It was whilst they were looking at it to see how to start it up that they were startled by a noise in the cabin of the boat. It was a curious noisea kind of long-drawn-out groan!
The boys stood absolutely still, almost startled out of their wits, for they had been so certain they were alone. They listened. The groan came again.
“There’s someone herein that cabin!” whispered Andy in Tom’s ear. “We’d better get out, quick! We don’t want to be discovered here. Come on. Quiet now!”
The boys climbed out as quietly as they could. They made for their hiding-place again, puzzled.
“Who’s in there?” whispered Tom. “He sounded as if he was ill, or hurt. Who is it?”
“Goodness knows!” said Andy. “All I know is he’s a frightful nuisance, whoever he ishe’s prevented us from taking the boat.”
“What shall we do now?” whispered Tom. “We can’t stay up here all the night!”
“Oh, those men will come back soon,” said Andy. “Then maybe they’ll push off, and we can get going in the Andy. We must wait and see.”
The boys sat themselves down and prepared to wait with what patience they could. Tom shivered again. He and Andy sat as close together as possible, for warmth.
“Can you hear any more groans?” asked Tom. Andy shook his head. “No. They seem to have stopped.”
But they began again a little later. Then other noises began. Someone hammered on the door of the motor-boat’s cabin. Someone shook the door violently and kicked it hard! The boys listened, more startled than ever.
Then a voice they knew very well indeed came up to them, a voice muffled by the door of the cabin, but quite unmistakable!
“Let me out! Where am I? You let me out or I’ll kick the place down!”
The boys felt their hearts jump, and they stared down at the motor-boat in amazement.
“It’s Jill! It’s Jill’s voice!’” said Andy, forgetting to whisper in his enormous astonishment. “But what’s Jill doing there! Quick, let’s go to her!”
The boys leapt down again, not caring if they fell or not, they were so eager to reach the little girl. She was going quite mad with fury in the locked cabin. She was now hitting the door with somethingcrash, crash, crash. Andy couldn’t help smiling. He had seldom seen Jill in a temper, but he knew she had one. He wondered if Mary was there too. If so, she was very quiet.
Andy landed on the motor-boat first and ran to the cabin-door. Jill was now raining heavy blows on it, and shouting so loudly that she could not hear Andy’s voice calling to her.
“Jill! Jill! Stop all that hammering so that I can unlock the door and get in! You’ll hit me if you don’t stop it!”
But the furious little girl went on and on, quite beside herself. Crash, smash, crash! What in the world had she got in her hand?
There was a pause at last, and Jill, plainly quite tired out, began to sob bitterly, Andy hammered on the door with his fist.
“Jill! It’s me, Andy! We’re going to unlock the door and come in. Don’t smash at it any more!”
There was a dead silence inside the cabin. Jill evidently couldn’t believe her ears! Then there was a wild cry of joy.
“Andy! Oh, Andy, darling Andy, unlock the door quick!”
Andy unlocked and unbolted the door. Jill flung herself on him and Tom, weeping for joy.
“I thought you were lost for ever!” she sobbed. “We didn’t know what to make of it when you didn’t come back. The men said you never would. We thought you must be drowned. Oh Andy, oh Tom, let’s go home!”
“Where’s Mary?” asked Tom.
“In the cabinon that bunk thereshe won’t wake up,” said Jill. Andy took the lamp from the deck of the motor-boat and flashed the light on to where Mary was lying in a bunk.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asked, hearing her breathing very loudly indeed.
“I don’t know,” said Jill. “I think it must have been something those men gave us to drink that sent us off to sleep like that. I didn’t drink so much as Mary didI didn’t like the taste of minebut Mary drank all hers. And then we fell fast asleep, and didn’t know what was happening. I woke up just now and felt awfully sick, and I groaned and groaned.”
“Yeswe heard you,” said Andy. “Poor old Jill. I expect Mary will wake up soon. My word, Jill, you nearly broke that door down! What did you hit it with?”
“That stool,” said Jill. “I felt so angry when I knew those men had put us somewhere and left us. I don’t know where we are, you see. We fell asleep in that cave high up in Smuggler’s Rockwhere the men put us all before, when Andys father came to look for us.”
“You’ve got a lot to tell us,” said Andy, “and we’ve got some pretty peculiar things to tell you too. But we can’t stop now to exchange news, because those men may come back at any tune. We don’t want all to be captured again.”
“Nothis is a jolly good chance to escape, the whole lot of us,” said Tom. “But, Andywe must tell them one thing!”
Andy knew what that was, of course! “Oh yes,” he said. “Jillthe Andy wasn’t sunk! She’s close by this very boat, sails and oars and everything! The man must have taken her and hidden her there. She’s safe and sound. Tom and I were just about to run home in her, if we could, when Bandy and Stumpy brought this motor-boat up the creek and we had to hide.”
“Oh!” said Jill in joy. “Andy. I’m so awfully glad. I was miserable about her, of course, but I knew you must be ten times more miserable!”
“We were almost at the top of the cliff when Andy saw her,” said Tom. “He’d have fallen over with joy if I hadn’t had hold of his ankles!”
Andy suddenly remembered that Bandy and Stumpy might come back at any moment. “Look herewe mustn’t chatter like this,” he said. “We must make up our minds what we are going to do. Tom and I were thinking of running for home in this motor-boat, as we can’t get at the Andy. This boat is blocking up the way, and we can’t get the Andy out.”
“Well, let’s go. then!” said Jill eagerly. “It’s awfully dark, though. I don’t know how you’ll see your way, Andy.”
A deep groan from the cabin bunk made them jump. It was Mary, waking up after her long sleep, feeling sick, Jill went to her.
“It’s all right, Mary. You’ll soon feel all right.”
Mary, half-asleep still, and feeling very sick, groaned again.
“Let’s get her up into the open air.” said Andy. “She’ll feel better then. She’s awfully pale.”
The two boys helped the poor little girl out of her bunk. Still feeling very sick she went on deck, and was glad to feel the cool wind on her face. She soon stopped groaning.
“I feel a bit better,” she said feebly. “Tom. Andyhow is it you’re here? Where are we?”
“Tell you all about it soon,” said Andy. “No time now. We’ll start up this motor-boat and get going as soon as we can. Jill and Tom can tell you everything as we go.”
He went to start up the engine. But no matter how he tried, the engine wouldn’t start up. It made a humming noise, but nothing more happened. Andy could have cried!
“What’s up? Can’t you get her going?” said Tom. “Herelet me have a try!”
But although they all had a try, nobody could start up the motor of the boat. Why, they didn’t know. It was most aggravatingespecially as they couldn’t possibly go on the Andy, because the motor-boat was in the way!
“Look outthere’s someone coming,” said Tom, suddenly. “See the light of their cigarettes up there?”
The four children stared up the narrow creek. Yes, there was certainly someone comingtwo people, for there was the glow from the ends of two cigarettes. It must be Bandy and Stumpy coming back. Blow!
“Skip out of the boat quickly!” whispered Andy, giving Jill a helping hand. “Shut the cabin-door, Tom, and lock it. The men may slip off without looking in and seeing that the girls arent there. If they do go, we can all get away in the Andy. Hurry!”
Tom locked and bolted the door of the cabin. Then he joined the others on the ledge and they all crept behind a rock, wishing their hearts were not beating so loudly.
Bandy and Stumpy came along, smoking. They clambered on board their boat. The children hardly dared to breathe. Would they be able to start up the engine, and go? How they hoped and prayed that they would hear the roar of the engine, and know that it would soon take the boat safely away from them. Then into the Andy they would climb, and away they would go!