Five Run Away Together (16 page)

"That was the scream we heard," said George. "It was lucky we heard it. We had thought there was smuggling going on here, in our island—we didn't guess it was a case of kidnapping, till we heard you scream—though we had found your trunk with your clothes and toys."

"I don't know how the man got those," said Jennifer. "Maybe one of our maids helped him. There was one I didn't like at all. She was called Sarah Stick.'-

"Ah!" said Julian, at once. "That's the one, then! It was Mr. and Mrs. Stick who brought you here. Sarah Stick, your maid, must be some relation of theirs. They must have been in the pay of someone else, I should think—someone who had a ship, and could bring you here to hide you."

"Jolly good hiding-place, too," said George. "No one but us would ever have found it out."

They ate all their breakfast, made some more cocoa, and discussed their future plans.

"We'll take our boat and go to the mainland this morning," said Julian. "We'll go straight to the police-station with Jennifer. I expect the newspapers are full of her disappearance, and the police will recognise her at once."

"I hope they catch the Sticks," said George. "I hope they won't disappear into thin air as soon as they hear that Jennifer is found."

"Yes—we must warn the police of that," said Julian, thoughtfully. "Better not spread the news abroad till the Sticks are caught. I wonder where they are."

"Let's get the boat now," said Dick. "There's no point in waiting about. Jennifer's parents will be thrilled to know she is safe."

"I don't really want to leave this lovely cave," said Jennifer, who was thoroughly enjoying herself now. "I wish I lived here, too. Are you going to come back to the island and live here, Julian?"

"Well, we shall come back for a few days more, I expect," said Julian. "You see, our aunt's home is empty at the moment because she is away ill and our uncle is with her.

So we might as well stay on our island till they come back."

"Oh, could I come back with you?" begged Jennifer, her small round face alight with joy at the thought of living in a cave on an island with these nice children and their lovely dog. "Oh, do let me! I would so like it. And I do so love .Timmy."

"I don't expect your parents would let you, especially after you've just been kidnapped," said Julian. "But you can ask them, if you like."

They all went to the boat and got in. Julian pushed off. George steered the boat in and out of the rocks. They saw the wreck, which interested Jenny very much indeed.

She badly wanted to stop, but the others thought they ought to get to land as quickly as possible.

Soon they were near the beach. Alf, the fisher-boy was there. He saw them and waved. He ran to help them to pull in their boat.

"I was coming out in my boat this morning," he said. "Your father's back, Master George. But not your mother. She's getting better, they say, and will be back in a week's time."

"Well, what's my father come back for?" demanded George, in surprise.

"He got worried because nobody answered the telephone," explained Alf. "He came down and asked me where you all were. I didn't tell him, of course. I kept your secret.

But I was just coming out to warn you this morning. He got back last night—and wasn't he wild? No one there to give him any food — all the house upside down and half the things gone! He's at the police station now."

"Golly!" said George. "That's just where we are going too! We shall meet him there.

Oh dear, I do hope he won't be in an awful temper. You just can't do anything with my father when he's cross."

"Come on!" said Julian. "It's a good thing, in a way, that your father is here, George —

we can^ explain everything to him and to the police at the same time." They left Alf, who looked very surprised to see Jennifer with the others. He couldn't make out where she had come from. Certainly she had not started out to the island with them—

but she had come back in their boat. How was that? It seemed very mysterious to Alf.

The children arrived at the police station and marched in, much to the surprise of the policeman there.

"Hallo!" he said. "What's the matter? Been doing a burglary, or something, and come to own up?"

"Listen!" said George, suddenly, hearing a loud voice in the .room next to theirs. "That's Father's voice!"

She darted to the door. The policeman called to her, shocked. "Now don't you go in there. The Inspector's in there. Come over here special, he has, and mustn't be interrupted."

But George had flung open the door and gone inside. Her father turned and saw her.

He rose to his feet. "George! Where have you been? How dare you go away like this and leave the house and everything! It's been robbed right and left! I've just been telling the Inspector about all the things that have been stolen."

"Don't worry, Father," said George. "Really don't worry. We've found them all. How's Mother?"

"Better, much better," said her father, still looking amazed and angry. "Thank goodness I can go back and tell her where you are. She kept asking me about you all, and I had to keep saying you were all right, so as not to worry her- but I hadn't any idea what was happening to you or where you had gone. I feel very displeased with you. Where were you?"

"On the island," said George, looking rather sulky, as she often did when her father was angry with her. "Julian will tell you all about it."

Julian came in, followed by Dick, Anne, Jennifer and Timothy. The Inspector, a big, clever-looking man with dark eyes under shaggy eyebrows, looked at them all closely.

When he saw Jennifer, he stared hard—and then suddenly rose to his feet.

"What's your name, little girl?" he said.

"Jennifer Mary Armstrong," said Jenny, in a surprised voice.

"Bless us all!" said the-Inspector, in a startled voice. "Here's the child the whole country is looking for—and she walks in here as cool as a cucumber! Lands sakes, where did she come from?"

"What do you mean?" said George's father, looking surprised. "What child is the whole country looking for? I haven't read the papers for some days."

"Then you don't know about little Jenny Armstrong being kidnapped?" said the Inspector, sitting down and pulling Jenny near him. "She's the daughter of Harry Armstrong, the millionaire, you know. Well, somebody kidnapped her and wants a hundred thousand pounds ransom for her. My word, we've combed the country for her

— and here she is, as merry as you please. Well, I'm blessed—this is the queerest thing I ever knew. Where have you been, little Missy?"

"On the island," said Jenny. "Julian—you tell it all."

So Julian told the whole story from beginning to end. The policeman from outside came in, and took notes down as he spoke. Everyone listened in amazement. As for George's father, his eyes nearly fell out of his head. What adventures these children did have, to be sure and how well they managed everything!

"And do you happen to know who was the owner of the ship that brought little Miss Jenny along—the one that sent a boat off to the wreck and put her there for the Sticks to take?" asked the Inspector.

"No," said Julian. "All we heard was that the Roomer was coming that night."

"A-HA!" said the Inspector, with great satisfaction in his voice. "Aha and oho! We know the Roomer all right—

a ship we've been watching for some time—owned by somebody we're very, very suspicious of- we think he's dabbling in a whole lot of shady deals. Now this is very good news indeed. The thing is — where are the Sticks—and how can we catch them red-handed, now you've got Miss Jenny out of their clutches? They'll probably deny everything."

"I know how we could catch them," said Julian, quickly. "We've left their nasty son, Edgar, locked in the same dungeon where they put Jenny. If only one of us could pass the word to the Sticks, that that is where Edgar is, they'd go back to the island all right, and go right into the dungeons—so if you found them there, it wouldn't be much good them denying that they don't know anything about the island, and have never been there."

"That would certainly make things a lot easier," said the Inspector. He pressed a bell and another policeman came into the room. The Inspector gave him a full description of Mr. and Mrs. Stick, and told him to watch the countryside round about, and report when they were found.

"Then, Master Julian, you might like to go and have a little conversation with them about their son, Edgar," said the Inspector, smiling. "If they do go back to the island, we shall follow them, and get all the evidence we want. Thank you for your very great help. Now we must telephone to Miss Jenny's parents and tell them she is safe."

"She can come back to Kirrin Cottage with us," said George's father, still looking rather dazed at all that had happened. "'I've got Joanna, our old cook, to come back for a while to put things straight, so there will be someone there to see to the children. They must all come back."

"Well, Father," said George, firmly, "we will come back just for today, but we plan to spend another week on Kirrin Island till Mother comes back. She said we could, and we are having such a fine time there. Let Joanna stay at Kirrin Cottage and keep it in order and get it ready for Mother when she comes home — she won't want the bother of looking after us too. We can look after ourselves on the island."

"I certainly think these children deserve a reward for. the good work they have done," remarked the Inspector, and that settled the matter.

"Very well," said George's father, "you can all go off to the island again—but you must be back when your Mother returns, George."

"Of course I will," said George. "I badly want to see Mother. But home isn't nice without her. I would rather be on our island."

"And I want to be there, too," said Jenny, unexpectedly. "Ask my parents to come to Kirrin, please — so that I can ask them if I can go with the other children."

"I'll do my best," said the Inspector, grinning at the five children. They liked him very much. George's father stood up.

"Come along!" he said. "I want my lunch. All this has made me feel hungry. We'll go and see if Joanna has got anything for us."

Off they all went, talking nineteen to the dozen, making George's poor father feel quite bewildered. He always seemed to get into the middle of some adventure when these children were about!

BACK TO KIRRIN ISLAND!

SOON everyone was at Kirrin Cottage. Joanna, the old cook they had had before, gave them a good welcome, and listened to their adventures in astonishment, getting the lunch ready all the while.

It was while they were having lunch that Julian, looking out of the window, suddenly caught sight of a figure he knew very well—someone skulking along behind the hedge.

"Old Pa Stick!" he said, and jumped up. "I'll go after him. Stay here, everyone."

He went out of the house, ran round a corner and came face to face with Mr. Stick."

"Do you want to know where Edgar is?" said Julian mysteriously.

Mr. Stick looked startled. He stared at Julian not knowing what to say.

"He's down in the dungeons, locked in that cave," said Julian, even more mysteriously.

"You don't know nothin' about Edgar," said Mr. Stick. "Where have you been? Didn't you go home?"

"Never you mind," said Julian. "But if you want to find Edgar—look in that cave!"

Mr. Stick gave the boy a glare and left him. Julian hurried indoors and rang up the police station. He felt sure that Mr. Stick would tell Mrs. Stick what he had said, and that Mrs. Stick would insist on going back to the island to see if what he had said was true. So all that needed to be done was for the police to keep a watch on the boats along the shore and see when the Sticks left.

The children finished their dinner, and Uncle Quentin announced that he must return to his wife, who would want to know his news. "I'll tell her you are having a fine time on the island," he said, "and we can tell her all the extraordinary details when she returns home, better."

He left in a car, and the children wondered whether they might now return to their island or not. But they decided to wait a little, for they did not know what to do with Jennifer.

Very soon a large car drove up and stopped outside the gate of Kirrin Cottage. Out jumped a tall man with dark red hair, and a pretty woman. "They must be your father and mother, Jenny," said Julian.

They were—and Jennifer got so many hugs and kisses that she quite lost her breath.

She had to tell her story again and again, and her father could not thank Julian and the others enough for all they had done.

"Ask me for any reward you like!" he said, "and you can have it. I shall never, never be able to tell you how grateful I am to you for rescuing our little Jenny."

"Oh—we don't want anything, thank you," said Julian, politely. "We enjoyed it all very much. We like adventures."

"Ah, but you must tell me something you want!" said Jenny's father.

Julian glanced round at the others. He knew that none of them wanted a reward. Jenny nudged him hard and nodded her head vigorously.

Julian laughed.

"Well," he said, "there is one thing we'd all like very much."

"It's granted before you ask it!" said Jenny's father.

"Will you let Jenny come and spend a week with us on our island?" said Julian. Jenny gave a squeal and pressed Julian's arm very hard between her two small hands.

Jenny's parents looked rather taken-aback. "Well," said her father, "well—she's just been kidnapped, you know—and we don't feel inclined to let her out of our sight at the moment — and..."

"You promised Julian you'd grant what he asked, you promised, Daddy," said Jenny, urgently. "Oh please do let me. I've always wanted to live on an island. And this one has got a perfectly marvellous cave, and a wonderful ruined castle, and the dungeons where I was kept, and —"

"And we take Timothy, our dog, with us," said Julian. "See what a big powerful fellow he is—nobody could come to much harm with Timmy about — could they, Tim?"

"Woof!" said Timothy, in his deepest voice.