“The tower rooms have been furnished,” he said. “I found that out from one of the women who is cleaning the place. So they are going to use the tower.”
“Yes - they are going to use the tower!” said Mike, looking at the others. But they did not tell George what they knew. He was very nice - but he was almost grownup and he might think, perhaps, they should tell Miss Dimity - and they did so want to follow the adventure themselves and find out everything before any grown-ups came into it.
That night the children undressed in great excitement. Jack was to take the first watch, from ten o’clock to twelve o’clock. Then Mike was to watch from twelve to two and Nora from two to four. By that time it would be daylight and there would be no need to watch.
The next night Peggy was to begin the watch. “We must sit by this window, and keep our eyes on the tower of the Old House,” said Jack. “If any of us sees a light flashing or burning there, he must wake the others at once - and then we’ll all creep down to the beach, hide in a cave and see if we can spot the boat coming in.”
Peggy and Nora went down to their bedroom. They found it difficult to go to sleep. Mike got into bed and talked to Jack, but they both fell asleep very soon. Jack had set the alarm clock to wake him at ten.
“R-r-r-r-r-r-ring!” It went off shrilly at ten o’clock. Jack sat up and switched it off. “Good thing Dimmy gave us our rooms right away in this tower,” he thought to himself. “She would be waked too, if we slept anywhere near her. Mike, are you awake? Well, go to sleep again. I’m going to watch now, and I’ll wake you at twelve.”
Jack put on a dressing-gown, and sat down by the window that looked towards the tower of the Old House. It was a dark, cloudy night. Jack could not make out the tower, stare as he might.
“Well, I should see it if it had a light in it,” he thought.
An owl hooted in a distant wood. A moth fluttered in a corner near Jack’s head and made him jump. He yawned. After the first five minutes, it was rather boring to sit and look at dark nothingness.
He was glad when it was time to wake Mike. Mike stumbled sleepily out of bed, dragged on his dressing-gown, and went to sit by the window. Jack tumbled into bed thankfully and was asleep in a second.
Mike sat and stared sleepily at the tower of the Old House. He could just see it now, for the sky had cleared. The tower was dark. Mike felt his eyes closing and he jerked his head up. He got up to walk about, afraid that he might fall asleep in the chair.
When his two hours were almost up, he heard a sound in the bedroom. And a hand touched his shoulder. Mike almost jumped out of his skin. He hit out and struck something soft.
“Oh!” said Nora’s voice. “You hurt me, Mike! I’ve just come up to tell you it’s my turn to watch.”
“Well, what do you want to come creeping in like that for, and make me jump!” said Mike crossly. “I thought you were a smuggler or something!”
Nora giggled and took her seat by the window. “Get into bed,” she said. “It’s my turn now. Oooh, I do feel important!”
That night nothing happened - neither did anything happen the next night or the next - but on the fourth night there was great excitement. A light flashed in the tower at midnight! There it was, as plain as could be!
She whispered a few words to Mike, and took her seat by the window.
“There hasn’t been a sign of anything,” Mike said in a low voice, and he threw off his dressing-gown to get into bed. “This is the fourth night we’ve watched - it’s a bit boring, I think. Do you suppose that...”
But just at that moment Peggy gave such a loud squeal that Mike jumped. “Mike! Oooh, look! Mike! There’s a light in the tower. It’s just come, this very moment!”
Mike ran to the window, almost falling over a chair on the way. Jack awoke at the noise.
“Yes!” said Mike. “It’s a light! Jack! Jack! Come and look!”
Jack jumped out of bed and ran to the window. Sure enough, there was a light in the distant tower - a light that dipped and flashed and dipped and flashed.
“They are signalling,” said Jack, in excitement. “The boat must be standing out to sea watching for the signal right beyond that rocky crag we sailed round.”
“Shall we get on our things and slip down to the beach?” said Mike so excited that he could hardly stand still.
“Yes,” said Jack. “Peggy, wake Nora. There’s no hurry, because if that light has only just shone out of the tower, it will take some time for the boat to get round to Spiggy Holes. We’ve plenty of time to dress properly.”
Peggy flew down the winding staircase to tell Nora, who was still sleeping soundly. Peggy shook her, and Nora woke up in a hurry.
“Nora! The light’s in the tower! Hurry and get dressed, because we’re all going to creep down to the beach and hide in a cave to watch,” cried Peggy. Nora almost fell out of bed in her excitement. They put on their clothes in the dark, for Jack had forbidden lights of any sort in their tower, in case they should be seen from the Old House.
“If we can see their light, they could see ours,” said Jack.
“True, Captain!” said Mike and dressed himself at top speed. He put on both his stockings inside out, and buttoned his coat up wrong - but who minded?
They were all ready in five minutes. Jack took his torch and gave one to Peggy for the girls. They all crept down the staircase, out of the little tower door, and down the garden path, where the smell of honeysuckle came to them.
“Nora’s got on her bedroom slippers,” said Peggy, with a giggle. “She couldn’t find her others.”
“Sh!” said Jack sharply. “Other people may be about, remember. We mustn’t be seen or heard.”
They went as quietly as they could down the rocky path to the beach. The tide was half in and half out. The moon swam out from behind a cloud and lighted up the shore for the children. Jack stopped and looked out over the sea.
“No sign of any boat yet.” he whispered. “Let’s get into one of the nearest caves and get settled before anyone arrives. I expect the people from the Old House will come down to the beach soon.”
The children went into a small cave not far from the steep cliff path. They thought that if they hid there they could easily see who came or went up the cliff. They sat on the dry sand on the floor of the cave and waited, speaking in whispers. Nora was shaking with excitement. She said her knees wouldn’t keep still.
Suddenly the children heard voices, and they stiffened in surprise. The voices were to the right of them. Jack cautiously peeped out of the cave when the moon went behind a cloud.
“I believe it’s the man called Felipe Diaz and that sleepy-looking chap called Luiz,” whispered Jack.
“But, Jack, how in the world did they get on to the beach?” whispered back Mike. “We didn’t see them come down the cliff-path - and that’s the only way down on to the beach for a couple of miles! The cliffs are much too steep anywhere else to get down to the shore.”
“That’s funny,” said Jack. “They couldn’t have been here already, surely, or we’d have seen them. Perhaps they were waiting in a cave. Good gracious, I hope they didn’t spot us!”
Nora went hot and cold when she heard Jack say that. Mike shook his head.
“If they’d seen us they’d have rushed us off the beach at once,” he said. “They wouldn’t want us to see what was happening to-night. Listen! What’s that!”
The children listened - and over the black and silver water they heard the sound of a low humming.
“It’s a motor-boat!” said Jack, in an excited whisper. “It’s been waiting out yonder, round the crag, for the signal. Now it’s coming in! Watch out, everyone. See all you can.”
The children stood up and craned their necks round the rocky edges of the cave. The moon came out for a moment, and coming nearer and nearer to the shore a large motor-boat could be seen, glinting in the moonlight. Its hum was loud in the stillness of the night.
It shut off its engine and ran gently into the little cove where George kept his boat. The children could no longer see it.
“It must be by George’s small wooden jetty,” whispered Jack. “Well, we shall see what kind of goods the smugglers are bringing in, when they pass us on their way to the cliff-path.”
They all waited impatiently. The sound of hushed voices came to them, and the thud of the boat against the wooden pier. The children waited and waited. Then there came the sound of humming once again, and the motor-boat slid out of the cove and made its way swiftly out to sea and round the rocky headlands.
“They’ll be coming by in a second,” said Jack. “Now be quiet as mice, everyone - don’t sneeze or cough for goodness’ sake!”
Nora at once felt as if she was going to sneeze. She took out her hanky and buried her face in it. How dreadful if she gave their hiding-place away just at this most important moment!
But the sneeze didn’t come - and nobody came. Not a shadow passed in front of the children’s cave. Not even a voice could be heard now.
After half an hour, the children became impatient.
“Jack, what’s happened, do you suppose?” whispered Nora.
“Can’t imagine,” said Jack. Then a thought struck him. “I say! I wonder if the boat came to fetch anyone! We shouldn’t see them come by if they’d gone in the boat!”
“Well, then, we might as well go out and look round a bit,” said Mike. “Can we, Jack?”
“All right,” said Jack. “But for goodness’ sake be quiet!”
They made their way softly to the little cove where the wooden pier stood. George’s boat was beside it. Jack shone his torch on the ground and pointed out the footsteps in the sand.
“Let’s follow them backwards and see where they come from,” said Mike. “I simply can’t understand how those men came down to the beach to-night without us seeing them pass.”
So, with the help of the torches the children followed two pairs of footsteps from the cove, round the beach - and into a big cave!
“So they must have been hiding here all the time!” said Jack.
“Look,” said Mike, in a puzzled voice, swinging his torch all over the sandy beach. “There are no more footsteps beyond this cave - they didn’t come to the cave by the cliff-path, that’s certain. Then how did they come?”
“Jack! Mike! There must be a secret passage from the Old House to the beach!” suddenly said Nora, in such a loud whisper that the others jumped.
“Sh!” said Jack. Then he too began to whisper loudly. “I believe Nora’s right! Of course! There’s a secret passage from the shore to the Old House! Why didn’t I think of it before! My goodness, Nora, that was smart of you to think of that.”
“The passage must begin in this cave, where the men’s footsteps go,” said Nora, pleased and excited to think that Jack thought she was smart. “Let’s go in and explore.”
“And walk straight into dear Mr. Diaz and his friend Luiz!” said Jack. “No, thank you. Besides, I’d prefer to do it in daytime. It’s a bit too creepy now. Come on, let’s go back to bed and talk.”
They all went back up the steep cliff-path, through the scented garden and into their tower. The girls curled up in one bed in the top room and the boys in the other.
And they talked. How they talked! They were so thrilled with the night’s adventure that it was dawn before they thought of really going to bed.
“You see, what happened was they signalled to the boat to come in with the smuggled goods, whatever they were,” said Jack, for the twentieth time, “and Mr. Diaz and his friend slipped down from the Old House to the shore by the secret passage that leads to that cave - and then they took the goods up that way back to the Old House. So we never saw them.”
“When can we explore the cave for that secret passage, Jack?” said Peggy longingly.
“To-morrow!” said Jack, hugging his knees, as he sat in Mike’s bed.
“To-day you mean!” said Mike, with a laugh, and he pointed to where the eastern sky was beginning to shine with a silvery light. “It’s to-day now. Come on, we really must go to sleep for a bit!”
The girls went down to their room. The boys settled into their beds and were asleep in a few seconds. It seemed as if they had only been in bed for a few minutes when Dimmy awakened them at half-past seven.
“Are you never going to wake to-day?” she said in amazement. “Did you keep awake half the night, you naughty children?”
“Perhaps we did, Dimmy, perhaps we did!” said Jack, with a laugh - and not another word would he say to explain why they were all such sleepyheads that morning!
“I don’t understand what’s the matter with you all to-day.” she said, as she passed them their cocoa. “First you yawn, then you giggle, then you rub your hands together in glee, then you yawn again. Are you planning any mischief?”
“Oh no, Dimmy,” said everyone together.
“Well, see you don’t,” said Dimmy.
“Dimmy, would you give us a picnic lunch, please?” said Jack. “We’d like to be out till tea.”
“Very well,” said Dimmy. “You shall have some little veal and ham pies that I made yesterday, some ginger cake, and some ripe plums and lemonade. Will that do? Oh, and you can have some hard-boiled eggs, too, if you like.”
“Lovely!” said everybody. Nora got up and hugged Dimmy. “You’re a dear!” she said. “It’s lovely staying with you!”
Dimmy prepared their lunch whilst the children collected electric torches, and also candles and matches in case their torches failed. They talked excitedly. It was lovely to be going to find a secret passage.
Dimmy gave them the lunch done up in two kit-bags. Jack put one on his back and Mike put the other on his. They called good-bye and ran off down the garden path to the cliff. Down the steep rocky steps they went, on to the beach.
The sea had been right up to the cliff and had washed away the footsteps of the night before. But the children knew which cave the men had come from and they made their way there, first looking to see that nobody else was on the beach too.
They came to the cave. The entrance was large and open. The cave ran back a good way, and was very dark and damp. Seaweed grew from the walls, and at the foot the red and green sea anemones grew, like lumps of jelly, waiting for the tide to sweep into the cave again so that they might open like flowers.
The children switched on their torches. They swung them here and there, all around the cave, looking for the passage that led from the cave.
At first they could find nothing at all. “It’s nothing but walls, walls, walls,” said Mike, flashing his torch round the damp rock that made the sides of the cave. “And at the back it just ends in rock too. Oh dear - I wonder if after all there isn’t a passage!”
“Look here!” shouted Jack suddenly. “What’s this?” He held his torch fairly high up one wall. The children crowded round eagerly. They saw rough steps hewn in the rock - and they could see that the seaweed that grew around had been bruised and torn.
“See that seaweed?” said Jack excitedly. “Well, somebody has trodden on that! That’s the way - up there! Come on, everybody!”
With their torches flashing the children tried to climb up the steep rocky steps in the cave-wall. They were slippery, and it was very difficult.
Suddenly Peggy caught sight of something that looked like a black worm hanging down the wall, and she shone her torch on it.
“Here’s a rope!” she said. “Look! Look! It must be to pull ourselves up by!”