Blyton, Enid – Famous Five 15 – Five On a Secret Trail

‘Jet! Oh, Jet! Where’s Guy?’ cried Harry, as the little dog leapt into his arms and licked his face lavishly, barking joyfully in between the licks.

‘GUY!’ yelled Julian. ‘Are you there?’

A weak voice came back. ‘Yes! Who’s that?’ An absolute volley of voices anwered him.

‘It’s us! And Harry! We’re coming to you, we shan’t be long!’

And it wasn’t long, either, before the roof-fall was slowly and carefully climbed by each one – though Timmy, of course, scrambled up, over and down at top speed!

On the other side of the roof-fall was a passage, of course, the continuation of the one the children had come along. Guy was there, sitting down, looking very pale. Jet flung himself on him and licked him as if he hadn’t seen him for a month, instead of just a minute or two before!

‘Hallo!’ said Guy, in a small voice. ‘I’m all right. It’s just my ankle, that’s all. I’m jolly glad to…’

But before he could say a word more, Harry was beside him, his arms round him, his voice choking.

‘Guy! Oh, Guy! I’ve been a beast, I wouldn’t be friends! What happened to you? Are you really all right? Oh Guy, we are friends again, aren’t we?’

‘Look out Harry, old son,’ said Julian gently. ‘He’s fainted. Now just let’s be sensible and everything will come all right. Flap your hanky at him, Dick, and give him a little air. It’s only the excitement!’

In half a minute Guy opened his eyes and smiled weakly. ‘Sorry!’ he said. ‘I’m all right now. I only hope this isn’t a dream, and that you really are here!’

‘You bet we are!’ said Dick. ‘Have a bit of chocolate, then you’ll know we’re real!’

‘Good idea!’ said Julian. ‘We’ll all have some – and I’ve some biscuits in my pocket too. We’ll eat and talk – and we’ll make plans at the same time. Catch, Guy – here’s a biscuit!’

Chapter Eighteen

THE WAY OUT

Guy soon told his story. It was much as the others had imagined.

‘I was fast asleep this morning, with Jet curled up to me,’ he said. ‘He began to bark and I wondered why, so I got up to see – and I saw four people in the camp.’

‘The four we know!’ said Dick, and Julian nodded. ‘Go on, Guy.’

‘They were looking all over the place,’ said Guy, ‘prising up rocks, messing about – so I yelled at them. But they only laughed. Then one of the men, who was trying to prise up a slab – the slab that covers that great hole underground, Harry – you remember it? – well, this man gave a yell and said ‘I’ve got it! This is the way in – down here, behind this slab!’

Guy stopped, looking very angry. Jet licked him comfortably. ‘Well,’ he went on, ‘I set Jet on them, and they kicked him cruelly – so I went for them.’

‘You’re a plucky one, aren’t you!’ said Dick, admiringly. ‘Did you knock them all out, by any chance?’

‘No. Of course not,’ said Guy. ‘One of the men pretty well knocked me out though. He hit me on the head and I went down, dazed. I heard him say “drat this kid – he’ll be fetching help, and we shan’t be able to get down and hunt for the goods.” And then another man said “We’ll take him with us then,” and they got hold of me and dragged me through the opening.’

‘But how did they get down into that great hole?’ said Harry in wonder. ‘There is such a steep drop into it. You need a rope.’

‘Oh, they had a rope all right,’ said Guy, munching his biscuit and chocolate and looking decidedly better. ‘One of the men had one tied round and round his waist. They knotted it fast round a rock – that big one we can’t move, Harry – and then they swung down on it. All except the woman. She said she’d stay at the top and keep watch. She hid behind a bush some way off.’

‘I never saw her when I came along!’ said Harry. ‘I never thought of looking there! What about you? Did you get down too?’

‘Yes. I screamed and shouted and kicked and howled, but it wasn’t a bit of good. They made me swing down the rope – and I fell off half-way down and hurt my ankle. I howled at the top of my voice for help, and they hurried me along with them, shaking me like a rat.’

‘The beasts!’ said Harry, fervently. ‘Oh, the beasts!’

‘I heard one of them say that there should be a tunnel out of the hole somewhere, it was marked on Paul’s plan – whatever that may be – and then I think I must have fainted – the pain of my ankle, you know. And when I came to myself again, we were all here, the three men and I – beside this roof-fall – though I really don’t know how we got here. They must have dragged me along with them!’

‘And that’s all, is it?’ asked Julian.

‘Not quite. They were furious when they saw the roof-fall, but as soon as they began to scrabble in it a rock rolled down and hit one of the men quite a crack – and after that they were afraid to do anything. They stood and talked for a bit – and then they decided to go and get some tools, and come down again to see if they could remove all this stuff and get through it.’

‘Good gracious!’ said Julian, startled. ‘Then they may be back at any moment?’

‘I suppose so. They left me here because they couldn’t think of anything else to do with me! They knew I couldn’t walk, because of my ankle. I think it’s broken. So of course, I couldn’t possibly find my way out myself! And here I’ve been waiting for those brutes to come back, and to hack through the rubble to go after whatever it is they want!’

Everyone began to feel rather uncomfortable at the thought that three violent men might be appearing at any moment. ‘Is it very far to the opening you came down?’ asked Julian. But Guy didn’t know. He had fainted, as he had said, and he didn’t even know what way they had come.

‘It can’t be far,’ said Harry. ‘I think it would be worth while trying to find the opening, see if the men have left the ropes there, and get out that way. If Guy’s ankle really is broken, he couldn’t possibly manage to go back the long way we’ve come.’

‘No. That’s true,’ said Julian, thoughtfully. ‘Well, that’s what we’ll do then. But we’ll go jolly cautiously, without a sound, because it might be just our luck to meet those fellows on their way back here!’

‘Shall we start?’ said George. ‘What about Guy?’

Julian knelt down beside the boy, and gently examined his ankle. ‘I’ve done my First Aid Training, like everybody else!’ he said. ‘And I ought to know if his ankle is broken or just sprained.’

He examined the swollen ankle carefully. ‘It’s not broken. I believe I could bandage it tightly with a couple of large hankies. Give me yours, Dick.’

The others watched admiringly as Julian deftly and confidently bandaged Guy’s swollen ankle. ‘There!’ he said. ‘You can perhaps hobble on it now, Guy. It may hurt, but I don’t think it will damage it. Try. You’ll have to go barefoot because your ankle is too swollen for your shoe to go on.’

Very gingerly Guy stood up, helped by Harry. He tried his hurt foot, and it certainly seemed all right to hobble on, though it was very painful. He grinned round at the others’ anxious faces.

‘It’s fine!’ he said. ‘Come on, let’s go! We don’t want to bump into those fellows if we can help it. Thank goodness we’ve got Jet and Timmy.’

They set off down the passage, flashing their torches in front as usual, to show them the way. The tunnel was quite wide and high here, and in a very short time came out into an enormous pit underground.

‘Ah – this is the hole I saw down behind the slab where the rabbit went,’ said Dick. ‘We weren’t very far from the camp, as we thought. I’m surprised that when this pit was explored, the underground passages were not discovered, Guy!’

‘I expect the men exploring it came to the roof-fall and thought there was nothing beyond,’ said Guy. ‘Or maybe they were afraid of going further in case of further falls. They can be very dangerous, you know. Many a man has been buried under one and never heard of again.’

They looked round the enormous hole – it was really a huge round pit. Daylight showed in the roof at one place.