FIVE FALL INTO ADVENTURE by Enid Blyton

18 THINGS BEGIN TO HAPPEN

Jo led them into a narrow rocky tunnel, and then out into a wider cave, whose walls dripped with damp. Julian was thankful for his torch. It was eerie and chilly and musty. He shivered. Something brushed his face and he leapt back.

"What was that?" he said.

"Bats," said Jo, "there's hundreds of them here. That's why the place smells so sour. Come on. We go round this rocky bit here into a better cave."

They squeezed round a rocky corner and came inta a drier cave that did not smell so strongly of bats. "I haven't been any farther than this," said Jo. "This is where me and Dad came and waited for Red. He suddenly appeared, but I don't know where from."

"Well, he must have come from somewhere," said Dick, switching on his torch, too. "There's a passage probably. We'll soon find it."

He and Julian began to hunt round the cave, looking for a passage or little tunnel, or even a hole that led into the cliff, upwards towards the house. Obviously Red must have come down some such passage to reach the cave. Jo stayed in a corner, waiting. She had no torch.

Suddenly the boys had a tremendous shock. A voice boomed into their cave, a loud and angry voice that made their hearts beat painfully.

"SO! YOU DARE TO COME HERE!"

Jo slipped behind a rock immediately, like an animal going to cover. The boys stood where they were, rooted to the spot. Where did the voice come from?

"Who are you?" boomed the voice.

"Who are you?" shouted Julian. "Come out and show yourself! We've come to see a man called Red. Take us to him."

There was a moment's silence, as if the owner of the voice was rather taken aback. Then it boomed out again.

"Why do you want to see Red? Who sent you?"

"Nobody. We came because we want our cousin back, and her dog, too," boomed Julian, making a funnel of his hands and trying to outdo the other voice.

There was another astonished silence. Then two legs appeared out of a hole in the low ceiling, and someone leapt lightly down beside them. The boys started back in surprise. They hadn't expected that the voice came from the roof of the cave!

Julian flashed his torch on the man. He was a giantlike fellow with flaming red hair. His eyebrows were red, too, and he had a red beard that partly hid a cruel mouth. Julian took one look into the man's eyes and then no more.

"He's mad," he thought. "So this is Red Tower. What is he? A scientist like Uncle Quentin, jealous of uncle's work? Or a thief working on a big scale, trying to get important papers and sell them? He's mad, whatever he is."

Red was looking closely at the two boys. "So you think I have your cousin," he said. "Who told you such a stupid tale?"

Julian didn't answer. Red took a threatening step towards him. "Who told you?"

"I'll tell you that when the police come," said Julian boldly.

Red stepped back.

"The police! What do they know'' Why should they come here? Answer me, boy!"

"There's a lot to know about you, Mr. Red Tower," said Julian, "Who sent men to steal my uncle's papers? Who sent a note to ask for another lot? Who kidnapped our cousin, so that she could be held till the papers were sent? Who brought her here from Simmy's old caravan. Who...?"

"Aaaaaah!" said Red, and there was panic in his voice. "How do you know all this? It isn't true! But the police - have they heard this fantastic tale, too?"