The Mystery of Adventure Island (14 page)

He waited a bit longer before he peeled back the rug and stood up. He knew they would be on water, but he
didn’t
know if it would be a lake or the sea.

The cabin windows were so dirty that he had to take the rug and wipe a spot clean before he could see through them. Once this
was done
, he dropped the rug and peered through.

The plane
was moored
against a pier by the side of a large lake. He
couldn’t
see anyone for a moment, and he wondered where the men had disappeared to.

He then heard a car as it spluttered to life. Looking towards the cabin, he saw dust spiral into the air as a vehicle roared down a dirt track.

Satisfied that both men were probably in the car, he looked around the machine. The paintings were missing, just as he had expected.
Unfortunately, there was nothing else that the police would be interested in, so he hurried to the front of the plane.

After opening the door, he stepped onto the pier and looked around. He noticed that the wood encircled almost the entire lake. It looked like a very desolate spot.

Even though the sun was shining, a cold breeze was blowing across the lake. Rubbing his hands together in an attempt get keep warm, he walked quickly towards the wood.

Arriving at the dirt track that the vehicle had gone down, he started walking along it. After a while, he was glad to see it joined with a bigger road.

Suddenly, he heard a noise. It was a car heading towards him along the main road. The noise of the engine got louder as it approached and Will waved his arms.

The vehicle whizzed past, the driver obviously not seeing him. Will raced onto the road and waved his hands at the disappearing car. He hoped that the driver would glance in his rear-view mirror and stop, but this did not happen.

As the vehicle rounded a bend and disappeared from view, Will put his
hands down
. He had been just a few seconds too late.

With his hands in his pockets, he went down the road in the direction that the car had come from. He knew it was still relatively early, but he hoped there would be more cars coming soon.

Will continued walking for ten minutes until he had reached an intersection. Except for that very first one, he
hadn’t
even heard a vehicle, let alone seen one.

He walked up to the signpost and stared at the names of the towns in disbelief. They
didn’t
at all look like British names! He had assumed he was in
England
or
Scotland
, but now he knew he
wasn’t
. He suddenly saw a name that he recognises and
gaspe
d. He was in
France
!

He should have realised that it was the obvious place. A painting could
be stolen
at night in
London
and be sold at
noon
in
Paris
before it was even discovered to be missing.

Hearing a noise, he turned around and saw a car coming towards him. Smiling, he stepped out into the middle of the road and waved his arms
to and fro
.

The vehicle slowed down and Joe hurried over to the driver’s side. “Do you speak English?”

“Yes, why?” the man said, speaking English with a thick French accent.

Will’s face broke into a smile. “I need to go to the police station. Can you take me there?”

The man frowned. “Why do you want to go there?”

“I need tell the police about some men who are stealing paintings,” Will said.

The man looked shocked for a moment or two, but then he smiled. “Climb in the back and I’ll drive you to the nearest town.”

“Thanks heaps.” Will opened the passenger side door and saw that there was a person sitting in the back.
 
He stared into the man’s eyes and froze. It was the pilot of the seaplane!

Startled, Will stepped backwards. Before the man could say anything, he turned and raced away. He heard a door open as the man yelled out. “Hey! Come back!”

Will looked back and saw that both men had climbed out of the vehicle and were hurrying towards him. He could see that the expressions had now changed and he regretted having told them why he wanted the police.

However, there was nothing he could do about it now.
He arrived at the wood and ran though the trees, his mind in a whirl. How could he have been so stupid? He should have made sure that they
weren’t
the pilots before he told them his tale.

Will could hear twigs snap and branches break as the two men chased him through the wood. Unfortunately, the wood
wasn’t
really thick enough to lose his pursuers. He
continued on
for three or so minutes, but still they chased him.

Glancing around, he saw they were gaining ground. He would have to leave the wood and try another tactic. Heading towards the road, he was soon at the edge of the trees. Pausing for a moment, he caught sight of some cows that were
graz
ing in the field opposite.

He tore across the road to the fence. Climbing through it, he glanced back to see if the men were still following him, which they were. He ran past the cows, most of which took little notice of him, but then he caught sight of a bull that was looking at him.

Slowing down, he looked away and tried to hide behind the various cows that he passed.
But
when there were no more cows, he saw that the bull was still there.
And
it was closer.

Seeing that the fence was just up ahead, he knew what he had to do. Pausing for a moment to get his
brea
th back, he saw that the men were closing in.

They started shouting, and Will realised they
hadn’t
even noticed the bull. As the animal looked towards the men, he knew this was his one and only chance.

He ran towards the fence just as the bull trotted towards the men. Will
didn’t
look back as he ran, but when he heard a number of shouts, he knew that they had seen the bull.

However, he
didn’t
stop running. He knew that as soon as the bull wanted to, the animal could charge after him, so he ran like the wind. Not until he climbed through the fence did he pause and look across the field.

As he did so, a shot
was heard
and the bull, which was quite close to one of the men, turned around and bolted. Will assumed that the other man, who had reached the fence, had fired a gun into the air to scare the animal away.

As the second man limped towards his friend, Will knew that he would never have a better chance to escape. With a newfound respect for bulls, he gazed around at the surrounding area and saw that there was a field of corn growing quite close by, just across a small stream.

There was a road on the other side of the field and, even better, what looked like a vehicle
was parked
on the edge of it.

Hoping that help was not far away, Will walked to the stream, jumped over it, and hurried through the
corn field
. He glanced back from time to time, but
couldn’t
hear or see anyone. Maybe, just maybe, the chase was over.

As Will walked between the
plants which
were just below his height, he was tempted to pick some corn as he was hungry, but he resisted the temptation and continued on.

Will
hadn’t
glimpsed his pursuers since the incident with the bull so, as he reached the other end of the field and walked towards the vehicle beside the road, he relaxed.

He caught sight of an old man and his dog sitting in the car and was just about to wave at them when a noise startled him. Looking left, he saw dust swirl around as a car roared down the road.

Will paused for just a moment as the car stopped and out climbed his pursuers. They saw him at once and gave chase.

Will turned and raced back into the corn. He knew that the men would soon overtake him, so he would have to try something else. He quickly dropped to the ground and began crawling. It was hard on his hands and knees but, if he could confuse the men, he might get lucky and escape.

Moving as silently as he could, he heard the men stop. A moment later, he heard two sets of noises in different directions and realised they had separated.

Knowing that he could never outrun someone on his knees, Will paused and stayed as silent as he could. As long as the man
didn’t
crawl about like he was doing, the chance of him finding him was small. Will waited until the sound was far away before he continued crawling.

Suddenly, there was a rustling noise and the corn stalks in front of him parted, revealing the face of the pilot.

Will leapt to his feet, but before he could run, the second man appeared from the other side and he knew that he
was trapped
. Seeing that there was a pistol tucked into the man’s trousers, he raised his hands in surrender.

“Thought you could escape, hey?” the pilot said, grinning as he led the way out of the
corn field
. “I thought I’d try something smart and stay where I was for a minute or two, and it paid off.”

“You got lucky,” Will
said
.

“Not at all.
If we hadn’t caught you here we would have caught you somewhere else.” The pilot laughed as he dragged Will towards the car.
 

Chapter 21: A Chance
To
Escape

 

The girls and Joe were talking amongst themselves by the tent when Joe paused and frowned as he heard a sound rising and falling on the wind. He took the binoculars and peered through them.

Nothing
could be seen
at first, but then he saw a speck in the sky. “The seaplane is returning.”

Amy stood up as the machine approached. “Are you sure it’s the same one that landed here?”

Joe nodded. “It looks to be the same.” He fell silent as the plane turned towards the inlet. “Let’s go and see what happens.”

They hurried towards the place where the seaplane had taken off from only a few hours ago.

As they arrived and hid behind the bushes, they saw the two pilots rowing the dinghy towards the shore. In between them was Will.

“So they caught him.” Joe punched his fist against the palm of his other hand angrily. “That’s not good.”

“I wonder how,” Sarah said.

“Let’s go to the cabin and see if we can find out,” Joe suggested.

They waited for the men to land and head towards the wood before they followed them. They
didn’t
want to go too close in case they were spotted, so they were just nearing the cabin when they saw the pilot and co-pilot leave.

Joe and the girls knelt down to avoid
being seen
. Once they were out of hearing, Amy spoke. “I wonder where they’re going.”

“Back to the plane by the looks of it,” Joe said.

“Are they going to take off?” Sarah asked.

“Let’s go and see.” Joe followed the path that the men had taken and paused at the edge of the wood. He was just in time to see the men rowing to the aeroplane.

Within a matter of minutes, the machine had roared to life and was taxiing across the water. Once it had enough speed, it lifted off and banked to the left.

“I wonder if they’re going back to where they came from,” Joe said.

“Probably,” Amy replied.

“I don’t think so,” Joe said. “They were headed in the direction of the mainland when they flew off just then, but when the plane flew in, it appeared to come from across the water. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter where they’ve gone, we should be seeing what the men are doing to Will.”

“You’re right.” Amy followed Joe and Sarah back into the wood.

They
couldn’t
hear anything, but as Kenneth left the cabin, they followed him. He hurried along the beach. The children tried to keep up with him without
being seen
, but when they rounded a bend, he was nowhere to be seen.