Chapter Eighteen

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 into 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 giant–like 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?’

‘What do you suppose?’ said Julian, wishing with all his heart that the police did know, and that he was not merely bluffing. Red pulled at his beard. His green eyes gleamed as he thought quickly and urgently.

He suddenly called loudly, turning his head up to the hole in the ceiling. ‘Markhoff! Come down!’

Two legs were swung down through the hole, and a short burly man leapt down beside the two startled boys.

‘Go down the cliff. You will find a boat in the cove, somewhere—the boat we saw these boys coming in,’ said Red sharply. ‘Smash it to pieces. Then come back here and take the boys to the yard. Tie them up. We must leave quickly, and take the girl with us.’

The man stood listening, his face sullen. ‘How can we go?’ he said. ‘You know the helicopter is not ready. You know that.’

‘Make it ready then,’ snapped Red. ‘We leave tonight. The police will be here—do you hear that? This boy knows everything—he has told me—and the police must know everything too. I tell you, we must go.’

‘What about the dog?’ said the man.

‘Shoot it,’ ordered Red. ‘Shoot it before we go. It’s a brute of a dog. We should have shot it before. Now go and smash the boat.’

The man disappeared round the rocky corner that led into the cave of bats. Julian clenched his fist. He hated to think of George’s boat being smashed to bits. Red stood there waiting, his eyes glinting in the light of the torches.

‘I’d take you with us too, if there was room!’ he suddenly snarled at Julian. ‘Yes, and drop you into the sea!

‘You can tell your uncle he’ll hear from me about his precious daughter—we’ll make an exchange. If he wants her back he can send me the notes I want. And many thanks for coming to warn me. I’ll be off before the police break in.’

He began to pace up and down the cave, muttering. Dick and Julian watched in silence. They felt afraid for George. Would Red really take her off in his helicopter? He looked mad enough for anything.

The sullen man came back at last. ‘It’s smashed,’ he said.

‘Right,’ said Red. ‘I’ll go first. Then the boys. Then you. And boot them if they make any trouble.’

Red swung himself up into the hole in the roof. Julian and Dick followed, not seeing any point in resisting. The man behind was too sulky to stand any nonsense. He followed immediately.

There had been no sign of Jo. She had kept herself well hidden, scared stiff. Julian didn’t know what to do about her. He couldn’t possibly tell Red about her—and yet it seemed terrible to leave her behind all alone. Well—she was a sharp–brained little monkey. Maybe she would think up something for herself.

Red led the way through another cave into a passage with such a low roof that he had to walk bent almost double.

The man behind had now switched on a very powerful torch, and it was easier to see. The passage sloped upwards and was obviously leading to the building on the cliff. At one part it was so steep that a hand–rail had been put for the climber to help himself up.

Then came a flight of steps hewn out of the rock itself—rough, badly–shaped steps, so steep that it was quite an effort to climb from one to the next.

At the top of the steps was a stout door set on a broad ledge. Red pushed it open and daylight flooded in. Julian blinked. He was looking out on an enormous yard paved with great flat stones with weeds growing in all the crevices and cracks.

In the middle stood a helicopter. It looked very strange and out–of–place in that old yard. The house, with its one tall square tower, was built round three sides of the yard. It was covered with creeper and thick–stemmed ivy.

A high wall ran along the fourth side, with an enormous gate in the middle. It was shut, and from where he stood Julian could see the huge bolts that were drawn across.

‘It’s almost like a small fort,’ thought Julian, in astonishment. Then he felt himself seized and taken to a shed nearby. His arms were forced behind him and his wrists were tightly tied. Then the rope was run through an iron loop and tied again.

Julian glared at the burly fellow now doing the same to Dick. He twisted about to try to see how the rope was tied, but he couldn’t even turn, he was so tightly tethered.

He looked up at the tower. A small, forlorn face was looking out of the window there. Julian’s heart jumped and beat fast. That must be poor old George up there. He wondered if she had seen them. He hoped not, because she would know that he and Dick had been captured, and she would be very upset.

Where was Timmy? There seemed no sign of him. But wait a minute—what was that lying inside what looked like a summer–house on the opposite side of the yard? Was it Timmy? Surely he would have barked a welcome when he heard them coming into the yard, if it was Timmy!

‘Is that my cousin’s dog?’ he asked the sullen man.

The man nodded. ‘Yes. He’s been doped half the time, he barked so. Savage brute, isn’t he? Ought to be shot, I reckon.’

Red had gone across the yard and had disappeared through a stone archway. The sullen man now followed him. Julian and Dick were left by themselves.

‘We’ve muddled things again,’ said Julian, with a groan. ‘Now these fellows will be off and away, and take George with them—they’ve been nicely warned!’

Dick said nothing. He felt very miserable, and his bound wrists hurt him, too. Both boys stood there, wondering what would happen to them.

‘Psssssst!’

What was that? Julian turned round sharply and looked in the direction of the door that led from underground into the yard. Jo stood there, half–hidden by the archway over the door. ‘Pssssst! I’ll come and untie you. Is the coast clear?’