The Aeroplane of Adventure

©2009 David Marlor

This novel is based on the characters created by Enid Bylton in the Adventure Series. In this regard, it is the ninth adventure and follows The River of Adventure.

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Chapter 13: The Girls' Adventure

Lucy-Ann and Dinah watched the boys walking along the side of the stream. Morris the mynah bird, firmly held by Lucy-Ann, was squawking for all he was worth.

"Morris, be quite," said Lucy-Ann to the bird. "Philip won't be long. Surely you can go without him for one night. Here, have some of Kiki's sunflower seeds." She pulled out the packet that Jack had given her and gave some to the bird. Morris settled down to eat.

It was a beautiful hot evening. The girls wandered around on the beach and looked at the raft they'd built. "Do you think we really could escape from this island on that raft?" asked Lucy-Ann, looking doubtfully at the raft under its seaweed.

Dinah looked doubtful too. "I don't know, Lucy-Ann. Maybe the boys have an idea of how to go about it. I know I wouldn't. I don't even know where'd we'd go. Maybe that other island, but what if there's nobody there, or more bad people are on that island? It could be worse than here!"

It was soon getting dark and the girls went back to the upper hot pool and sat on the rocks where they could get some of the light spray from the waterfall to cool them down.

"Let's have our dinner out here on the rocks," said Dinah. "It really is a beautiful evening, isn't it? And I couldn't bear to be cooped up in the treehouse on a night like this."

So the girls brought tins of food down from the treehouse and had a picnic lunch on the rocks next to the pool. Steam was rising off the hot pool as the air cooled around it. The moon came out and glinted on the pool surface, making it look different than in the day.

The girls lazed around on the rocks, talking and wondering how Jack and Philip were getting on. They both looked up to where the hill was, but they knew it was too early for any lights to shine out.

"It's too bad that we didn't ask Jack and Philip to signal us when they got up there," said Lucy-Ann, as she watched Morris pecking at the remains of tinned ham. "You know, like Jack did the time he stayed in the horrible castle."

"They wouldn't have done anyway," said Dinah. "They wouldn't risk it being seen by the enemy." Dinah looked at her watch. "You know, I think I'll go for my nightly swim in the hot pool and then turn in. It's getting late." Lucy-Ann didn't want to, but she said she'd wait for Dinah.

Dinah changed into her swim things and dived into the hot pool. It really was quite deep. Lucy-Ann watched as Dinah swam under the waterfall. As she did, Lucy-Ann heard a faint click and then a rumbling sound. Lucy-Ann felt a shiver run up her spine. Where had she heard that before? Of course, down on the rocks below when she saw the monster or whatever it was!

Lucy-Ann looked in the pool to see if she could spot anything, but all she could see was Dinah swimming under the waterfall. But that was odd, thought Lucy-Ann. The waterfall seemed to be just a trickle, and the pool looked different somehow. It seemed as though the pool water was lower – although it couldn't be! But as Lucy-Ann watched, she could see the water level dropping slowly.

"Dinah!" shouted Lucy-Ann urgently, "Dinah, get out, get out!"

The mynah bird imitated her. "Dinah, Dinah, get out, get out!" it yelled from her shoulder.

Dinah swam over to Lucy-Ann, concerned by the alarm in her voice. She trod water near where Lucy-Ann was standing.

"Dinah, can't you see, the pool water's dropping... and the waterfall's stopped! Look!" said Lucy-Ann pointing. Dinah suddenly saw that Lucy-Ann was right. The pool she was in was quickly draining away – but where to? She looked around her and thought she could feel a small current pulling towards the seaward rocks.

"Dinah, get out, come on," said Lucy-Ann impatiently.

Dinah found she could no longer climb out of the pool onto the rocks were Lucy-Arm stood, as the water was getting too low. She swam over to where the pool was a little shallower and then climbed up the rough rocky steps and out.

"This is weird," she said to Lucy-Ann as she towelled herself off. "What's going on? And what is happening to the water?"

The water seemed to be dropping even more quickly now. It was already a few feet lower. Lucy-Ann told Dinah about the faint click and rumbling noise she had heard.

"Golly," said Dinah a little scared. "Let's peek over into the other pool and see if that thing you saw is there."

Lucy-Ann didn't want to. She wanted to get back to the safety of the treehouse, but Dinah wanted to look into the seawater lagoon to see if she could see anything.

Both girls cautiously walked to the rocks to where they could see down into the other pool. The moon was quite bright so they would have no trouble seeing the rocks and the dark sea water. But what they saw gave them quite a shock. Lucy-Ann stifled a scream and even Dinah felt her heart jump into her throat.

The girls could see a large dark silent shape in the pool. As they watched, the water gurgled and hissed as the shape surfaced and broke the water. First a small section broke the surface and then suddenly the rest of it rose above the water.

Lucy-Ann was terrified. "Dinah?" she whispered. "What is it? Is it a monster?" Dinah didn't answer. She was dumbfounded. What in the world was it? As she watched, the hissing and gurgling stopped and the thing in the pool moved closer to the rocks below where the girls were standing.

"Lucy-Ann," said Dinah suddenly coming to her senses. "We have to hide, we're in danger."

"Why? What is it?" asked poor Lucy-Ann, more scared than she had ever been and wishing the boys were there.

"It's a submarine, Lucy-Ann. A ship that sails underwater. But I don't know why it's here and how it got into the lagoon. Come on, let's get back in the treehouse."

The girls ran to get their things from beside the hot pool. Dinah looked around to make sure they'd left nothing for anybody to see. She gasped as she looked at the hot pool. It had now completely emptied itself, except for a small stream running across the bottom of it.

"Dinah," hissed Lucy-Ann who was at the ladder. "Come on, hurry!"

As Dinah turned, she heard another click and a louder rumbling noise this time. She didn't wait to see what it was. She joined Lucy-Ann at the ladder and waited impatiently while Lucy-Ann climbed up to safety. Then Dinah climbed the ladder as quickly as she could, her feet slipping every now and then in her haste. When she was up, both girls hauled the vine ladder up as fast as they could. No good leaving it down for somebody to find! They heaved a sign of relief once it was safely up.

Lucy-Ann suddenly sat down, her legs unable to hold her anymore. Dinah, feeling weak, joined her. Neitherof them spoke. They just sat wondering at the events of the last few minutes. Disappearing water, a submarine, strange noises... Neither girl liked it very much.

The girls felt better after they were back inside their treehouse. They felt safe, tucked away high in a tree, well hidden from anybody.

Lucy-Arm looked around. "I say, Dinah, where's Morris?" she asked, puzzled.

"I thought he was with you. He must have flown off," said Dinah. "He'll be all right. Are you feeling better? Listen! You can hear the men down below. Shall we go up to our lookout and see if we can see anything?"

Lucy-Ann didn't want to. But she didn't want to stay by herself, so she followed Dinah up the ladder to the lookout platform. The girls cautiously peeped out of the leaves and had a wonderful view of the hot pool and the cold lagoon. Dinah drew in her breath sharply. "Look, there are men down there. What are they doing?"

They could see a few men silently walking in the bottom of the hot pool. They heard another click and rumbling noise. Then something seemed to move slowly and silently across the floor of the hot pool from under the overhang where the waterfall used to be. It extended itself, disappearing under the rocks at the seaward side of the hot pool, only to reappear on the rocks next to the seawater lagoon where the submarine sat. It, whatever it was, suddenly stopped just short of the submarine. It glinted in the moonlight.

"My gosh," said Dinah. "There must be a tunnel under the rocks that we stood on connecting the hot pool to the lower lagoon. But how does the water stay in the hot pool then?" It was a mystery to the girls.

A low hum sounded over the crisp night air. The girls could see something moving along the long gleaming object – going from under the waterfall ledge, across the bottom of the hot pool, under the rocks, and over the rocks near the seawater lagoon.

"It must be a kind of conveyor belt," said Dinah. "A long moving belt that moves those boxes for them so they don't have to carry them as far."

Men were standing near the submarine. They lifted off the objects one by one and handed them to men standing on the deck of the submarine. These men handed the objects to another man who handed them down a hatch and into the submarine. It seemed to be a very efficient setup. There was quite a bit of noise and the men talked all the time in their own language. Sometimes there would be laughter and joking around.

The girls watched the operation for over an hour. Lucy-Ann yawned and looked at her watch. It was 11:00 PM. "Let's see," she thought to herself, "when did Jack say that light shines out? – Oh, yes, around midnight. Well, another hour and we might see it again."

Dinah nudged Lucy-Ann and pointed down to the goings-on below. "Look," she whispered. "They seem to be finishing up. See, they've stopped the conveyor belt and now it seems to be retracting back under the ledge." The girls watched, fascinated, as the long metal conveyor belt slid silently back under the ledge. One by one the men started to disappear. Very soon only a few men remained. One of them said something to another man. Then the girls could hear the familiar click and rumbling noise.

Just at that moment an unexpected thing happened. A voice, loud and clear and sounding exactly like Lucy-Ann, giggled. The giggle sounded strange on the night air. The men stopped and looked around in astonishment. Dinah and Lucy-Ann held their breath. They knew what it was of course – Morris the mynah bird. The men stood still and listened. Both Dinah and Lucy-Ann kept very quiet in case the men might hear them up in the tree.

The giggle came again, followed by, "Hello, Lucy-Ann. Stop it Kiki," in Jack's voice. The voices seemed to come from the opposite side of the pool to the girls. They were glad. Dinah hoped that the mynah bird would not decide to fly up to them at that moment and give them away.

The men split up and started searching the bushes, rocks and trees surrounding the pool. The giggle came again and this seemed to exasperate them.

"Who's there?" yelled one of the men suddenly, making Dinah and Lucy-Ann jump. "Come out or you'll be sorry. I said who's there?"

"Open your book at page six," said the voice. Lucy-Ann smiled a little – it seemed Kiki has been teaching the mynah bird all she knew!

"I said show yourselves," yelled the man, totally confused.

"What's going on?" came another voice. The girls could see another man, rather large and thick-set climbing with difficulty up to the rocks next to the upper pool.

"There are people hiding about, laughing and telling us to do things," said the first man in a puzzled voice. "I thought this island was deserted."

"It is. The German military left here years ago," said the second man. "Come on, stop wasting time, we've got to get the pool filled and get out of here before dawn. There's another patrol coming over at first light so we'll have to use the other lagoon to load as it is undercover."

Morris decided to make a sound like a lawn mower, then a hiccup for which he apologised.

"See," said the first man. "You heard that, didn't you?"

"Come out NOW," shouted the second man in the direction the voice came from. His voice scared the bird and the men saw a black bird fly up and out of the bushes. The first man had had enough. He pulled out his revolver and fired three shots blindly into the bushes near where he thought the voice came from.

The girls jumped and clutched each other. Goodness, they've got revolvers, thought both girls. How glad they were that they were safely in the trees.

"There's nobody here," said the first man, coming back with his torch from the bushes he had fired into.

"Probably got scared and fled," said the second man grimly. "We'll come in as soon as we can when it's light and have a good look around. Come on, back to the U-boat."

The girls watched the last of the men climb on the submarine. They moved away from the rocks, and then silently sunk under the water. Soon the seawater pond had just small ripples that shimmered in the moonlight.

"Look!" said Lucy-Ann, pointing at the upper hot pool. Dinah looked at the pool. It was now full of water and the waterfall was falling gently into the pool as if it always had.

"It's like a dream," said Dinah. "It's like nothing ever happened,"

"The boys won't believe us," said Lucy-Ann. "Oh, goodness! Morris, don't scare me like that." Morris had found the girls and silently landed on Lucy-Ann's shoulder, making her jump.

"You're a bad bird, Morris," said Dinah steely. "Now the men are going to come back and search for us. Blow. We'd better tell the boys and make plans to move quickly. Come on, let's get back down and get some sleep. Do you know it's after midnight!"

Lucy-Ann lay awake for a while thinking about Philip and Jack. "Oh goodness, I hope they're all right," thought the girl. She fell asleep thinking of Philip and Jack out on the hill, all with bad men with revolvers and submarines and secret underground stores. What were they up against?

Continues tomorrow...

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