THEO caught hold of Mary's hand and pulled her quickly away from the cove. He was afraid that whoever had come to the island might be somewhere about and see them. The boy took Mary to the little stone room where their things were and they sat down in a corner.
"Whoever has come has discovered Justin and Stephen smashing in that door, I should think," said Theo, in a whisper. "I simply can't think what to do. We mustn't go down into the dungeons or we'll most certainly be caught. Hallo— where's Tim off to?"
The dog had kept with them for a while but now he ran off to the entrance of the dungeons. He disappeared down the steps. He meant to get back to Stephen, for he knew she was in danger. Theo and Mary stared after him. They had felt comforted while he was there, and now they were sorry he had gone.
They really didn't know what to do. Then Mary had an idea. "I know!" she said, "we'll row back to the land in our boat and get help."
"I'd thought of that," said Theo, gloomily. "But you know perfectly well we'd never know the way in and out of those awful rocks. We'd wreck the boat. I'm sure we're not strong enough either to row all the way back. Oh, dear— I do wish we could think what to do."
They didn't need to puzzle their brains long. The men came up out of the dungeons and began to hunt for the two children! They had seen Tim when he came back and had found the note gone. So they knew the two children had taken it— and they couldn't imagine why they had not obeyed what Stephen had said in the note, and come down to the dungeons!
Theo heard their voices. He clutched hold of Mary to make her keep quiet. He saw through the broken archway that the men were going in the opposite direction.
"Mary! I know where we can hide!" said the boy, excitedly. "Down the old well! We can climb down the ladder a little way and hide there. I'm sure no one would ever look there!"
Mary didn't at all want to climb down the well even a little way. But Theo pulled her to her feet and hurried her off to the middle of the old courtyard. The men were hunting around the other side of the castle. There was just time to climb in. Theo slipped aside the old wooden cover of the well and helped Mary down the ladder. She was very scared. Then the boy climbed down himself and slipped the wooden cover back again over his head, as best he could.
The old stone slab that Tim had sat on when he fell down the well was still there.
Theo climbed down to it and tested it. It was immovable.
"It's safe for you to sit on, Mary, if you don't want to keep clinging to the ladder," he whispered. So Mary sat shivering on the stone slab across the well-shaft, waiting to see if they were discovered or not. They kept hearing the voices of the men, now near at hand and now far-off. Then the men began to shout for them.
"Theo! Mary! The others want you! Where are you? We've exciting news for you."
"Well, why don't they let Justin and Stephen come up and tell us then?" whispered Theo. "There's something wrong, I know there is. I do wish we could get to Justin and Stephen and find out what has happened."
The two men came into the courtyard. They were angry. "Where have those kids got to?" said Jake. "Their boat is still in the cove, so they haven't got away. They must be hiding somewhere. We can't wait all day for them."
"Well, let's take some food and drink down to the two we've locked up," said the other man. "There's plenty in that little stone room. I suppose it's a store the children brought over. We'll leave half in the room so that the other two kids can have it. And we'll take their boat with us so that they can't escape."
"Right," said Jake. "The thing to do is to get the gold away as quickly as possible, and make sure the children are prisoners here until we've made a safe getaway. We won't bother any more about trying to buy the island. After all, it was only the idea of getting the ingots that put us up to the idea of getting Aucrea Castle and the island."
"Well—come on," said his companion. "We will take the food down now, and not bother about the other kids. You stay here and see if you can spot them while I go down."
Theo and Mary hardly dared to breathe when they heard all this. How they hoped that the men wouldn't think of looking down the well! They heard one man walk to the little stone room. It was plain that he was getting food and drink to take down to the two prisoners in the dungeons below. The other man stayed in the courtyard, whistling softly.
After what seemed a very long time to the hidden children, the first man came back. Then the two talked together, and at last went off to the cove. Theo heard the motor-boat being started up.
"It's safe to get out now, Mary," he said. "Isn't it cold down here? I'll be glad to get out into the sunshine."
They climbed out and stood warming themselves in the hot summer sunshine. They could see the motor-boat streaking towards the mainland.
"Well, they're gone for the moment," said Theo. "And they've not taken our boat, as they said. If only we could rescue Justin and Stephen, we could get help, because Stephen could row us back."
"Why can't we rescue them?" cried Mary, her eyes shining. "We can go down the steps and unbolt the door, can't we?"
"No— we can't," said Theo. "Look!"
Mary looked to where he pointed. She saw that the two men had piled big, heavy slabs of broken stone over the dungeon entrance. It had taken all their strength to put the big stones there. Neither Theo nor Mary could hope to move them.
"It's quite impossible to get down the steps," said Theo. "They've made sure we shan't do that! And you know we haven't any idea where the second entrance is. We only know it was somewhere near the tower."
"Let's see if we can find it," said Mary eagerly. They set off to the tower on the right of the castle— but it was quite clear that whatever entrance there might have been once, it was gone now! The castle had fallen in very much just there, and there were piles of old broken stones everywhere, quite impossible to move. The children soon gave up the search.
"Blow!" said Theo. "How I do hate to think of poor old Justin and Stephen prisoners down below, and we can't even help them! Oh, Mary— can't you think of something to do?"
Mary sat down on a stone and thought hard. She was very worried. Then she brightened up a little and turned to Theo.
"Theo! I suppose— I suppose we couldn't possibly climb down the well, could we?" she asked. "You know it goes past the dungeons— and there's an opening on the dungeon floor from the well-shaft, because don't you remember we were able to put in our heads and shoulders and look right up the well to the top? Could we get past that slab, do you think— the one that I sat on just now, that has fallen across the well?"
Theo thought it all over. He went to the well and peered down it. "You know, I believe you are right, Mary," he said at last. "We might be able to squeeze past that
slab. There's just about room. I don't know how far the iron ladder goes down though."
"Oh, Theo— do let's try," said Mary. "It's our only chance of rescuing the others!"
"Well," said Theo, 'I'll try it— but not you, Mary. I'm not going to have you falling down that well. The ladder might be broken half-way down— anything might happen. You must stay up here and I'll see what I can do."
"You will be careful, won't you?" said Mary, anxiously. "Take a rope with you, Theo, so that if you need one you won't have to climb all the way up again."
"Good idea," said Theo. He went to the little stone room and got one of the ropes they had put there. He wound it round and round his waist. Then he went back to Mary.
"Well, here goes!" he said, in a cheerful voice. "Don't worry about me. I'll be all right."
Mary was rather white. She was terribly afraid that Theo might fall right down to the bottom of the well. She watched him climb down the iron ladder to the slab of stone. He tried his best to squeeze by it, but it was very difficult. At last he managed it and after that Mary could see him no more. But she could hear him, for he kept calling up to her.
"Ladder's still going strong, Mary! I'm all right. Can you hear me?"
"Yes," shouted Mary down the well, hearing her voice echo in a funny hollow manner. "Take care, Theo. I do hope the ladder goes all the way down."
"I think it does!" yelled back Theo. Then he gave a loud exclamation. "Blow! It's broken just here. Broken right off. Or else it ends. I'll have to use my rope."
There was a silence as Theo unwound the rope from his waist. He tied it firmly to the last but one rung of the ladder, which seemed quite strong.
"I'm going down the rope now!" he shouted to Mary.
"Don't worry. I'm all right. Here I go!"
Mary couldn't hear what Theo said after that, for the well-shaft made his words go crooked and she couldn't make out what they were. But she was glad to hear him shouting even though she didn't know what he said. She yelled down to him too, hoping he could hear her.
Theo slid down the rope, holding on to it with hands, knees and feet, glad that he was so good at gym at school. He wondered if he was anywhere near the dungeons. He seemed to have gone down a long way. He managed to get out his torch. He put it between his teeth after he had switched it on, so that he might have both hands free for the rope. The light from the torch showed him the walls of the well around him. He couldn't make out if he was above or below the dungeons. He didn't want to go right down to the bottom of the well!
He decided that he must have just passed the opening into the dungeon-caves. He climbed back up the rope a little way and to his delight saw that he was right. The opening on to the dungeons was just by his head. He climbed up till he was level with it and then swung himself to the side of the well where the small opening was. He managed to get hold of the bricked edge, and then tried to scramble through the opening into the dungeon.
It was difficult, but luckily Theo was not very big. He managed it at last and stood up straight with a sigh of relief. He was in the dungeons! He could now follow the chalk-marks to the room or cave where the ingots were— and where he felt sure that Stephen and Justin were imprisoned!
He shone his torch on the wall. Yes— there were the chalk-marks. Good! He put his head into the well-opening and yelled at the top of his voice.
"Mary! I'm in the dungeons! Watch out that the men don't come back!"
Then he began to follow the white chalk-marks, his heart beating fast. After a while he came to the door of the store-room. As he had expected, it was fastened so that Stephen and Justin couldn't get out. Big bolts had been driven home at the top and bottom, and the children inside could not possibly get out. They had tried their hardest to batter down the door, but it was no good at all.
They were sitting inside the store-cave, feeling angry and worn out. The man had brought them food and drink, but they had not touched it. Tim was with them, lying down with his head on his paws, half-angry with Stephen because she hadn't let him fly at the men as he had so badly wanted to. But Stephen felt certain that Tim would be shot if he tried biting or snapping.
"Anyway, the other two had sense enough not to come down and be made prisoners too," said Stephen. "They must have known there was something funny about that note when they saw I had signed myself Stephina instead of Stephen. I wonder what they are doing. They must be hiding."
Tim suddenly gave a growl. He leapt to his feet and went to the closed door, his head on one side. He had heard something, that was certain.
"I hope it's not those men back again already," said Stephen. Then she looked at Tim in surprise, flashing her torch on to him. He was wagging his tail!
A great bang at the door made them all jump out of their skins! Then came Theo's cheerful voice. "Hi, Justin! Hi, Stephen! Are you here?"
"Wuffffff!" barked Tim, joyfully and scratched at the door.
"Theo! Open the door!" yelled Justin in delight. "Quick, open the door!"