Famous Five 19 Five Go to Demons Rocks (15 page)

Dick grinned. ‘Come on, Ju, - up we go! I can see the light through the trap-door at the top. The girls have left it open, bless them!’

And soon the two boys were clambering out of the trap-door, with Timmy barking madly and licking their necks, the girls and Tinker too excited for words!

‘What happened? Didn’t you get out of the tunnel to find help for us? Were those men there? What happened?’

‘Plenty!’ said Julian. ‘But unfortunately we didn’t get past Ebby and Jacob, who were lying in wait for us. So we’re still stuck in this light-house, with nobody to help us. BUT...’

‘But what?’ asked George, shaking his arm ‘Julian, you look excited. What’s happened?’

‘We found the treasure!’ said Julian. ‘Come on - we’ll tell you all about it!’ And he led the way up the spiral stairway, with Tinker and the excited girls close behind.

Soon the boys were telling their story, and George and Anne and Tinker listened and exclaimed and danced about, and were altogether marvellous listeners to a marvellous tale.

‘It MUST have been the treasure - in an iron-bound chest - oh, Ju, weren’t you excited when the coins poured out?’

‘Yes. It was certainly a very fine moment,’ said Julian. ‘Mischief, stop pulling my hair. My word. It’s been an exciting morning! What about a drink of lemonade - and by the way, what’s the weather been like? We couldn’t see a thing down below!’

‘Oh, it’s awful again, Julian!’ said Anne. ‘There’s another storm coming - look at those scurrying black clouds.’

‘It does look bad,’ said Julian, his excitement leaving him, as he saw clearly that another big storm was blowing up. ‘We certainly shouldn’t be able to get out of here today, even if we could get out of the door!’

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‘Julian, Tinker found his father’s old pocket radio in a cupboard,’ said Anne. ‘And it still works. We listened to the weather report, and it gave an important warning to all ships at sea or by the coast. It said they must run to safety as soon as they could.’

‘Well, I’m blessed if I know what to do for the best,’ said Julian, looking out of the window. ‘How in the world are we to let people know we’re here, marooned in the lighthouse? We’ll simply have to think of something!’

But that was easier said than done! How did one get help when there was no way to get help? How did one escape out of a locked light-house when there was no key?

‘I’m thirsty,’ said Tinker. ‘I’ll get some lemonade.’

‘Well, go slow with it, then,’ said Dick. ‘You don’t know how long we may be locked up here - and we haven’t endless food and drink!’

Tinker looked alarmed. ‘Might we be locked up here for weeks and weeks?’ he said.

‘If people thought we had left the light-house and gone back home because of the bad weather, we might easily be here for some time,’ said Julian, soberly. ‘Nobody would bother about us - they’d think we were safe at home.’

‘But Mother would soon feel worried if she didn’t hear from us,’ said George. ‘We said we’d send her a card each day, you know - and if she doesn’t have one for a day or two, she would be sure to get worried, and send someone over here.’

‘Hurrah for mothers!’ said Dick, relieved. ‘All the same - I don’t fancy a week or so here with hardly anything to eat. We’ll have plenty of one thing though - and that’s rain water!’

‘There must be some way out of this,’ said Julian, who had been sitting silent, frowning at his thoughts.

‘Can’t we get a message out somehow? Are there any flags here, Tinker, that we could wave out of a window?’

‘No,’ said Tinker. ‘I’ve never seen any. What about a white table-cloth? We’ve one of those.’

‘Yes. That would do,’ said Julian. ‘Fetch it, Tinker.’

Tinker pulled it off the table and gave it to Julian. Julian went to the window and looked through the glass, which was misted with spray. ‘I don’t expect anyone will notice a table-cloth being shaken out of this window,’ he said. ‘But I’ll try it. My word - the window’s hard to open. It seems to have stuck.’

He opened it at last, and immediately an enormous gust of wind came in, and everything went flying - papers, books, carpets - chairs fell over, and poor Mischief was blown from one side of the light-house room to the other. Timmy barked in fright and tried to catch the flying papers as they went by his nose. The table-cloth disappeared at once!

Julian managed to close the window again after a terrific effort, and once more the room became peaceful. ‘Whew!’ said Julian. ‘I didn’t guess there was such a gale outside. I should think that table-cloth is about five miles away by now! The gulls will get a surprise when it comes flapping along in the sky.’

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George couldn’t help laughing at that, frightened though she was. ‘Oh, Julian - it was a jolly good thing you didn’t fly off with the table-cloth! My word, what a gale! I wonder the light-house stands it.’

‘Well, we do feel a buffet now and again,’ said Dick. ‘There - did you feel that? It was either a wave bumping into the rocks, or spray forced against us - I distinctly felt the light-house shake a little.’

‘Rubbish!’ said Julian, seeing Anne’s scared face. ‘Don’t make silly jokes like that.’

‘You’re quite sure that the light-house can’t be blown down?’ said Anne, in a small voice.

‘Dear Anne, use your common-sense,’ said Julian. ‘Would it have stood for all these years if it hadn’t been strong enough to stand against storms far worse than this?’

‘Mischief is feeling frightened too,’ said Tinker. ‘He’s gone and hidden, look.’

‘Well, long may he stay there,’ said Julian. ‘At least, he’s not trying to open the biscuit-tin, or delve into the bag of sweets! I should just like to know how many of our sweets he has eaten up to now!’

WHOOOOOOOOSH!

That was an extra big gale of wind that buffeted the light-house, and made Timmy stand up and growl. Rain pattered against the window, sounding as if someone was throwing pebbles.

Julian was very worried. It really did look as if the stormy weather was going on and on.

It might quite well continue for a few days, and their food certainly would not last long.

There were still some tins left, and they had plenty of water, of course - the rain saw to that - but somehow they were all always so hungry!

‘Cheer up, Julian,’ said George. ‘You do look grim.’

‘I feel it,’ said Julian. ‘I cannot for the life of me think of any way to escape from here, or even to get help. We’ve no way of signalling...’

‘Pity the light-house lamp is no longer going,’ said Tinker. ‘That would have been a fine signal.’

To Tinker’s enormous surprise Julian suddenly gave a shout, leapt up, came over to Tinker, and gave him such a clap on the back that the surprised boy almost fell off his chair!

‘W-w-what’s the matter?’ stammered Tinker, rubbing his shoulder.

‘Don’t you see - perhaps we can set the old lamp going, and make it shine out as it used to do - not to warn ships, of course - but to make people realize that we are prisoners in the light-house!’ said Julian, jubilantly. ‘Tinker - do you know if it’s possible to light the lamp?’

‘I think so,’ said Tinker. ‘My father showed me how it worked, and I think I remember. Oh

- and there’s a bell that can be struck, too!’

‘Better and better!’ said Julian. ‘Where is the bell?’

‘It was dismantled and put away,’ said Tinker. ‘It used to hang in that sort of verandah place that runs outside, round the lamp-room - there’s a big hook for it there.’

‘Oh - it hung in that outside gallery, did it?’ said Julian. ‘Well - that means that one of us would have to go out there in the wind and hang it up - not too good! There must be a ninety-mile-an-hour gale up there. Anyway, let’s get the bell and have a look at it.’

The great bell was down in the store-room, covered up. It was made of brass, and once had had a hammer that struck it at intervals, worked by some simple machinery. But the machinery was in pieces - no good at all!

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‘We’ll take the bell upstairs,’ said Julian. ‘Gosh, it’s heavy as lead. Dick, I’ll want your help.’

Between them the two boys carried the heavy bell up to the living-room, and Tinker brought up the old hammer that used to strike it. Julian and Dick held up the bell by its loop of iron. ‘Hit it with the hammer, Tinker,’ said Julian. ‘See if it stills sounds loudly.’

Tinker struck it hard with the hammer - and at once a great deep clang filled the room from side to side, making Timmy jump almost out of his skin. He and Mischief left the room at top speed, and fell down the spiral stairway together. All the others jumped too, and stared at one another in awe. The sound of the bell went booming round and round the room, filling their ears so that they had to shake their heads to try and get rid of the sound. Julian at last clasped the rim of the bell with both his hands and the sound died away.

‘What a WONDERFUL bell!’ he said, in awe. ‘Look how old it is, too - see, it says “Cast in 1896”! My word - if only we could get it hung up in its place on the gallery, the sound of it would go right to the village and beyond! I wonder how many ships heard it in the old days, booming out every now and again as the hammer struck it.’

Tinker raised the hammer again, but Dick stopped him. ‘No - you saw how scared Timmy and Mischief were. They’ll probably jump through a window, glass and all, if we sound the bell again!’

‘We’ll wait till we think the wind has died down a bit, and then try to hang the bell,’ said Julian. ‘Now let’s look at the lamp. Will it want oil, Tinker?’

‘It may do - though I think there’s some still in it, left when the light-house was closed down,’ said Tinker. ‘But there is plenty down in the store-room.’

‘Good,’ said Julian, feeling decidedly more cheerful. ‘Now - if the gale dies down at all, we’ll try to hang the bell. We can strike that as soon as it’s hung, and not wait till we light the lamp.’

But the gale seemed to get worse, and Julian really did wonder if the old light-house would stand up to it! Should he take everyone down to the store-room? Just in case? ‘I will if the gale gets worse,’ he thought. ‘Though if the light-house should fall, there wouldn’t be much chance for us, whatever part of it we’re in!’

They went up to the lamp-room in the afternoon and looked at the great old lamp. Tinker explained how it worked. ‘It used to go round and round mechanically,’ he said, ‘and there were screens here - and here - that shut out the light in places as it went round -

so that the light seemed to go on and off, if any ship was watching it - it seemed to flash, you see, instead of to shine steadily. Ships noticed it more quickly then.’

The screens were broken in pieces. There was still some oil in the lamp, but Julian added more. The wick seemed perfectly good. Now if only they could light the lamp, and keep it going, someone would be sure to see it, and wonder about it!

Julian felt in his pocket for matches. As the lamp-room was enclosed in glass, it was easy to keep the match alight. He touched the oily wick with it - and hey, presto! the lamp was lighted!

It was a very big lamp, and, close to, the light was quite blinding. Dick crowed with delight. ‘We’ve done it! Old light-house, you’re going to shine once more tonight! You’re alive again!’

‘Now to hang the bell,’ said Julian, and he cautiously opened the door leading on to the gallery outside, having waited until the wind died down for a moment. He and Dick lifted the bell up to the hook there and slipped the iron loop over it. It hung there, swinging, and Julian lifted the hammer - but at that moment a great gust took him and he staggered, almost falling over the railing!

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Dick caught him just in time, and, with George’s help, dragged him into the lamp-room.

They were all very white-faced! ‘That was a narrow escape,’ said George, her hands shaking and her body trembling. ‘We’ll have to be careful if we go out on the gallery again! Perhaps we had better rely only on the lamp.’

‘I vote we all go down and have some hot tea,’ said Julian, thankful for his escape. His legs felt shaky as he went down the stairs. He was most surprised! Julian was seldom scared, and it was peculiar to have legs that suddenly gave at the knees!

However, everyone soon recovered when they were drinking hot tea and eating ginger biscuits. ‘I wish it was dark so that we could see how bright the light is from the lamp when it shines,’ said Dick. ‘It will be dark very quickly today.’

It was! So dark that the light streaming from the old lamp at the top of the light-house was brilliant! It cut a shining path through the night, gleaming yellow.

And through the roar of the sea went a great clanging, as Julian, with Dick holding on to him, struck the old bell hanging in the gallery.

‘Listen!’ said George, her hand on Timmy’s collar.

‘Listen! BOOM. BOO-OOO-OOM! BOOOOM! Tim, that bell must feel happy tonight - it’s found its voice again!’

BOOOOOOOOOM! Has anyone heard that old bell on this stormy night? Has anyone seen the light from the old old lamp?

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Down in the village of Demon’s Rocks that night, people drew their curtains, made up their fires, and sat down in their arm-chairs. They were thankful not to be out in the wind and the rain.

Old Jeremiah Boogle was lighting his pipe, sitting by his own roaring fire, when he heard a sound that made him drop the flaring match, and listen in amazement.

BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOM!

‘A bell! A bell I’ve not heard for nigh on forty years!’ said old Jeremiah, standing up, hardly able to believe his ears. ‘No - it can’t be the light-house bell. That’s been gone for many a day!’

BOOOOOOOOM!

Jeremiah went to his window and pulled aside the old curtain. He stared out - and could not believe his eyes! He gave a yell. MILLIE! Come look here! Lighthouse lamp is shining out! MILLIE! Where’s that granddaughter of mine? MILLIE!’