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Chapter Sixteen DOWN TO THE CAVES

GEORGE went cautiously down the stone steps. They were steep and narrow.

'I should think they run right down in the middle of the stone wall,' thought George. 'Goodness, here's  a narrow bit!'  It  was  so  narrow that she had to  go sideways.  'A fat  man would never get through there!' she thought to herself. 'Hallo -- the steps have ended!'

She  had  got  her  rug  round  her  shoulders,  and  had  picked  up  her  bag  on  the  way  down.  In  her other  hand  she  held  her  torch.  It  was  terribly  dark  and  quiet  down  there.  George  did  not  feel scared  because  she  was  hoping  to  see  Timmy  at  any  moment.  No  one  could  feel  afraid  with Timmy just round the corner, ready to welcome them! She stood at the bottom of the steps, her torch showing her a narrow tunnel. It curved sharply to the left.

'Now will it join the dungeons¹ from here?' she wondered, trying to get her sense of direction to help her. 'They can't be far off. But there's no sign of them at the moment.' She went on down the narrow tunnel. Once the roof came down so low she almost had to crawl. She flashed her torch on it. She saw black rock there, which had evidently been too hard to be removed by the tunnel builders long ago.

The tunnel went on and on and on. George was puzzled. Surely by now she must have gone by all the dungeons! Why - she must be heading towards the shore of the island! How very queer!

Didn't this tunnel join the dungeons then? A little further and she would be under the bed of the sea itself. The tunnel took a deep slope downwards². More steps appeared, cut roughly from rock.

George climbed down them cautiously. Where in the world was she going?

At the bottom of the steps the tunnel seemed to be cut out of solid rock - or else it was a natural passage, not made by man at all. George didn't know. Her torch showed her black, rocky walls and roof, and her feet stumbled over an irregular rocky path. How she longed for Timmy beside her!

'I must be very deep down,' she thought, pausing to flash her torch round her once more. 'Very deep  down  and  very  far  from  the  castle!  Good  gracious  -  whatever's  that  awful  noise?'  She listened.  She  heard  a  muffled  booming  and  moaning.  Was  it  her  father  doing  one  of  his experiments?  The  noise  went  on  and  on,  a  deep,  never-ending  boom.  'Why  -  I  believe  it's  the sea!' said George, amazed. She stood and listened again. 'Yes -- it is the sea -- over my head! I'm 68

under the rocky bed of Kirrin Bay!' And now poor George did feel a bit scared! She thought of the great waves surging above her, she thought of the restless, moving water scouring³ the rocky bed  over  her  head,  and  felt  frightened  in  case  the  sea  should  find  a  way  to  leak  down  into  her narrow tunnel! 'Now, don't be silly,' she told herself sternly. 'This tunnel has been here under the sea-bed for hundreds of years -- why should it suddenly become unsafe just when you are in it, George?' Talking to herself like this, to keep up her spirits, she went on again. It was very queer indeed to think she was walking under the sea. So this was where her father was at work! Under the sea itself.

And then George suddenly remembered something he had said to them all, the first time they had visited him on the island. What  was  it now? 'Oh  yes! He said  he had to  have water above and around him!' said George. 'Now I see what he meant! His workroom is somewhere down here --

so  the  sea-water  is  above  him  --  and  it's  all  round  the  tower,  because  it's  built  on  an  island!'

Water  above  and  water  around  --  so  that  was  why  her  father  had  chosen  Kirrin  Island  for  his experiment.  How  had  he  found  the  secret  passage  under  the  sea,  though?  'Why,  even  I  didn't know  of  that,'  said  George.  'Hallo  -what  am  I  coming  to?'  She  stopped.  The  passage  had suddenly  widened  out  into  an  enormous  dark  cave,  whose  roof  was  unexpectedly  high,  lost  in dark shadows. George stared round. She saw queer things there that she didn't understand at all --

wires,  glass  boxes,  little  machines  that  seemed  to  be  at  work  without  a  sound,  whose  centres were alive with queer, gleaming, shivering light.

Sudden  sparks  shot  up  now  and  again,  and  when  that  happened  a  funny  smell  crept  round  the cave. 'How weird⁴ all this is!' thought George. 'However can Father understand all these machines and things! I wonder where he is. I do hope those men haven't made him prisoner somewhere!'

From this queer, Aladdin's cave another tunnel led. George switched on her torch again and went into it. It was much like the other one, but the roof was higher.

She came to another cave, smaller this time, and crammed⁵ with wires of all kinds. There was a curious humming sound here, like thousands of bees in a hive. George half-expected to see some flying round.

'It must be these wires making the noise,' she said. There was nobody in the cave at all, but it led into another one, and George hoped that soon she would find Timmy and her father.

She went into the next cave, which was perfectly⁶ empty and very cold. She shivered. Then down another passage, and into a small cave. The first thing she saw beyond this tiny cave was a light!

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A light! Then perhaps she was coming to the cave her father must be in! She flashed her torch round the little cave she was now standing⁷ in and saw tins of food, bottles of beer, tins of sweets, and a pile of clothes of some sort. Ah, this was where her father kept his stores. She went on to the next cave, wondering why Timmy had not heard her and come to greet her.

She looked cautiously into the cave where the light came from. Sitting at a table, his head in his hands, perfectly still, was her father! There was no sign of Timmy.

'Father!'  said  George.  The  man  at  the  table  jumped  violently  and  turned  round.  He  stared  at George as if he really could not believe his eyes. Then he turned back again, and buried his face in his hands.

'Father!' said  George again, quite frightened because he did not say anything to her. He looked round again, and this time he got up. He stared at George once more, and then sat down heavily.

George ran to him.

'What's the matter? Oh Father, what's the matter? Where's Timmy?'

'George! Is it really you, George? I thought I must be dreaming when I looked up and saw you!'

said her father. 'How did you get here? Good gracious, it's impossible that you should be here!'

'Father,  are  you  all  right?  What's  happened  -  and  where's  Timmy?'  said  George,  urgently.  She looked all round, but  could  see no sign of him. Her heart went  cold.  Surely nothing  awful  had happened to Timmy?

'Did you see two men?' asked her father. 'Where were they?'

'Oh  Father -- we keep asking each other questions  and not  answering them!' said  George.  'Tell me first -- where is Timmy?'

'I don't know,' said her father. 'Did those two men go to the tower?'

'Yes,' said George. 'Father, what's happened?'

'Well, if they've gone to the tower, we've got about an hour in peace,' said her father. 'Now listen to me, George, very carefully. This is terribly important.'

'I'm listening,' said George. 'But do hurry up and tell me about Timmy.'

'These two men were parachuted down on  to the island, to try and find out my secret,' said her father. 'I'll tell you what my experiments are for, George - they are to find a way of replacing all coal, coke and oil - an idea to give the world all the heat and power it wants, and to do away with mines and miners.'

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'Good gracious!' said George. 'It would be one of the most wonderful things the world has ever known.'

'Yes,' said her father. 'And I should give it to the whole world - it shall not be in the power of any one country, or collection of men. It shall be a gift to the whole of mankind - but, George, there are men who want my secret for themselves, so that they may make colossal⁸ fortunes out of it.'

'How hateful!' cried George. 'Go on, Father -- how did they hear of it?'

'Well,  I  was  at  work  on  this  idea  with  some  of  my  colleagues,  my  fellow-workers,'  said  her father.  'And one of them betrayed us, and  went  to some powerful  business  men to  tell  them of my idea. So when  I knew this  I decided⁹ to  come away in  secret  and finish  my  experiments  by myself. Then nobody could betray me.'

'And you came here!' said George. 'To my island.'

'Yes -- because I needed water over me and water around me,' said her father. 'Quite by chance I looked at a copy of that old map, and thought that if the passage shown there -- the one leading from the little stone room, I mean - if the passage there really did lead under the sea, as it seemed to show, that would be the ideal place to finish my experiments.'

'Oh  Father  --  and  I  made  such  a  fuss!'  said  George,  ashamed  to  remember  how  cross  she  had been.

'Did you?' said her father, as if he had forgotten all about that. 'Well, I got all my stuff and came here. And now these fellows have found me, and got hold of me!'

'Poor Father! Can't I help?' said George. 'I could go back and bring help over here, couldn't I?'

'Yes, you could!' said her father. 'But you mustn't let those men see you, George.'

'I'll  do  anything  you  want  me  to,  Father,  anything!'  said  George.  'But  first  do  tell  me  what's happened to Timmy?'

'Well,  he  kept  by  me  all  the  time,'  said  her  father.  'Really,  he's  a  wonderful  dog,  George.  And then, this morning, just as I was coming out of the entrance in that little room to go up into the tower with Timmy to signal, the two men pounced¹⁰ on me and forced me back here?'

'But what happened to Timmy?' asked George, impatiently. Would her father never tell her what she wanted to know?

'He flew at the men, of course,' said her father. 'But somehow or other one of them lassoed him with a noose¹¹ of rope, and caught him. They pulled the rope so tight round his neck that he almost choked.'

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'Oh, poor, poor Timmy,' said George, and the tears ran down her cheek. 'Is he  -- do you think -

he's all right, Father?'

'Yes. From what I heard the men saying afterwards I think they've taken him to some cave and shut him in there,' said her father. 'Anyway, I saw one of them getting some dog-biscuits out of a bag this evening -- so that looks as if he's alive and kicking -- and hungry!'

George heaved a great sigh of relief. So long as Timmy was alive and all right! She took a few steps towards what she thought must be another cave.

'I'm going to find Timmy, Father,' she said. 'I must find him!'