Five Get Into a Fix (15 page)

“Whew!” said Dick. “Very ingenious! And they count on the queer noises and shudderings and things tn frighten people and keep them away from this hil - nobody dares to come prying round to see what"s up!”

“The nearest farm is Magga Glen Farm, where the Jones"s live,” said Julian. “They would real y be the only people who could find out anything definite.”

“Which they obviously did!” said Dick. “I bet Morgan knows all about this, and is in with the son who sold the precious metal to the men who came after it - though it was his mother"s.”

“There"s no queer noise or anything down here - no noise at all except the sound of the river,” said Julian. “Do you suppose the works aren"t going just now?”

“Well,” began Dick, and then suddenly stopped as Dave and Timmy began to growl, Timmy in a deep voice and Dave in a smal er one. Julian at once pulled Aily and George behind a big crate, and Dick pushed Anne there. They listened intently. What had the dogs heard? Was there time to rush back to the tunnel and make their way out before they were seen?

Timmy went on growling in a low voice. The children"s hearts began to beat fast - and then they heard voices. Where did they come from? Dick peeped cautiously round the crate. It was in a dark corner and he hoped he could not be seen.

The voices seemed to come from the dirertion of the great pool, and Dick looked over to it. He gave a sudden exclamation.

“Ju! Look over there! Do you see what I see?”

Julian looked - and was fil ed with astonishment. Two men had come up the tunnel, from the sea - evidently walking on the rocky edge of the river, just as they themselves had done - and were now wading in the shal ows of the pool.

“One is MORGAN!” whispered Julian. “And who"s the other man! Gosh - it"s the shepherd

- Aily"s father! Would you believe it? Well - we always thought Morgan was mixed up in this

- but I didn"t think the shepherd was.”

Aily had seen both Morgan and her father. She made no move to go to the shepherd -

she was far too scared of Morgan!

Morgan and the shepherd stood and gazed round a little, as if looking for someone. Then, keeping to the shadows, they made their way across the great cave right to the back of it, where another tunnel, very wide, led downwards into the hil .

As they went, a strange noise began.

“The rumbling!” whispered George, and Timmy growled again. “But oh - doesn"t it sound near. What a terrific noise - it"s got right inside my head!”

It was no use whispering now! They had to shout if they wanted to say anything. And then the shuddering began! Everything shuddered and vibrated, and when the children touched one another, they could feel the vibration in the other"s hands and arms.

“It"s as if we"re being run by electricity ourselves!” said Dick, astonished. “I wonder if it"s anything to do with that strange metal that is under this hil - that makes steel things heavy, so that ploughs won"t plough, and spades won"t dig!”

“Let"s fol ow Morgan and the shepherd,” said Julian, so excited now that he felt he must see everything possible. “We can keep well in the shadows. Nobody would ever guess we were here!”

“Aily - you stay here,” said Julian. “Big noise, big big noise frighten Fany and Dave.”

Aily nodded. She settled down behind the crate with her pets.

“Aily wait,” she said. She had no desire at all to go any nearer that strange noise! In her simple mind she imagined that possibly the thunder itself came from this hil and was made here. Yes, perhaps the lightning too!

Morgan and the shepherd had now disappeared into the tunnel right at the back of the cave, on the opposite side to the great pool. The Five went quickly over to it and looked down. It was very wide and very steep - but rough steps had been cut in it, so that it was not difficult to go down.

They trod warily down the steep tunnel, astonished because it was dimly lighted - and yet there were no lamps of any sort to be seen.

“I think it"s the reflection of some great glare far below,” shouted Julian, above the rumbling. The noise was so loud that it was almost like walking in the middle of thunder.

Down and down they went, and the tunnel curved and wound about, always steep, rocky and dimly lit. Suddenly the noise grew louder, and the tunnel grew lighter. The children saw the end of it, the exit outlined in bril iant light - a light that shimmered and shook in a most curious way.

“We"re coming to the works - the mine - where that strange metal is!” shouted Dick, so excited that he felt his hands trembling. “Be careful we aren"t seen. JU! BE CAREFUL WE

AREN"T SEEN!”

They went cautiously to the end of the tunnel and peered out. They were looking into a vast pit of light, round which men stood, working some curious-looking machines. The children could not make out what they were - and, indeed, the light was so blinding that it was only possible to look with their eyelids almost closed. Al the men were wearing face-guards.

Suddenly the loud rumbling stopped and the light disappeared as if someone had turned off an electric switch! Then, in the darkness, a glow formed, a strange glow that came upwards and outwards, and seemed to go right through the roof itself! Dick clutched at Julian.

“That"s the kind of glow we saw the other night!” he said. “My word - it begins down here, goes right up through the hil in some strange way, and hangs above it! That shimmering must come from here too - some kind of rays that can go through anything - like X-rays or something!”

“It"s like a dream,” said Anne, feeling George to make sure it wasn"t! “Just like a dream!”

“Where are Morgan and the shepherd?” said Dick. “Look - there they are - in that corner, not far off. Look out - they"re coming back!”

The four children moved back quickly into the tunnel, afraid of being seen. They suddenly heard shouts, and stumbled up the rocky steps even faster. Had they been seen? It sounded like it!

“I can hear someone coming up the tunnel behind us!” panted Dick. “Quick, quick! I wish that noise would begin again. I know we can be heard!”

Someone was climbing swiftly up behind them. There were shouts and yells from below too. It sounded as if al the men were disturbed and angry. Why, oh why had they followed Morgan and the shepherd? They could so easily have gone back to the cel ars!

They came to the top of the steep rocky tunnel at last, and ran to hide behind the crates, hoping to slip into the river-tunnel without being seen. They had to get Aily before they fled! Where was she?

“Aily, Aily!” shouted Julian. “Where"s she gone? We daren"t leave her here. AILY!”

It was difficult to remember exactly where they had left her, in this great cave.

“There"s the lamb!” cried Julian, thankful y, as he saw it on the other side of a crate.

“AILY!”

“Look out! There"s Morgan!” shouted George, as the big farmer came out of the tunnel and ran across the cave. He saw the children and stopped in the utmost amazement.

“What are you doing here?” he roared. “Come with us, quickly! You"re in danger!”

The shepherd now appeared too, and Aily ran from behind her crate to him. He stared as if he could not believe his eyes, and then picked her up, calling something to Morgan in Welsh.

Morgan swung round on Julian again.

“I told you not to interfere!” he roared. “I was handling this! Now we shall all be caught!

Fool of a boy! Quick - we must hide and hope that the men wil think we"ve gone down the tunnel. If we try to escape now, they wil overtake us, and bring us back!”

He swept the astonished children into a dark corner and pul ed crates round them.

“Stay there!” he said. “We wil do what we can!”

The five children crouched behind the pile of crates. Morgan pushed another crate up, so that they werc completely hidden. Dick clutched Julian.

“Julian! We"ve made fools of ourselves! Morgan was trying to find out the secret of Old Towers himself - with the help of the shepherd! They were about the only people in the neighbourhood who could guess what was going on. The shepherd could see all the strange things we saw, while watching his sheep on the mountainside - and he told Morgan...”

Julian groaned.

“Yes. No wonder he was angry when he thought we were meddling in such a serious matter. No wonder he forbade us to do anything more! Gosh - we"ve been idiots! Where is Morgan now? Can you see him?”

“No. He"s hiding somewhere. Listen - here come the men!” said Dick. “There"s a crack between two crates here - I can see the first man. He"s got an iron bar or something. He looks pretty grim!”

The men came out cautiously, evidently not sure how many people they were after. They advanced across the cave, seven of them, all with weapons of some kind. Two went to the upper river tunnel, two went to the one that led down to the sea, and the others began to hunt among the crates.

They found the children first! It was Aily"s fault, poor child. She gave a sudden scream of fright - and in a trice the men had pul ed away the crates. Crash - one by one they fel to the ground - and the amazed men found themselves looking at five children! But not for long! With a terrifying bark Timmy flung himself on the first man!

He yelled and began to fight him off, but Timmy held on like grim death. Morgan appeared from the shadows and surprised another of the men, jumping on him and getting him on the ground, at the same time catching hold of a second man and tossing him away. He had the strength of a giant!

“Run!” he yel ed to the children, but they couldn"t. Two of the men had penned them into a corner, and although Julian leapt at one of them, he was simply thrown back again.

These men were strong miners, and though not a match for the giantlike Morgan, they could certainly take everyone else prisoner - including the gentle shepherd! He too was penned into a corner - only Morgan and Timmy were fighting now.

“Timmy wil be hurt!” said George, in a trembling voice, and she tried to push one of the men away to get to him. “Oh look, Ju - that man is trying to hit him with that bar!”

Timmy dodged the bar and sprang at the man, who turned and ran for his life. Timmy shot after him and got him on the ground. But there were too many men - and more were now coming up from the tunnel at the back of the cave, pouring in, with weapons of all kinds.

Al of them were amazed to see the five children!

The men seemed mostly to be foreigners, and spoke a language the children couldn"t understand. But one man was not a foreigner - he was obviously the boss, and gave his orders as if he expected them to be obeyed. He hadn"t joined in the fight at all.

The shepherd was soon overpowered, and his hands bound behind his back. Morgan fought off for some time - but then had to surrender. He was like an angry bul , stamping here, pul ing there, roaring with rage as three men tried to tie his hands.

The boss came up and faced him.

“You wil be sorry for this, Morgan,” he said. “Al our lives we have been enemies - you down at the farm - and I here at Old Towers.”

Morgan suddenly spat at him.

“Where is your old mother?” he shouted. “A prisoner in her own house! Who has robbed her? You, Llewellyn Thomas!” Then he went off into a spate of Welsh, his voice rising high as he denounced the man in front of him.

Julian admired the fearless Morgan enormously, as he stood with his hands bound, defying the man who had been a life-long enemy. How many quarrels had these two had, living in the same countryside, trying their strength against one another? Julian wished intensely that he had obeyed Morgan"s command and left everything to him. But he had thought Morgan was on the side of the enemy! How stupid he had been!

“It"s al because of us that he"s caught,” thought the boy, remorseful y. “I"ve been a fool -

and I thought I was doing something clever - and right! And now we"re all landed in this mess - the girls too! What wil they do with us? I suppose the only safe thing for them to do is to keep us prisoner til they"ve finished this mining job, col ected a fortune from the metal, whatever it is, and gone.”

Llewel yn Thomas was now giving some sharp orders, and the men were listening. Timmy was growling, held by the collar in a stranglehold by one of the men. If he tried to squirm away, the man twisted his hand in the col ar a little more and poor Timmy was half-choked.

George was wild with despair. Julian had to keep stopping her from trying to make a dash to Timmy. He was afraid that these rough men would strike her, though she was a girl. Aily sat in a corner, hugging her lamb and Dave, who had been far too scared even to take a little nip at any of the men!

Morgan was held by two hefty miners - but, quite suddenly, he hurled himself sideways at one of them and sent him flying - and then at the other, who staggered away and fel over a tin.

With a great roar Morgan stumbled to the pool, and waded to the entrance of the tunnel that led to the sea, his hands stil tightly tied behind his back.

“The fool! ” said Llewel yn Thomas. “If he thinks he can get along that tunnel with his hands tied, he is mad! He wil fall into that rushing river - and without his hands to help him, he wil drown! No - don"t go after him. Let him go - let him drown! We shall be well rid of him!”

The shepherd struggled to his feet to go after his master, knowing quite wel that Llewel yn was right - no man could get along that rough edge to the river without his hands to steady him, feeling along the wall at the side - and one slip would put him into the churning, hurrying river, that ran at full-pelt down to the sea far below, at the bottom of the hil .

But Morgan did not mean to escape. He was not going to struggle along beside that treacherous torrent! He had come al the way up beside it, with the shepherd, and knew how easy it was to slip, on the wet rocky edge. No - Morgan had another plan!

Julian watched him disappear into the tunnel, and his heart sank. He too knew that no one could walk along there without free hands to help him. But what could anyone do?

The boss turned to the other men, who were stil staring after Morgan. He was just about to say something to them, when a roar came to their ears.