Chapter Twenty-one

As soon as Julian had said that he kept hearing noises, the others felt as if they could hear some, too. They sat and listened intently, George’s heart beating so loudly that she was certain the boys would be able to hear it.

‘I think perhaps it’s the sound of the sea, echoing in through the caves and the tunnels,’ said Julian at last. ‘In the ordinary way, of course, we wouldn’t need to bother to listen—Timmy would growl at once! But, poor old chap, he’s so doped and sleepy that I don’t believe he hears anything.’

‘Will he get all right again?’ asked George, anxiously, fondling Timmy’s silky ears.

‘Oh, yes,’ said Julian, sounding much more certain than he really felt. Poor Timmy—he really did seem ill! There wasn’t even a growl in him.

‘You’ve had an awful time these last few days, haven’t you George?’ asked Dick.

‘Yes,’ said George. ‘I don’t much want to talk about it. If I’d had Timmy with me it wouldn’t have been so bad, but at first, when they brought me here, all I knew of Timmy was hearing him bark and snarl and bark and snarl down below in that yard. Then Red told me he had doped him.’

‘How did you get to Red’s place?’ asked Julian.

‘Well, you know I was locked in that horrible–smelling caravan,’ said George. ‘Then suddenly a man called Simmy—he’s Jo’s father, I think—came and dragged us out. Timmy was all stupid with the blow they’d given him—and they put him in a sack and put us both on the caravan horse and took us through the wood and along a desolate path by the coast till we came here. That was in the middle of the night.’

‘Poor old George!’ said Julian. ‘I wish Tim was himself again—I’d love to set him loose on Red and the other fellow!’

‘I wonder what’s happening to Jo,’ said Dick, suddenly remembering that Jo was now imprisoned in the tower room where George had been kept so long.

‘And do you suppose Red and Markhoff have discovered that we’ve got out of that shed, and that Timmy has disappeared, too?’ said Julian. ‘They’ll be in a fury when they do discover it!’

‘Can’t we get away?’ said George, feeling suddenly scared. ‘You came in a boat, didn’t you? Well, can’t we get away in that and go and fetch help for Jo?’

There was a silence. Neither of the boys liked to tell George that her beloved boat had been smashed to pieces by Markhoff. But she had to know, of course, and Julian told her in a few short words.

George said nothing at all. They all sat silently for a few minutes, hearing nothing but Timmy’s heavy, almost snoring, breathing.

‘Would it be possible, when it’s dark, to creep up into the courtyard, and go round the walls to the big gate?’ said Dick, breaking the silence. ‘We can’t escape anywhere down here, it’s certain—not without a boat, anyhow.’

‘Should we wait till Red and Markhoff have gone off in the helicopter?’ said Julian. ‘Then we’d be much safer.’

‘Yes—but what about Jo?’ asked Dick. ‘They think she’s George, don’t they?—and they’ll take her away with them, just as they planned to do with George. I don’t see how we can try to escape ourselves without first trying to save Jo. She’s been a brick about George.’

They talked round and round the idea of trying to save Jo, but nobody could think of any really sensible plan at all. Time went on, and they all felt hungry and rather cold. ‘If only we could do something, it wouldn’t be so bad!’ groaned Dick. ‘I wonder what’s happening up at the house.’

Up at the grey stone house with its big square–tower, plenty was happening!

To begin with, Markhoff had gone to shoot Timmy, as Red had ordered. But when he got to the summer–house there was no dog there!

Markhoff stared in the greatest amazement! The dog had been tied up, even though he was doped—and now, there was the loose rope, and no dog attached to it!

Markhoff gazed round the summer–house in astonishment. Who could have loosed Timmy? He darted across to the locked shed where he had tied Julian and Dick with rope to the iron staples. The door was still locked, of course—and Markhoff turned the key and pushed it open.

‘Here, you … ’ he began, shouting roughly. Then he stopped dead. Nobody was there! Again there was loose rope—this time cut here and there, so that it lay in short pieces—and again the prisoners had gone. No dog. No boys.

Markhoff couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked all round the shed. ‘But it was locked from the outside!’ he muttered. ‘What’s all this? Who’s freed the dog and the boys? What will Red say?’

Markhoff looked at the helicopter standing ready for flight in the middle of the yard, and half decided to desert Red and get away himself. Then, remembering Red’s mad tempers, and his cruel revenges on anyone who dared to let him down, he changed his mind.

‘We’d better get off now, before it’s dark,’ he thought. ‘There’s something queer going on here. There must be somebody else here that we know nothing about. I’d better find Red and tell him.’

He went in through the massive front door, and in the hall he came face to face with two men waiting there. At first he couldn’t see who they were, and he stepped back hurriedly. Then he saw it was Simmy and Jake.

‘What are you doing here?’ shouted Markhoff. ‘Weren’t you told to keep watch on Kirrin Cottage and make sure the police weren’t told anything?’

‘Yes,’ said Jake, sulkily. ‘And we’ve come to say that that cook—woman called Joan—went down to the police this morning. She had one of the kids with her—a girl. The boys don’t seem to be about.’

‘No. They’re here—at least, they were,’ said Markhoff. ‘They’ve disappeared again. As for the police, we’ve heard they’re on the way, and we’ve made our plans. You’re a bit late with your news! Lot of good you are, with your spying! Clear off now—we’re taking the girl off in the helicopter before the police come. How did anyone know where the girl was? Have you been spilling the beans?’

‘Pah!’ said Simmy, contemptuously. ‘Think we want to be messed up with the police? You must be mad. We want some money. We’ve done all your dirty work, and you’ve only paid us half you promised. Give us the rest.’

‘You can ask Red for it!’ growled Markhoff. ‘What’s the good of asking me? Go and ask him!’

‘Right. We will,’ said Jake, his face as black as thunder. ‘We’ve done all he told us—took the papers for him, took the girl—and that savage brute of a dog too—see where he bit me on my hand? And all we get is half our money! I reckon we’ve only just come in time, too. Planning to go off in that there heli–thing and do us out of our pay. Pah!’

‘Where’s Red?’ demanded Simmy.

‘Upstairs,’ said Markhoff. ‘I’ve got some bad news for him, so he won’t be pleased to see you and your ugly mugs. Better let me find him for you and say what I’ve got to say—then you can chip in with your polite little speeches.’

‘Funny, aren’t you?’ said Jake, in a dangerous voice. Neither he nor Simmy liked Markhoff. They followed him up the broad stairway, and then up again till they came to the room that lay below the spiral staircase.

Red was there, scanning through the papers that had been stolen from the study of George’s father. He was in a black temper. He flung down the papers as Markhoff came in.

‘These aren’t the notes I wanted!’ he began, loudly. ‘Well, I’ll hold the girl till I get … why, Markhoff, what’s up? Anything wrong?’

‘Plenty,’ said Markhoff. ‘The dog’s gone—he wasn’t there when I went to shoot him—and the two boys have gone too—yes, escaped out of a locked shed. Beats me!

‘And here are two visitors for you—they want money! They’ve come to tell you what you already know—the police have been told about you.’

Red went purple in the face, and his strange eyes shone with rage. He stared first at Markhoff, then at Simmy and Jake. Markhoff looked uneasy, but Simmy and Jake looked back insolently.

‘You—you—you dare to come here when I told you to keep away!’ he shouted. ‘You’ve BEEN paid. You can’t blackmail me for any more money.’

What he would have said next nobody knew because from up the spiral stairs there came yells and screams and the noise of someone apparently trying to batter down a door.

‘That’s that girl, I suppose,’ muttered Markhoff. ‘What’s up with her? She’s been quiet enough before.’

‘We’d better get her out now and go,’ said Red, his face still purple. ‘Jake, go and get her. Bring her down here, and knock some sense into her if she goes on screaming.’

‘Fetch her yourself,’ said Jake, insolently.

Red looked at Markhoff, who immediately produced a revolver.

‘My orders are always obeyed,’ said Red in a suddenly cold voice. ‘Always, you understand?’

Not only Jake scuttled up the stairs then but also Simmy! They went to the locked and bolted room at the top and unlocked the door. They pulled back the bolt and door. Simmy stepped into the room to deal with the imprisoned girl.

But he stopped dead and gaped. He blinked, rubbed his eyes and gaped again. Jake gaped too.

‘Hallo, Dad!’ said Jo. ‘You do seem surprised to see me!’