Famous Five 19 Five Go to Demons Rocks (10 page)

‘Oh we’re very comfortable, Constable,’ said Julian, smiling. ‘Why not pay us a call sometime, and see us?’

“Famous Five 19 - Five Go To Demon's Rock” By Enid Blyton
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‘Thanks, sir,’ said the policeman, and took Julian to the door.

The constable was right in forecasting a wet spell. It poured all that afternoon, and the little company in the light-house whiled away the time playing cards. Julian and Dick had managed to find a heavy piece of wood in the store-room to jam the door from the inside. They all felt much safer when they knew that had been done! Now no one could get in without making a terrific noise!

‘I’m stiff,” said George, at last. ‘I want to stretch my legs. I’ve a good mind to run up and down the stairway half a dozen times.’

‘Well, go on, then,’ said Dick. ‘Nobody’s stopping you!’

‘How far down does the light-house go, Tinker?’ asked George. ‘We always scoot up the first bit of the spiral stairway and never think about the light-house foundations deep down in the rock. Are they deep down?’

‘Oh, they are,’ said Tinker, looking up from his book. ‘My father told me that when the light-house was built, they drilled right down into the rock for a long way - made a kind of shaft. And he said that under these rocks there are all kinds of queer holes and tunnels -

the drill kept shooting downwards when it came to a sudden space.’

‘Really?’ said Dick interested. ‘I hadn’t thought of what would have to be done to make a high lighthouse safe from the gales and storms. It would have to have deep foundations, of course!’

‘My father found an old map somewhere,’ said Tinker. ‘A sort of plan made when the light-house was first built.’

‘Like architects draw when they plan how to build a house?’ said Anne.

‘Yes. Something like that,’ said Tinker. ‘I can’t remember much about it. I know it showed all the rooms in the light-house, connected by the spiral stairway - and it showed the big lamp-room at the top - and at the bottom of the map the foundation shaft was drawn.’

‘Can you go down the shaft?’ asked Dick. ‘Is there a ladder, or anything?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Tinker. ‘I’ve never been down there. I never thought about it!’

‘Do you know where the old map is - the one made by the architect who drew up plans for the light-house builder to follow?’said Julian. ‘Where did your father put it?’

‘Oh, I expect he threw it away,’ said Tinker. ‘Wait a minute though - it may be in the lamp-room! I remember him taking it up there, because it had a drawing of how the lamp worked.’

‘Well, I’d rather like to go and see if I can find it,’ said Julian, interested. ‘Come up with me, Tinker. Thank goodness you don’t keep turning into some sort of car now - you must be growing up!’

So the two of them went up the spiral stairway to the lamp-room at the very top of the tower. Again Julian marvelled at the magnificent views all around. The rain had stopped for a time, and the sea, swept by strong winds, was a swirling tumult of angry waters.

Tinker scrabbled about in a little dark space under the lamp. He at last brought up a roll of something white and waved it at Julian. ‘Here’s the map. I thought it would be in the lamp-room.’

Julian took it down to the others, and they spread it out. It showed the plan of the lighthouse, and was very clearly and beautifully drawn.

‘How is it that architects draw so marvellously?’ said George. ‘Are they architects because they can do this kind of thing so well - or do they draw beautifully because they are architects?’

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‘A bit of both, probably,’ said Julian, bending over the finely-drawn plan. ‘Ah - here are the foundations, look - my word, they do go down a long way into the rock!’

‘Great tall buildings like this always have deep, strong foundations,’ said Dick. ‘Last term at school we studied how...’

‘Let’s not talk of school,’ said Anne. ‘It’s already looming in the distance! Tinker - can anyone get down into this foundation place?’

‘l told you - I don’t know,’ said Tinker. ‘Anyway I should think it would be a horrible place down there - dark and smelly, and narrow, and...’

‘Let’s go and see,’ said George, getting up. ‘I’m so bored at the moment that if I don’t do something, I’ll fall asleep for a hundred years.’

‘Ass,’ said Dick. ‘Still - quite a good idea of yours. We’d have a bit of peace while you were sleeping! Oooooch - don’t jab me like that, George!’

‘Come on,’ said George. ‘Let’s trot down and find out what’s down the shaft.’

Anne didn’t want to go down the shaft, but the others ran down the stairway, Timmy too, and soon came to the bottom, opposite the entrance door of the light-house.

Tinker showed them a large round trap-door in the floor there. ‘If we open that, we’ll be looking down into the foundation shaft,’ he said.

So they pulled up the large round wooden trap-door, and gazed downwards. They could see nothing at all except darkness! ‘Where’s my torch?’ said Julian. ‘I’ll fetch it!’

Soon his torch was lighting up the round shaft, and they saw an iron ladder going down it on one side. Julian climbed down a few steps and examined the walls of the shaft.

‘They’re cement!’ he called. ‘And they must be enormously thick, I should think. I’m going on down.’

So down he went, and down, marvelling at the sturdy cement lining of the enormous shaft. He wondered why it had not been filled in. Perhaps a hollow cement-lined shaft was stronger than a filled-in one? He didn’t know.

He came almost to the bottom - but he didn’t go down the last steps of the iron ladder. A peculiar noise came from below him! A gurgling, choking noise! What in the world could it be?

He shone his torch down to see - and then stared in amazement! There was water at the bottom of the shaft, water that swirled and moved around, making a strange hollow, gurgling noise. Where did it come from?

As he watched it, it disappeared - then it came back again! He shone his torch here and there to find out how the water made its way into the shaft.

‘There must be a tunnel or a passage of some sort down there, that the sea can enter!’

he thought. ‘It’s high tide now - so the water is swirling in. I wonder - now I wonder - if it’s free of water when the tide is out! And if so where does that tunnel, or whatever it is, lead to? Or is it always under water? I’ll go back and tell the others - and have another look at that old map!’

He climbed back, glad to be out of the smelly darkness of the old shaft. The others were at the top, looking down rather anxiously.

‘Here he is!’ said George. ‘See anything interesting, Julian?’

‘I did, rather,’ said Julian, climbing out of the shaft ‘Got that old map with you? I want to look at something if so.’

‘Come upstairs, then,’ said Dick. ‘We can see better there. What was down there, Ju?’

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‘Wait till we’re up in the living-room,’ said Julian. He took the map from Tinker as soon as he arrived there, and sat down to look at it. He ran his finger down the shaft to the bottom, and then jabbed at a round mark drawn there.

‘See that? That’s a hole at the bottom of the shaft, through which sea-water is coming.

It’s high tide now, so the water is seeping into the shaft - but it’s only about a foot deep.

At low tide there wouldn’t be a single drop coming in. Wouldn’t I love to know where that water-tunnel went to - up to the surface of the rocks? Through them to somewhere a good way off? Or what!’

‘An undersea tunnel!’ said George, her eyes bright. ‘Why don’t we explore it sometime when the tide is out?’

‘Well - we’d have to be pretty certain we wouldn’t suddenly be drowned!’ said Julian, rolling up the map. ‘Very interesting, isn’t it? I suppose the hole was left in case the constant push of water there, when the tide was in, might undermine the foundation.

Better to have the shaft half full of water than eaten away by constant tides!’

‘Well,’ began Anne, and then suddenly stopped in fright. A stentorian voice came up the stairway, and made everyone jump violently.

‘ANYONE AT HOME? HEY, ANYONE AT HOME?’

‘Who’s that shouting like that?’ said Anne, fearfully. ‘It can’t be the robber, can it?’

‘Of course not,’ said Julian, and went to the door of the living-room. He yelled down the stairway:

‘Who is it? What do you want?’

‘It’s the police!’ shouted back the enormous voice.

‘Oh. Come on up, then,’ said Julian, relieved. Foot-steps could be heard coming up the iron stairway, accompanied by loud puffs and pants. Then a policeman’s helmet appeared, followed by his shoulders and the rest of him. Soon he was standing in the living-room, beaming round at the surprised company, panting with the effort of climbing so many stairs.

‘How did you get in?’ asked George. ‘We jammed the door shut from the inside.’

‘Well, I managed to unjam it, miss,’ said the policeman, mopping his forehead, and smiling. He was the same policeman that Julian had seen that afternoon. ‘Not much protection that, really. You ought to get a new key made.’

‘How did you get over here - the tide’s in,’ said Julian. You couldn’t have walked over Demon’s Rocks.’

‘No, sir. I got Jem Hardy’s boat,’ said the policeman. ‘By the way, my name’s Sharp, sir -

Police Constable Sharp.’

‘A very good name for a policeman,’ said Julian,’ with a cheerful grin. ‘Well, have you caught the thief who took our key, and the other things?’

‘No, sir. But I’ve a pretty good idea who it is,’ said Sharp. ‘I couldn’t find anyone who’d been silting on the quay during the time you were away from the light-house, sir - but I

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did by chance find a lady whose windows look down on the jetty, and she happened to see someone standing about there. She said he went over the rocks to the light-house.’

‘Who was it? The milkman, the postman?’ asked Dick.

‘Oh no, sir, I told your friend they were good fellows,’ said the constable, looking quite shocked. ‘It was er - well, sir, a man who’s a bit of a bad lot.’

‘Who’s that?’ asked Julian, suddenly afraid it might be old Jeremiah. Could he be a bad lot - he had sounded such a good fellow!

‘Well, sir, it’s no one you know,’ said Sharp. ‘It’s one of a family with rather a bad name, sir - a man called Jacob - Jacob Loomer, sir. He comes of a family that used to do a bit of wrecking, and...’

‘Wrecking! Old Jeremiah was telling us of long-ago wreckers!’ said Dick. ‘One was called Nosey - and another was called Bart - relations of a well-known wrecker called One-Ear - er, One-Ear...’

‘Bill,’ said Sharp. ‘Ah yes - One-Ear Bill. He lived a long time ago, when old Jeremiah was a young man. This here Jacob, the one that was seen going into your light-house today, would be his great-great-great grandson, I reckon - something like that. Living image of old One-Ear Bill according to Jeremiah. There’s a bad strain in that family -

can’t seem to get it out!’

‘Well - you say it was Jacob who came into the light house? Why can’t we have him arrested then?’ said Julian. ‘And make him give up the key he took - and the other things?’

‘Well, sir, if you’ll come along with me and identify your things, maybe I can do something about it,’ said the constable. ‘But he may have hidden them all by now -

though he’s that free-handed I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t given them all away. A bit of a fool, Jacob is, as well as a rogue. Ah - he’d have liked the job of wrecking ships, he would - right up his street.’

‘I’ll come with you now,’ said Julian. ‘The others don’t need to, do they?’

‘Oh no - you’ll do, sir,’ said the policeman, and he and Julian went down the spiral stairway to the entrance. The others heard the door bang, and looked at one another.

‘Well! To think that a great-great-great grandson of that horrid old One-Ear Bill is still living in the same place as the old wrecker himself did!’ said Dick. ‘And he’s a rogue too.

History repeating itself?’

‘We must go and see the Wreckers’ Cave tomorrow, if we can,’ said George. ‘Jeremiah Boogie said he would show it to us.’

‘So long as there isn’t an old old wrecker hiding there!’ said Anne. ‘Older than Jeremiah Boogie - with a beard down to his feet - a sort of Old Man of the Sea - with a horrid gurgling voice, and eyes like a fish!’

‘Really, Anne!’ said George astonished. ‘I’ll be scared to go into caves if you say things like that!’

‘I wonder how Julian’s getting on,’ said Tinker. ‘Mischief, stop jigging up and down - you make me feel out of breath!’

Julian was at Jacob’s house, and there, sure enough, were the things he had stolen -

the rug - the clock - and Anne’s purse - empty now!

‘And what about the key?’ demanded the constable. ‘Come on now - you took the key out of the door of the light-house - we know you did. Give it here, Jacob.’

‘I didn’t take it.’ said Jacob, sullenly.

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‘I’ll have to take you in, you know, Jacob,’ said the constable. ‘You’ll be searched at the police-station. Better give up the key now.’

‘Search me all you like!’ said Jacob. ‘You won’t find that key on me. I tell you. I didn’t take it. What would I want that key for?’

‘For the same reason that you usually want keys for,’ said the constable. ‘For breaking in and stealing. All right, Jacob. If you won’t let this young gentleman have his key, I’ll have you searched at the police-station. Come along with me.’

But alas, no key was found on the surly Jacob, and the constable shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows at Julian.

‘If you take my advice, sir, I’d get a different lock put on your door. Jacob’s got your key somewhere. He’ll be at the light-house again as soon as he sees you all go out.’

‘Bah!’ said Jacob, rudely. ‘You and your keys. I tell you I didn’t take it. There wasn’t a key there...’

‘Come along with me, Jacob,’ said the constable. He turned to Julian. ‘Well, that’s all, sir. We’ll have his house searched. The odds are that he’s hidden the key somewhere.