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 20: The Way Out

The children went back into the train tunnel and sat behind one of the trains. Jack lit one of their candles and by the flickering flame the children could see one another. Dinah pulled out some chocolate she had been saving. The children felt better munching on it.

Kiki, who had been unusually quiet while they were underground, gave a squeak and flew off Jack's shoulder. She landed on the small train engine and peeked into the cab.

"She'll be okay," said Jack watching her. "She's probably fed up with the dark and these tunnels. Now what shall we do?"

"Philip," said Lucy-Ann remembering. "What about the lamp? You know, where you got trapped? Couldn't we get out that way?"

"No, remember, it only opens when they use the light and we have no way of knowing when the light is going to be used," said Philip, tired and just wanting to get out of these beastly tunnels.

"Philip," said Dinah excitedly. "What did those men say about sending a signal? One last signal, right?"

Now Philip sat up in excitement. "I say," he said. "I say, you're right. Dinah and Lucy-Ann, we could get out that way. The tall man said that they would send one last signal at midnight. Now let me see. When was it I was caught? Golly, was it yesterday? Well, that means the lamp will be used tonight at midnight."

Jack looked at his watch. "It already almost eleven o'clock. We won't make it."

"All aboard," said Kiki in her station master voice that made the children jump. "All aboard."

"That's it," said Jack. "Kiki's right. If we could use the train we could save a lot of time and maybe, just maybe, make the lamp opening time. It'll be open for a few minutes. Remember Philip, it was open a good ten minutes that night we saw it, you know when you got trapped?"

Philip considered. "It took me about forty minutes or so to walk down the stairs as far as the junction with the train tunnel. We could make it, but we'd better hurry."

The children went over to the engine and had a look at it. It looked simple enough to drive, almost like an electric toy train set. There was only room for two people in the engine, so the girls and Kiki climbed onto the first flatbed carriage that was empty. Philip switched off his torch to save the battery. Jack still had his torch on and he flashed it over the engine.

Jack and Philip climbed onto the engine and started to look closely at the switches with the torch light. All of them were labelled, but in a language the boys didn't understand.

"Well, here we go," said Jack as he pushed a likely looking button. A bright light flashed out in front of them. The headlights. Well, that was one thing they would need, although goodness knows if anybody had seen it. Jack hoped everybody was too busy in the hangar to notice a bright light in the train tunnel.

"Try that – it looks like it might be a brake," said Philip. Jack nodded and pulled up and then down on a lever near the floor. The train started to roll a little as it was on a very gentle slope. "Good, at least we've released the brake. But how do we get the train moving faster?"

Philip had been exploring and found a small red lever set to the right. He gently pushed down on the lever and the train started to move – but backwards, up the slope! He quickly let go of the lever and Jack pulled up on the brake. The train stopped. Jack saw another switch – the only switch with English words on it. It was labelled Forward and Backward. Jack flipped the switch to forward. "Try again, Philip," he said. Jack let up off the brake and Philip pushed down on the handle. This time the train moved forward.

The boys were delighted as they felt the rush of air as the train left the siding and ran onto the main line.

"Blow," exclaimed Philip, "I've just dropped my torch and it's fallen off the train.

"We'll have to leave it," said Jack. "I've still got mine."

Soon the train entered the single track tunnel and the boys could feel the roof rushing past just inches from their heads. The girls held on tight as the strange train started its underground journey. Philip pushed down further on the switch and the train responded with a whine as it picked up speed. Jack hoped that there was not another train on this track coming the other way – but he reasoned there must be something that stopped the trains from entering an occupied track. He hoped so. The wheels squealed as they rounded a steep corner and the train picked up speed.

"Philip," said Jack, "watch out for the passageway."

Philip nodded. He had already started to watch for it in the train's powerful headlight. After a few more minutes Philip let up off the power switch. "Jack, hit the brakes, we're here," he said urgently.

Jack pulled hard on the brake handle and the train squealed to a halt just a few yards from the tunnel they wanted.

"Come on girls," shouted Jack. "Let's go, we don't have much time." The girls jumped off and ran to Jack.

"What about the train?" asked Dinah.

"We'll have to leave it, I'm afraid." said Philip. "Let's hope they don't notice it until we're out of here. Come on, we're going to have to run."

The children hurried behind Philip along the narrow but steep passageway. Jack looked at his watch – half past eleven. The children soon came to the steps and started to run up the steeply winding stairway – up and up, round and round. The steep steps went on forever and the children grew tired of climbing and had to stop frequently for rests.

After a while of climbing, Jack looked at his watch. It was almost midnight and, as if to confirm it, the children could hear a whining and grinding noise.

"It's the lamp, it's the lamp! It's opening!" shouted Jack, beside himself. "Come on, hurry, it'll close in a few minutes and then we'll really be trapped."

Poor Lucy-Ann wasn't as fast as the others and found herself being dragged up the steep winding stairway. She was also getting dizzy from going around and around.

Philip, in the lead, came to the metal stairway and clanged up, not caring if he could be heard, only wanting to escape before the opportunity closed. High above him, he could see the flash of the light as it sent out its signal.

Suddenly, the children heard shouts and steps on the stairway below them.

"They've must have found the train. They're after us," shouted Jack. "Come on, Lucy-Ann." Jack dropped back to help his little sister. He pushed her ahead of him. Philip finally staggered up the last few steps and out onto the rocks at the top of the hill just as the lamp stopped flashing. A grinding and grating noise came on the air and the lamp started to sink.

"Jack, Lucy-Ann, Dinah," he yelled down the stairway. "Hurry, it's closing. It's closing."

Philip watched anxiously and then he saw Dinah stagger off the stairway with Kiki flying above her head. The lamp was half closed when he saw Lucy-Ann. Philip helped Lucy-Ann as the stairway had dropped down too far for her to climb up. Once Lucy-Ann was out, Philip leaned down and grabbed Jack's hand and hauled him up. Jack's legs cleared the entrance way with only a foot of space remaining.

The children heard the men down below and Lucy-Ann gave a scream as she saw a man's hand grab the rocky ledge. But the lamp was closing fast and, with a yell, he let go as the lamp's rocky roof slammed shut.

They were out!

Continues tomorrow...

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