught hold of Anne's hand and pulled her quickly away from the cove. He wasafraid that whoever had come to the island might be somewhere about and see them.The boy took Anne to the little stone room where their things were and they sat down ina corner."Whoever has come has discovered Julian and George smashing in that door, I shouldthink," said Dick, in a whisper. "I simply can't think what to do. We mustn't go down intothe dungeons or we'll most certainly be caught. Hallo- where's Tim off to?" The dog had kept with them for a while but now he ran off to the entrance of thedungeons. He disappeared down the steps. He meant to get back to George, for heknew she was in danger. Dick and Anne stared after him. They had felt comforted whilehe was there, and now they were sorry he had gone.They really didn't know what to do. Then Anne had an idea. "I know!" she said, "we'llrow back to the land in our boat and get help.""I'd thought of that," said Dick, gloomily. "But you know perfectly well we'd never knowthe way in and out of those awful rocks. We'd wreck the boat. I'm sure we're not strongenough either to row all the way back. Oh, dear- I do wish we could think what to do."They didn't need to puzzle their brains long. The men came up out of the dungeons andbegan to hunt for the two children! They had seen Tim when he came back and hadfound the note gone. So they knew the two children had taken it- and they couldn'timagine why they had not obeyed what George had said in the note, and come down tothe dungeons!Dick heard their voices. He clutched hold of Anne to make her keep quiet. He sawthrough the broken archway that the men were going in the opposite direction."Anne! I know where we can hide!" said the boy, excitedly. "Down the old well! We canclimb down the ladder a little way and hide there. I'm sure no one would ever lookthere!"Anne didn't at all want to climb down the well even a little way. But Dick pulled her to herfeet and hurried her off to the middle of the old courtyard. The men were hunting aroundthe other side of the castle. There was just time to climb in. Dick slipped aside the oldwooden cover of the well and helped Anne down the ladder. She was very scared. Thenthe boy climbed down himself and slipped the wooden cover back again over his head,as best he could.The old stone slab that Tim had sat on when he fell down the well was still there. Dickclimbed down to it and tested it. It was immovable."It's safe for you to sit on, Anne, if you don't want to keep clinging to the ladder," hewhispered. So Anne sat shivering on the stone slab across the well-shaft, waiting to seeif they were discovered or not. They kept hearing the voices of the men, now near athand and now far-off. Then the men began to shout for them."Dick! Anne! The others want you! Where are you? We've exciting news for you.""Well, why don't they let Julian and George come up and tell us then?" whispered Dick."There's something wrong, I know there is. I do wish we could get to Julian and Georgeand find out what has happened."The two men came into the courtyard. They were angry. "Where have those kids gotto?" said Jake. "Their boat is still in the cove, so they haven't got away. They must behiding somewhere. We can't wait all day for them.""Well, let's take some food and drink down to the two we've locked up," said the otherman. "There's plenty in that little stone room. I suppose it's a store the children broughtover. We'll leave half in the room so that the other two kids can have it. And we'll taketheir boat with us so that they can't escape.""Right," said Jake. "The thing to do is to get the gold away as quickly as possible, andmake sure the children are prisoners here until we've made a safe getaway. We won'tbother any more about trying to buy the island. After all, it was only the idea of gettingthe ingots that put us up to the idea of getting Kirrin Castle and the island." "Well-come on," said his companion. "We will take the food down now, and not botherabout the other kids. You stay here and see if you can spot them while I go down."Dick and Anne hardly dared to breathe when they heard all this. How they hoped thatthe men wouldn't think of looking down the well! They heard one man walk to the littlestone room. It was plain that he was getting food and drink to take down to the twoprisoners in the dungeons below. The other man stayed in the courtyard, whistlingsoftly.After what seemed a very long time to the hidden children, the first man came back.Then the two talked together, and at last went off to the cove. Dick heard the motor-boatbeing started up."It's safe to get out now, Anne," he said. "Isn't it cold down here? I'll be glad to get outinto the sunshine."They climbed out and stood warming themselves in the hot summer sunshine. Theycould see the motor-boat streaking towards the mainland."Well, they're gone for the moment," said Dick. "And they've not taken our boat, as theysaid. If only we could rescue Julian and George, we could get help, because Georgecould row us back.""Why can't we rescue them?" cried Anne, her eyes shining. "We can go down the stepsand unbolt the door, can't we?""No- we can't," said Dick. "Look!"Anne looked to where he pointed. She saw that the two men had piled big, heavy slabsof broken stone over the dungeon entrance. It had taken all their strength to put the bigstones there. Neither Dick nor Anne could hope to move them."It's quite impossible to get down the steps," said Dick. "They've made sure we shan't dothat! And you know we haven't any idea where the second entrance is. We only know itwas somewhere near the tower.""Let's see if we can find it," said Anne eagerly. They set off to the tower on the right ofthe castle- but it was quite clear that whatever entrance there might have been once, itwas gone now! The castle had fallen in very much just there, and there were piles of oldbroken stones everywhere, quite impossible to move. The children soon gave up thesearch."Blow!" said Dick. "How I do hate to think of poor old Julian and George prisoners downbelow, and we can't even help them! Oh, Anne- can't you think of something to do?"Anne sat down on a stone and thought hard. She was very worried. Then shebrightened up a little and turned to Dick."Dick! I suppose- I suppose we couldn't possibly climb down the well, could we?" sheasked. "You know it goes past the dungeons- and there's an opening on the dungeonfloor from the well-shaft, because don't you remember we were able to put in our headsand shoulders and look right up the well to the top? Could we get past that slab, do youthink- the one that I sat on just now, that has fallen across the well?"Dick thought it all over. He went to the well and peered down it. "You know, I believe youare right, Anne," he said at last. "We might be able to squeeze past that slab. There'sjust about room. I don't know how far the iron ladder goes down though.""Oh, Dick- do let's try," said Anne. "It's our only chance of rescuing the others!""Well," said Dick, 'I'll try it- but not you, Anne. I'm not going to have you falling down thatwell. The ladder might be broken half-way down- anything might happen. You must stayup here and I'll see what I can do." "You will be careful, won't you?" said Anne, anxiously. "Take a rope with you, Dick, sothat if you need one you won't have to climb all the way up again.""Good idea," said Dick. He went to the little stone room and got one of the ropes theyhad put there. He wound it round and round his waist. Then he went back to Anne."Well, here goes!" he said, in a cheerful voice. "Don't worry about me. I'll be all right."Anne was rather white. She was terribly afraid that Dick might fall right down to thebottom of the well. She watched him climb down the iron ladder to the slab of stone. Hetried his best to squeeze by it, but it was very difficult. At last he managed it and afterthat Anne could see him no more. But she could hear him, for he kept calling up to her."Ladder's still going strong, Anne! I'm all right. Can you hear me?""Yes," shouted Anne down the well, hearing her voice echo in a funny hollow manner."Take care, Dick. I do hope the ladder goes all the way down.""I think it does!" yelled back Dick. Then he gave a loud exclamation. "Blow! It's brokenjust here. Broken right off. Or else it ends. I'll have to use my rope."There was a silence as Dick unwound the rope from his waist. He tied it firmly to the lastbut one rung of the ladder, which seemed quite strong."I'm going down the rope now!" he shouted to Anne. "Don't worry. I'm all right. Here Igo!"Anne couldn't hear what Dick said after that, for the well-shaft made his words gocrooked and she couldn't make out what they were. But she was glad to hear himshouting even though she didn't know what he said. She yelled down to him too, hopinghe could hear her.Dick slid down the rope, holding on to it with hands, knees and feet, glad that he was sogood at gym at school. He wondered if he was anywhere near the dungeons. Heseemed to have gone down a long way. He managed to get out his torch. He put itbetween his teeth after he had switched it on, so that he might have both hands free forthe rope. The light from the torch showed him the walls of the well around him. Hecouldn't make out if he was above or below the dungeons. He didn't want to go rightdown to the bottom of the well!He decided that he must have just passed the opening into the dungeon-caves. Heclimbed back up the rope a little way and to his delight saw that he was right. Theopening on to the dungeons was just by his head. He climbed up till he was level with itand then swung himself to the side of the well where the small opening was. Hemanaged to get hold of the bricked edge, and then tried to scramble through theopening into the dungeon.It was difficult, but luckily Dick was not very big. He managed it at last and stood upstraight with a sigh of relief. He was in the dungeons! He could now follow the chalkmarks to the room or cave where the ingots were- and where he felt sure that Georgeand Julian were imprisoned!He shone his torch on the wall. Yes- there were the chalk-marks. Good! He put his headinto the well-opening and yelled at the top of his voice."Anne! I'm in the dungeons! Watch out that the men don't come back!"Then he began to follow the white chalk-marks, his heart beating fast. After a while hecame to the door of the store-room. As he had expected, it was fastened so that Georgeand Julian couldn't get out. Big bolts had been driven home at the top and bottom, andthe children inside could not possibly get out. They had tried their hardest to batter downthe door, but it was no good at all. They were sitting inside the store-cave, feeling angry and exhausted. The man hadbrought them food and drink, but they had not touched it. Tim was with them, lying downwith his head on his paws, half-angry with George because she hadn't let him fly at themen as he had so badly wanted to. But George felt certain that Tim would be shot if hetried biting or snapping."Anyway, the other two had sense enough not to come down and be made prisonerstoo," said George. "They must have known there was something funny about that notewhen they saw I had signed myself Georgina instead of George. I wonder what they aredoing. They must be hiding."Tim suddenly gave a growl. He leapt to his feet and went to the closed door, his head onone side. He had heard something, that was certain."I hope it's not those men back again already," said George. Then she looked at Tim insurprise, flashing her torch on to him. He was wagging his tail!A great bang at the door made them all jump out of their skins! Then came Dick'scheerful voice. "Hi, Julian! Hi, George! Are you here?""Wuffffff!" barked Tim, joyfully and scratched at the door."Dick! Open the door!" yelled Julian in delight. "Quick, open the door!"