The Mystery of Adventure Island (6 page)

It was dark inside, so much so that they needed to turn on their torches. The beams of light shone around the dark space. They spotted nothing of interest. It looked like any other rocky cave, nothing out of the ordinary.

Will flicked his torch around the walls as he walked close to them in an effort to see if there was a tunnel.
But
there was none. It
didn’t
take long for the children to group back together at the entrance.

“Well, there’s nothing in there,” Joe said, disappointed. “I felt sure that there would be something.”

“But what about the man?”
Amy said. “Where did he disappear to?”

Sarah glanced further along and saw that there was another cave a short distance away. “Maybe he went in there.”

The others looked at where Sarah was pointing and Will nodded. “Let’s search.”

They hurried over and were soon in the
cave which
was double the size of the previous one. Like all the others, Joe was very familiar with caves, especially after their last adventure and, as he felt the rocky wall, he hoped to discover a tunnel.
But
no rocks gave way and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Amy yelled out as she picked up something that was on the cave floor and held it up. “Look what I’ve found.”

The others raced over and Joe saw it was another cigarette butt. “How long do you think that has been here?”

“It doesn’t look too old,” Will
said
. “Not longer than a few days.” He glanced around. “We can’t find a tunnel, and there’s nothing else here, so whoever is on the island isn’t staying in this cave.” He walked out of the cave and onto the sand.

As the others joined him, Will looked around. There were a few gulls in the sky above, but that was all. He looked towards the trees at the far end of the inlet. There were quite a few, enough to hide a building. “Why don’t we walk towards the wood over there and see if we can see anything?”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Joe said.

The four of them walked along the beach as they headed to the other side of the island. They were about halfway there when Amy suddenly stopped. She raised her hand and pointed to the trees in front of them. “Is that a person?”

Will raised his binoculars to his eyes and peered through them. “Yes. It’s a man.”

“What does he look like?” Joe questioned.

“He’s bald and big.” Will looked back at the others for a moment. “Was the man you saw near the cave bald?”

Joe shook his head. “No.”

“What’s he doing now?” Amy asked.

Will looked back through the binoculars. After gazing around for one minute, he dropped the binoculars, disappointed.

“Has he gone?” Joe asked.

Will nodded. “He must have headed deeper into the wood.”

“Maybe if we hurry we can catch sight of him,” Sarah said.

“Possibly.”
Will
raced
along the sand, fuelled by the desire to catch up to the man. They were soon standing at the edge of the wood. Will walked to where he had seen the man.

“What was the man doing?” Amy asked.

“He was looking around,” Will said.
“Almost as though he didn’t want anyone to see where he was going.”

“I wonder why?” Joe asked.

“Let’s see if we can find where he went.” Will led the others into the wood. There
wasn’t
much of a path, just an animal track. The track meandered along, sometimes getting quite close to the rocky cliffs, but always staying within the confines of the wood.

Will was just about to suggest that they turn back when something caught his attention. He shot his hand up. “Quiet! I see something.”

Sarah frowned as she peered forward and saw a small log cabin. “Do you think the man went in there?”

“It seems like a good possibility.” Will crept forward, going from the trunk of one tree to the next, pausing each time as he did so.
But
, apart from some birds chirping, all was silent.

From what Amy could see, there was only one window on this side of the cabin. She assumed that the door and possibly another window would be on the other. She joined the others at the corner of the cabin. “Are we going to look through the window?”

Joe surveyed the dirty window. “I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to see, but get ready to run in case someone’s in there.”

The air was tense with anticipation as Joe hugged the cabin wall and sidled towards the window. He paused once he was right next to it and, after glancing back to make sure that nothing had happened to the others, he looked through the glass.

The moss and grime that covered the lower half of the windowpane made it hard to get a clear view of the inside, but Joe saw enough to satisfy him. He turned and walked back to the others.

“Is anyone there?” Will asked.

“Not that I can see,” Joe replied, “but someone has definitely been there.”

“Why? What did you see?” Amy asked.

“There are some sleeping bags, some food—” Joe replied.

“How many sleeping bags?”
Will interrupted.

“At least two, maybe three.
But I….” Joe paused as the bushes nearby rustled.

“Maybe we should talk somewhere else,” Sarah said.

Suddenly, a large bird flew up from the bushes.

“Phew! It’s only a bird.” Joe glanced at the others. “I just want to see if the door’s unlocked, and then we’ll go.”`
   

“But what if someone comes?” Amy asked, worried.

“Hope that they don’t.” Joe hurried around to the other side of the cabin and paused at the door. He reached for the handle and turned it. It swung open without a sound. The hinges
had clearly been oiled
. That, as well as the sleeping bags, confirmed that someone had been living in here for a
period of time
.

Joe waved to the others and they hurried over. They all glanced around the small cabin. There were a couple of sleeping bags, some tins of food, a small table, and two chairs. There were also three rucksacks leaning against the wall.

Joe walked over to them and was just about to open one to see what was inside when the sound of voices reached his ears. Standing up, he looked back at the others. “Do you hear that?”

“We have to go!” Amy whispered.

All four of them ran as fast as they could through the wood in the opposite direction from where the voices were coming from. It was an anxious few moments until they reached the cover of some thick bushes.

Peering through the foliage, they saw three men come into view. They were still talking, but it
wasn’t
loud enough for the children to hear what was being said. They entered the cabin and closed the door.

The children waited for a few minutes to see if they would come out, but when they
didn’t
, they decided to head back to the beach.

After making
sure
they couldn’t be seen through the cabin windows, they made their way back along the path and, before long, were on the beach. They sat down and rested on the sand as they thought about what they had just seen.

“So, why do you think those men are here?” Amy asked.

“It could be any number of reasons,” Joe said.

“They must be the ones who dressed up as a ghost and tried to scare us,” Will said.

“But why?
What possible reason could they have for staying on this island?” Sarah said.

“I don’t know. I truly don’t.” Will frowned as he caught sight of the men as they emerged from the wood.
“Oh, no!
We need to hide!” He stood up, but paused as one of the men turned and saw him.

Chapter 9: The Birdwatchers

 

As the men approached, Will quickly whispered to the others. “Don’t let them know that we suspect anything. Just follow my lead.”

The others had just enough time to nod before the bald man called out. “Hey! What are you doing here?”

“We’re camping,” Will
said
.

“We can’t have visitors on this island, so you’ll have to move off,” the bald man said.

“What about you? Why are you on this island?” Joe said.

“We’re doing a very important study for the government about the bird population in this area,” the bald man replied.

Amy studied the three men. They were rough looking and were untidily dressed. “You don’t look like government people.”

The bald man looked at the children in turn. “What would your parents say if they knew you were interfering with the government? I don’t think they would be too pleased.”

“We’re not doing anything wrong,” Sarah said.

The man sneered. “You kids are all the same. Why, I
wouldn’t
be surprised if you’ve been snooping on us. Haven’t you heard about the ghost that haunts this island?”

“Jeremiah Jones?” Joe said.

“Yes. I wouldn’t stay any longer on this island if I were you,” the man said.

“But you’re staying here,” Amy said.

“That’s different. It’s our job,” the bald man confessed. “We can’t leave.
But
I’m warning you – if you stay here tonight, I’m sure you’ll be visited by the ghost and who knows what will happen. So leave this island as soon as you can.”

The man stared at the four children once more in turn before he turned and walked away. The other men followed him.

Once they were out of hearing distance, Sarah looked towards Joe. “What if the ghost does come again?”

Joe laughed. “They were just trying to scare us.”

“But we did see the ghost,” Amy said.

“It was those men dressed up. I know we don’t have proof, but there are no such things as ghosts,” Joe said. “But we can see whether or not the men are lying about being birdwatchers.”

“What do you mean?” Will asked.

“Well, do you know much about birds?
Ones that live around here?”
Joe said.

“A few, why?”
Will questioned.

~

As Joe led the way down the hill half an hour later and walked over to where the three men were standing below a tall pine tree, he saw that they had changed into cleaner clothes. One of them, the bald fellow who had spoken to them earlier, was now wearing a nametag on his chest. It
read:
Marvin – Bird Researcher.

Joe turned to the man. “Have you seen the Dodo yet?”

Marvin hesitated. “I’m not sure.” He looked over at the man standing next to him who had a ponytail and wore glasses. “Have you, Luke?”

Luke shook his head. “Of course we haven’t.
They’re
extinct. Besides, they lived in
Africa
.” He gazed at Joe. “You mustn’t know a lot about birds, boy.”

“What about a Grey Wagtail?” Sarah asked. “We just saw one last week in Smugglers Cove.”

“Did you now?” Luke said. “Well, I think we saw one here the other day, didn’t we, Kenneth?”

The third man, a short, thin fellow with beady eyes, nodded. “Yes, just near those hills.” He pointed to the hillside that the children had just walked
down
.

“Was he grey and red or grey and blue?” Joe said. “The one we saw was grey and blue.”

Kenneth looked to Luke. “I can’t recall. Which one do you think it was?”

Luke paused as he thought. “It was grey and blue, just like yours.”

Joe nodded. “Well, we had better get going. Oh, and we’ve decided to leave this afternoon.”

“I’m glad you’ve got some sense in you,” Marvin piped up.

“We thought about what you said about the ghost and decided we had better not be here at nightfall,” Joe said.

Marvin smiled.
“Quite right.
Well, have a good trip home.”