The Mystery of Adventure Island (19 page)

 

“So, does everyone know what they have to do?” Joe asked as he gazed up at the tree house.

“Yes, but I don’t know why we can’t just go from one place to another,” Amy said. “The men can only search one spot at a time. Besides, the police will be here soon.”

“Well, they should be, but we can’t be sure. And, with the men looking for us, this seems to be the best place to hide.” Joe looked up at the sky. “It will be getting dark soon, so let’s get to work.”

They split up, doing what needed to
be done
to get the tree house ready. While Will went to fill a bucket with sand, Amy gathered
pine cones
that were lying all over the ground and put them in a pile.

Meanwhile, Joe went and found some vines. Finding two long ones, he tied them between two trees that were located between the beach and the tree house. He hoped that the men
wouldn’t
come before they were ready, but if they did, they might trip on them and that would give he and the others enough time to climb up to the tree house.

After telling Amy and Will about the vines so they
wouldn’t
be tripped up, he climbed up the tree. When he reached the top, he tied the rope that they had to a branch and threw the rest down to the ground. Unfortunately, it
didn’t
quite reach, so he had to tie it to a lower branch. This time it reached the ground.

When Will came back, he tied the bucket to the rope and waved to Joe who started hauling. It took a while as the bucket was heavy, but once it was at the top, he tipped the sand out on the planks and dropped the bucket back down.

This time, Amy filled it with
pine cones
. Once the bucket was full, Joe pulled it up. The cones were much lighter than the sand and, before
long,
they were also up on the platform.

“Is that enough?” Amy yelled.

“Let’s get two more buckets,” Joe said.
“Just in case.
It’s better to have more than less.”

Amy, along with Will, disappeared into the bushes to collect more cones. After they had found some and they
had been put
in a pile in the tree house, Joe climbed down and joined the others.

They went to the campsite where Joe surveyed their belongings. “Anything that we could find useful, we should bring to the tree house. Maybe even sleeping bags.”

“That reminds me,” Will
said
. “The pilot took my torch away from me.”

“I wonder where my torch is.” Joe turned to Amy. “Where did you last see it?”

“Well, we used it to explore the cave,
then
you let me use it at the lighthouse.” Amy thought. “I remember lying down on that mattress.
Oh, no.”

“What?” Joe said.

“I think I took it out of my pocket when I lay down and I believe I left it there,” Amy replied. “Sorry, I just—”

“Forget it. Someone will need to go and get it,” Joe interrupted. “We can’t afford to not be without a light in case the police don’t get here before nightfall and we have to hold off the men.” He paused as he looked between Amy and Will. “It’s my torch, so I suppose—”

“I’ll get it,” Will
said
. “I know I haven’t been inside the lighthouse before, but I can run faster than you two and that will come in handy if the men spot me.”

“Is a torch really that necessary?” Amy said.

“Yes, it is.” Joe turned to Will and handed him the
rucksack which
he had just emptied. “Take this in case you come across anything else in the lighthouse that we can use.”

Will
took
it. “I won’t be gone long.” He turned and hurried away.

~

As Will came into sight of the lighthouse, he breathed a sigh of relief. There was no sign of the men and he hoped that it would remain like this.

Heading towards the rocks, he saw that the waves were splashing over them.
Not every time, but more than half the time.
He knew that high tide was only a few hours away so this was what he had expected. This was another reason why he had wanted to go instead of Joe. He felt he was a better swimmer and, in case he
was swept
off the rocks, he had a better chance of reaching the shore.

He had two options. Either run and hope for the best, or take it slow. Deciding that he would take a chance, he waited for a wave to crash onto the rocks and then, as soon as the water retreated, he ran.

As he arrived at the front of the lighthouse, he saw how much damage
had been done
. Joe had told him what had happened, but he
hadn’t
realised how big the explosion had been.

He climbed over the pile of rubble and climbed up the steps. He passed the
oil cans
and, as he did so, a thought came into his head. Peering inside one of the cans, he saw it was almost full. He put the can inside the rucksack before continuing up the steps.

After reaching the room with the mattress, he searched around, hoping that he would spot the missing torch. He grinned as he saw it lying on the floor. Hurrying over, he picked it up and put it in his pocket.

There was no need to stay any longer, so he went back down the staircase. As he passed the cans, he decided they would need more than one, so he found two more and, taking one in each hand, headed to the rocks.

As he reached them, a big wave crashed over, showering him with spray. Without waiting for the next one, he raced over the rocks. He nearly slipped, but then he was off the rocks and on the grass. Glancing around, he
couldn’t
see any sign of the men, so he set off at a brisk pace towards the tree house.

~

It had taken Will a while to convince the others of his plan, but as soon as they had agreed, they went to work.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Amy asked as she picked up one of the cans and spread the oil in a circle about six feet from the tree trunk.

“As long as it doesn’t rain,” Will replied.

The three went around the tree, pouring oil. Will’s can
wasn’t
as full as the others, so he finished first. Standing back, he made sure that the others were not pouring too close to the trunk. He
didn’t
want to burn down the tree with them in it.

“I think that’s enough,” Will
said
after the others had gone around twice.

Amy dropped her can down. It hit a rock and fell on its side.

Will frowned. “Is that empty?”

“Ah, no,” Amy replied as she reached down and righted it. “It has some oil left.”

Will walked over and peered in. “We could drop it onto the men as they climb the tree.”

Joe looked around. “We should see where the men are. Stay near the tree house in case I come back in a hurry.” He hurried up the hill, glancing up at the sky as he did so. They had been
pretty busy
so he hadn’t thought about the weather, but seeing the dark clouds that were heading towards him, he realised why it was so dark.

A storm was building. He
didn’t
know what time it was, but with the sun behind the clouds, it made it much darker than it would normally be.

Reaching the top, he glanced around. There seemed to be movement by the church so he reached for the binoculars that hung around his neck and looked through them.

Two men were talking. Turning to the inlet, he could see that the seaplane
wasn’t
yet back. He had no idea where it had gone, but he was sure that it would return sometime.

He sat down, wanting to see what the men would do. They continued talking for a few minutes before they split up. He kept his gaze on the bald one whom he knew was the leader. The man walked to the beach and then to the wood before disappearing.

Joe waited for a few minutes before he thought he had better get back to the others. He stood up and started to go down the hill, pausing as he heard a noise.

Stopping, he glanced to the side where the noise had come from. He waited to see what it was.

A moment later, the bushes parted to reveal Luke. Startled, Joe turned and ran down the hill.

Luke sprinted after Joe.
“Stop!
I want to talk!”

Joe heard the footsteps pound after him and he realised he needed to head for the vines and rope that he had placed between the trees. He changed direction and
was nearly caught
in doing so as the man reached out. He swerved back and
forth
as he raced through the bushes.

 

Chapter 28: Running Out Of Time

 

Sarah stared out at the raging water that seemed to grow more ferocious with every passing second. Dark clouds were
gath
ering overhead and, while it
hadn’t
yet started to rain, it looked very ominous.

Moving away from the railing of the police patrol boat, she headed towards the wheelhouse just as Quigley, along with Inspector Price, stepped out.

Sarah
had only got
to know the inspector two weeks earlier, but already she thought that the jovial, bald-headed policeman was one of the nicest people that she had ever met.
  

“Are you going to land where we landed?” Sarah said.

The inspector glanced at the storm clouds. “It would be a tight fit in these conditions, so we’ll try the inlet where the seaplane landed. If we can get in there, we’ll also be a lot closer to the criminals.”

“But will you have enough room if the plane is still there?” Sarah said.

“We should, according to the map,” the inspector said, “but only time will tell.” He looked at his watch. “We should be within sight of the island in five minutes, so excuse me while I make some last minute arrangements.”

As the police inspector hurried away, Sarah turned to the
fisherman
. “Do you think the others are okay?”

Quigley put an arm around Sarah. “I’m sure they are. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if they already have the men all tied up.”

~

As Joe rounded the
corner
he saw, with relief, the vine that he had tied between the two trees. Hoping that the man only had eyes for him, he leapt over it. He
didn’t
glance back or slow down his stride, but as he heard a thud, he looked back. The man was lying flat on the ground.

Joe did a little leap for joy as he raced around the next bend and to the tree house. He yelled out to the others as he came in sight of them. “I just tripped up one of the men using the vines.”

“What about the others?” Will asked.

“They weren’t with him, but we’d better hurry and get up the tree,” Joe said.

Will kept look out as the other two climbed up. Once they were halfway up, he followed, grabbing the remaining can of oil as he did so. He heard a yell as he saw Luke run towards him.

As Joe and Amy had already reached the top by now, Will moved to one side and yelled out. “Throw the cones!”

Joe grabbed two, aimed, and let go.

The man let out a yell as the cones made contact with his head. He shook his fist at them. “Just you wait!” He turned and hurried away.

Will resumed climbing and was soon at the platform. “Thanks for that. I was worried for a moment that he was going to reach up and grab me.”

“He’s probably gone to get the others,” Amy said.

Will put the can that he had carried up into the corner and glanced around.
“Let’s make sure we’re ready. Where’s that pine cone, the one that we’re going to use to light the oil with?”

“It should be somewhere in that pile,” Joe said.

Will shuffled through the numerous
pine cones
until he found one that had a bit of cloth around it. “Good. Now, who has the matches?”

“I have them.” Amy reached into her pocket and frowned. “They’re not here.”

“Did you take them out?” Joe said.

Amy thought. “No.” She searched in the other pocket and frowned. “There’s a hole in this pocket. They must have fallen out.”