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 17: Trapped!

The children clutched each other in fright. "Jack," asked Dinah scared, "what's happening'?"

"I don't know, but I think we'd better get out of here. Come on, the tunnel's this way." Jack led the girls to where he thought the tunnel was and got quite a shock.

"I say," said Jack astonished. "The tunnel's gone! No, it hasn't gone, it's flooded. Look!" Jack flashed his torch on where the steps led down to the tunnel, but instead of there being a dry tunnel passage, there was water, dark and silent.

"Jack, I don't understand. What happened'?" asked Lucy-Ann in a shaky voice. "Where's the passage?"

"The passage is there," said Jack. "It's just been flooded and I bet I can guess how. I bet that rock I fell against is a lever of some kind, that when activated floods the tunnel. Let me see if it will work in the reverse." Jack went over to the rock he had fallen against, but could not get it to move. He flashed his torch around the rock, but could see no other mechanism. "No luck," he reported gloomily to the girls. "Look, we're going to have to swim through the tunnel. Can you girls hold your breath for a couple of minutes?"

Both girls nodded, although Lucy-Ann looked a little doubtful.

"But Jack," said Dinah. "Our torches aren't waterproof, and what about our clothes and Kiki?"

"Kiki, you'll have to stay here and be good," said Jack at last. "As soon as we get through, we can operate the lever and reopen the flooded tunnel and then we'll get Kiki out. We won't need our torches once through because the daylight will be shining in the other cave. We'll have to strip to our bathing things or underwear and leave our clothes in here."

Kiki was mournful about being left behind. "What a pity, poor Kiki, God save the King," she said in a sorrowful voice. "What a pity."

The children stripped down to their bathing suites and pushed their clothes behind a convenient rock along with their torches. It was pitch black without the torches. Jack took the lead with Dinah holding his hand and Lucy-Ann holding Dinah's hand. Jack stepped down the steps into the ice cold water.

"Brrr, it's freezing," said Jack as he caught his breath. He heard Dinah and Lucy-Ann catch their breaths as they waded into the water. Jack took a few deep breaths and then duck-dived into the pitch black water. He used his hands to feel along the roof of the tunnel and kicked his feet to move forward. After less than a minute he could no longer feel the roof and swam up and broke the surface. He could not see a thing. It was pitch black in this cave too, which could only mean that the entrance door had closed completely. Jack heard the water surface break and Dinah and then Lucy-Ann gasping for breath.

"Jack, where are you?" came Lucy-Ann's frightened voice.

"I'm here," said Jack, as he reached out in the direction of her voice and touched Lucy-Ann's face. Soon all three had found each other and were treading water in the pitch dark.

"Now what should we do?" asked Dinah. "I don't suppose for a minute we can find the exit without any lights or our torches. I vote we go back to the other cave, get dressed, get warm and have something to eat and discuss what to do next."

Lucy-Ann really couldn't bear to go back through that watery tunnel, but it was worse sitting here cold, wet, and completely in the dark.

Jack led the way back through the tunnel and into the other larger cave. The children found their torches and clothes and were soon dressed and sitting in the kitchen-like place having a meal. Just as they finished their meals by torchlight, the children were suddenly blinded as bright overhead lights snapped on. The children, too stunned to move for a minute, grabbed at each other in fright. Then Jack pulled the girls behind the rock where they had hidden their clothes earlier.

With the lights on, the children could clearly see everything in the large cave. In the middle, covering most of the cave, was a large lake with a waterfall at the far end. The water was pitch black like that in the tunnel they had to swim through. But what held the children's attention was the floodlit submarine that was sitting silently in the pool, glistening black and somehow looking menacing. Dinah thought it looked smaller than the one they had seen in the sea lagoon. High up on the cave walls, the children could see gangways circling the cave and on these now men appeared. First one came out of an opening onto the gangway above the waterfall, and then more and more.

Another noise startled the children and to their left a small train appeared out of another tunnel. The train ran with little noise and no steam. Jack thought that it must run by electricity – like the train in London he remembered riding on when he went there with his parents. It must pick up electricity from the rails, but then Jack didn't know how the men could also walk on the rails too. It must be powered by some advanced technology that he didn't understand.

"Jack, look," said Dinah pointing. The lake was bubbling and hissing and then another submarine emerged in the large pool in the middle of the cave.

"Jack, what's going on?" asked Lucy-Ann.

"I don't know, Lucy-Ann," said Jack puzzled. What was going on here?

The children watched in amazement as the men moved objects from the submarines to the train. When the train was full, it left in another tunnel and another train took its place.

There came a shout from near the flooded tunnel and the children turned their head to watch. The tunnel was now dry again and Jack was just wondering if they could escape that way when they saw Philip walking up with his hands on his head and two men with revolvers behind him.

Lucy-Ann stifled a scream and felt tears running down her cheek. "Oh, golly – they've caught Philip," she said to herself. Jack looked horrified.

Jack, Lucy-Ann and Dinah watched as Philip was marched over to another man. The children couldn't hear what was said to Philip or what he said in return, but he got a slap across his left ear in reply. Jack couldn't help grinning – Philip never turned a hair in the face of danger.

After a few more questions and a few more slaps the man had had enough. He gave a sharp order and the two guards marched Philip onto the nearest submarine. The children watched as he was forced to climb down the hatch and into the submarine. Jack and the girls crawled away from their watching place and sat among some sacks and held a little council of war. What were they going to do?

"We have to rescue Philip and get off this island," said Dinah. "Something is not right here and we've got to get back and tell all we know."

"You're right," said Jack, his voice full of concern. "Look, hopefully that submarine isn't going anywhere yet. So, as soon as the lights are turned off again, I'm going to go and try to get Philip out."

"But Jack, there might be guards or you might get caught," said Lucy-Ann.

"I know, Lucy-Ann, but I can't think of any alternatives, can you?" None of them could. The children discussed it for a while and settled on trying a rescue after the lights had gone out again.

The children settled down and watched the activity for some time. They were a little worried when the men came over to the kitchen for a dinner break. But the men sat and talked in their own language and didn't guess there were hidden children behind the rocks.

Finally the men left the large cave and the lights snapped out. Jack and the girls sat and strained their eyes but could see nothing. Finally, after an hour, Jack thought it was as good a time as any. Of course, even if they rescued Philip, he had no idea how to get out of the cave – but he didn't tell the girls that.

Jack passed Kiki to Lucy-Ann and climbed cautiously over the rock, shielding his torch in case there were any enemies around.

Lucy-Ann was pleased to have Kiki on her shoulder; she was good company. Dinah and Lucy-Arm cuddled up close together and soon found their eyes closing. This wouldn't do! One of them should stay awake. Lucy-Ann decided to take first watch and Dinah was soon snoring softly, her head laying gently on Lucy-Ann's shoulder.

Jack crept over the rocks and in the direction he thought the submarine was. He had to use his torch as he was afraid of falling into the pool. He soon came to the submarine that looked large as it glinted in his torch beam. He flashed his torch over the metal hull and could see the hatch that they had taken Philip down. Jack climbed onto the submarine, glad that his rubber soled shoes made no noise. He knelt down and slowly turned the hatch release mechanism, hoping it wouldn't make any noise. It didn't, as it was well oiled. He heard a small hiss as the pressure seal released and the hatch opened in front of him.

There was a red glow from inside the submarine. Jack waited, holding his breath in case somebody was on guard duty. Nobody came up. Nobody seemed to have noticed. Jack guessed that they didn't expect anybody to be trying to rescue Philip, or if they did, they didn't expect them to find the cave.

Jack turned his torch off and put it between his teeth and started to climb down into the submarine. His heart was beating painfully in his chest, half afraid somebody would grab his legs from below. But nobody did. He was soon at the bottom of the metal ladder and he looked around. He was in a room that was cylindrical in shape. All of the available space was taken up with switches and some type of monitoring stations. The red glow was everywhere and Jack could see that all of the stations had small red lights illuminating them.

Now, where would Philip be? Jack went over to a schematic of the submarine at one of the stations. He tried to read it but it was not in English. "German," he said to himself. "Of course, this must be an old U-boat from the war." Jack looked closely at the schematic. It seemed that the submarine had two decks and the forward area was for the torpedo launchers and the aft area was the engine room. The crew's quarters were down one deck, as was the brig where they would normally keep prisoners. Jack thought this would be the most likely place to keep Philip.

Jack found the ladder going down to the next deck and stepped into a small passage lit with the same red lights as above. He moved slowly along the passage, past closed door which he assumed led to the crews quarters. Surely nobody was living on board the submarine while it was in the cave? He and the girls had counted the men going on and off the submarine and they thought everybody had left before the lights went out. Still, he'd better be careful.

Jack came to a door that was bolted on the outside. That was strange; none of the other door had bolts on the outside. Jack paused. This should be about where the brig would be located. But what if Philip wasn't behind that door? Jack held up his hand, trying to decide if he should knock on the door and see what happens. After all, he could always hide. Or could he? Jack looked around the small passageway. There did not seem to be many places to hide.

Just as Jack had screwed up his courage, he saw something small just outside the sealed door. Jack knelt down and grinned in relief. It was Philip's beetle. It had the distinctive red marks that Philip had shown Jack and the girls. My word, it was still with him! Jack marvelled at how Philip could entice animals and insects to want to stay with him.

Jack stood up, knocked on the door, and hissed, "Philip? Tufty?"

He heard a shuffling on the other side of the door and then Philip's joyful voice. "Jack, is that you'?"

"Shush. Philip, yes, it's me. Hang on, I'm going to open the door," said Jack, as he shot back the bolt on the door and swung it open to a delighted Philip. "Come on, we've got to get out of here. Oh, wait. I believe this is yours?" He handed the beetle back to Philip.

Philip looked at it in surprise. "Yes, my word, I didn't know he'd left me." Philip gently placed the beetle back in his left pocket and followed Jack back up the narrow submarine passage to the ladder leading up to the next deck. Jack was halfway up the ladder when he heard an exclamation from above and then the sound of heavy boots coming down the ladder.

Jack slid back down and turned to Philip. "Somebody's coming. Quick – we've better get back." He pushed Philip back the way they had come. "You'd better get back in the cell in case they're coming to check on you. I'll bolt you in and hide, then let you out when they leave."

Philip nodded – it was the only thing to do. Jack managed to slip into a nearby cabin and hid under the lower bunk. He hoped the men would not think to look for another person other than Philip.

Jack strained his ears. He heard them open the bolt on Philip's door. The men said something to each other in a low voice that Jack couldn't hear. After a minute Jack heard the bolt shoot home and the clomp of their boats on the submarine's metal floors. Jack waited a couple of minutes to give them time to leave, and then let Philip out of the room for the second time.

"Thanks," said Philip. "Come on, let's get out of here before they come back again." He shot home the bolt on the brig and grinned at Jack.

"Might as well make them think I'm still in there. Come on." The two boys climbed the ladder to the upper deck and Jack led the way up the ladder to the hatchway – and then got a shock.

"Blow," he exclaimed. "Those men have closed the hatch and I can't find the release on this side. There must be one, though." Jack felt around in the red glow trying to find anything that might resemble a hatch release. Down below, Philip looked around him, but there were so many levers and wheels he didn't know which one opened the hatch above.

Jack was just about to climb back down the ladder when he heard a hiss and the hatch above him opened. He was blinded by a powerful torch shining down from the hatchway above. "Golly," thought the boy, "we're both caught!"

Continues tomorrow...

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