“We’ll fetch the axe,” said Julian, suddenly. “We may be able to chop round the keyhole and smash the lock.”
“That’s a good idea!” said George, delighted. “Come on back!”
They left the big door, and tried to get back the way they had come. But the dungeons were so big and so rambling that they lost their way. They stumbled over old broken barrels, rotting wood, empty bottles and many other things as they tried to find their way back to the big flight of rock-steps.
“This is sickening!” said Julian, at last. “I simply haven’t any idea at all where the entrance is. We keep on going into one dungeon after another, and one passage after another, and they all seem to be exactly the same-dark and smelly and mysterious.”
“Suppose we have to stay here all the rest of our lives!” said Anne, gloomily.
“Idiot!” said Dick, taking her hand. “We shall soon find the way out. Hallo!- what’s this-”
They all stopped. They had come to what looked like a chimney shaft of brick, stretching down from the roof of the dungeon to the floor. Julian flashed his torch on to it. He was puzzled.
“I know what it is!” said George, suddenly. “It’s the well, of course! You remember it was shown in the plan of the dungeons, as well as in the plan of the ground floor. Well, that’s the shaft of the well going down and down. I wonder if there’s any opening in it just here-so that water could be taken into the dungeons as well as up to the ground floor.”
They went to see. On the other side of the well-shaft was a small opening big enough for one child at a time to put his head and shoulders through and look down. They shone their torches down and up. The well was so deep that it was still impossible to see the bottom of it. Julian dropped a stone down again, but there was no sound of either a thud or a splash. He looked upwards, and could see the faint gleam of daylight that slid round the broken slab of stone lying a little way down the shaft-the slab on which Tim had sat, waiting to be rescued.
“Yes,” he said,“this is the well all right. Isn’t it queer? Well-now we’ve found the well we know that the entrance to the dungeons isn’t very far off!”
That cheered them all up tremendously. They took hands and hunted around in the dark, their torches making bright beams of light here and there.
Anne gave a screech of excitement. “Here’s the entrance! It must be, because I can see faint daylight coming down!”
The children rounded a corner and sure enough, there was the steep, rocky flight of steps leading upwards. Julian took a quick look round so that he might know the way to go when they came down again. He didn’t feel at all certain that he would find the wooden door!
They all went up into the sunshine. It was delicious to feel the warmth on their heads and shoulders after the cold air down in the dungeons. Julian looked at his watch and gave a loud exclamation.
“It’s half-past six! Half-past six! No wonder I feel hungry. We haven’t had any tea. We’ve been working, and wandering about those dungeons for hours.”
“Well, let’s have a kind of tea-supper before we do anything else,” said Dick. I don’t feel as if I’ve had anything to eat for about twelve months.”
“Well, considering you ate about twice as much as anyone else at dinner-time,” began Julian, indignantly. Then he grinned. “I feel the same as you,” he said. “Come on!-let’s get a really good meal. George, what about boiling a kettle and making some cocoa, or something? I feel cold after all that time underground.”
It was fun boiling the kettle on a fire of dry sticks. It was lovely to lie about in the warmth of the evening sun and munch bread and cheese and enjoy cake and biscuits. They all enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Tim had a good meal too. He hadn’t very much liked being underground, and had followed the others very closely indeed, his tail well down. He had been very frightened, too, of the curious echoes here and there.
Once he had barked, and it had seemed to Tim as if the whole of the dungeons were full of other dogs, all barking far more loudly than he could. He hadn’t even dared to whine after that! But now he was happy again, eating the titbits that the children gave him, and licking George whenever he was near her.
It was past eight o’clock by the time that the children had finished their meal and tidied up. Julian looked at the others. The sun was sinking, and the day was no longer so warm.
“Well,” he said, “I don’t know what you feel. But I don’t somehow want to go down into those dungeons again today, not even for the sake of smashing in that door with the axe and opening it! I’m tired, and I don’t like the thought of losing my way in those dungeons at night.”
The others heartily agreed with him, especially Anne, who had secretly been dreading going down again with the night coming on. The little girl was almost asleep; she was so tired out with hard work and excitement.
“Come on, Anne!” said George, pulling her to her feet. “Bed for you. We’ll cuddle up together in the rugs on the floor of that little room-and in the morning when we wake we’ll be simply thrilled to think of opening that big wooden door.”
All four children, with Tim close behind, went off to the little stone room. They curled up on their piles of rugs, and Tim crept in with George and Anne. He lay down on them, and felt so heavy that Anne had to push him off her legs.
He sat himself down on her again, and she groaned, half-asleep. Tim wagged his tail and thumped it hard against her ankles. Then George pulled him on to her own legs and lay there, feeling him breathe. She was very happy. She was spending the night on her island. They had almost found the ingots, she was sure. She had Tim with her, actually sleeping on her rugs. Perhaps everything would come right after all-somehow.
She fell asleep. The children felt perfectly safe with Tim on guard. They slept peacefully until the morning, when Tim saw a rabbit through the broken archway leading to the little room, and sped away to chase it. He awoke George as he got up from the rugs, and she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
“Wake up!” she cried to the others. “Wake up, all of you! It’s morning! And we’re on the island!”
They all awoke. It was really thrilling to sit up and remember everything. Julian thought of the big wooden door at once. He would soon smash it in with his axe, he felt sure. And then what would they find?
They had breakfast, and ate just as much as ever. Then Julian picked up the axe they had brought and took everyone to the flight of steps. Tim went too, wagging his tail, but not really feeling very pleased at the thought of going down into the queer places where other dogs seemed to bark, and yet were not to be found. Poor Tim would never understand echoes!
They all went down underground again. And then, of course, they couldn’t find the way to the wooden door! It was most tiresome.
“We shall lose our way all over again,” said George, desperately. “These dungeons are about the most rambling spread-out maze of underground caves I’ve ever known! We shall lose the entrance again too!”
Julian had a bright idea. He had a piece of white chalk in his pocket, and he took it out. He went back to the steps, and marked the wall there. Then he began to put chalk-marks along the passages as they walked in the musty darkness. They came to the well, and Julian was pleased.
“Now,” he said, “whenever we come to the well we shall at least be able to find the way back to the steps, because we can follow my chalk-marks. Now the thing is-which is the way next? We’ll try and find it and I’ll put chalk-marks along the walls here and there-but if we go the wrong way and have to come back, we’ll rub out the marks, and start again from the well another way.”
This was really a very good idea. They did go the wrong way, and had to come back, rubbing out Julian’s marks. They reached the well, and set off in the opposite direction. And this time they did find the wooden door!
There it was, stout and sturdy, its old iron nails rusty and red. The children stared at it in delight. Julian lifted his axe.