He brought down a slim book, whose pages were of very thin paper. He opened the book and George saw many beautifully drawn diagrams, and pages of notes in her father’s small neat handwriting.
‘Here you are,’ said her father; handing her the book, ‘do the best you can. If anything happens to me, this book will still enable my fellow-workers to give my idea to the world. If I come through this all right, I shall be glad to have the book, because it will mean I shall not have to work Out all my experiments again.’ George took the precious book. She stuffed it into her macintosh pocket, which was a big one. ‘I’ll keep it safe, Father. Now I must go and find Timmy, or those two men will be back before I can hide in one of the other caves.’ She left her father’s cave and went into the next one. There was nothing there at all. Then on she went down a passage that twisted and turned in the rock.
And then she heard a sound she longed to hear. A whine! Yes, really a whine! ‘Timmy!’ shouted George, eagerly. ‘Oh Timmy! I’m coming!’ Timmy’s whine stopped suddenly. Then he barked joyously. ‘Woof, woof, woof, woof!’ George almost fell as she tried to run down the narrow tunnel. Her torch showed her a big boulder that seemed to be blocking up a small cave in the side of the tunnel. Behind the boulder Timmy barked, and scraped frantically! George tugged at the stone with all her strength. ‘Timmy!’ she panted. ‘Timmy! I’ll get you out! I’m coming! Oh, Timmy!’ The stone moved a little. George tugged again. It was almost too heavy for her to move at all, but despair made her stronger than she had ever been in her life. The stone quite suddenly swung to one side, and George just got one of her feet out of its way in time, or it would have been crushed.
Timmy squeezed out of the space left. He flung himself on George; who fell on the ground with her arms tight round him. He licked her face and whined, and she buried her nose in his thick fur in joy. ‘Timmy! What have they done to you? Timmy, I came as soon as I could!’ Timmy whined again and again in joy, and tried to paw and lick George as if he couldn’t have enough of her. It would have been difficult to say which of the two was the happier.
At ‘last George pushed Timmy away firmly. ‘Timmy, we’ve got work to do! We’ve got to escape from here and get across to the mainland and bring help.’ ‘Woof,’ said Timmy. George stood up and flashed her torch into the tiny cave where Timmy had been. She saw that there was a bowl of water there and some biscuits. The men had not ill-treated him, then, except to lasso him and half-choke him when they caught him. She felt round his neck tenderly, but except for a swollen ridge there, he seemed none the worse.
‘Now hurry up – we’ll go back to Father’s cave — and then find another cave beyond his to hide in till the two men come back from the tower. Then we’ll creep out into the little stone room and row back to the mainland,’ said George. ‘I’ve got a very, very important book here in my pocket, Timmy.’ Timmy growled suddenly, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose up. George stiffened, and stood listening.
A stern voice came down the passage. ‘I don’t know who you are or where you’ve come from — but if you have dared to let that dog loose he’ll be shot! And, to show you that I mean what I say, here’s something to let you know I’ve a revolver!’ Then there came a deafening crash, as the man pulled the trigger, and a bullet hit the roof somewhere in the passage. Timmy and George almost jumped out of their skins. Timmy would have leapt up the passage at once, but George had her hand on his collar. She was very frightened, and tried hard to think’ what was best to do.
The echoes of the shot went on and on. It was horrid. Timmy stopped growling, and George stayed absolutely still.
‘Well?’ said the voice, ‘Did you hear what I said? If that dog is loose, he’ll be shot. I’m not having my plans spoilt now. And you, whoever you are, will please come up the tunnel and let me see you. But I warn you – if the dog’s with you, that’s the end of him!’ ‘Timmy! Timmy, run away and hide somewhere!’ whispered George suddenly. And then she remembered something else that filled her with despair. She had her father’s precious book of notes with her – in her pocket! Suppose the man found it on her? It would break her father’s heart to know that his wonderful secret had been stolen from him after all.
George hurriedly took the thin, flat little book from her pocket. She pushed it at Timmy. ‘Put it in your mouth. Take it with you, Tim. And go and hide till it’s safe to come. Quick! Go, Timmy, go! I’ll be all right.’ To her great relief Timmy, with the book in his mouth, turned and disappeared down the tunnel that led further, under the sea. How, she hoped he would find a safe hiding place! The tunnel must end soon – but maybe before it did, Timmy would settle down in some dark corner and wait for her to call him again.
‘Will you come up the passage or not?’ shouted the voice, angrily. ‘You’ll be sorry if I have to come and fetch you – because I shall shoot all the way along!’ ‘I’m coming!’ called George, in a small voice, ‘and she went up the passage. She soon saw a beam of light, and in a moment she was in the flash of a powerful torch. There was a surprised exclamation.
‘Good heavens! A boy! What are you doing here, and where did you come from?’ George’s short curly hair made the man with the torch think she was a boy, and George did not tell him he was wrong. The man held a revolver, but he let it drop as he saw George.
‘I only came to rescue my dog, and to find my father,’ said George, in a meek voice.
‘Well, you can’t move that heavy stone!’ said the man. ‘A kid like you wouldn’t have the strength. And you can’t rescue your father either! We’ve got him prisoner, as you no doubt saw.’ ‘Yes,’ said George, delighted to think that the man was sure she had not been strong enough to move the big stone. She wasn’t going to say a word about Timmy! If the man thought he was still shut up in that tiny cave, well and good! Then she heard her father’s voice, anxiously calling from somewhere beyond the man. ‘George! Is that you? Are you all right?’ ‘Yes, Father!’ shouted back George, hoping that he would not ask anything about Timmy. The man beckoned her to come to him. Then he pushed her in front of him and they walked to her father’s cave.
‘I’ve brought your boy back,’ said the man. ‘Silly little idiot — thinking he could set that savage dog free! We’ve got him penned up in a cave with a big boulder in front!’ Another man came in from the opposite end of the cave. He was amazed to see George. The other man explained.
‘When I got down here, I heard a noise out beyond this cave, the dog barking and someone talking to him and found this kid there, trying to set the dog free. I’d have shot the dog, of course, if he had been freed.’ ‘But – how did this boy get here?’ asked the other man, still amazed.
‘Maybe he can tell us that!’ said the other. And then, for ‘the first time, George’s father heard how George had got there and why.
She told them how she had watched for Timmy in the glass room of the tower and hadn’t seen him – and that had worried her and made her suspicious. So she had come across to the island in her boat at night, and had seen where the men came from. She had gone down the tunnel, and kept on till she came to the cave, where she had found her father.
The three men listened in silence. ‘Well, you’re a tiresome nuisance,’ one of the men said to George, ‘but my word, you’re a son to be proud of. It’s not many boys would have been brave enough to run so much risk for anyone.’ ‘Yes. I’m really proud of you, George,’ said her father. He looked at her anxiously. She knew what he was thinking what about his precious book? Had she been sensible enough to hide it? She 4id not dare to let him know anything while the men were there.