Five Go Off In A Caravan Chapter Twenty MORE EXCITEMENT（在线收听）

Chapter Twenty MORE EXCITEMENT

It was a very sad and disappointed little company that made their way back to the cave. Along the  tunnel  they  went,  painfully  and  slowly,  for  it  was  not  so  easy  against  the  current.  Julian shivered; he was wet through with trying to swim.

At last they were back in the cave through which the stream flowed so swiftly. 'Let's run round and round it to  get warm,' said Julian. 'I'm  frozen. Dick, let me have one of  your dry jerseys. I must take off these wet ones.'

The children ran round and round the cave, pretending to race one another, trying to get warm.

They did get warm in the end, and sank down in a heap on some soft sand in a corner, panting.

They sat there for a little while to get their breath.

Then they heard something. Timmy heard it first and growled. 'Jumping Jiminy, what's up with Timmy?' said Nobby, in fright. He was the most easily scared of the children, probably because of the frights he had had the last few days.

They all listened, George with her hand on Timmy's collar. He growled again, softly. The noise they all heard was a loud panting coming from the stream over at the other side of the cave!

'Someone is wading up the stream,' whispered Dick, in astonishment. 'Did they get in at the place where we couldn't get out? They must have!'

'But  who  is  it?'  asked  Julian.  'Can't  be  Lou  or  Dan.  They  wouldn't  come  that  way  when  they could come the right way. Sh! Whoever it is, is arriving in the cave. I'll shut off my torch.'

Darkness  fell  in  the  cave  as  the  light  from  Julian's  torch  was  clicked  off.  They  all  sat  and listened,  and  poor  Nobby  shook  and  shivered.  Timmy  didn't  growl  any  more,  which  was surprising. In fact, he even wagged his tail!

There was a sneeze from the other end of the cave - and then soft footsteps padded towards them.

Anne felt as if she must scream. WHO was it?

Julian  switched  on  his  torch  suddenly,  and  its  light  fell  on  a  squat,  hairy  figure,  halting  in  the bright glare. It was Pongo!

'It's Pongo!' everyone yelled, and leapt up at once. Timmy ran over to the surprised chimpanzee and sniffed round him in delight. Pongo put his arms round Nobby and Anne.

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'Pongo! You've escaped! You must have bitten through your rope!' said Julian. 'How clever you are to find your way through that hole where the stream pours out. How did you know you would find us here! Clever Pongo.'

Then  he  saw  the  big  wound  on  poor  Pongo's  head.  'Oh  look!'  said  Julian.  'He's  been  hurt!  I expect those brutes threw a stone at him. Poor old Pongo.'

'Let's bathe his head,' said Anne. 'I'll use my hanky.'

But  Pongo  wouldn't  let  anyone  touch  his  wound,  not  even  Nobby.  He  didn't  snap  or  snarl  at them,  but  simply  held  their  hands  away  from  him,  and  refused  to  leave  go.  So  nobody  could bathe his head or bind it up.

'Never  mind,'  said  Nobby  at  last,  'animals'  wounds  often  heal  up  very  quickly  without  any attention at all. He won't let us touch it, that's certain. I expect Lou and Dan hit him with a stone, and  knocked  him  unconscious  when  they  came.  They  then  shut  up  the  hole  and  made  us prisoners. Beasts!'

'I say,' suddenly said Dick. 'I say! I've got an idea. I don't know if it will work - but it really is an idea.'

'What?' asked everyone, thrilled.

'Well  -  what  about  tying a letter round Pongo's  neck and sending him out of the hole again,  to take the letter to the camp?' said Dick. 'He won't go to Lou or Dan because he's scared of them -

but he'd go to any of the others all right, wouldn't he? Larry would be the best one. He seems to be a good fellow.'

'Would Pongo understand enough to do all that, though?' asked Julian, doubtfully.

'We could try him,' said Nobby. 'I do send him here and there sometimes, just for fun  - to take the elephant's bat to Larry, for instance - or to put my coat away in my caravan.'

'Well, we could  certainly try,' said Dick. 'I've got a notebook and a pencil. I'll write a note and wrap it up in another sheet, pin it together and tie it round Pongo's neck with a bit of string.'

So he wrote a note. It said:

'To whoever gets this note - please come up the hill to the hollow where there are two caravans.

Under  the  red  one  is  the  entrance  to  an  underground  passage.  We  are  prisoners  inside  the  hill.

Please rescue us soon.

Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Nobby.'

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He read it out to the others. Then he tied the note round Pongo's neck. Pongo was surprised, but fortunately did not try to pull it off.

'Now, you give him his orders,' said Dick to Nobby. So Nobby spoke slowly and importantly to the listening chimpanzee.

'Where's Larry? Go to Larry, Pongo. Fetch Larry. Go. GO!'

Pongo blinked at him and made a funny little noise as if he was saying: 'Please, Nobby, I don't want to go.'

Nobby repeated everything again. 'Understand Pongo? I think you do. GO, then, GO. GO!'

And  Pongo  turned  and  went!  He  disappeared  into  the  stream,  splashing  along  by  himself.  The children watched him as far as they could by the light of their torches.

'He really is clever,' said Anne. 'He didn't want to go a bit, did he? Oh, I do hope he finds Larry, and that Larry sees the note and reads it and sends someone to rescue us.'

'I hope the note doesn't get all soaked and pulpy in the water,' said Julian, rather gloomily. 'Gosh, I wish I wasn't so cold. Let's run round a bit again, then have a piece of chocolate.'

They ran about and played 'He' for a time till they all felt warm again. Then they decided to sit down  and  have  some  chocolate,  and  play  some  sort  of  guessing  game  to  while  away  the  time.

Timmy sat close to Julian, and the boy was very glad.

'He's like a big hot-water bottle,' he said. 'Sit closer, Tim. That's right. You'll soon warm me up!'

It was dull after a time, sitting in the light of one torch, for they dared not use them all. Already it seemed as if Julian's torch was getting a little dim. They played all the games they could think of and then yawned.

'What's the time? I suppose it must be getting dark outside now. I feel quite sleepy.'

'It's nine o'clock almost,' said Julian. 'I hope Pongo has got down to the camp all right and found someone. We could expect help quite soon, if so.'

'Well, then, we'd better get along to the passage that leads to the hole,' said Dick, getting up. 'It's quite likely that if Larry or anyone else comes they'll not see the footholds leading up the wall out of that first little cave. They might not know where we were!'

This seemed very likely. They all made their way down the tunnel that led past the hidden store of  valuables,  and  came  out  into  the  enormous  cave.  There  was  a  nice  sandy  corner  just  by  the hole that led down into the first small cave, and the children decided to sit there, rather than in 93

the  passage  or  in  the  first  rocky  and  uncomfortable  little  cave.  They  cuddled  up  together  for warmth, and felt hungry.

Anne  and  Nobby  dozed  off  to  sleep.  George  almost  fell  asleep,  too.  But  the  boys  and  Timmy kept awake, and talked in low voices. At least, Timmy didn't talk, but wagged his tail whenever either Dick or Julian said anything. That was his way of joining in their conversation.

After what seemed a long while Timmy growled, and the two boys sat up straight. Whatever it was that Timmy's sharp ears had heard, they had heard nothing at all. And they continued to hear nothing. But Timmy went on growling.

Julian shook the others awake. 'I believe help has come,' he said. 'But we'd better not go and see in case it's Dan and Lou come back. So wake up and look lively!'

They were all wide awake at once. Was it Larry come in answer to their note  - or was it those horrid men, Tiger Dan and Lou the acrobat?

They  soon  knew!  A  head  suddenly  poked  out  of  the  hole  nearby,  and  a  torch  shone  on  them.

Timmy  growled  ferociously  and  struggled  to  fly  at  the  head,  but  George  held  on  firmly  to  his collar, thinking it might be Larry.

But  it  wasn't!  It  was  Lou  the  acrobat,  as  the  children  knew  only  too  well  when  they  heard  his voice. Julian shone his torch on to him.

'I hope you've enjoyed your little selves,' came Lou's harsh voice. 'And you keep that dog under control, boy, or I'll shoot him. See? I'm not standing no nonsense from that dog this time. Have a look at this here gun!'

To George's horror she saw that Lou was pointing a gun at poor Timmy. She gave a scream and flung herself in front of him. 'Don't you dare to shoot my dog! I'll - I'll - I'll . . .'

She  couldn't  think  of  anything  bad  enough  to  do  to  the  man  who  could  shoot  Timmy,  and  she stopped, choked by tears of rage and fear. Timmy, not knowing what the gun was, couldn't for the life of him understand why George wouldn't let him get at his enemy - such a nice position, too, with his head poking through a hole like that. Timmy felt he could deal with that head very quickly.

'Now, you kids, get up and go into that tunnel,' said Lou. 'Go on - go right ahead of me, and don't dare  to  stop.  We've  got  work  to  do  here  tonight,  and  we're  not  going  to  have  any  more interference from kids like you. See?'

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The children saw quite well. They began to walk towards the entrance of the tunnel. One by one they climbed into it. George first with Timmy. She dared not let his collar go for an instant.  A few paces behind them came Lou with his revolver, and Dan with a couple of big sacks.

The children were made to walk right past the shelf on which were the hidden goods.

Then Lou sat down in the tunnel, his torch switched on fully so that he could pick out each child.

He still pointed his revolver at Timmy.

'Now we'll get on,' he said to Tiger Dan. 'You know what to do. Get on with it.'

Tiger Dan began to  stuff the things  into one of the big sacks he had brought.  He staggered off with  it. He came back in  about  ten minutes and filled the other sack.  It  was  plain that the men meant to take everything away this time.

'Thought  you'd  made  a  very  fine  discovery,  didn't  you?'  said  Lou,  mockingly,  to  the  children.

'Ho, yes - very smart you were! See what happens to little smarties like you - you're prisoners -

and here you'll stay for two or three days!'

'What do you mean?' said Julian, in alarm. 'Surely you wouldn't leave us here to starve?'

'Not to starve. We're too fond of  you,' grinned Lou. 'We'll chuck  you down some food into the tunnel. And in two or three days maybe someone will come and rescue you.'

Julian  wished  desperately  that  Pongo  would  bring  help  before  Lou  and  Dan  finished  their business  in  the  tunnel  and  went,  leaving  them  prisoners.  He  watched  Tiger  Dan,  working quickly,  packing  everything,  carrying  it  off,  coming  back  again,  and  packing  feverishly  once more. Lou sat still with his torch and revolver, enjoying the scared faces of the girls and Nobby.

Julian and Dick put on a brave show which they were far from feeling.

Tiger  Dan  staggered  away  with  another  sackful.  But  he  hadn't  been  gone  for  more  than  half  a minute before a wail echoed through the tunnel.

'Lou! Help! Help! Something's attacking me! HELP.'

Lou  rose  up  and  went  swiftly  down  the  tunnel.  'It's  Pongo,  I  bet  it's  old  Pongo,'  said  Julian thrilled.