by Энид Блайтон
“Has Dimmy locked herself in?” they wondered. “What’s been happening?”
“All the ground-floor windows are shut too,” said Jack, who had been round looking. “But there’s one open up there - do you see it? I believe if I climb up that old pear tree there, I could wriggle along that branch and get on to the window-sill.”
“Well, be careful then,” said Peggy. “It doesn’t look very safe to me!”
Jack climbed the tree, hoisted up by Mike. He wriggled carefully along the big branch that waved near the window. The other children stood below and watched him - but a shower of little hard pears fell on their heads and they went back a few steps, laughing.
Jack got safely to the window-sill. He opened the window and jumped inside. They heard his footsteps pattering down the stairs.
Then the bolts were shot back, the key was turned, and Jack opened the door. “Come on in,” he said. “We’ll just see if Dimmy is anywhere here - but there’s not a sound in the house.”
The children hunted everywhere for Dimmy. She was gone. The house was quiet and lonely, and the children didn’t know what to do. When would Dimmy come back? Where had she gone? Where was George? Perhaps they could find him.
“Well, I vote we have something to eat,” said Jack at last. “There’s some ham in the larder - I’ve just looked - and some tomatoes too and stale bread. We can pick plums from the garden as well. Come on!”
Over the meal the children talked about what they should do. Should they stay at Peep-Hole till Dimmy came back? But suppose she didn’t come back! They didn’t feel very safe at Peep-Hole, so near the Old House, without Dimmy or George, because perhaps somebody might find out they were there and come to catch poor Paul again.
“Well, I don’t think anyone has seen us come.” said Jack. “And we won’t light a fire, so nobody will see smoke from our chimney. We won’t have any lights on to-night, either. We’ll all sleep together in the top room of the tower, and lock the door and pile furniture against it. Then we’ll be safe!”
“Things are getting a bit too exciting again,” said Nora, who was really beginning to long for a little peace. “I wish Mr. Diaz hadn’t discovered our secret island - we should have been so happy and peaceful there. I don’t like Peep-Hole without Dimmy.”
“I’ll slip out down to the beach and see if George is anywhere about,” said Jack, thinking hard. “If he is he’ll come back with me, I’m sure - and he could tell me what’s happened to Dimmy - and I could tell him what has happened to Mr. Diaz and Luiz!”
The others laughed. They liked to think of Mr. Diaz and Luiz, prisoners on the secret island, not knowing when they were to be taken off!
Jack slipped out of the back door and the others bolted it after him. They decided to keep a watch from the windows, to see if anyone came near. So Peggy and Paul kept watch from the front windows, and Mike and Nora from the back. But nobody came near. Not even a dog barked anywhere. It was all very still and peaceful.
The children talked to one another. Peggy found her knitting, and knitted and chatted to Paul. Mike did a jig-saw puzzle with Nora, looking up every other minute to make sure that nobody was coming in through the back garden.
A loud thumping on the back door startled everybody dreadfully. Mike jumped and dropped the jig-saw on the floor. He had seen nobody come into the back garden. Paul and Peggy ran in from the front room, looking quite scared.
“Who do you suppose it is?” whispered Nora.
“Can’t imagine,” whispered back Mike. “Anyway, we’d better all keep as quiet as possible, then maybe they’ll go away.”
So they all kept very quiet. The thumping came again - somebody banging on the back door with his bare fists. “Bang all you like,” said Mike in a low voice. “You won’t get in!”
“Let me in!” cried a voice - and how they all jumped with joy! For it was Jack’s voice! It was he who was thumping on the door!
“What idiots we are!” cried Mike, leaping to his feet. “We might have guessed it was Jack - but I never thought he’d be back so soon!”
They all tore downstairs to open the door to Jack. He came in, quite cross with them:
“Whatever did you keep me waiting all that time for?” he asked indignantly. “I thought you must have gone to sleep!”
“Sorry, Jack,” grinned Mike. “We didn’t see you come, and we didn’t expect you back so soon. We thought you might be the enemy. How did you get through the back garden without being seen?”
“Crawled under the currant bushes,” said Jack, with a grin. “I thought I’d give you a surprise - but I seem to have given you a good fright instead.”
“Did you see George?” asked Mike eagerly.
“Not a sign of him,” answered Jack. “His boat was there all right - but I couldn’t see him anywhere on the beach, or in the fields either. He seems to have disappeared into thin air just like Dimmy!”
“It’s all very peculiar,” said Mike. “Where in the world has everybody gone - and why is that aeroplane there - and what’s been happening whilst we were on our island?”
“I wish I could tell you,” said Jack. “What about some tea, Peggy? Are there any cakes in the tin?”
Peggy and Nora boiled a kettle for tea, and cut some bread and butter. There was honey on the larder shelf, and some gingerbread in the cake tin. They ate it all, and wished there was more.
“I vote we take something up to the tower bedroom for supper, and go up there now,” said Mike, when they had finished. “We can lock ourselves in, and be safe till morning. The two girls can have my bed, and we three boys can share Jack’s bed and that old sofa. We shall sleep safely till the morning!”
“I feel jolly tired now,” said Nora. “It’s all the excitement, I expect. Let’s take the snap cards up with us and have a game. I shall go to sleep unless I do something!”
So after they had washed up the tea-things, Peggy collected some supper and Jack hunted for the snap cards. They saw that all the downstairs windows and doors were fastened, and then they went upstairs to the top bedroom of the tower. They locked the door and sat down to play snap.
Paul had never played snap before, and he was dreadfully bad at it. He simply could not see when two cards were alike, and the others made him jump when they yelled out “snap.”
“I can see why you call it snap!” he said at last. “You snap at one another like dogs! It is a game for dogs, not children.”
That made the others roar with laughter. And it was whilst they were laughing that they heard a strange noise. They all looked up.
“An aeroplane!” said Jack. “Is it that one in the field going away?”
They rushed to the window. No - the blue and silver plane was still there - but another plane was soaring round and round, on the point of landing. Mike caught up the field-glasses that lay on the window-sill, and looked at the aeroplane through them.
Then he gave such a tremendous yell that poor Paul fell off his chair and tumbled in a heap on the ground!
“Mike! What’s up?” cried the others.
“It’s Daddy’s plane!” shouted Mike, dancing round in joy. “Can’t you see the red on it? I bet Daddy and Mummy have flown over from Ireland, because Dimmy is sure to have let them know about us and Prince Paul! Oh, if they’re back everything’s all right!”
The others screamed with delight, and hung out of the window to watch the plane. It circled down over the field, and came neatly to rest beside the blue and silver plane. The propeller stopped whizzing round. Two people climbed out of the cock-pit, dressed in flying clothes and goggle helmets.
“Come on! It’s Dad and Mummy all right!” shouted Mike. He raced to the door and unlocked it. He tore down the stairs with all the others at his heels and unlocked and unbolted the front door. Then like a pack of dogs the children scampered over the lane, and across the big field to the aeroplanes.
“Children! We thought you were safely on the secret island!” cried their mother’s voice.
She took off her helmet and smiled at them all. They crowded round her and hugged her. Prince Paul held back shyly. But Mrs. Arnold drew him to her and gave him a hug like the rest.
“Where’s Dimmy?” said Captain Arnold. But nobody knew!
The End of the Adventures
“Come on back to Peep-Hole, Dad,” said Mike. “We’ll tell you everything there!”
So they all went back to Peep-Hole, and, sitting in the front room, they talked at the tops of their voices. All that Captain and Mrs. Arnold had heard was that the children had rescued somebody and taken him off to their secret island. Dimmy had sent them a long telegram because they had moved from place to place in Ireland, and she could not get hold of them to telephone the news.
Then they had tried to telephone Dimmy but had got no answer, so they had got into their aeroplane and flown straight over to Spiggy Holes to find out what was the matter.
“And here we are!” said Captain Arnold. “What about some food? I’m famished! We’ve got a hamper in the plane - go and get it, Jack and Mike.”
The boys tore off to get it - but as they went across the lane to the field, they heard the sound of a big car coming down the road. They stopped and looked. Peep-Hole was at the end of the lane - the road stopped just there, so whoever came down the lane must go to Peep-Hole. Who was coming?
The car was full of men. There were at least five. Mike caught hold of Jack’s arm and they fled back to Peep-Hole. “They might be coming to take Paul away!” he yelled. “Quick, come back and we’ll lock the doors. Thank goodness Dad and Mummy are there!”
They shot back into the house and locked the front door. The car stopped outside with a screech of brakes, and four men got out. They were all in some kind of uniform and looked rather grand. They walked up the path and thundered on the knocker.
“Who’s that?” said Captain Arnold in astonishment.
“We don’t know,” said Mike. “But we’ve locked them out in case they’ve come for Paul.”
“My dear boy, nobody can take Paul now I’m here,” said Captain Arnold. “Open the door.”
But somebody else opened the door. Paul had been looking out of the window - and he suddenly gave a most ear-piercing yell, shouted something in a foreign language, and tore to the front door. He struggled with the bolts, yelling all the time.
“He’s gone mad!” said Jack in surprise. “Here, let me help you, Paul, since you’re determined to open the door!”
The door opened. Paul flew through it, flung himself at the front man, and wept tears all down his chest! The man stroked him and patted him, whilst every one looked on in the greatest astonishment.
The man put down Paul and bowed most politely to Captain and Mrs. Arnold.
“I am Paul’s father, the King of Baronia,” he said.
“But we thought you were very ill, and nearly dying!” cried Mike, in surprise.
“Yes. I have been ill, but now I am better, much to the grief of my enemies,” said the king, in a grim sort of voice. “Paul was made prisoner and taken away whilst I lay ill, and we did not know where he was. Then your Miss Dimity informed your good English police, and they sent the message to me that you children had rescued my boy, and had taken him to your secret island.”
“Then is that blue and silver aeroplane yours?” cried Mike. “Paul said he thought it belonged to his country.”
“Yes, we flew over in it, I and my four friends,” said the king. “We came to see Miss Dimity, that brave and good woman, and she and your friend George told us all that had happened.”
“But where is Dimmy?” asked Nora, almost in tears, for she really felt very anxious about Dimmy.
“Miss Dimity is coming in another car,” said the king. “She and George and ourselves all had to go to the police to explain what had happened. She will soon be here.”
And even as he spoke another car drew up outside, and out leapt George to help Miss Dimity. She got out, looking rather pale and tired, but just the same cheerful old Dimmy. She couldn’t believe her eyes when the children rushed to greet her.
“I thought you were safely on your secret island!” she said. “What made you leave it?”
“Oh, Dimmy, it’s a long story!” said Mike. “Come along in - look who’s here!”
“Your father and mother!” said Dimmy, in amazement. “So the second aeroplane is theirs, I suppose. Captain Arnold, I am glad to see you! I couldn’t seem to find out where you were in Ireland. What a meeting this is - Paul’s father and friends, and you too, and the children!”
The little front room was too small to hold them all, so they went into the garden. George brought out seats for everybody, and it was a very gay, noisy party that sat out there and talked and talked.
“If only I could get my hands on Diaz and Luiz, the traitors!” said Paul’s father angrily, as Paul told him how he had been kept prisoner.
“Well, you can if you want to,” said Mike, with a grin. “We’ve made them prisoners now! You can catch them as soon as you please!”
“Where are they then?” cried Dimmy.
“On our secret island without a boat!” laughed Mike. “And there they’ll stay till somebody goes over and catches them!”
Everybody laughed in delight. It was very funny to think of the two bad men being caught like that.
“To-morrow morning I and the policemen will go over in a boat,” said the king grimly. “Diaz and Luiz will be most surprised to see us! They meant to prevent my son Paul from being king after me if I died - and now that I am very much alive, they will be sorry they ever thought of such a plan!”
“Will you take Paul back with you?” said Mike, feeling sorry that they were to lose a boy he liked very much.
“Yes,” said the king. “But next term he is to come to school in your good, safe country of England, and maybe he could go to your school, Jack and Mike?”
“Oh, good!” said the two boys, pleased. “We’ll look after him!”
“I’m sure you will!” said Paul’s father, clapping both boys on the back. “You’ve looked after him marvellously so far!”
“Well, what are we all going to do to-night?” said Dimmy. “I’d like to ask you all to stay with me, but Peep-Hole is too small! I could put Captain and Mrs. Arnold into my spare room, but there’s no other room, I’m afraid.”
“We shall go to the nearest town and stay at the hotel there,” said the king. “Paul must go with us, for I feel I cannot let him out of my sight! To-morrow we will come again, Miss Dimity. Thank you a thousand times for all you have done!”
The king and Prince Paul, and the four men in uniform said good-bye and went to their big car. It started up, and, with a terrific noise, shot up the lane.
“We’ve forgotten all about the hamper of food,” said Jack suddenly. “Let’s go and get it now, Mike. I feel as if I could eat my hat!”
“I’d like to see you!” said Mike. The two of them set off to the aeroplane. They climbed into the cock-pit and found a large hamper there. They carried it between them to Peep-Hole.
They all had a picnic in the garden - George too. How they enjoyed it! They told their stories again and again.
“Mr. Diaz, Mrs. Diaz, and Luiz all came to Peep-Hole in a furious rage the night you went to the secret island,” said Dimmy. “Luckily by the time they got here, George was back, so between the two of us we sent them off. They were quite sure that the prince was here with you.”
“They must have found out somehow about our island, and where it was,” said Mike. “Well, it’s a story that everybody knows, so that wouldn’t have been very difficult. Oh, wouldn’t I like to see the faces of those two on the island to-morrow, when the king and the police go to fetch them!”
And, indeed, Mr. Diaz and Luiz did get a dreadful shock when a boat, full of English policemen, arrived at the secret island the next day! The two men were busy working at making a rough raft to paddle across to the mainland and they did not hear the boat arriving. They looked
up from their work to see the King of Baronia walking towards them, with five men behind him!
The children heard all about it the next day. “That finishes Mr. Diaz and his plots,” said Jack, pleased. “What a good thing we came to Spiggy Holes for our holidays! Young Paul would still have been a prisoner, and we wouldn’t have had all these adventures.”
That evening George came running in, in a state of great excitement. “Come and see,“ he cried. “Come and see!”
The children and Dimmy ran out into the road - and there, coming down the lane, drawn on an enormous trailer, was the finest little motor-boat that anybody could wish for!
“It’s coming to Peep-Hole!” cried Jack.
So it was! It was a present to the four children from the King of Baronia for all their help to his son. The children could hardly believe their eyes!
“What a wonderful present!” they cried. “Oh, George, let’s launch it this evening!”
It was impossible to get the motor-boat down to the beach. It had to be taken to Longrigg and unshipped there. George’s brother helped. It was launched on the calm, evening waters, and everyone got in, Dimmy too. It was so easy to drive that Mike and Jack could take it in turns.
The motor started up with a lovely whirring sound. The little boat leapt forward. Mike swung her out to sea, feeling as proud as could be. A motor-boat of their own! How lucky they were!
Now they’re off, all the way back to Peep-Hole. Good-bye, Mike - good-bye, Jack! Good-bye, Nora and Peggy! You deserve your good luck, and we loved all your adventures. Maybe we’ll hear more of them another day. Good-bye, good-bye!
THE END
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Document ID: d70cf440-36b2-40ae-85e9-aad845e83a0f
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