The Mystery of Adventure Island (17 page)

As Amy nodded, Joe grabbed the door handle. He hoped it would be unlocked, but if the man had locked it again, they would be unable to get in.

Chapter 24: Inside
The
Lighthouse

 

The door opened without any trouble. Stepping inside, Joe saw that the place was quite old.
Also
, the spiral stairway was bigger than he thought it would be.

Amy looked around. “No sign of the man.”

Joe shook his head. “No. Let’s go upstairs and see if there’s somewhere to hide.”

They went up the stairs. They had yet to reach a room when they heard footsteps. The man was coming down the stairs!

Joe hurriedly glanced around. “Shall we go up or down?”

“Up. We should be close to one of the rooms,” Amy said.

The two of them hurried up the stairs as fast as they
could,
hoping the sounds of their footsteps would blend in with the man’s.

Joe looked up and caught sight of Luke above him and realised they were not going to make it in time.
“Blow!”
They raced back down the steps until they came to the door. Joe opened it, but paused.

“What’s wrong?” Amy whispered.

“I just thought of something.” After closing the door, Joe hurried to the back of the steps and crouched down. He motioned for Amy to do the same, and they sat in silence as Luke came into view ten seconds later.

Without looking behind him, the man opened the door, closed it, and locked it. Joe
couldn’t
actually see him lock it, but as he heard the key turn, he knew what had happened. Listening, he heard the footsteps of the man fade away. “Let’s hope we haven’t got locked in here for nothing.”

“I’m sure the paintings are here somewhere,” Amy said. “Where else could they be?”

Joe glanced around. “Well, they’re not down here. Let’s head up.”

This time, the two of them walked instead of running. They were soon at a door. Finding it unlocked, Joe opened it. He smiled. In front of him were a number of packages that were tubular in shape. “Those look like the packages that the pilot took this morning.”

Amy frowned. “But if these are the paintings, why wouldn’t they have taken all of them?”

“Well, maybe they only
del
iver the ones that people have paid for.” Joe picked one up and saw that it had a
name tag
on it. It
read:
The Blue Lotus.

“Is that the name of a painting?” Amy questioned.

“I don’t know. Let’s open it and see.” Joe undid the string and, with Amy’s help, unravelled what
had been packed
inside the paper.

“Yes!” Amy exclaimed in jubilation as she saw a beautiful painting of a lotus flower. “I wonder how much it’s worth.”

Joe spotted a name on the corner of the painting. Bending down, he read what it said. “Vincent van Gough. Hey, I think I’ve heard of him.”

Amy nodded. “Yes, so have I. My teacher was talking about him. If what she said was true, his paintings are worth a fortune.”

“We should try to take all the ones that say Vincent van Gough then,” Joe said. “We can manage two each, so that will be four.”

Amy put the painting back in its protective packaging. “But how are we going to get out? Just stroll out the front door?”

“Of course, we…” Joe paused as he realised that the man had locked the door, trapping them inside. “I guess we didn’t think the plan through. But at least we have the paintings.”

“But what are we going to do with them?” Amy questioned.

“Well, one of the men should come back eventually, so we’ll tell him about the swap then,” Joe said.

“So we just wait here until that happens?” Amy asked.

Joe nodded. “Hopefully, Sarah will be back with the police before anything happens, but if not, we’ll do a deal with those men.”

“What if they don’t agree to that deal?” Amy said.

“Then they don’t get the paintings,” Joe said. “Either way, I can’t see anything happening for a while, so let’s explore the rest of the lighthouse.”

Leaving the room, they climbed up the rest of the steps. Halfway up
they
came to a door. Opening it, they saw that it was a very small room with no windows and a low ceiling.

“Why does it smell weird?” Amy asked.

Joe picked up one of the many cans were on a shelf. “It’s oil.” Looking around, he realised that they were all the same. “This room is packed full of cans of oil. That’s why it smells.”

“Why would someone need this much oil?”
Amy wondered.

“To light the lamp,” Joe replied. “I read somewhere that lamps in lighthouses had to burn oil to keep alight.”

“Would it be any use now?” Amy said.

“No, I don’t think so,” Joe replied. “It must have been here for years and years. Goodness knows how long.”

Leaving the smelly room, they kept on climbing up the stairs. There was one final room before the top, and inside that room was a mattress that had clearly seen better days, some matches, and a lamp.

They climbed up the final few steps until they reached the very top of the building, which was the lamp room. It had big windows all around. The view was magnificent. A massive lamp stood in the middle of the room. Broken glass lay on the floor, so they had to be careful where they walked.

Joe examined the lamp. “This probably hasn’t worked in years and years.”

Amy opened the door and stepped out onto the gallery. She clutched onto the railing and looked down. It was a long way. She felt dizzy even just looking at the ground.

Whipping her head away, she followed Joe as they walked in a circle around the structure. Since they were so high, they could see for miles and miles.

Finishing up
where they started a few moments later, Amy glanced towards the beach. “Can you see the cabin? I can’t.”

“No, I can’t see it either.
It’s
in a pretty good hiding place. I doubt you could see it from an aeroplane either.” Joe suddenly clutched his sister’s arm. “Look!”

As Amy saw one of the men appear near the wood, she frowned. “I wonder where he’s going.”

Both of them soon discovered the answer as the man left the grass and walked onto the rocks.

“Oh no, why is he coming back so soon?”
Amy said.

“I don’t know, but why does he have a rucksack on his back? Unless…” Joe looked over at his sister. “He’s come to take the paintings away.”

“So, we’re finished,”
Amy
muttered.

“Not yet. Follow me.” Joe hurried into the lamp room and raced down the steps. Puffing, he arrived on the ground floor half a minute later. He hurried over to some wooden boxes that
were lined
up against the walls. Trying to lift one, he realised it was too heavy. “Help me lift this.”

“But—” Amy said.

“Just help me!” Joe interrupted.

Amy helped him as they moved the box to the door and placed it down in front of it. Joe ran to get another box as footsteps
were heard
outside.

“Hurry!
One more.”
Joe hurried over to the next box and they dragged it across the floor. Just as he heard the sound of the key sliding into the lock, the box slid next to the other one.

“Lean against the door,” Joe instructed. “We can’t let the man open it.”

The two of them leaned against the door just as the key turned and the door
was pushed
open. It moved a small bit, but then stopped. The man yelled out. “Hey! What’s going on?”

 

Chapter 25:
Kaboom
!

 

Joe motioned for Amy to be quiet as they both stood there, not daring to move. Joe
didn’t
want to give any indication that it was just two children that were stopping the man. He smiled as he thought of an idea. In his best grownup voice, he started speaking. “How long until the four police boats arrive?”

Amy grinned. In her best adult voice, she said, “
shouldn’t
be too long.
Though the army will probably arrive first.”

“You’re right. The fifty commandos should be circling the island now,” Joe said.

“What about the two destroyers? Shouldn’t they be here?” Amy said.

“I just received word that they’re on schedule.
Should be here in thirty minutes.
If only those men knew what was about to happen. They’ll have no chance to escape.” Joe stopped speaking and put a finger to his lips, motioning Amy to be quiet.

A minute later, they moved a box away and tried to open the door.
But
they couldn’t. The man had locked it again.

“Well, at least he didn’t get in,” Joe said.

“But we didn’t get out either.” Amy giggled. “I could hardly keep a straight face, especially when you talked about the commandos.”

Joe laughed as he thought about the conversation that they had just had.
“Me too.
Though, I think you went a bit far with the two destroyers.”

“I just said whatever came into my head,” Amy said. “Hey, hadn’t we better see if the man is heading to the cabin?”

“Yes, though we can’t leave this unguarded,” Joe said. “We’ll have to split up. I’ll stay here while you see.”

Amy hurried up the steps. Joe went over to the sealed wooden boxes and felt around for the lightest one. He slowly dragged it across the floor until it was firmly up against the others. He was resting on it when Amy re-appeared.

After sitting down next to him, she explained what she had seen. “I was just in time to see the man disappear into the wood. I waited for a minute or so, but he didn’t come into view, so I expect he’s now telling the others about the destroyers, patrol boats—”

“And the commandos,” Joe interrupted. “Good work. I managed to move one box, but we’ll need to move more if we’re to stop those men.”

~

As Will sat on the chair with his hands behind his back, he wondered what the others were
up to
. He
hadn’t
let the men know anything about what he or the others knew or suspected, but he realised that sooner or later the men would find out the truth.

Marvin was pacing back and forth when Luke threw
open
the door and rushed in. He had a wild look on his face as he rushed towards him. “We need to scramble. The destroyers will be here in thirty minutes.”

Marvin stared at him. “What the heck are you talking about?”

Luke quickly explained, his words rushing out all at once. “I went to the lighthouse to have a look at the paintings just like you told me to do, but I couldn’t open the door.”

“What do you mean, you couldn’t open it?” Marvin said.

“There was too much weight on the other side of the door,” Luke replied. “Anyway, I then I heard voices. They said that four patrol boats were coming, fifty commandos, and two destroyers. We need to split, boss. Whatever happens, I can’t go to jail again.”

“Destroyers?
Commandos?”
Marvin laughed. “I don’t know who said that, but they fooled you.
There’s
no way they would be interested in us. But there’s one thing I would like to know – did the voices sound like children?”

Luke thought. “Well, they did sound a bit weird.”

“Just like I thought.”
The boss walked over to Will. “It seems we’ve found your friends.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Will said. “There’s no one else on the island. We all went on the seaplane together. I expect
they’re
sitting inside a French police station right at this moment. If I were you—”

“You’re not, so shut up!” Marvin turned to Luke. “Let’s go and see if you’re telling the truth.”