And then George suddenly remembered something he had said to them all, the first time they had visited him on the island. What was it now? ‘Oh yes! He said he had to have water above and around him!’ said George. ‘Now I see what he meant! His workroom is somewhere down here — so the sea-water is above him — and it’s all round the tower, because it’s built on an island!’ Water above and water around — so that was why her father had chosen Kirrin Island for his experiment. How had he found the secret passage under the sea, though? ‘Why, even I didn’t know of that,’ said George. ‘Hallo -what am I coming to?’ She stopped. The passage had suddenly widened out into an enormous dark cave, whose roof was unexpectedly high, lost in dark shadows. George stared round. She saw queer things there that she didn’t understand at all — wires, glass boxes, little machines that seemed to be at work without a sound, whose centres were alive with queer, gleaming, shivering light.
Sudden sparks shot up now and again, and when that happened a funny smell crept round the cave. ‘How weird all this is!’ thought George. ‘However can Father understand all these machines and things! I wonder where he is. I do hope those men haven’t made him prisoner somewhere!’ From this queer, Aladdin’s cave another tunnel led. George switched on her torch again and went into it. It was much like the other one, but the roof was higher.
She came to another cave, smaller this time, and crammed with wires of all kinds. There was a curious humming sound here, like thousands of bees in a hive. George half-expected to see some flying round.
‘It must be these wires making the noise,’ she said. There was nobody in the cave at all, but it led into another one, and George hoped that soon she would find Timmy and her father.
She went into the next cave, which was perfectly empty and very cold. She shivered. Then down another passage, and into a small cave. The first thing she saw beyond this tiny cave was a light! A light! Then perhaps she was coming to the cave her father must be in! She flashed her torch round the little cave she was now standing in and saw tins of food, bottles of beer, tins of sweets, and a pile of clothes of some sort. Ah, this was where her father kept his stores. She went on to the next cave, wondering why Timmy had not heard her and come to greet her.
She looked cautiously into the cave where the light came from. Sitting at a table, his head in his hands, perfectly still, was her father! There was no sign of Timmy.
‘Father!’ said George. The man at the table jumped violently and turned round. He stared at George as if he really could not believe his eyes. Then he turned back again, and buried his face in his hands. ‘Father!’ said George again, quite frightened because he did not say anything to her.
He looked round again, and this time he got up. He stared at George once more, and then sat down heavily. George ran to him ‘What’s the matter? Oh Father, what’s the matter? Where’s Timmy?’ ‘George! Is it really you, George? I thought I must be dreaming when I looked up and saw you!’ said her father. ‘How did you get here? Good gracious, it’s impossible that you should be here!’ ‘Father, are you all right? What’s happened – and where’s Timmy?’ said George, urgently. She looked all round, but could see no sign of him. Her heart went cold. Surely nothing awful had happened to Timmy?
‘Did you see two men?’ asked her father. ‘Where were they?’ ‘Oh Father — we keep asking each other questions and not answering them!’ said George. ‘Tell me first — where is Timmy?’ ‘I don’t know,’ said her father. ‘Did those two men go to the tower?’ ‘Yes,’ said George. ‘Father, what’s happened?’ ‘Well, if they’ve gone to the tower, we’ve got about an hour in peace,’ said her father. ‘Now listen to me, George, very carefully. This is terribly important.’ ‘I’m listening,’ said George. ‘But do hurry up and tell me about Timmy.’ ‘These two men were parachuted down on to the island, to try and find out my secret,’ said her father. ‘I’ll tell you what my experiments are for, George – they are to find a way of replacing all coal, coke and oil – an idea to give the world all the heat and power it wants, and to do away with mines and miners.’ ‘Good gracious!’ said George. ‘It would be one of the most wonderful things the world has ever known.’ ‘Yes,’ said her father. ‘And I should give it to the whole world – it shall not be in the power of any one country, or collection of men. It shall be a gift to the whole of mankind – but, George, there are men who want my secret for themselves, so that they may make colossal fortunes out of it.’ ‘How hateful!’ cried George. ‘Go on, Father — how did they hear of it?’ ‘Well, I was at work on this idea with some of my colleagues, my fellow-workers,’ said her father. ‘And one ‘of them betrayed us, and went to some powerful business men to tell them of my idea. So when I knew this I decided to come away in secret and finish my experiments by myself. Then nobody could betray me.’ ‘And you came here!’ said George. ‘To my island.’ ‘Yes — because I needed water over me and water around me,’ said her father. ‘Quite by chance I looked at a copy of that old map, and thought that if the passage shown there — the one leading from the little stone room, I mean – if the passage there really did lead under the sea, as it seemed to show, that would be the ideal place to finish my experiments.’ ‘Oh Father — and I made such a fuss!’ said George, ashamed to remember how cross she had been.
‘Did you?’ said her father, as if he had forgotten all about that. ‘Well, I got all my stuff and came here. And now these fellows have found me, and got hold of me!’ ‘Poor Father! Can’t I help?’ said George. ‘I could go back and bring help over here, couldn’t I?’ ‘Yes, you could!’ said her father. ‘But you mustn’t let those men see you, George.’ ‘I’ll do anything you want me to, Father, anything!’ said George. ‘But first do tell me what’s happened to Timmy?’ ‘Well, he kept by me all the time,’ said her father. ‘Really, he’s a wonderful dog, George. And then, this morning, just as I was coming out of the entrance in that little room to go up into the tower with Timmy to signal, the two men pounced on me and forced me back here?
‘But what happened to Timmy?’ asked George, impatiently. Would her father never tell her what she wanted to know?
‘He flew at the men, of course,’ said her father. ‘But somehow or other one of them lassoed him with a noose of rope, and caught him. They pulled the rope so tight round his neck that he almost choked.’ ‘Oh, poor, ‘poor Timmy,’ said George, and the tears ran down her cheek. ‘Is he — do you think – he’s all right, Father?’ ‘Yes. From what I heard the men saying afterwards I think they’ve taken him to some cave and shut him in there,’ said her father. ‘Anyway, I saw one of them getting some dog-biscuits out of a bag this evening — so that looks as if he’s alive and kicking — and hungry!’ George heaved a great sigh of relief. So long as Timmy was alive and all right! She took a few steps towards what she thought must be another cave. ‘I’m going to find Timmy, Father,’ she said. ‘I must find him!’
Chapter Seventeen
TIMMY AT LAST
‘No, George!’ called her father sharply. ‘Come back. There is something very important I want to say. Come here!’ George went over to him, filled with impatience to get to Timmy, wherever he was. She must find him! ‘Now listen,’ said her father. ‘I have a book in which I have made all my notes of this great experiment. The men haven’t found it! I want you to take it safely to the mainland, George. Don’t let it out of your sight! If the men get hold of it they would have all the information they needed!’ ‘But don’t they know everything just by looking at your wires and machines and things?’ asked George.
‘They know a very great deal,’ said her father, ‘and they’ve found out a lot more since they’ve been here -but not quite enough. I daren’t destroy my book of notes, because if anything should happen to me, my great idea would be completely lost. So, George, I must entrust it to you and you must take it to an address I will give you, and hand it to the person there.’ ‘It’s an awful responsibility,’ said George, a little scared of handling a book which meant so much, not only to her father, but possibly to the whole of the world. ‘But I’ll do my best, Father. I’ll hide, in one of the caves till the men come back, and then I’ll slip back up the passage to the hidden entrance, get out, go to my boat and row back to the mainland. Then I’ll deliver your book of notes without fail, and get help sent over here to you.’ ‘Good girl,’ said her father, and gave her a hug. ‘Honestly, George, you do behave as bravely as any boy. I’m proud of you.’ George thought that was the nicest thing her father had ever said to her. She smiled at him. ‘Well, Father, I’ll go and see if I can find Timmy now. I simply must see that he’s all right before I go to hide in one of the other caves.’ ‘Very well,’ said her father. ‘The man who took the biscuits went in that direction still further under the sea, George. Oh by the way – how is it you’re here, in the middle of the night?’ It seemed to strike her father for the first time that George also might have a story to tell. But George felt that she really couldn’t waste any more time – she must find Timmy! ‘I’ll tell you later, Father,’ she said. ‘Oh where’s that book of notes?’ Her father rose and went to the back of the cave. He took a box and stood on it. He ran his hand along a dark ridge of rock, and felt about until he had found what ‘he wanted.