FIVE FALL INTO ADVENTURE by Enid Blyton

19 JO IS VERY SURPRISING

"Jo!" said the boys together, and their spirits lifted at once. "Come on!"

There was no one about in the yard. Jo skipped lightly across from the doorway and slipped inside the shed.

"There's a knife in my back pocket," said Julian. "Get it out. It would be quicker to cut these ropes than to untie them. My word, Jo - I was never so pleased to see anyone in my life!"

Jo grinned as she hauled out Julian's sturdy pocketknife. She opened it and ran her thumb lightly over the blade. It was beautifully sharp. She set to work to saw the blade across the thick rope. It cut easily through the fibres.

"I waited behind," she said, rapidly. "Then I followed when it was safe. But it was very dark and I didn't like it. Then I came to that door and peeped out. I was glad when I saw you."

"Good thing the men didn't guess you were there," said Dick. "Good old Jo! I take back any nasty thing I've ever said about you!"

Jo beamed. She cut the last bit of rope that bound Julian, and he swung himself away from the iron loop and began to rub his stiff, aching wrists. Jo set to work on Dick's bonds. She soon had those cut through, too.

"Where's George?" she asked, after she had helped Dick to rub his wrists and arms.

"Up in that tower," said Julian. "If we dared to go out in that yard you could look up and see her. And there's poor old Tim, look - half-doped - lying in that summerhouse place over there."

"I shan't let him be shot," said Jo. "He's a nice dog. I shall go and drag him down into those caves underground."

"Not now!" said Julian, horrified. "If you're seen now, you'll spoil everything. We'll all be tied up then!"

But Jo had already darted over to the summer-house and was fondling poor old Timmy.

The slam of a door made the boys jump and sent Jo into the shadows at the back of the summer-house at once. It was Red, coming across the yard!

"Quick! He's coming over here!" said Dick, in a panic. "Let's get back to the iron loops and put our hands behind us so that he thinks we're still bound."

So, when Red came over to the door of the shed, it looked exactly as if the boys still had their hands tied behind them. He laughed.

"You can stay here till the police come!" he said. Then he shut the shed door and locked it. He strolled over to the helicopter and examined it thoroughly. Then back he went to the door he had come from, opened it, and slammed it shut. He was gone.

When everything was quiet Jo sped back from the summer-house to the shed. She unlocked the door of the shed. "Come out," she said. "And we'll lock it again. Then nobody will know you aren't here. Hurry!"

There was nothing for it but to come out and hope there was nobody looking. Jo locked the shed door after them and hurried them back to the door that led underground. They slipped through it and half-fell down the steep steps.

"Thanks, Jo," said Dick.

They sat down. Julian scratched his head, and for the life of him could not think of anything sensible to do. The police were not coming because they didn't know a thing about Red, or where George was or anything. And before long George would be flown off in that helicopter, and Timmy would be shot.

Julian thought of the high square tower and groaned. "There's no way of getting George out of that tower," he said aloud. "It'll be locked and barred, or George would have got out at once. We can't even get to her. It's no good trying to make our way into the house - we'd be seen and caught at once."