Five Have a Mystery to Solve (9 page)

„Didn"t you hear me yelling to you to stop when I was halfway up?" demanded Dick, stil swinging on the rope. „Don"t let go that handle. Hang on to it for a minute."

„What"s the excitement?" asked Julian, in surprise. „Why did you yell to us? We couldn"t make out what you said."

Dick swung himself to one side, caught hold of the well-top, and hauled himself up, so that he could sit on the well-wal . „I shouted because I suddenly saw something jol y peculiar as I came up the well," he said. „And I wanted to stop and see what it was!"

„Well - what was it?" asked Julian.

„I don"t quite know. It looked awfully like a little door! An iron door," said Dick. „I say, don"t let Timmy drink al that water-he"l be il . We"ll let the pail down again in a minute and get some more for ourselves."

„Go on about what you saw," said George. „How could there be a door in the side of a well going deep down into the earth?"

„Well, I tel you, there was one," said Dick. „Look, Timmy"s gone and upset the pail now!

Let"s send it down on the pul ey to be fil ed again, and I"l go down on the rope again too.

But when I come up and you hear me shout „Stop!" just STOP winding, see?"

„Here"s the bucket for the hook," said Julian. „I"ll be careful not to jerk it off this time.

Ready?"

Down went Dick and the bucket again - splash went the bucket and fil ed with water once more. Then up came Dick again, wound up by Julian and George as before. As soon as they heard him shout „STOP" they stopped their winding and peered down.

They saw Dick peering hard at the side of the well-wal , and pul ing at it with his fingers.

Then he shouted again. „Al right. UP WE go!"

They hauled him up to the top, and he clambered off the rope, swung himself on to the well-wal and sat there.

„Yes. It is some kind of opening in the wel -wal - it is a door - and it has a bolt this side to undo, but it was too stiff for my fingers. I"d have to go down and jiggle it about with my knife before I could loosen it."

„A door in a well! But where on earth would it lead to?" said Julian, astonished.

„That"s what we"re going to find out!" grinned Dick, rather pleased with himself. „Who would ever think of putting a door in the side of a well? Somebody did - but WHY? Very cunning - and mysterious - and unguessable. I rather think I"l go straight down again and see if I can"t open that door - and discover what it leads to!"

„Oh DO, Dick, do!" said George. „If you don"t, I wil !"

„Hang on to the rope. Down I go again!" said Dick. And down he went, much to Timmy"s surprise. The others looked down anxiously. Gould Dick open the wel -door? What would he find behind it? Quick, Dick, quick - everybody"s waiting for you!

As soon as Dick shouted „STOP" Julian and George hung on to the rope to stop it going down any further. Dick was swinging just opposite the strange door. He began to feel round it, and to jiggle it. It had no lock, apparently, but there was a bolt on his side. He tried to push back the bolt - and suddenly it came away from the door, and dropped down into the well. It had rusted so much that it could not even hold to the door, once it was handled!

The door felt loose, now the bolt was gone. Dick ran his hands round it, trying to loosen it further, and banged it with his fist. Rust fell off it, and Dick"s hands were soon brown with the old old rust.

He saw a little knob at the top of the door and gave it a tug. Ah - the door felt looser now.

He ran his knife al round the edges, scraping away all the rust he could find. Then he managed to get his strongest knife-blade in between the door-edge and the well-wall, and used it as a lever to force the door open.

It opened slowly and painfully, with creaks and groans. It was about eighteen inches high and not quite so much wide. Dick pul ed it back with difficulty and then peered through the hole.

He could see nothing at all but black darkness - how very disappointing! He fumbled in his pocket to see if he had a torch. Yes - good! He shone it through the little door, his hand trembling with excitement. What would he see?

His torch was small and not very powerful. The light fel first of all on a face with gleaming eyes, and Dick had such a shock that he almost fel down the well. The eyes seemed to glare up at him in a very threatening manner! He switched his torch to the right - and yet another face gleamed up at him. „A queer face," thought Dick. „Yellow as can be!

YELLOW! YELLOW! I believe that face is made of gold!"

His hand was trembling even more, he shone his torch here and there through the opening, catching first one yellow face in its light, and then another. The faces had yel ow bodies too, and their eyes glinted very queerly.

„I believe - yes, I really do believe - that I"ve found the hiding-place of the golden statues!"

thought Dick. „And those gleaming eyes must be precious jewels. My word, I did have a shock when I saw them all looking at me! Whatever is this place they"re in?"

„DICK! What can you see? Do tell us!" yelled Julian, and poor Dick almost fel off the rope when the shouts echoed round him. „Pull me up!" he shouted. „It"s too extraordinary for words. Pull me up and I"l tel you!"

And before a minute had passed, he was standing by the others, his eyes gleaming almost as brightly as the eyes of the golden statues, his words tumbling over one another.

„That door leads into the place where all the treasures are hidden. The first thing I saw was a golden statue staring at me - bril iant eyes in a yellow face - a golden face, real gold!

There are dozens of them. I don"t think they liked me much - they glared so! Thank goodness they didn"t say a word - though I half expected them to. My word, what a hiding-place - right down under the earth!"

„There must be another entrance to it," said Julian, thril ed to hear such extraordinary news. „The well door must be a secret one. Statues couldn"t be pushed through it. My word, what a find, Dick."

„Let"s al go down in turn and look through the door!" said George. „I can"t believe it. I think I must be dreaming it. Quick, let me go down!"

One by one they all went down on the rope and looked through the door. Anne came back rather scared. She had felt very queer when she had seen the silent statues looking at her. „I know they"re not real y looking, it"s only that their eyes gleam," she said. „But I kept expecting one or other to take a step forward and speak to me!"

„Well - the next thing to do is to climb down through the door, and see exactly where the statues are, underground," said Julian. „And find out the opening they were brought in by.

There must be a door the other end of their room, through which they were brought. What a hiding-place, though! No wonder the police could find nothing in the way of statues or other treasures."

„We might find the golden sword there, with the jewel ed handle!" said Anne. „And the golden bed."

She had hardly finished speaking when there came a loud noise from behind them.

Timmy was barking his head off! Whatever was the matter?

„Sh!" said George, fiercely. „You"l bring the guards here, you idiot! Stop it!"

Timmy stopped barking and whined instead. Then he ran off towards the wood, his tail waving happily. „Who in the world is he going to meet?" said George, amazed. „Someone he knows, by the look of his tail!"

The others al followed Timmy, who raced along towards the cove where they had landed

- and lost - their boat. And there, in the cove, was another boat! A small one, to be sure, but stil , a boat - and by it, fondling Timmy, was Wilfrid! Wilfrid! What an amazing thing!

„WILFRID! How did you get here - did you hire that boat? Did you come all by yourself? Did you..."

Wilfrid grinned round in delight, thril ed at the surprise he was giving everyone. Timmy licked him without stopping, and George didn"t even seem to notice!

„Well," he said, „you didn"t come back, so I guessed something was wrong - and when the boat boy told me you"d taken one of his boats, and it had been reported tossing about, empty on the water near the island, I guessed what had happened - I said, „Aha! they didn"t make the boat fast when they got to the island - and now they"re marooned there!

You were pretty mean to go without me - but I guessed you"d be pleased to see me, if I borrowed a boat and came over!"

Anne was so pleased that she gave the boy a hug. „Now we can go back whenever we want to," she said.

„But we don"t want to, at the moment," said Dick. „We"ve made some startling discoveries, Wilfrid - and I"m jol y pleased you"l be able to share in them! Er - what have you got in your pocket'' Something keeps poking its head out at me."

„Oh, that"s only a baby hedgehog," said Wilfrid, taking it out gently. „It got trodden on - by a horse I think - so I"m just caring for it for a day or two." He put it back into his pocket. „But I say - go on - tell me what you"ve found. Not the lost treasures, surely?"

„Yes!" said Anne. „We saw them when we went down a well near the castle."

„Gracious - did somebody throw them into the water there?" said Wilfrid, amazed.

„No," said Dick, and told him about the curious door in the side of the well-wal . Wilfrid"s eyes nearly fel out of his head.

„I am glad I came!" he said. „I nearly didn"t. I thought you wouldn"t real y want me - and I knew George wouldn"t be pleased, because of Timmy. I can"t help him coming round me

- and anyway he"d feel hurt if I pushed him off."

Timmy came nosing round him at that moment, with his bal . He wanted Wilfrid to throw it for him. But Wilfrid didn"t notice the ball. He just patted the soft head, and went on talking.

„The boat boy wasn"t very pleased when he heard that the boat you hired was loose on the sea. He said you"d hired it for a week, and there it was, back the same day, wet and empty! His cousin brought it in. No damage done."

„I"l make it up to him when I see him," said Julian. „I haven"t paid him for the hire of it either, but he knows I wil , when I get back. I had no idea that the sea would throw up waves here whose backwash would drag out an unmoored boat."

„You ought to have taken me with you," said Wil-frid, grinning. Timmy, tired of trying to make him throw his bal , went off to George, who was only too pleased to. She threw it into the air, and Timmy leapt up and caught it.

Then very suddenly he made a horrible noise and rolled over, kicking as if he were in great pain. „What"s the matter, Timmy?" cried George, and rushed to him. Wilfrid ran too. The dog was choking, and his eyes were almost starting out of his head.

„That bal "s stuck in his throat!" cried Wilfrid. „I knew it was dangerous! I told you it was!

Cough it up, Timmy, cough it up. Oh, you poor, choking thing! Oh Timmy, Timmy!"

The boy was beside himself with fear that the dog would choke, as he had once seen another dog do, and as for George, she was wild with terror. Poor Timmy"s eyes looked terrible as he choked and choked, trying to get the bal out of his throat.

„He"l choke to death," cried Wilfrid. „Julian, force his mouth open, and hold it. I must try to get out the bal . Quick!"

Timmy was growing weaker, and it was not too difficult to force his mouth wide open.

Wilfrid could see the ball down the dog"s throat - the bal with the hole in the middle. He put his smal hand into the dog"s big mouth, and forced his fore-finger into the hole in the bal . His finger-joint stuck there - Wilfrid gently drew back his hand - and the bal came too, on his finger! There it was, with his finger stil stuck in the hole! Timmy began to breathe again, great panting breaths, while George stroked his head and cried for joy that he was all right.

„I shouldn"t have given you that bal , I shouldn"t!" she said. „It was too small for a big dog like you - and you wil throw them up into the air and catch them. Oh Timmy, Timmy, I"m very very sorry. Timmy, are you al right?"

Wilfrid had gone off but now came back with some water from the pail. He dipped his hand in it and let drops of water drip into the dog"s mouth. Timmy swallowed it gratefully.

His throat was sore, but the water was cool and soothing. George let Wilfrid do this without a word. She looked rather white and shaken. Why - Timmy might be dead by now if Wilfrid hadn"t put his finger into that hole in the ball, and drawn it out!

„Thank you, Wilfrid," she said, in a low voice. „You were very clever."

„Thank goodness the ball had a hole through it," said Wilfrid, and he put his arms round Timmy"s neck. The dog licked him grateful y. Then he turned and licked George too.

„He says he belongs to both of us now," said George. „I"l share him with you. You saved his life."

„Thanks," said Wilfrid. „I"d love to have just a bit of him - he"s the nicest dog I know!"

„I feel hungry again," said George, who always had a very good appetite indeed. „We"ve finished all that ham, haven"t we? I had to give old Timmy some. What about a barley sugar, Dick?"

„Two more left for each of us - just ten," said Dick, counting. „Sorry, Timmy, old thing - none for you this time. Have one, everybody? We"ll have five left then!"

„Oh, I quite forgot to tell you," said Wilfrid, taking a barley sugar. „I brought some food in my boat! I didn"t think you"d taken any, and I guessed you"d soon be jolly hungry!"

„You"re a marvel, Wilfrid!" said Julian, wondering why he had ever disliked the boy. „What have you brought?"

„Come and see," said Wilfrid, and they all went over to the boat, Timmy walking as close to the boy as he could. Higgledy-piggledy in the boat was a pile of tins, a large loaf of bread, and a pound package of butter, looking rather soft.

„Gracious!" said Anne, in delight. „How in the world did you carry all these from the cottage to your boat? Look, everyone, Wilfrid has even brought some, plates and spoons!"

„I put everything into a sack, and carried them over my shoulder," said Wilfrid, enjoying everyone"s delighted surprise. „I fell over going down the hil to the shore, and all the tins rolled out, and simply shot down the slope!"