The Mystery of Adventure Island (16 page)

Glancing back, she saw that the lead that she had managed to get while she was in the wood was rapidly decreasing. She had to get to a bicycle quickly. Her legs were burning with fatigue and she was breathing heavily, but she
couldn’t
give up now. The others were depending on her to get to the police and she
didn’t
want to let them down.

She finally reached the bicycles. After grabbing the smallest one, she climbed on the machine and hurriedly pedalled away. Seeing a narrow path that ran along the side of a field before going down a small hill and into the village, she took it.

She glanced back and saw that Kenneth had also grabbed one of the bicycles and was riding after her. She turned back and whipped the wheel to the right to avoid a
pot hole
. The gradual downward slope increased the bicycle’s speed and soon it seemed as though she was flying along.

The shops came into view as she neared the hill and she realised the village was roughly the same size as Smugglers Cove.

Hearing a noise, she looked back and saw that the man was right on her tail. She
hadn’t
really expected him to give up, but obviously he had recognised her from the island and realised what she was trying to do.

It would be so annoying to fail so close to her objective, so she took a deep breath and pedalled furiously. The bicycle sped down the hill, going faster than she had ever gone before.

She didn’t glance back to see what the man was doing but assumed he had also realised how close to the village they were and had also increased his speed.

The path took a sharp right hand turn at the bottom of the hill and though Sarah slowed down, she
didn’t
slow down as much as she normally would.

The tires on the bicycle screeched over the stones as she came to the road and she grabbed on the brakes. The bicycle flew around the corner too fast, and she was lucky to make the corner as she swept into the main street and headed towards the harbour.

The bicycle slowly increased speed and Sarah realised that the brakes
weren’t
working.
“Oh no!”
She flew down the street, getting faster and faster.

Chapter 23: Hidden
From
View

 

Joe stood on the beach beside the two caves. “But we’ve searched both of these and there’s nothing in them.”

“There must be,” Amy said. “Where else would they be storing the paintings? Remember, the first time we saw one of the men he was around here, and he disappeared. He’s not likely to go into an empty cave for nothing.”

She entered the first cave and, using a torch, led the way around. She made sure to inspect every
hidey hole
. The two of them left the first cave after five minutes and entered the second one. This one was smaller than the first and it took even less time to search.

As Amy left the cave and stood on the beach, she switched off the torch, disappointed. “I thought they would be in there.”

“I’m sure there’s another way to distract the men,” Joe said.

Amy shook her head. “No. This isn’t just about rescuing Will.”

“No?” Joe repeated.

Amy sat down on the sand. “If that man comes back from the mainland and tells the others about Sarah, what do you think will happen?”

“They’ll leave on the seaplane as soon as they can and take the paintings with them,” Joe said.

“Yes. Which means if we find the paintings, we can delay them,” Amy said. “I just
wis
h there was some way of knowing where that man went.”

Joe suddenly grinned. “I’ve got it! Pretend to be the man.”

“What?” Amy said, confused.

“I’ll go to the bushes where we were the other day, and you can walk along the beach. If I wave left, you go left,” Joe replied. “If I wave right, you go right, okay?”

“What will this prove?” Amy said.

“I want to know the exact location of the man before he disappeared,” Joe said. “So get into position.” He turned and raced towards the bushes.

Before long, he was in position. Waving for Amy to start walking, he waited. As she got closer to him, he waved her right, and then left.

After five minutes of stepping this way and that, Joe joined his sister on the beach. Standing where she was, he gazed around. He was close to the caves but, surprisingly, neither of the two
were
opposite him. He frowned.

Amy turned to him. “So what did this prove? We know the man went into one of the two caves, so—”

“Or so we thought,” Joe interrupted.

“What do you mean?” Amy asked.

Joe waved his hands in front of him. “Where are we standing?”

Amy frowned.
“In front of the two caves.”

Joe smiled. “Be more specific.”

Amy looked again and suddenly realised that while she was standing in front of the two caves, she was actually standing in between the two caves. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Joe nodded. “We searched the caves, but we didn’t search the bushes in between the caves.” He hurried forward and the two of them were soon at the bushes. It
didn’t
take long before he let out a yell. He flung aside a pile of brush to reveal a tunnel.

“Golly!” Amy shouted. She looked at Joe. “You were right.”

“Let’s see what’s in here.” Switching the torch on, Joe entered the tunnel. Amy was right behind him and, after she replaced the brush in its correct place, followed Joe.

~

As Sarah whipped down the street on the runaway bicycle, Kenneth shot past on his machine. Startled, she grimly smiled. Obviously, his brakes
weren’t
working either.
And
, since he had been going faster down the hill, the extra weight made him whip past her. She only caught a glimpse of the man’s face, but she could see that he looked scared.

The two bicycles sped down the road. Luckily, there were not many people walking along the street, and those who
were, quickly leapt
out of the way when they saw the bicycles approach.

Sarah was trying her hardest to spot a police officer, but she
couldn’t
see one. She knew there would be a police
station,
she would just have to find it before she got caught.

She thought about crashing the bicycle deliberately, but
didn’t
want to risk hurting herself, so she just followed the man down the road.

Just
up
ahead lay the harbour. It was a sharp turn and she
didn’t
know whether or not the man, at the speed he was going, would make it. He
didn’t
. She watched as the front tire of his bicycle hit the concrete and he catapulted into the air.

“Yes!” Sarah
couldn’t
help but utter a shout of joy as she saw the man hit the water and disappear from view.

The smile disappeared from her face as she approached the corner. Grabbing the handlebars as hard as she could, she waited until the right moment before she whipped them to the left.

The tires screeched on the gravel as the machine neared the water. She thought she had just enough room and then she realised she was going to suffer the same fate as the man. The bicycle hit the concrete and she flew up into the air. She hit the water and sank beneath the waves.

Sarah swam upwards and, a few moments later, broke through the surface. Glancing around, she spotted the man swimming powerfully towards the pier. Her only hope would be to reach it before him.

She was closer to it than he was and she swam as fast as she could. Fortunately, there was a teenage boy walking down the pier
who
reached out his hand and helped her up. “Where’s the police station?”

The boy pointed. “It’s halfway up that street. Why, is something wrong?”

Sarah glanced behind her and spotted her pursuer pulling
himself
up onto the pier. “I need to get there before he does.”

The boy smiled. “Leave it to me.”

Sarah left the boy and ran off in the direction of the police station. She
didn’t
know what the boy had meant when he had said that he would help, but as she raced down the street, she heard a yell.

She looked behind her and saw Kenneth lying facedown on the pier. The boy smiled and hurried off. She
didn’t
know what had happened. Maybe the boy had tripped him, but it
didn’t
matter. The man stumbled to his feet and hurried after her, limping.

Sarah was used to running around, but it was clear that the man
wasn’t
, and the chase was taking its toll on him.
But
she didn’t feel sorry for him. He was a crook and he deserved what he got.

Sarah raced down the street. Reaching the halfway point, she saw the police station. “Yes!” With a smile, she walked up the steps and went inside.

~

With Joe leading the way, Amy followed him down the tunnel, which widened into a cave. As Joe shone the torch around the space, he could see why the man had come in here.

There were boxes stacked by the walls and a table and chairs in the middle. On the table
was
a lamp and a number of papers.

Upon
examination
they saw that it was a pile of maps. Spreading one out, Joe saw that it was a map of
England
. “I wonder what these circles mean.”

“Maybe they are towns that the men have robbed from,” Amy suggested as she left Joe and walked over to the boxes.

“If so, these men have been busy.
Really busy.”
After folding the map up and leaving it in the same condition in which he had found it, Joe joined Amy as she pulled out a tin.

“Hey, it’s baked beans,” Amy said, surprised.

Joe reached into the box and pulled out another tin of food. “This one is peaches.” He shone his torch at the box and they were amazed at how many tins were there. “Phew. That’s a lot of food.”

Amy glanced towards the other boxes.
“Especially if those contain food as well.”

“They must be planning to be here for a long time.” Amy looked around the cave. “Do you see paintings or anything that might be stolen?”

Joe shook his head. “The paintings would probably get damp in here, so they would have to be somewhere dry.”

“But they’re not in the cabin or the church,” Amy said, “and they are the only buildings except for the ruined ones—”

“They have to be in the lighthouse,” Joe interrupted. “It’s the only answer. It’s dry inside.”

“But how do we get in?” Amy said.

“Let’s wait and see if one of the men goes there,” Joe suggested. “It should be low tide soon, so if we hurry to the wood, we might catch sight of someone heading to the lighthouse.”

~

Joe and Amy had been sitting by the wood for roughly half an hour when Luke, the man with the ponytail and glasses, appeared. The children ducked down as he walked past them and headed towards the lighthouse.

“Looks like I was right,” Joe said.

But what do we do now?” Amy asked.

Joe waited as Luke walked across the rocks. Once the man had reached the building, he took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door.

“Now’s our chance,” Joe said.

“But how do we get in without him seeing us?” Amy asked.

“We just have to hope that he has gone up the stairs for some reason.” Joe walked forward and hurried towards the rocks.

The two of them climbed over the rocks as fast as they could. While low tide had passed, the water
hadn’t
yet started to rise, so they were able to cross to the lighthouse without getting wet.

Joe slowed down as they reached the building. He put his ear as close to the door as possible and listened. No sound
could be heard
. He looked at Amy. “Get ready to run in case he’s still down below.”