Jack remembered that they had planned an outing in the moonlight, and he nodded. They might as well get a little sleep first. Gussy went up with them. The girls stayed down to finish their books and then went up too.
‘I’ll set my little alarm clock for eleven,’ said Philip to Jack, in a low voice, not wanting Gussy to hear. ‘I’ll put it under my pillow and it won’t wake anyone but me. Gosh, I’m sleepy.’
In ten minutes all the five children were fast asleep. Downstairs Bill and his wife sat listening to the radio. ‘We’ll hear the ten o’clock news and then go to bed,’ said Bill.
But, just as the ten o’clock news was about to come on, there came a cautious tapping at the front door. Bill stiffened. Who was that? He looked at his wife, and she raised her eyebrows. Who could that be at this time of night?
Bill went quietly to the door. He didn’t open it, but spoke with his mouth close to the crack.
‘Who’s there?’
‘Oh, sir, Mrs. Ellis has sent me down to beg you to come up to the farm,’ said an anxious voice. ‘It’s her old aunt. She’s fallen down and broken her hip. Can you come? Mrs. Ellis is in such a way! She sent me to ask you, because the doctor’s away.’
Bill opened the door. He saw a bent figure, wrapped round in a shawl. It must be Alice, the old woman who helped Mrs. Ellis in the kitchen. ‘Come in,’ he said.
‘No, sir, I’ll be getting back,’ said the old woman. ‘You’ll come, won’t you?’
‘Yes, we’ll come,’ said Bill. He shut the door and went back to tell his wife.
‘It’s a message from Mrs. Ellis about the old aunt. Apparently she has fallen and broken her hip,’ he said. ‘Will you go, Allie? I’ll take you there, of course, and then I must leave you and come back here, because of Gussy. But Mr. Ellis will bring you back, unless you stay for the night.’
‘Yes, I’d better go at once,’ said Mrs. Cunningham. ‘Poor Mrs. Ellis! Just what she was afraid might happen!’
She got her things on, and Bill and she went out of the door. ‘It’s not worth waking up the children and telling them,’ he said. ‘They’re sound asleep. Anyway, I’ll be back here in a few minutes’ time.’
He shut the door quietly, made sure he had the key with him to open it when he came back, and then set off with his wife. What a wonderful moonlight night! Really, he would quite enjoy the walk!
Chapter 11
HAPPENINGS IN THE NIGHT
THE moonlight streamed down over the countryside as Bill and his wife set out. ‘What a lovely night!’ said Bill. ‘As light as day, almost!’
They went up the tiny lane, hurrying as much as they could. ‘I’ll ask at the farm if Mr. Ellis can bring you back,’ Bill said, ‘I won’t stay even a minute. I’m worried about Gussy. I may get a glimpse of Madame Tatiosa and her companion-but I don’t particularly want them to see me.’
They were passing a little copse of trees, a patch of dense black shadow in the surrounding moonlight. Bill and his wife walked by, not seeing a small movement in the shadows.
Then things happened very quickly indeed. Four shadows came from the copse of trees, running silently over the grass. Bill turned at a slight sound-but almost as he turned someone leapt on him and bore him to the ground.
Mrs. Cunningham felt an arm round her, and a hand pressed over her mouth. She tried to scream, but only a small sound came from her.
‘Don’t struggle,’ said a voice. ‘And don’t scream. We’re not going to hurt you. We just want you out of the way for a short time.’
But Bill did struggle, of course. He knew what these men were after-Gussy! He groaned in anger at himself. This was a trick, of course! Old Aunt Naomi hadn’t had a fall! There had been no real message from the farm. It was all a ruse to get them out of the house, so that it would be easy to kidnap Gussy.
Someone gagged his mouth by wrapping a cloth firmly round his face. He could hardly breathe! He wondered how his wife was getting on, but he could see and hear nothing. He stopped struggling when at last his arms were pinned behind him, and tied together with rope.
There was nothing he could do. It was four against two, and as they had been taken by surprise they were at a great disadvantage. Perhaps he would be able to undo the rope that bound him when his captors had gone to get Gussy. He might still prevent the kidnapping.
Mrs. Cunningham was scared, and did her best to get away, but one man was quite sufficient to hold her and bind her hands and feet. She too was gagged so that she could not scream.
‘We are sorry about this,’ said a man’s voice, quite politely. ‘It is important to us to take the little Prince out of your hands. His country needs him. We shall not harm him in any way-and we have not harmed you either. We have merely put you to some inconvenience. Once we have the Prince one of us will come to untie you, if it is possible. If not-well, you will be found by some farm-labourer early in the morning.’
The men left Bill and his wife against a haystack, protected from the wind. One of them had gone through Bill’s pockets first, and had taken out the key of the cottage.
Bill listened as the men went off. Were they gone? He rubbed his head against the ground trying to get off the cloth bound round his face. Was his wife all right?
He was furious with himself. To walk into a trap as easily as all that! The woman with the message must have been one of the gang, of course. No wonder she wouldn’t come in. He should have been suspicious about that. An ordinary messenger would have waited for them and then walked to the farm in their company.
He remembered the ‘ting’ of the telephone that Jack said he had heard that afternoon. That must have been Madame Tatiosa or her companion telephoning to their headquarters to say that they knew where the Prince was, and requesting help to capture him. Another car must have come down that evening with other members of the gang. It all fitted in so well-but poor Bill saw the plot after it had been carried out, instead of before!
He wondered what was happening at Quarry Cottage. He believed the man who had said that he was not going to harm the little Prince. All they wanted to do was to depose his uncle and set Gussy up in his place. Poor Gussy! He would be made to do all that the gang wanted, and his life would be very miserable.
Nothing was happening just then at Quarry Cottage. All the five children were fast asleep, and so was Kiki. The window of the boys’ bedroom was shut, as Bill had ordered-but of what use was that when the enemy had the key to the front door!
Time crept on-and eleven o’clock came. Philip’s alarm clock went off under his pillow, whirring in a muffled way that woke him up with a jump. At first he didn’t know what the noise was, then he remembered.
‘Eleven o’clock!’ he thought, and slid his hand under his pillow to stop the alarm ringing. He sat up. Moonlight poured into the room, and made everything silvery. Just the night for badgers!
He padded across the room and shook Jack. ‘Wake up! Eleven o’clock!’ he whispered, right into his ear. He did not mean to wake Gussy, and have him clamouring to go with them! But Gussy was very sound asleep indeed. The moonlight streamed on to his face, and showed up the long lock of hair that had fallen as usual over his forehead.
Kiki awoke as soon as the alarm went off. But she was used to muffled alarm clocks, and merely gave a little yawn, and stretched her wings. If the boys were going out, she was quite ready! Nothing would persuade her to be left behind.
The two boys dressed quickly in shorts, jerseys and rubber-soled shoes. They took a last glance at Gussy. His mouth was wide open again. Jack grinned as he remembered the bits of grass that Kiki had popped into it on Sugar-Loaf Hill.
They crept downstairs, pausing outside Bill’s bedroom door to make sure all was quiet, and that Bill and his wife were asleep.
‘Can’t hear a thing,’ whispered Jack. ‘They must be very sound asleep! Not even a snore from Bill!’
This wasn’t very surprising, of course, as Bill was at that moment struggling with his ropes as he lay in the shelter of the haystack.