No. Gussy was no climber, and although Jack and Philip would certainly have had a shot at clambering down the creeper, Gussy was afraid he might fall.
‘Unlock this door!’ cried a voice, but Gussy did not obey. Then two of the men flung themselves against it, and it broke down easily. They clambered over the broken panels and went to Gussy. He screamed.
One of the men bowed to him. ‘Your Highness, we have not come to harm you. We have come to take you back to Tauri-Hessia to be crowned King in the place of your uncle. He is not liked, your uncle. The people want you instead.’
‘It’s a lie!’ shouted Gussy, trembling. ‘I’ve been told all about it. My uncle is too strong a ruler for you, and you want a boy instead who will do as he is told. I will not come!’
All this was said in his own language, so that the girls, listening fearfully in their room below, did not understand a word. Philip pushed by the men at the door of Bill’s room and ran up to Gussy.
‘Look here,’ he said fiercely to the two men there. ‘You know that the British Government and your own Government won’t let you make Gussy King. You’ll get into trouble with our Government, you know. You’ll be clapped into prison either here or in your own country.’
The men, joined by the other two below, had a quick conference. Philip didn’t understand a word. Then the tall man with the eyeglass bowed slightly to Philip.
‘You too will come with us,’ he said, ‘and the other children as well. You will-er-be companions for our little Prince-and we do not think your Government will be too angry when they know we hold you also!’
‘Oh! So you think you’ll take us and make us a kind of hostage, do you?’ said Philip, quite beside himself with rage. ‘You think you can bargain with our Government just because you’ll hold us prisoners! My word, you don’t know the British people. You’ll be sorry for this! Holding us to ransom! I never heard such a fatheaded idea in my life. You aren’t living in the Middle Ages, you know!’
The man heard him out to the end, quite politely. Then he made a motion with his hand, and two of the men pounced on Philip and Gussy and held them in such a vice-like grip that it was quite hopeless to get away.
‘Run, you two girls, run!’ yelled Philip at the top of his voice, hoping that Dinah and Lucy-Ann would have the sense to rush into the woods and get away. But although they did manage to tear downstairs, they found a man in the hall, and he was quite able to hold the two kicking, yelling girls until yet another fellow came to his help.
Sharp orders were given by the man with the eyeglass, who seemed to be in command. One man detached himself and went upstairs. He came down with an assortment of clothes for the girls and Gussy, who was, of course, still in his beautiful silk pyjamas. The girls were in pyjamas and dressing-gowns, but had no slippers on. The man was sent back to fetch shoes.
‘Where’s Bill?’ said Lucy-Ann, with chattering teeth. ‘I want Bill. What have they done with him? And where’s Aunt Allie?’
‘Don’t be frightened,’ said the man with the eyeglass, patting her. ‘We shall treat you very kindly. We shall not hurt you. It will be nice for the little Prince Aloysius to have his friends with him. You will have a fine time in Tauri-Hessia.’
Lucy-Ann suddenly realized that Jack was missing. She looked round wildly for him. ‘Where’s Jack? What have you done with Jack?’
‘Ah, yes-there was another boy. I remember now,’ said the chief man. ‘Where is he?’
‘Out bird-watching,’ said Philip, sullenly. His only hope now was that Jack would see and hear this disturbance and go to fetch help before they were all whisked away. He had given up struggling. What was the use? He would only get hurt, and he could see that if the girls were going to be captured, he certainly must go with them to look after them as best he could.
‘Bird-watching! At this time of night!’ said the man. ‘What strange habits you Britishers have! We will not wait for this boy Jack. We do not need him.’
They opened the front door again, and pushed the four children out in front of them, holding their arms tightly. ‘It is of no use to scream,’ said the chief, still very politely. ‘There is no one to hear you-and we should gag you if you did scream.’
‘Philip-what shall we do?’ asked Dinah, scarlet with rage at being captured like this.
‘Nothing,’ said Philip. ‘Just-er-hope for the best.’
Dinah guessed what he meant. Perhaps even at this very minute Jack was bringing help!
Lucy-Ann stumbled along miserably in her dressing-gown. She had been allowed to put on her shoes, and so had the others. She was worried about Bill and her aunt, and very very worried about Jack. Would she be taken off to Tauri-Hessia and have to leave Jack for months and months? Where was Jack?
Jack was down in the quarry with Kiki. He had found plenty of owls hooting and screeching there, for, as the old farm-hand had said, it was a wonderful hunting-place for owls of all kinds.
Kiki had been having the time of her life. She had hooted and screeched and twitted, and had brought a crowd of owls almost down to Jack’s shoulders. One owl, a barn-owl, had screeched deafeningly in his ear, and had struck him with a wing.
Jack decided that he was too easily seen where he stood. He must get under a bush somewhere, or else the next owl might scratch his face with a sharp talon or two!
He moved to the other side of the quarry and made his way to a big hedge there. As he drew near, the moonlight glinted on something under the hedge. Something that shone brightly. Jack stopped. What could it be?
He went cautiously forward, and saw that something dark and long and very big was under the tall hedge, as close to it as possible. The moonlight caught its polished surface here and there.
‘Gosh! It’s a car!’ said Jack, in the greatest astonishment. ‘A car exactly like the one the couple have at the farm-it must be the same one. What’s it doing here?’
He went over to it. It was empty. Nobody was in it at all. The key had been taken out so that it could not be driven away.
‘Has somebody parked it here to go and spy round Quarry Cottage?’ wondered Jack. He went to the back of the car. It had an enormous luggage boot. Jack opened it and peered inside. It was empty except for an extra inner tube and a few tools.
Kiki hooted again, and an owl answered her. ‘Be quiet now, Kiki,’ said Jack. ‘We’ve got to do a bit of spying. We’ll creep back to Quarry Cottage and see if there’s anyone snooping round there.’
But before he could do that, he heard the sound of footsteps coming into the quarry, and he dived into some bushes.
The footsteps made quite a lot of noise, because there were eight people coming into the deserted quarry, where the car had been parked. Jack peered out of his bush and saw, to his great alarm, that Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann and Gussy were all being held very firmly indeed! He stared, bewildered, unable to think what to do.
Kiki suddenly screeched-but it was not an owl-screech, it was a real parrot screech-and Philip recognized it at once. It was Kiki! Then Jack must be somewhere in the quarry still!
He gave a shout. ‘They’re taking us away! Tell Bill!’
The man holding him gave him a shove. ‘You were told not to shout! What’s the use of shouting here? There’s no one to hear you!’
But there was, of course. There was Jack. But what was Jack to DO?
Chapter 13
THE EXTRA PASSENGER
JACK stared in distress at the four children being bundled into the car-Philip and Dinah at the back with three men, and Gussy and Lucy-Ann in front with the driver. What a crowd! If anyone saw the car going along with such a number of people in, surely it would be noticed and stopped?
‘Yes, it would,’ thought Jack, ‘so that means they can’t be going very far-they will arrive at their destination before daylight. Are they going to take them to some hiding-place fairly near then? Why in the world have they got Philip and the girls as well as Gussy?’
Everyone was now in the car. The doors were shut as quietly as possible. The engine was started up-and just at that very moment Jack had an idea!