Contenido

"What's going on?" said Sooty, his mouth gaping open in awe. "More of the words are coming off—popping out like popcorn."

There was a giggle from behind him, and, lo and behold, there stood Julian with a broad smile. "Ju—what is happening?" cried bewildered Dick, "For goodness' sake—Ju... JU!"

With that deafening shout, Julian scrambled up with a start. As he was sleeping on the edge of the bed, he next found himself drop thump on the floor. Dick was standing beside him, glaring fiercely at him.

"Wh-what? What happened?" Julian gaped at Dick, rubbing his eyes and getting up from the floor, shaken. "You brute! Why did you shout so loud—right in my ear? Almost deafening me!" Dick was rubbing his jaw, and looking pretty furious, "Fancy asking me that! What if I ask why you were twisting and writhing around so uncannily—with eyes closed? You looked as if taken over by a poltergeist. Gosh—that was eerie! You were mumbling all nonsense about letting you go and were thrashing your arms around. That last slap jabbed me square on my jaws. I didn't know you could have such a wild nightmare." Dick looked in the mirror if his jaws were intact. Julian blinked sheepishly at his brother. "Golly! So that was a dream? It was so real. Er—sorry, Dick. That must have been when I thrashed around when I got captured by Mr Stick—well, in the dream, I mean."

"Mr Stick? Who's that?" Dick raised his brow. "You mean that rogue of a fellow—father of err..."

"Edgar," said Julian, sitting back on the bed, feeling much awake now. "That was not all. There were whole lot of other rogues—Pottersham, Mr. Roland, Red Tower, and then there were Dirty Dick, Rooky and Mr. Curton too."

"What?" said amused Dick, with a chuckle. "Was that some sort of flashback of our previous adventures? All those baddies parading in your dream like that?"

"That was strange," mused Julian, and he related briefly what he remembered of the strange dream he just had—much to Dick's amusement.

Just then there was a knock at the door. "Ju—Dick! What's going on? We heard a shout and quite a commotion." George and Anne were on the doorway.

"Golly—Fancy Uncle Quentin and Mr Lenoir getting captured and taken to the Owl's Dene— together! They wouldn't realize that they were kept captive—they would be happily discussing some science stuffs," giggled Anne.

"And you been taken prisoner too, Ju," said George, with a smile. "But before that managing to leave a message. Jolly smart of you! But I feel creepy just to think of Kirrin Cottage being blown away. I know it's a dream thing—but even then it feels bad enough to hear our dear old cottage blown away just like that replica tower on our Island."

"They won't dare to in real, will they?" asked Anne anxiously.

"Of course not," smiled back Dick. "All villains are cowards at heart, you see." "Woof!" said Timmy with a fierce tone.

"Timmy says he won't let any harm come to the Cottage," said George with a laugh, fondling his hair. "You are the best dog in the world—and I know you won't let anything happen to us and the Cottage." Timmy whined and gave a wet lick to her mistress.

"I think the incidents like Pottersham's jail-break and the tower getting blown away—they have played havoc onto your imagination—causing you to have such bad dream," said Dick,

thoughtfully. "Or are you jabbed by sea-urchins? I saw a couple of those spiny things while going around Penny's bio-tour on the Island. They make you have nightmares, you see." Dick winked at Sooty. He gaped back—he almost believed him.

"Haha! That was funny!" Julian poked good-humoredly at his brother. He knew Dick was just pulling his legs. "There were no sea-urchins in those quadrats and they don't cause nightmares. But it has made me think seriously of something—I mean the dream," he continued, with a thoughtful look. "There sure is something going on at Arden Hall. A lot of things definitely point there—for instance those weird looking floating people; and then those lights shining out. Was that meant to be a signal or some casual flash of a torch-light? Then there was this plane flying over the moor the next day—do you remember that?"

"Yes—then later Timmy finds a wallet with a train timetable, a bus timetable, times of low and high tides, and a business card with an emblem of yellow shield with a red snake wrapped around it, and RED 0709 written boldly on the back of it. He had picked up the wallet somewhere in Arden Hall, hadn't he?" said Dick, frowning hard and trying to remember the details.

"And then we find the similar emblem on the letterhead on which Uncle's notes were copied," chipped in Anne. "Back there in the tunnel-cave—where Uncle had his experiments."

"There is something that we have overlooked somewhere—I think we should take a good look at these things once more," said Julian. "But it can wait until tomorrow—or is it today? Gosh, it is past midnight! No wonder I'm feeling so sleepy!"

So they went to sleep once more—Dick with much reluctance—in case Julian chose to have one more of those 'dangerous' dreams. He made up his mind that he would sleep in a couch that night. Better take precautions, he thought.

They were quite wary with their previous day—what with the long and tiring night-walk through the undersea tunnel, then the early morning nature tour with Penny, followed by a swimming and frolicking around with Sooty—they really had a hectic time. No wonder they were so tired. Now with the disturbed sleep due to Julian's weird nightmare, they were finding hard to keep their lids open even for another second. So a minute later, all were sleeping like logs! Anne never noticed a beetle walking calmly up her left hand, right around her face and then vanishing down her neck. The indignant beetle left Anne with much disgust that all its trotting around had come to nothing. What kind of a girl is this? Feeling nothing of its 'creepy-crawly' walk! It sighed and walked away forlornly, thinking of trying its luck somewhere else.

In the morning, George woke first with a groan. Timmy had crept up on George's middle— thinking that it made a good sleeping-couch. So George had to shove him off. But Timmy was not to be put off. He jumped back—once more right on the middle of her tummy—making George gasp for breath. "Oh—Tim! Why do you always forget that you are a big dog? Hey— Anne, it's morning already! Wake up sleepyhead—it's a glorious morning! I'm going for an early morning bathe! Who wants to join me?" Of course, everyone wanted to join. Who wanted to laze in the bed and miss a marvelous bathe in such a wonderful morning!

It was not long before James, who was out in the sea for an early catch of fish, watched with amusement four children (Sooty was too sleepy to join them) and a dog rush down, plunge headlong into the sea and then splash crazily at each other, with the seemingly mad dog chasing the receding golden ripples. They looked at a couple of police motor-boats chugging towards the island. Must be the police team going to the blast site, the children thought. They later learnt from the hawkers at the beach that there were to be no day-trippers allowed to the island until they finished the investigation.

"Hello James!" called out George, waving at the fisher-boy who was a little way out in the sea in his boat. "Having a good catch?"

"Yes, pretty good this morning!" said James pulling in his boat and preparing to unload his haul. "But I couldn't go out early enough today—so it ain't that good as yesterday. That stepfather of mine that I'd been talking about—remember? He turned up and was asking all kinds of nonsense, delaying me no end."

"What sort of questions?" queried Julian, coming out of the rippling water and wrapping himself in a towel.

"Oh—about Kirrin Island and about the ruin there. And funny that he wanted to know about the time that tide comes in and goes out at the Island. Utter nonsense! What has he to do with the tide going in or out? What does he think of me? Some sea-traffic? Pah!" said James distastefully. "I hate that bolo of a man! I really do!!"

"How dare he?" George hissed. "Why is everyone after my island? You didn't tell him anything, did you?"

"Of course not—why should I possibly!" James replied.

"It seems like your stepfather is one big nosey-parker!" called back Dick, after they were all finished swimming and bathing, and were ready to get back. "He doesn't sound good to me. I'm afraid I don't fancy this stepfather of yours at all!"

"Neither do I!" said James to himself, in a doleful tone.

After returning from a thorough bathe, they were soon enjoying a smashing breakfast of poached eggs, sardine sandwiches, browned toast and frothy fresh milk straight from Kirrin Farm. Joan, their cook, was lavishly praised for the scrumptious breakfast, much to her pleasure.

"You are the best cook I've ever seen. Much better than the royal cook of England," said Dick, winking at the others.

"You cook much better than Sarah—our cook at Smuggler's Top," said Sooty, helping himself with another sandwich. "She's such a chatterbox that she goes on chattering while the toast becomes as black as... as... "

"Soot," everyone said in unison, much to Joan's amusement.

"Beasts," Sooty said with a mock anger. "You know—Joan, you deserve the highest honor of England for cooking."

"Now, now, don't butter me so much," said Joan with a laugh. "Fancy you saying that. Penny says the same thing when I go to Kirrin Farm and help Mrs Sanders prepare lunch in the kitchen."

"Are you talking of Penny King? Have you met her?" asked Anne.

"Met her? Of course—I'd met her long before this time! Why—I'd known her since her

childhood. Such a nice girl! Always smiling, and what marvelous manners! She's an exact copy of her mother, Charlotte," replied Joan, with a dreamy look in her eyes. "Ah, Charlotte. She used to be such a fine lady in her time. Charlotte Wallace King—the mistress of Arden Hall."

George almost choked over her piece of poached egg. "What—Penny King is the daughter of Captain Charles Wallace? Whewwww!"

"Funny that Mrs Sanders never mentioned that," wondered Dick. "But she did mention about her son being friendly with the Captain's nephew."

Anne remembered noticing the old woman's fleeting change in expression when she was asked about the owner of Arden Hall, while they'd been at Kirrin Farm. She wondered if she knew

something that she didn't want to disclose. And why did she hide the fact that Penny was the daughter of the Captain?

"Maybe Penny prevented her from disclosing her true identity," said Joan, casually. Then with a faraway look in her eyes, she told them a most interesting story.

"In fact," she said, "Charlotte's grandfather was from Persia—now known as Iran. He was a trader and used to trade merchandise in India. In the course of time, he settled back in India. He grew his family and flourished in name, prosperity and wealth. Charlotte was his dearest grand- daughter. In fact, Charlotte used to have a different name. Nadia Rajah she was called. Actually she'd inherited her maiden name of 'Rajah', which translated to 'King', from her grandfather only—who was given that title by some Maharajah of India. It so happened that Charles Wallace, a young handsome English gentleman, was deputed as an Army Cadet in Goa—a western coastal town of India—where Charlotte lived with her parents. He met her there and fell in love. After meeting Charles, she changed her religion to Christianity and thereon called herself Charlotte King. They got married and lived happily. Charles got promoted and was stationed in Goa as a Captain. They had a lovely son. Later, after an early retirement of the Captain—due to some illness I guess—they left India and moved here to Kirrin Village to have a quiet life. But unluckily their son died in his infancy." There was a horrified silence. Joan nodded sadly, then continued: "Many a year later, the grief-stricken parents were blessed with a lovely daughter— Penny. Unfortunately, the father and daughter never got along well. When Penny was still a young girl, a grave disaster fell upon them. One unfortunate night, they had a big burglary. They were looted of the immense valuables that they'd brought back from India. It was said that Charlotte had brought quite a horde of her inherited jewelries, ornaments, and gold coins—worth a fortune. They were stripped of the treasure when the burglary took place. However, with the help of the servants, two of the burglars were captured. In the tussle, both the brutes got killed. But when they were searched, they could find not a single coin with them."

"Was there another burglar there?" interrupted Sooty, who was listening to all this with jaws nearly dropping out.

"Yes—there was a third burglar all right," said Joan. "It was suspected that the third burglar— who got away—had the treasure. But that was not possible, because one person can't surely move all the loots so miraculously. Later this burglar was captured for some other crime and he was questioned about the whereabouts of the treasure, but he never opened his mouth. He always repeated the same thing that he'd never taken anything out of Arden Hall. He later died in jail. In this way, the Wallace Treasure got vanished into thin air. Without the money, the Wallaces were in a mighty fix. So they left Arden Hall to dilapidate and went to India, where Charlotte still had her relatives and continued to live there. There still are many a Persians dwelling in Goa—now as proper citizens."

All the children were listening in fascination. Fancy losing all those fortune! Poor Penny—she had been an heir to such a fortune.

Joan continued. "As I said earlier, Penny never got along with her father, so she never adopted her father's name—Wallace. She rather preferred her mother's maiden name of King. She's such a sweet child, but she could be obstinate at certain points."

"Well—what a story!" said Anne with a dazed look. "How did you know all these things?" Joan began to clear up the table. "You know Dorcas—my cousin? She once used to work for the Wallaces. So I used to visit Arden Hall quite often. I was a young woman at that time and Charlotte was such a fine lady. She was almost of my age—maybe a year or two older."

"I guess Penny's come here for her research out of nostalgia. Maybe she remembers spending her childhood here," said George, finishing her sandwich, and then dropping a big piece of toast for Timmy—eagerly awaiting for the tidbits. "Here—pass the salt, Sooty."

"It must be heart-wrenching for her to see her hereditary building falling to pieces," said Dick, thinking of Arden Hall in ruins.

George scratched her curly hair. "I wonder where the treasure has vanished. Is it possible that the burglar managed to bury the treasure somewhere in the grounds of Arden Hall?"

"Impossible!" said Joan firmly. "How is it possible—under the noses of the households of the Hall? Besides, for many a year there was a thorough search for the lost treasure—even after the Wallaces moved away from here. But no-one found anything—not even one wee little bit of coin."

"Suppose the treasure is lying somewhere there in Arden Hall after all!" said Julian with a glint. "It's a possibility—because the third burglar did say that he never took out anything. That means, he may have hidden it somewhere so well that even after years of search, it was never found." After a thought, he added, "Is it possible that Penny is in pursuit of the treasure trove? Quite likely! After all, she's the heir to the treasure and she knows that it's not found yet! She's maybe using her research work as a cover-up to her actual motive, or maybe she's doing a dual job of—" Just then they were interrupted by a loud call. "Sooty! SOOTY!"

Sooty scrambled to his feet and hurried out. Uncle Quentin, along with Sooty's father, Mr Lenoir, were going out to town for a meeting with a Civil Engineer to discuss the things about what could be done to rebuild Kirrin Castle, without spoiling its originality. Sooty was supposed to go too.

In fact, Mr Lenoir was not Sooty's real father. He was his step-father. Marybelle was not his real sister either—only a half-sister, but she thought a whole lot of her dark, jolly half-brother. It was like a pair of beauty and a beast when they were together—Marybelle was fair and delicate looking while Sooty was quite the opposite, as his nickname suggested.

"Can't I stay with the others?" pleaded Sooty meekly to his step-father. "I would be bored in the meeting. What will I be doing?"

"No, I want you to be introduced to your new tutor—who would be coming back to Smuggler's Top with us when we return. You need some thorough teaching. I'm not satisfied with your results, Pierre," said Mr Lenoir firmly. Sooty's real name was Pierre—but people seldom called him that.

Sooty nodded gloomily. He was always nervous in front of his frowning, fierce father. However, after a thought, Mr Lenoir had a change of mind and let Sooty stay back—much to his joy. "We could be late coming back, so it would be better to postpone the meeting with your tutor for some other day. I'll call him up and settle for another time."

It was not long before the five children, and an equally eager dog, were huddled in the room. They had to try unfolding some puzzles—as they'd planned earlier. Julian produced the wallet that Timmy had found somewhere in the grounds of Arden Hall, as well as the bundle of copied