The Adventurous Four - - Страница 21

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The next night, after midnight, the boy went over the rocks again, carrying the pieces of rough wood with nails in, and the gramophone slung carefully over his shoulder. He reached the shore safely and made his way cautiously up the cliff.

And very soon Tom, half asleep, heard the queer hollow voice rumbling round his cave once more. "Tom! Are you asteep?"

Tom climbed on the chest and put his head to the hole. "Hallo, Andy!" he said. "I'm not asleep. I've been waiting and waiting for you!"

"There's a bit of wood with nails in coming down the hole," said Andy. "Scrape at your end with it and try your best to make the hole larger. I've got one too. I'll scrape my end. Look out that you don't get your eyes full of bits falling down."

The two boys set to work. Both of them scraped and dug for all they were worth. The soil was very dry and sandy, and was easy to move. Heaps of it fell down to Tom's end and he had to dodge it every now and again.

At last Andy's hole was quite big enough to get into. He called softly to Tom. "How are you getting on? My end is big enough for you to get out. I've got a rope I can let down to you if you are ready."

"I'm nearly ready," answered Tom, scraping hard. "Just a minute or two more!"

And then, at last, his end was large enough to climb into! The boy put another chest on the top of the one he was standing on and knelt upon it. His head and shoulders were right in the hole—he stood up and almost disappeared in the long narrow funnel.

"Wait a minute, Tom," said Andy. "I've got something I want to let down on the rope. It's the gramophone."

"The what?" asked Tom, in astonishment, thinking he couldn't have heard aright.

"The gramophone," said Andy. "I'm afraid, Tom, you may make rather a noise climbing down the cliff, and the sentry might think you had escaped—but if I set the gramophone going, singing that silly lullaby you sang yesterday, he will think it's you still in the cave—and he won't come and see what the matter is. So I'm going to let it down, and you must set it right, and tie a bit of string to it so that I can pull the switch and set the record going when I think it's best to."

"Golly!" said Tom. "You think of everything!" The gramophone came bumping down the hole, on the end of the rope. Tom put it carefully behind a big chest and set the needle ready on the outside edge of the record. He tied a long piece of string to the starting-switch, and then tied the other end to the rope that Andy had let down with the gramophone.

"Pull it up, Andy," he said. "But carefully, please, because the string's on the rope and we don't want to break the needle by jerking the string too hard!"

Andy drew up the rope, untied the string on the end of it, and tied it to a heavy stone for safety. Then he called to Tom, "That's done. Come along up now, Tom. Don't brush against the gramophone string more than you can help. Here's the rope. Tie it round your Waist and I'll help you up the hole by pulling—and I say, don't forget your camera!"

Tom stood up on the highest chest and began to scramble up the hole. There were plenty of rough ledges each side where he could put his feet. Andy hauled strongly on the rope, and Tom's head suddenly appeared through the hole by Andy's feet!

"Good!" said Andy. "Climb out!"

Tom climbed out. He sniffed the fresh breeze with delight, for it had been rather stuffy down in the cave. Andy undid the rope from round Tom's waist. "Now you must get down the cliff as best you can without noise," he said. "Wait for me at the edge of the rocks, won't you. I'll give you a hand over those because I know them better than you do now."

Tom went to the cliff and began to climb down. Halfway down he slipped, and kicked out quickly to prevent himself from falling. A whole shower of stones fell down the cliff. The sentry, half-dozing, shouted at once.

Andy knew it was time to pull the string that was tied to the gramophone! He jerked it. The switch slid to one side and the record began to go round on its disc. The needle ran over the record and the lullaby began to sound in the cave. "Hush! Hush! Hush!"

The sentry heard it and thought it was Tom singing. He felt satisfied that his prisoner was still in the cave, as the song went on, and settled himself down again in a comfortable position. It must have been a rabbit that sent stones down the cliff, he thought!

Andy slipped down the cliff after Tom, glad that the sentry had heard the lullaby and had thought it must be Tom. Tom was waiting for him by the line of rocks.

"Didn't I make a row?" he whispered. "But I couldn't help it."

"It's all right! I set the record going and the sentry thinks you are busy in the cave, singing yourself to sleep," said Andy with a low chuckle. "Come on—we've no time to lose!"

Over the line of rocks the boys slipped and climbed. Tom following Andy closely, for Andy now knew the best way very well indeed. Big waves wetted them, but they did not care. All they wanted was to get back to the girls safely.

"The sentry won't look in at me to-night, I'm sure," said Tom, as they at last reached the sandy shore of the beach. "And the one that comes in the morning may not go into the cave to see me at all—he is a surly fellow."

"Well—that gives us a little time to think what to do next," said Andy. "Though I'm blessed if I know what will be best to do!"

They made their way to the shack, which was in darkness, for Andy had forbidden the girls to show a light of any sort in case the enemy saw it. Mary and Jill were lying together on their heather bed in the darkness, fast asleep.

Mary heard the boys come in and she sat upright in bed at once. "Is. that you, Andy?"

"Yes—and Tom tool" said Andy. Jill awoke then, and the four of them sat on one bed, hugging one another for joy. Now they were all together again! It was lovely.

"I was an awful idiot to try and get my camera back," said Tom. "I never thought of being caught. Now our boat is gone and it's going to be difficult to know what to do."

There's only one thing to do," said Andy. "And flat is to get our fishing-boat off the rocks early tomorrow morning somehow—and refloat her. I've noticed she seems to have moved a bit, and it may be that the tides have loosened her. Perhaps the two rocks that held her are not holding her quite so fast now. Anyway, it's our only chance."

"Yes—we'll try and do that," said Jill. "Tom's escape is sure to be discovered sometime to-morrow, and this time such a search will be made mat I know we'll all be found."

"Well, let's sleep for an hour or two till dawn," said Andy. "We can't do anything at the moment."

So they all lay down on their beds and slept until Andy awakened them two hours later, Now dawn was in the sky and soon the sun would rise.

The children slipped across the island and came to the beach where they had first landed, after their wreck. They looked at their poor fishing-boat, still jammed between the rocks. Certainly it had moved a little—it was not leaning so much to one side.

They stood and looked at it. The tide was not very high yet, and it was possible to reach the boat without too much difficulty.

It was not long before all the children had reached their boat, and were clambering up the wet and slippery deck. Seaweed lay across it now, thrown there by the waves. The boat looked old and miserable—not at all like the smart little ship in which they had started out so gaily.

The boys went down into the little cabin. It had water lying at the bottom. Andy ripped up the planks and examined the boat underneath the floor of the cabin.

Then he came out and let himself down the side of the ship, disappearing under the water to feel the bottom of the boat. The girls and Tom watched him anxiously.

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