The old stone slab that Tim had sat on when he fell down the well was still there. Dick climbed down to it and tested it. It was immovable.
“It’s safe for you to sit on, Anne, if you don’t want to keep clinging to the ladder,” he whispered. So Anne sat shivering on the stone slab across the well-shaft, waiting to see if they were discovered or not. They kept hearing the voices of the men, now near at hand and now far-off. Then the men began to shout for them.
“Dick! Anne! The others want you! Where are you? We’ve exciting news for you.”
“Well, why don’t they let Julian and George come up and tell us then?” whispered Dick. “There’s something wrong, I know there is. I do wish we could get to Julian and George and find out what has happened.”
The two men came into the courtyard. They were angry. “Where have those kids got to?” said Jake. “Their boat is still in the cove, so they haven’t got away. They must be hiding somewhere. We can’t wait all day for them.”
“Well, let’s take some food and drink down to the two we’ve locked up,” said the other man. “There’s plenty in that little stone room. I suppose it’s a store the children brought over. We’ll leave half in the room so that the other two kids can have it. And we’ll take their boat with us so that they can’t escape.”
“Right,” said Jake. “The thing to do is to get the gold away as quickly as possible, and make sure the children are prisoners here until we’ve made a safe getaway. We won’t bother any more about trying to buy the island. After all, it was only the idea of getting the ingots that put us up to the idea of getting Kirrin Castle and the island.”
“Well-come on,” said his companion. “We will take the food down now, and not bother about the other kids. You stay here and see if you can spot them while I go down.”
Dick and Anne hardly dared to breathe when they heard all this. How they hoped that the men wouldn’t think of looking down the well! They heard one man walk to the little stone room. It was plain that he was getting food and drink to take down to the two prisoners in the dungeons below. The other man stayed in the courtyard, whistling softly.
After what seemed a very long time to the hidden children, the first man came back. Then the two talked together, and at last went off to the cove. Dick heard the motor-boat being started up.
“It’s safe to get out now, Anne,” he said. “Isn’t it cold down here? I’ll be glad to get out into the sunshine.”
They climbed out and stood warming themselves in the hot summer sunshine. They could see the motor-boat streaking towards the mainland.
“Well, they’re gone for the moment,” said Dick. “And they’ve not taken our boat, as they said. If only we could rescue Julian and George, we could get help, because George could row us back.”
“Why can’t we rescue them?” cried Anne, her eyes shining. “We can go down the steps and unbolt the door, can’t we?”
“No-we can’t,” said Dick. “Look!”
Anne looked to where he pointed. She saw that the two men had piled big, heavy slabs of broken stone over the dungeon entrance. It had taken all their strength to put the big stones there. Neither Dick nor Anne could hope to move them.
“It’s quite impossible to get down the steps,” said Dick. “They’ve made sure we shan’t do that! And you know we haven’t any idea where the second entrance is. We only know it was somewhere near the tower.”
“Let’s see if we can find it,” said Anne eagerly. They set off to the tower on the right of the castle-but it was quite clear that whatever entrance there might have been once, it was gone now! The castle had fallen in very much just there, and there were piles of old broken stones everywhere, quite impossible to move. The children soon gave up the search.
“Blow!” said Dick. “How I do hate to think of poor old Julian and George prisoners down below, and we can’t even help them! Oh, Anne-can’t you think of something to do?”
Anne sat down on a stone and thought hard. She was very worried. Then she brightened up a little and turned to Dick.
“Dick! I suppose-I suppose we couldn’t possibly climb down the well, could we?” she asked. “You know it goes past the dungeons-and there’s an opening on the dungeon floor from the well-shaft, because don’t you remember we were able to put in our heads and shoulders and look right up the well to the top? Could we get past that slab, do you think-the one that I sat on just now, that has fallen across the well?”
Dick thought it all over. He went to the well and peered down it. “You know, I believe you are right, Anne,” he said at last. “We might be able to squeeze past that slab. There’s just about room. I don’t know how far the iron ladder goes down though.”
“Oh, Dick-do let’s try,” said Anne. “It’s our only chance of rescuing the others!”
“Well,” said Dick, ‘I’ll try it-but not you, Anne. I’m not going to have you falling down that well. The ladder might be broken half-way down-anything might happen. You must stay up here and I’ll see what I can do.”
“You will be careful, won’t you?” said Anne, anxiously. “Take a rope with you, Dick, so that if you need one you won’t have to climb all the way up again.”
“Good idea,” said Dick. He went to the little stone room and got one of the ropes they had put there. He wound it round and round his waist. Then he went back to Anne.
“Well, here goes!” he said, in a cheerful voice. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be all right.”
Anne was rather white. She was terribly afraid that Dick might fall right down to the bottom of the well. She watched him climb down the iron ladder to the slab of stone. He tried his best to squeeze by it, but it was very difficult. At last he managed it and after that Anne could see him no more. But she could hear him, for he kept calling up to her.
“Ladder’s still going strong, Anne! I’m all right. Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” shouted Anne down the well, hearing her voice echo in a funny hollow manner. “Take care, Dick. I do hope the ladder goes all the way down.”
“I think it does!” yelled back Dick. Then he gave a loud exclamation. “Blow! It’s broken just here. Broken right off. Or else it ends. I’ll have to use my rope.”
There was a silence as Dick unwound the rope from his waist. He tied it firmly to the last but one rung of the ladder, which seemed quite strong.
“I’m going down the rope now!” he shouted to Anne. “Don’t worry. I’m all right. Here I go!”
Anne couldn’t hear what Dick said after that, for the well-shaft made his words go crooked and she couldn’t make out what they were. But she was glad to hear him shouting even though she didn’t know what he said. She yelled down to him too, hoping he could hear her.
Dick slid down the rope, holding on to it with hands, knees and feet, glad that he was so good at gym at school. He wondered if he was anywhere near the dungeons. He seemed to have gone down a long way. He managed to get out his torch. He put it between his teeth after he had switched it on, so that he might have both hands free for the rope. The light from the torch showed him the walls of the well around him. He couldn’t make out if he was above or below the dungeons. He didn’t want to go right down to the bottom of the well!
He decided that he must have just passed the opening into the dungeon-caves. He climbed back up the rope a little way and to his delight saw that he was right. The opening on to the dungeons was just by his head. He climbed up till he was level with it and then swung himself to the side of the well where the small opening was. He managed to get hold of the bricked edge, and then tried to scramble through the opening into the dungeon.
It was difficult, but luckily Dick was not very big. He managed it at last and stood up straight with a sigh of relief. He was in the dungeons! He could now follow the chalk-marks to the room or cave where the ingots were-and where he felt sure that George and Julian were imprisoned!