Semur Babi Kecap Slow Cooker atau Panci Presto

Berkelana di berbagai resep online dari cookpad sampai blognya si omnivore, demi mendapatkan takaran bumbu babi kecap yang pas buat lidah orang rumah 🤪

Dan andalanku adalah si slow cooker keramik agar hasil daging babi kecap bisa lunak dan nutrisinya juga gak hilang. Utamanya sih biar gausa dijaga wkwkwk. Tinggal setel slow trus pergi ngantor deh ☺️

Ku juga udah pernah pakai panci presto untuk babi kecap. Tapi kudu harus dijaga kalo ga mah air kuahnya cepat kering. Sementara si bos kecil kan doyannya nasi putih disiram dengan kuah babi kecap 😉

Rencana awalnya sih mau murni daging babi aja semuanya. Trus nanti disimpan buat stok di kulkas. Tapi jelang ekskusi berubah pikiran lagi. Jadinya nambah telor rebus dan kentang deh. Telor babi kecap ini kesukaan si bos kecil 🤭

Resep Semur Babi Kecap Slow Cooker alaku

Bahan :
500 gr daging babi samcan / pork belly (ak campur dengan has dalam juga)
5 telor ayam rebus
2 bh kentang sebesar kepalan tangan (optional) dipotong sesesuai selera
800 ml air
5 sdm kecap asin
2 sdm kecap manis pekat
2 sdm arak masak
1 sdm kecap inggris (sedap wangi)
2 sdm bawang puree ( 7 bawang putih + 5 bawang merah)
2 ruas jari jahe geprek
1/2 sdm bubuk ngohiong
2 bh bunga lawang/pekak
1/2 sdt kaldu bubuk
1/2 sdt lada
1/2 sdt garam
1/2 sdt ketumbar bubuk

Langkah:
1. Panaskan daging babi di panci anti lengket sampai sedikit coklat dan keluar minyaknya, lalu masukkan di slow cooker.
2. Tumis bawang puree dan jahe dengan bekas minyak di panci tadi sampai wangi, masukkan ke slow cooker.
3. Masukkan telor dan kentang ke dalam slow cooker
4. Campur semua sisa bahan ke dalam air lalu tuang dalam slow cooker, aduk rata.

5. Setel LOW selama 6 jam atau langsung HIGH selama 4 jam. Kalo ak lebih suka lebih lunak jadinya HIGH selama 5 jam

6. Kalo pakai panci presto, pakai api sedang besar sampai berdesis, lalu turunkan jadi api kecil selama 20 menit. Setelah itu matikan kompor biarkan katup mereda sendiri (kurleb 20-30 menit)
7. Siap dibantai dengan nasi putih panas mengebul 🤤😍

Sate Goreng Daging Sapi ( Fried Satay)

Sebelum terkena kanker, lumayan sering nyantap sate goreng. Entah di kondangan atau di rumah emak.

Mulai tahun ini ak udah mulai nyantap daging tapi dalam porsi secukupnya aja dan gak tiap hari lah. Tapi bumbunya tetap non msg dan non gula putih. Apalagi masih ada anak balita yang mana menunya harus banyak divariasi agar semangat makan.

Di satu sisi, memasak itu merupakan hobi dan terapi kejiwaan bagiku ☺️

Ada beli daging sapi has dalam 1 kg.Kuambil 500gr buat ujicoba sate goreng. Kenapa tiba-tiba kepengen masak sate goreng? Ku tak tahu juga hahaha

Berhubung hasilnya sukses menuai pujian, terutama dari si emak, kudu diabadikan dalam blog dong 🤣


Bahan:
500gr daging has dalam, potong dadu kira-kira 2 ruas jari
1 sdm arak beras
5 sdm kecap manis (kupakai yang dari molases)
1 sdm ketumbar
1 sdm lada bubuk
2 sdm tapioka
1 sdm kecap asin
1 sdt garam (kupakai himalayan salt)
3 sdm bawang putih+bawang merah puree
1 sdm margarin

Caranya :
Marinasi daging dengan ketumbar, lada, arak beras, kecap asin, kecap manis aduk rata. Usahakan sesuai urutan ya. Aduk rata dengan bawang puree. Lalu terakhir aduk rata dengan tapioka.
Diamkan semalaman di dalam kulkas agar lebih maknyus resapannya.
Kalau gak sabar ya mungkin 6 jam udah boleh lah diolah.

Setelah tahap marinasi, lelehkan margarin di panci teflon. Masukkan daging yang sudah dimarinasi + 1 sdt garam. Aduk-aduk terus.

Sampai air dari daging mulai keluar, matikan kompor selama 30 menit (tetap tutup rapat ya)

Setelah 30 menit, nyalakan kompor lagi trus biarkan diungkep selama 7 menit lalu buka tutup panci, mulai diaduk sampai air mulai mengering. Angkat.
Siap disantap dengan nasi hangat mengepul hmmmm!

Sekedar catatan tambahan :
Karena pertama kali masak daging tanpa direbus dulu, ak jadi rada was-was hasilnya alot. Jadi ak coba kombinasi dengan teknik 5-30-7. Untung aja hasil akhir dagingnya empuk aja. Entah karena teknik 5-30-7 atau karena has dalam ya?

Trus ada saran dari emak kalau sate goreng akan lebih juicy dengan daging yang ada lemaknya. Hmmm coba lagi ah nanti...kalo ada waktu hahaha








Akar Bajakah untuk kanker

Jumat, 13 Des 2019
Ku balik lagi ke palangkaraya untuk terapi air bajakah ronde-2.
Yang ronde-1 itu di 15-25 Okt 2019. Jadi ada 10 hari minum air bajakah di ronde-1.
Stopnya ronde-1 juga karena si ibu daldin pergi umroh.
Sekilas soal ibu daldin ini adalah ibundanya yazid anak sma yang penelitian akar bajakah untuk kanker berhasil mendapat penghargaan di korea itu.

Setelah minum air bajakah ronde-1 itu staminaku jauh lebih fit dan segar. Banyak kolega kantorku juga komen begitu.
Walaupun selama di sana sangat amat boring karena praktis tudak ada kegiatan apa-apa selain nonton tv di kamar losmen atau cari hiburan di hp.
Maklum aku bukan jenis yang doyan jalan atau belanja.
Hobinya kuliner hohoho tapi karena kondisi kanker ini bikin hobi kuliner hanya tinggal kalap di mata aja deh..🤷‍♀

Kedua trip di palangkaraya ini aku tinggal di losmen yang sama, Alfa guest house jl. Putri junjung buih.
Lokasinya strategis banget, di belakang indomaret. Trus jalan ke depan udah ketemu jalan raya yang mana sepanjangnya banyak warung makan dan toko kelontong.
Tarif kamar single dengan kamar mandi dalam idr 90.000 per malam, udah dapat sarapan pagi yang maknyusss 😛
Dari losmen ke rumah bu daldin ini tarif gocar idr 15.000.
Biasanya jam 6 sore atau 7 malam aku udah mulai cuss kesana.
Si ibu mulai masak air bajakah setelah pulang dari dinasnya di puskesmas (May God bless her soul).
Aksi membagikan air bajakah ini udah dilakukan lama sih. Tapi mulai rame dikunjungi massa setelah viral diliput oleh media tahun 2019.
Pengunjungnya bahkan ada yang khusus datang dari Singapore, malaysia.
Masing-masing datang bawa termos tahan panas, dijatahi 1L karena kapasitas alat masaknya terbatas dan si ibu juga hanya bekerja sendirian.
Dulu katanya ada orang pemerintah yang nembung hendak membantu tapi tidak ada pembicaraan yang lebih lanjut.
Sayang ya..andaikan pemerintah bisa membantu pasti akan lebih banyak nyawa yang terbantukan 😔
Penampakan air bajakahnya seperti ini
Warnanya kadang seperti air teh kadang lebih muda. Rasa dan aromanya seperti air alang-alang. Beda banget dengan akar bajakah lainnya.
Sebelum minum air bajakah tunggal ini aku uda rebus akar bajakah berbagai macam. Rasa dan aromanya berbeda semua 😂

Update per 28 May 2020
Harusnya sehabis hari raya imlek mau balik lagi untuk ronde-3 tapi berhubung sepupu mau nikahan awal maret ya udah pikirku tunggu abis itu aja.
Tapi ehh terhalang oleh badai corona covid-19 pula! Nasib..nasib..😭
Semoga pandemi corona covid-19 cepat berlalu lah agar aku bisa lanjutkan terapi air bajakah lagi ya.. 🙏

Bagi yang serius membutuhkan alamat keluarga daldin untuk mendapatkan air akar bajakah ini boleh pm ya.



Abon Tuna

Punya sisa stok ikan tuna tapi kalo dimasak gitu aja rasanya amis.
Kalo digoreng aja terasa keras dan kering.
Iseng-iseng coba olah jadi abon.
Kali ini gak pakai intip resep online, cuman pake takaran suka-suka.
Tapi kata si hubby rasanya enak gurih 😊
resep suka-suka alaku :
Bahan
2 potong ikan tuna bagian tengah sebesar tapak tangan, tebal 2 jari (berat total mungkin ada 400an gram)
1 sdt muncung kaldu bubuk
1 sdm bubuk kare/kebuli instan
1 sdm saus tiram
1 sdm bawang putih+bawang merah puree
Sejumput oregano kering
1 sdt garam pink
Secukupnya kecap ikan
1 sdm minyak untuk tumisan
bawang goreng secukupnya (bisa ditambahkan saat blender daging ikannya agar lebih harum)

Langkah
1. Kukus ikan tuna sampai matang, tiriskan lalu blender.
2. Masukkan kaldu bubuk, bubuk kare, oregano ke daging tuna, aduk rata
2. Tumis bawang sampai harum lalu masukkan saus tiram, garam
3. Masukkan daging tuna
4. Aduk di atas api di bawah medium sampai kekeringan yang diinginkan
5. Simpan dalam toples kaca bersih

Makan dengan nasi panas pulen hmmmm nyam..nyam..nyam..

Bisa dijadikan stok lauk kalo ga sempat masak hahahaha


Kue Wajik magic com alaku

Pengen makan wajik gegara melihat postingan si kakak di palangkaraya yang ngerjain wajik orderan pengajian.
Mau beli wajik di luar takut pula ada campuran gula putihnya...
Yahhh akhirnya gugel resep lahhhh.
Dapat resep wajik magic com di cook pad kreasi pak gana, tapi takarannya kuadapatasi dengan stok yang ada terutama santannya pak gana itu ambil perasan dari kelapa parut sementara andalanku ya santan instan kara hahahaha...🤣

Step by stepnya ikut seperti resepnya pak gana. Tapi hasil beras ketanku kog hancur yaaa...hampir kayak bubur?🤔
Hmmm...mungkin karena kelamaan direndam (kurendam dari sore sebelumnya sampai siang berikutnya baru dieksekusi 👻)
hancur kan ya nasi ketannya..😑

Jadi cara alakadarku tu kayak gini...eh tapi jangan diterapkan yaa karena ini bentuknya gagal. Ini hanya sekedar reminder untuk langkah gagalku...(apalahhh 🤣)
400gr beras ketan, rendam semalam (kupunya gagal mungkin krn over rendam)
250gr gula aren iris halus (ak hanya pakai 150gr ga berani terlalu manis)
Secubit garam pink (ini hanya tambahanku biar manisnya agak2 gurih)
200ml santan
2 lembar daun pandan, simpul kacak
Beras dimasak pakai magic com seperti masak nasi biasa.
Sementara itu masak gula aren,santan,daun pandan,garam sampai larut meletup
lalu saring.
Setelah nasi ketannya matang, masukkan air gula, aduk rata lalu tekan tombol COOK lagi.
Setelah tombolnya off, aduk rata lagi lalu tekan COOK agar teksturnya lebih kering. Punyaku lembek2 entah karena over rendam atau saat masak pertama kelebihan air ya 🤷‍♀
Setelah matang, tuang dan ratakan di loyang yang dialasi plastik food grade atau aluminium foil atau kalo ada loyang anti lengket lebih ok lah.
Dipadatkan lalu didinginkan. Katanya bisa masuk ke kulkas. Tapi kudinginkan di suhu ruang dulu aja
Nanti setelah kupotong2 baru diupdate lagi ya..
Moga2 hanya bentuknya aja yang hancur tapi rasa tetap yummy lah yaa 😂



Kakap Fillet Goreng Tepung Ala Xander's Kitchen

Dapat kiriman fillet ikan kakap dari si emak.
Hmm...ingat kalo ada save resep kakap gorengnya xander's kitchen.
Langsung deh dieksekusi untuk dijadikan stok di kulkas.
Pertamanya siapin dulu potongan ikannya ya
Trus dibumbui sesuai selera :
Bawang putih, minyak ikan, beberapa tetes arak beras (buang amis karena gak ada bilas dengan jeruk di awal), secubit lada, secukupnya garam.
simpan dalam kulkas semalaman biar meresap (padahal juga karena dah jam ngelonin si bos kicik hahahaha)
besoknya dikeluarkan dari kulkas terus dikasi 1 butir etor, aduk rata.
dilapisin dengan campuran tepung ala xanders kitchen (5 tepung terigu:1tepung maizena)
Goreng dengan api panas sampai warna keemasan lalu angkat.
Dimakan dengan cocolan saos tomat atau disiram dengan saus asam manis aduh maknyusss!! 

Kalau yang doyan makan pedas ini cocoknya dicocol dengan sambal ulek khas ayam penyet nihh. Sayang ku dah say good bye for good dengan segala pedas dkk sejak terdeteksi kanker lidah

Btw ini resep komplit ala xanders kitchen :

1 ekor kakap, fillet
7 siung bawang putih, haluskan ( kupakai yang bubuk)
1/2 sdt merica
secukupnya kaldu bubuk ( kupakai nutritional yeast )
secukupnya garam
1 butir telor
bahan pelapis campur jadi 1 :
5 sendok sayur terigu
1 sendok sayur maizena

Langkah :
1. Ikan potong sesuai selera. Aduk rata ikan, bawang putih, merica, kaldu bubuk dan garam. Simpan dalam kulkas beberapa jam/semalaman.
2. Keluarkan ikan dari kulkas lalu masukkan 1 butir telor, aduk rata.
3. Gulingkan potongan ikan ke dalam tepung, remas sambil dicubit2 supaya tepung terlihat keriting ( ini kuskip, males hahaha)
4. Goreng ikan dalam minyak panas sampai kuning kecoklatan (kuangkat saat warna keemasan takut gosong kakaaa)

Potongan fillet ikan yang sudah bersalut tepung itu gak kugoreng semua sih. Secukupnya untuk makan sehari aja.
Sebagian kusimpan dalam tupperware trus masuk dalam freezer. Dan pas banget ada simpan stok ini karena kindergardennya si bos kicik ada info mendadak harus mengikuti event menggalakkan suka makan ikan di lapangan Polairud, yang wajib diikuti segenap kindergarden di kota---wajib bawa bekal menu ikan tentunyaaa.

Penampakan bekal si bos kicik untuk event di Polairud ☺
Nasinya pink by accident karena mau masukkan agar putih silap mata terambil yang merah hahaha 😬 
Tapi cantik juga khann pink rice. Teman-teman si kicik pada heboh komen "ihhh...nasi pink!"😍
Dan yang paling bikin mamak hepi adalah si kicik makan dengan lahap donk!💃




Famous Five Lima Sekawan 03 "FIVE Runaway Together" (part-2 End)

Nyambung lagi dari part-1


Chapter Sixteen : The Sticks Get A Fright.
But the Sticks didn't go! The children peeped out of the spy-hole at the top of the caveroof every now and again, and saw one or other of the Sticks.
The evening went on and it began to be dark. Still the Sticks didn't go. Julian ran down to the nearby shore and discovered a small boat there. So the Sticks had managed to find their way round the island, rowed near the wreck, maybe landed on it too, and then come to the shore, cleverly avoiding the rocks they might strike against.
"It looks as if the Sticks have come to stay for the night," said Julian, gloomily.
"This is going to spoil our stay here, isn't it? We rush away here to escape from the Sticks—and lo and behold! the Sticks are on top of us again. It's too bad."
"Let's frighten them," said George, her eyes shining by the light of the one candle in the cave.
"What do you mean?" said Dick, cheering up. He always liked George's ideas, mad as they sometimes were.
"Well, I suppose they must be living down in one of the dungeon rooms, mustn't they?" said George.
"There is no place in the ruins to live in proper shelter or we'd be there ourselves and the only other place is down in the dungeons. I wouldn't care to sleep there myself, but I don't suppose the Sticks would mind."
"Well, what about it?" said Dick. "What's your idea?"
"Couldn't we creep down, and do a bit of shouting, so that the echoes start up all round?" said George.
"You know how frightening we found the echoes when we first went down into the dungeons. We only had to say one or two words, and the echoes began saying them over and over again shouting them back at us."
"Oh yes, I remember," said Anne. "And wasn't Timmy frightened when he barked! The echoes barked back at him, and he thought there were thousands of dogs hiding down there! He was awfully frightened."
"It's a good idea," said Julian. "Serve the Sticks right for coming to our island like this! If we can frighten them away, that would be one up to us! Let's do it."
"What about Timothy?" said Anne. "Hadn't we better leave him behind?"
"No. He can come and stand at the dungeon entrance to guard it for us," said George.
"Then if any of the real smugglers happened to come, Timmy could give us warning. I'm not going to leave him behind."
 "Come on, then, let's go now!" said Julian. "It would be a fine trick to play. It's quite dark, but I've got my torch, and as soon as we are certain that the Sticks are down in the dungeons, we can start to play our joke."
There was no sign or sound of the Sticks anywhere about. No light of fire or candle was to be seen, no sound of voices to be heard. Either they had gone, or they were below in the dungeons. The stones had been taken from the entrance, so the children felt sure they were down there.
"Now Timmy, you stay quite still and quiet here," whispered George to Timmy.
"Bark if anyone comes, but not unless. We're going down into the dungeons."
"I think perhaps I'll stay up here with Timothy," said Anne, suddenly. She didn't like the dark look of the dungeon entrance.
 "You see, George—Timmy might be frightened or lonely up here by himself."
The others chuckled. They knew Anne was frightened. Julian squeezed her arm.
"You stay here, then," he said, kindly. "You keep old Timmy company."
Then Julian, George and Dick went down the long flight of steps that led into the deep old dungeons of Kirrin Castle. They had been there the summer before, when they had been seeking for lost treasure; now here they were again!
They crept down the steps and came to the many cellars or dungeons cut out of the rock below the castle. There were scores of those, some big and some small, queer, damp underground rooms in which, maybe, unhappy prisoners had been kept in the olden days.
The children crept down the dark passages. Julian had a piece of white chalk with him, and drew a chalk-line here and there on the rocky walls as he went, so that he might easily find the way back.
Suddenly they heard voices and saw a light. They stopped and whispered softly together in each other's ears.
"They're in that room where we found the treasure last year! That's where they're camping out! What noises shall we make?"
"I'll be a cow," said Dick. "I can moo awfully like a cow. I'll be a cow."
"I'll be a sheep," said Julian. "George, you be a horse. You can whinny and hrrrumph just like a horse. Dick, you begin!"
So Dick began. Hidden behind a rocky pillar, he opened his mouth and mooed dolefully, like a cow in pain. At once the echoes took up the mooing, magnified it, sent it along all the underground passages, till it seemed as if a thousand cows had wandered there and were mooing together.
"Moo—oo—oo—OOOOOOOO, ooo—oo—MOOOOOOO!" The Sticks listened in amazement and fright at the sudden awful noise.
"What is it, Ma?" said Edgar, almost in tears. Stinker crouched at the back of the cave, terrified.
"It's cows," said Mr. Stick, amazed. "Them there's cows. Can't you hear the moos? But how did cows get to be here?"
"Nonsense!" said Mrs. Stick, recovering herself a little. "Cows down these caves! You're mad! You'll be telling me there's sheep next!"
It was funny that she should have said that, for Julian chose that moment to begin baaing like a flock of sheep. His one long, bleating "baa-baa-aa-aa" was taken up by the echoes at once, and it seemed suddenly as if hundreds of poor lost sheep were baa-ing their way down the dungeons!
Mr. Stick jumped to his feet, as white as a sheet. "Well, if it isn't sheep now!" he said. "What's up? What's in these "ere dungeons? I never did like them."
"Baa-aa-AAAAAAAAAAP went the mournful bleats all round and about. And then George started her whinnying and neighing, just like an impatient horse.
The little girl tossed her head in the darkness and hrrrumphed exactly like a horse and then she stamped with her foot, and at once the echoes stamped too, sending the whinnying and neighing and stamping into Sticks cave twenty times louder than George had made them.
Poor Stinker began to whine pitifully. He was frightened almost out of his life. He pressed himself against the floor as if he would like to disappear into it. Edgar clutched his mother's arm.
"Let's go up," he said. "I can't stay here. There's hundreds of sheep and horses and cows roaming these dungeons, you can hear them. They're not real, but they've got voices and hoofs, and I'm scared of them."
Mr. Stick went to the door of the room they were in, and shouted loudly. "Get out, you! Clear out! Whoever you are!"
George giggled. Then she shouted out in a very deep, hoarse voice. "BE-WARE!" And the echoes thundered out all round. "WARE! 'WARE! "WARE-ARE-ARE!"
Mr. Stick went back quickly into the cave-room, and lighted another candle. He shut the big wooden door that led into the room. His hands were shaking.
"Queer goings-on," he said. "Shan't stay here much longer if we get this kind of thing happening every night."
Julian, Dick and George were now in such a state of giggle that they could not imitate any more-cows, horses or sheep. George did begin to be a pig, and gave such a realistic snort and grunt that Dick nearly died of laughing. The snorts and grunts were echoed everywhere.
"Come out" gasped Julian, at last. "I shall burst with trying not to laugh. Come out!" "Come out!" whispered the echoes. "Come out, out, out!"
They stumbled out, stuffing hankies into their mouths as they went, following Julian's chalk-marks easily by the light of his torch. It was impossible to take the wrong passage if they followed his guiding-lines.
They sat on the dungeon steps with Anne and Timmy, and choked with laughter as they related all they had done.
"We heard old Stick yelling to us to clear out," said George, "and he sounded scared stiff. As for Stinker, we never heard even the smallest growl from him. I bet the Sticks will clear off tomorrow after this! It must have given them a most terrible fright."
"Oh, that was grand!" said Julian. "It was a pity I began to laugh. I was just feeling I might trumpet like an elephant next. The echoes would like that!"
"Funny the Sticks all staying on the island like this," said Dick, thoughtfully. "They've left Kirrin Cottage—but they're not looking for us.”
“They must be in league with the smugglers all right. Perhaps that's why Mrs. Stick took the job with your mother, George — to be near the island when the time came—when the smugglers wanted their help."
"We could really go back to Kirrin Cottage, couldn't we?" said Anne, who, much as she loved the island, was not nearly so keen on it now that the Sticks were there.
"Go back! Leave an adventure just when it's beginning!" said George, scornfully.
"How silly you are, Anne. Go back if you want to — but I'm sure nobody will go with you."
"Oh, Anne will stay with us all right," said Julian, knowing that Anne would feel hurt at the suggestion she should leave them. "It will be the Sticks who have to go, don't worry!"
"Let's go back to the cave," said Anne, thinking longingly of its safety and bright little candle.
They got up and made their way across the courtyard to the little wall that ran round the castle. They climbed over it and turned their steps to the cliff. Julian switched on his torch when he thought it was, safe, for it was impossible to see clearly in the dark, and he did not want any of them to fall down the hole, instead of climbing down properly by the rope. Julian stood by the hole at last, shining his torch so that the others might climb down the rope in safety, one by one.
He glanced up, looking over the dark sea, as he stood there, and then stared intently. There was a light out to sea, and it was signalling. It must have seen his torchlight! Julian watched, wondering if it was a ship that was signalling, and how far out it was, and why it was signalling.
"Perhaps they're going to put more stuff into the old wreck for the Sticks to find," he thought.
"I wonder if they are. How I'd like to find out—but it would be dangerous to go there in daylight in case the Sticks see us."
 The signalling went on for a long time, as if a message was being flashed. Julian could not for the life of him make out what it was. It simply looked like the flash-flash-flash of a lantern to him. But it must mean a signal or message of some sort to the Sticks.
"Well, they won't get it tonight!" thought Julian, with a chuckle, when at last the signalling stopped.
"I rather think the Stick family will stay where they are tonight, too scared of sheep and cows and horses rushing about in those dungeons!"
Julian was quite right—the Sticks did stay where they were! Nothing would get them out of their underground room till morning.
Chapter Seventeen : A Shock For Edgar.
The children slept well that night, and as Timothy did not growl at all, they were sure that nothing important could have happened. They had a fine breakfast of tongue, tinned peaches, bread and butter, golden syrup and ginger-beer.
"That's the end of the ginger-beer, I'm afraid," said Julian, regretfully. "I must say gingerbeer is a gorgeous drink—seems to go with simply everything."
"That was the nicest meal I've ever had," said Anne. "It really was. We do have lovely meals on Kirrin Island. I wonder if the Sticks are having nice meals too."
"You bet they are!" said Dick. "I expect they have ransacked Aunt Fanny's cupboards and taken the best they can find."
 "Oh, the beasts!" said George, her eyes flashing. "I never thought of that—they may have robbed the house and taken all kinds of things."
"They probably have," said Julian, and he frowned. "I say, I never thought of that, somehow. How awful, George, if your mother came back, feeling ill and weak, and found half her belongings gone!"
"Oh dear!" said Anne, dismayed. "George, wouldn't that be dreadful?"
"Yes," said George, looking very angry. "I would believe anything of those Sticks! If they have the cheek to come to our island and live here, they've the cheek to steal from my mother's house. I wish we could find out."
“They could have brought quite a lot of things away in their boat," said Julian.
"They must have come here by boat. If they did bring stolen goods, they must have put them somewhere down in the dungeons, I suppose."
"We might have a look round and see if we can spy anything, without the Sticks seeing us," suggested Dick.
"Let's have a look round now," said George, who always liked doing things at once.
"Anne, you do the washing up and tidy our cave-house for us, will you?"
Anne was torn between wanting to go with the others, and longing to play "house" again. She did so love arranging everything and making the beds and tidying up the cave. In the end she said she would stay and the others could go. So up the rope they went.
Timothy stayed with Anne, because they were afraid he might bark. Anne tied him up, and he whined a little, but did not make a terrible noise. The other three lay flat on the cliff-top, looking down on the ruined castle. There seemed to be no one about, but, even as they watched, the three Sticks appeared, apparently coming up from the dungeons. They seemed glad to be in the sunshine, and the children were not surprised, for the dungeons were so cold and dark. The Sticks looked all round. Stinker kept close to Mrs. Stick, his tail well down.
"They're looking for the cows and sheep and-horses they heard down in the dungeons last night!" whispered Dick to Julian.
 The Sticks spoke together for a minute or two, and then went off in the direction of the shore that faced the wreck. Edgar went to the room in which the children had first planned to sleep—the one whose roof had fallen in.
"I'm going to stalk the two Sticks," whispered Julian to the others. "You two see what Edgar is up to."
Julian disappeared, keeping behind bushes as he watched where the Sticks went, and followed them. George and Dick went cautiously and quietly over the cliff to the castle in the middle of the little island. They could hear Edgar whistling. Stinker was running about the courtyard of the castle. Edgar appeared out of the ruined room, carrying a pile of cushions, which had evidently been stored there. George went red with rage and clutched Dick's arm fiercely.
"Mother's best cushions!" she whispered.
"Oh, the beasts!" Dick felt angry too.
It was quite plain that the Sticks had helped themselves to anything handy when they had left Kirrin Cottage. He picked up a clod of earth, took careful aim, and flung it into the air. It fell between Edgar and Stinker, breaking into a shower of earth. Edgar dropped the cushions, and looked up into the air in fright. It was plain that he thought something had fallen from the sky.
George picked up another clod, took aim, and flung it high into the air. It fell all over Stinker, and the dog gave a yelp, and scuttled down the hole that led into the dungeons. Edgar looked up into the sky and then all round and about him, his mouth wide open. What could be happening? Dick waited until he was looking in the opposite direction, and then once more sent a big clod into the air. It fell into bits and scattered itself all over the startled Edgar. Then Dick gave one of his realistic moos, exactly like a cow in pain, and Edgar stood rooted to the spot, almost frightened out of his skin. Those cows again! Where were they?
Dick mooed again, and Edgar gave a yell, found his feet, and almost fell down the dungeon steps. He disappeared with a dismal howl, leaving behind all the cushions on the ground.
"Quick!" said Dick, jumping to his feet. "He won't be back for a few minutes, anyhow. He'll be too scared. Let's grab the cushions and bring them here. I don't see why the Sticks should use them down in those awful old dungeons."
The two children raced to the courtyard, picked up the cushions and raced back to their hiding-place. Dick looked across to the room where Edgar had brought them from.
"What about slipping across there and seeing what else they've stored away?" he said.
"I don't see why they should be allowed to have anything that isn't theirs."
"I'll go across, and you keep watch by the dungeon entrance," said George.
"You've only got to moo again if you see Edgar, and he'll run for miles."
"Right," said Dick, with a grin, and went swiftly to the flight of steps that led underground to the dungeons.
There was no sign of Edgar at all, nor of Stinker. George went to the ruined room and gazed round in anger. Yes, the Sticks certainly had helped themselves to her mother's things, no doubt about that!
There were blankets and silver and all kinds of food. Mrs. Stick must have gone into the big cupboard under the stairs and taken out various things stored there for weekly use.
George ran to Dick. "There are heaps of our things!" she said, in a fierce whisper.
"Come and help me to get them. We'll see if we can take them all before Edgar appears, or the Sticks come back."
Just as they were whispering together, they heard a low whistle. They looked round, and saw Julian coming along. He joined them.
"The Sticks have rowed off to the wreck," he said. "They've got an old boat somewhere down among those rocks. Old Pa Stick must be a good sailor to be able to take the boat in and out of those awful hidden rocks."
"Oh, then we've got time to do what we want to do," said Dick, pleased.
He hurriedly told Julian of the things George had seen in the ruined room.
"Awful thieves!" said Julian, indignantly. "They don't mean to go back to Kirrin Cottage, that's plain.”
“They've got some business on with the smugglers here—and when that is done they'll go off with all their stolen goods, join a ship somewhere, and get off scotfree."
"No, they won't," said George at once. "We are going to get everything and take it to the cave! Dick's going to keep watch for Edgar at the cave entrance, and you and I, Julian, can quickly carry the things away. We can drop them down the hole into the cave."
"Hurry then!" said Julian. "We must do it before the Sticks return, and I don't expect they'll be long.”
“They've probably gone to fetch the trunk and anything else in the wreck. You know I saw a light out to sea last night—maybe that's a signal that the smugglers were leaving something in the wreck for the Sticks to fetch."
George and Julian ran to the ruined room, piled their arms with the goods there, and then ran to hide them on the cliff, ready to take them to the hole when they had time.
It looked as if the Sticks had just taken whatever was easiest to lay their hands on. They had even got the kitchen clock! Edgar did not appear at all, so Dick had nothing to do but sit by the steps of the dungeon and watch the others. After some time Julian and George gave a sigh of relief and beckoned to Dick. He left his place and went to join them.
"We've got everything now," said Julian. "I'm just going to the cliff-edge to see if the Sticks are returning yet. If they're not we'll all carry the things to the hole in the roof of the cave."
He soon returned. "I can see their boat tied to the wreck," he said.
"We're safe for some while yet. Come on, let's get the things to safety! This really is a bit of luck."
They carried the things to the hole and called down it to Anne.
"Anne! We've got tons of things to put down the hole. Stand by to catch!"
Soon all kinds of things came down the hole into the cave! Anne was most astonished. The silver and anything that might be hurt by a fall was first wrapped up in the blankets, and then let down by a rope.
"My goodness!" said Anne. "This cave will really look like a house soon, when I have arranged all these things too!"
Just as they were finishing their job the children heard voices in the distance.
"The Sticks are back!" said Julian, and looked cautiously over the cliff-top. He was right. They had returned to their boat, and were even now on their way back to the castle, carrying the trunk from the wreck.
"Let's follow them, and see what happens when they find everything gone," grinned Julian. "Come on, everyone!"
They wriggled over the cliff on their tummies, and came to a clump of bushes behind which they could hide and watch. The Sticks put the trunk down, and looked round for Edgar. But Edgar was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's that boy?" said Mrs. Stick, impatiently. "He's had plenty of time to do everything. Edgar! Edgar! Edgar!"
Mr. Stick went to the ruined room and peeped inside. He came back to Mrs. Stick.
"He's taken everything down," he said. "He must be down in the dungeon. That room's quite empty."
"I told him to come up and sit in the sun when he'd finished," said Mrs. Stick.
" 'Tisn't healthy down in them dungeons. EDGAR!"
This time Edgar heard, and his head appeared, looking out of the entrance to the dungeon. He looked extremely scared.
 "Come on up!" said Mrs. Stick. "You've got all the things down, and you'd better stay up here in the sunshine now."
"I'm scared," said Edgar. "I'm not staying up here alone."
"Why not?" said Mr. Stick, astonished. 
"It's them cows again!" said poor Edgar. "Hundreds of them, Pa, all a-mooing round me, and throwing things at me. They're dangerous animals, they are, and I'm not coming up here alone!"
Chapter Eighteen : An Unexpected Prisoner.
The Sticks stared at Edgar as if he was mad. "Cows throwing things?" said Mrs. Stick at last.
"What do you mean by that? Cows don't throw any thing."
"These ones did," said Edgar, and then began to exaggerate in order to make his parents sympathise with him.
"They were dreadful cows, they were-hundreds of them, with horns as long as reindeer, and awful mooing voices.”
“And they threw things at me and Tinker. Proper scared he was, and so was I. I dropped the cushions I was taking down, and rushed away to hide."
"Where are the cushions?" said Mr. Stick, looking round. "I can't see no cushions. I suppose you'll tell us the cows ate them."
"Didn't you take everything down into the dungeons?" demanded Mrs. Stick.
"Because that room's empty now. There's not a thing in it."
"I didn't take nothing down at all," said Edgar, coming cautiously out of the dungeon entrance.
"I dropped the cushions just about where you're standing. What's happened to them?"
"Look "ere!" said Mr. Stick, in amazement. " 'Oo's been 'ere since we've been gone? Someone's taken them cushions and everything else too. Where have they put them?"
"Pa, it was them cows," said Edgar, looking all round as if he expected to see cows walking off with cushions and silver and blankets.
"Shut up about them cows," said Mrs. Stick, suddenly losing her temper.
"For one thing there aren't any cows on this island, and that we do know, for we looked all over it this morning. What we heard last night must have been queer sort of echoes rumbling round. No, my boy — there's something funny about all this. Looks as if there somebody on the island!"
A dismal howl came echoing up from below the ground. It was Stinker, terrified at being alone below, and not daring to come up.
"Poor lamb!" said Mrs. Stick, who seemed much fonder of Stinker than of anyone else.
"What's up with him?" Stinker let out an even more doleful howl, and Mrs. Stick hurried down-the steps to go to him. Mr. Stick followed her, and Edgar lost no time in going after them.
"Quick!" said Julian, standing up. "Come with me, Dick. We may just have time to get that trunk! Run!"
The two boys ran quickly down to the courtyard of the ruined castle. Each took a handle of the small trunk, and lifted it between .them. They staggered back to George with it.
"We'll take it to the cave," whispered Julian. "You stay here a few minutes and see what happens."
The boys went over the cliff with the trunk. George flattened herself behind her bush and watched. Mr. Stick appeared again in a few minutes, and looked round for the trunk. His mouth fell open in astonishment when he saw that it was gone. He yelled down the entrance to the dungeon.
"Clara! The trunk's gone!" Mrs. Stick was already on her way up, with Stinker close beside her and Edgar just behind. She climbed out and stared round.
"Gone?" she said, in enormous surprise. "Gone? Where's it gone?"
"That's what I'd like to know!" said Mr. Stick. "We leave it here a few minutes — and then it goes. Walks off by itself—just like all the other things!"
"Look here! There's someone on this island," said Mrs. Stick. "And I'm going to find out who it is. Got your gun, Pa?"
"I have," said Mr. Stick, slapping his belt. "You get a good stout stick too, and we'll take Tinker. If we don't ferret out whoever's trying to spoil our plans, my name's not Stick!"
George slipped away quietly to warn the others. Before she slid down the rope into the cave, she pulled several bramble sprays across the hole. She dropped down to the floor of the cave, and told the others what had happened.
Julian had been trying to open the trunk, but it was still locked.. He looked up as George panted out her tale.
"We'll be all right here so long as no one falls down that hole in the roof!" he said.
"Now keep quiet everyone, and don't you dare to growl, Timmy!"
Nothing was heard for some time, and then Stinker's bark came in the distance.
"Quiet now," said Julian. "They are near here."
The Sticks were up on the cliff once more, searching carefully behind every bush. They came to the great bush behind which the children often hid, and saw the flattened grass there.
"Someone's been here," said Mr. Stick. "I wonder if they're in the middle of this bush— it's thick enough to hide half an army! I'll try and force my way in, Clara, while you stand by with my gun."
Edgar wandered off by himself while this was happening, feeling certain that nobody would be foolish enough to live in the middle of such a prickly bush. He walked across the cliff— and then, to his awful horror, he found himself falling! His legs disappeared into a hole, he clutched at some thorny sprays but could not save himself.
Down he went, and down and down—and down—crash! Edgar had fallen down the hole in the roof of the cave. He suddenly appeared before the children's startled eyes, and landed in a heap on the soft sand. Timmy at once pounced on him with a fearsome growl, but George pulled him off just in time.
Edgar was half-stunned with fright and his fall. He lay on the floor of the cave, groaning, his eyes shut. The children stared at him and then at one another. For a few moments they were completely taken aback and didn't know what to do or say.
Timmy growled ferociously—so ferociously that Edgar opened, his eyes in fright. He stared round at the four children and their dog in the utmost surprise and horror. He opened his mouth to yell for help, but at once found Julian's large hand over it.
"Yell just once and Timmy shall have a bite out of any part of you he likes!" said Julian, in a voice as ferocious as Timothy's growl.
"See? Like to try it? Timmy's waiting to bite."
"I shan't yell," said Edgar, speaking in such a low whisper that the others could hardly hear him. "Keep that dog off. I shan't yell."
George spoke to Timothy. "Now you listen, Timothy—if this boy shouts, you just go for him! Lie here by him and show him your big teeth. Bite him wherever you like if he yells."
"Woof!" said Timmy, looking really pleased. He lay down by Edgar, and the boy tried to move away. But Timmy came nearer every time he moved. Edgar looked round at the children.
"What you doing on this island?" he said. "We thought you'd gone home."
"It's our island!" said George, in a very fierce voice. "We've every right to be on it if we want to—but you have no right at all. None! What are you and your father and mother here for?"
"Don't know," said Edgar, looking sulky.
"You'd better tell us" said Julian. "We know you're in league with smugglers."
Edgar looked startled. "Smugglers?" he said. "I didn't know that. Pa and Ma don't tell me nothing. I don't want nothing to do with smugglers."
"Don't you know any-thing?" said Dick. "Don't you know why you've come to Kirrin Island?"
"I don't know nothing," said Edgar, in an injured tone. "Pa and Ma are mean to me. They never tell me nothing. I do as I'm told, that's all. I don't know nothing about smugglers, I tell you that."
It was quite plain to the children that Edgar really did not know anything of the reasons for his parents coming to the island.
"Well, I'm not surprised they don't let Spotty-Face into their secrets," said Julian.
"He'd blab them if he could, I bet. Anyway, we know it's smuggling they're mixed up in."
"You let me go," said Edgar, sullenly. "You got no right to keep me here."
"We're not going to let you go," said George at once. "You're our prisoner now. If we let you go back to your parents, you'd tell them all about us, and we don't want them to know we're here. We're going to spoil their pretty plans, you see."
Edgar saw. He saw quite a lot of things. He felt rather sick. "Was it you that took the cushions and things?"
"Oh no, dear Edgar," said Dick. "It was the cows, wasn't it? Don't you remember how you told your mother about the hundreds of cows that mooed at you and threw things and stole the cushions you dropped? Surely you haven't forgotten your cows already?"
"Funny, aren't you?" said Edgar, sulkily. "What you going to do with me? I won't stay here, that's flat."
"But you will, Spotty-Face," said Julian. "You will stay here till we let you go—and that won't be till we've cleared up this little smuggling mystery.”
“And let me warn you that any nonsense on your part will be punished by Timmy."
"Lot of beasts you are," said Edgar, seeing that he could do nothing but obey the four children. "My Pa and Ma won't half be furious with you."
His Ma and Pa were feeling extremely astonished. There had, of course, been nobody hiding in the big thick bush, and when Mr. Stick had wriggled out, scratched and bleeding, he had looked round for Edgar. And Edgar was not to be seen.
"Where's that dratted boy?" he said, and shouted for him. "Edgar! ED-GAR!" But Edgar did not answer.
The Sticks spent a very long time looking for Edgar, both above ground and underground. Mrs. Stick was convinced that poor Edgar was lost in the dungeons, and she tried to send Stinker to find him. But Stinker only went as far as the first cave. He remembered the peculiar noises of the night before and was not at all keen on exploring the dungeons.
Julian turned his attention to the little trunk, once Edgar had been dealt with.
"I'm going to open this somehow," he said. "I'm sure it's got smuggled goods in, though goodness knows what."
"You'll have to smash the locks then," said Dick.
Julian got a small rock and tried to smash the two locks. He managed to wrench one open after a while, and then the other gave way too. The children threw back the lid. On the top was a child's blanket, embroidered with white rabbits. Julian pulled it off, expecting to see the smuggled goods below. But to his astonishment there were a child's clothes!
He pulled them out. There were two blue jerseys, a blue skirt, some vests and knickers and a warm coat. At the bottom of the trunk were some dolls and a teddy bear!
"Golly!" said Julian, in amazement. "What are all these for? Why did the Sticks bring these to the island—and why did the smugglers hide them in the wreck? It's a puzzler!"
Edgar appeared to be as astonished as the rest. He too had expected valuable goods of some kind. George and Anne pulled out the dolls. They were lovely ones. Anne cuddled them up to her. She loved dolls, though George scorned them.
"Who do they belong to?" she said. "Oh won't she be—sad not to have them? Julian, isn't it funny? Why should anyone bring a trunk full of clothes and dolls to Kirrin Island?"
Chapter Nineteen : A Scream In The Night.
Nobody could even guess the answers to Anne's surprised questions. The children stared into the trunk and puzzled over it. It seemed such a funny thing to smuggle. They remembered the other things in the wreck too—the tins of food. They were queer things to smuggle into the island. There didn't seem any point in it.
"Funny," said Dick, at last. "It beats me. There's no doubt that queer things are afoot here, or the Sticks wouldn't be hanging around our island. And we've seen signals from a ship out to Sea. Something's going on. We thought if we opened this trunk it might help us — but it's only made the mystery deeper."
Just then the voices of the two parent Sticks could be heard shouting for Edgar. But Edgar did not dare to shout back. Timmy's nose was poked against his leg. He might be nipped at any time. Timmy growled every now and again to remind Edgar that he was still there.
"Do you know anything about the ship that signals to this island at night?" asked Julian, turning to Edgar. The boy shook his head.
"Never heard of no signals," he said. "I just heard my mother saying that she expected the Roomer tonight, but I don't know what she meant."
"The Roomer?" said George, at once. "What's that—a man—or a boat—or what?"
"I don't know," said Edgar. "I'd only have got a clip on the ear if I'd asked. Find out yourself."
"We will," said Julian, grimly. "We'll watch out for the Roomer tonight! Thanks for the information."
The children spent a quiet and rather boring day in the cave—all but Anne, who had plenty of things to arrange again. Really, the cave looked most home-like when she had finished! She put the blankets on the bed, and used the rugs as carpets. So the cave really looked most imposing!
Edgar was not allowed to go out of the cave, and Timothy didn't leave him for a moment. He slept most of the time, complaining that "them cows and things" had frightened him so much the night before that he'd not been able to sleep a wink.
The others discussed their plans in low voices. They decided to keep watch on the clifftop, two and two together, that night. They would wait and see what happened. If the Roomer came, they would hurriedly make fresh plans then. The sun sank. The night came up dark over the sea. Edgar snored softly, after a very good supper of sardines, pressed beef sandwiches, tinned apricots and tinned milk.
Anne and Dick went up to keep the first watch. It was about half-past ten. At half-past twelve Julian and George climbed up the knotted rope and joined the other two. They had nothing to report. They went down into the cave, got into their comfortable beds and went to sleep.
Edgar was snoring away in his corner, Timmy still on guard. Julian and George looked out to sea, watching for any sign of a ship. The moon was up that night, and things were not quite so dark. Suddenly they heard low voices, and saw shadowy figures down by the rocks below.
"The two Sticks," whispered Julian. "Going to row out to the wreck again, I suppose."
There was the splash of oars, and the children saw a boat move out over the water. At the same time George nudged Julian violently and pointed out to sea. A light was being shown a good way out, from a ship that the children could barely see. Then the moon went behind a cloud, and they could see nothing for some time. They watched breathlessly. Was that shadowy ship a good way out the Roomer? Or was the owner of it the "Roamer'? Were the smugglers at work tonight?
 "There's another boat coming—look!" said George. "It must be coming from that ship out to sea. Now the moon has come out again, you can just see it. It is going to the old wreck. It must be a meeting-place, I should think."
Then, most irritatingly, the moon went behind a cloud again, and remained there so long that the children grew impatient. At last it sailed out again and lighted up the water.
"Both boats are leaving the wreck now," said Julian excitedly.
"They've had their meeting—and passed over the smuggled goods, I suppose—and now one boat is returning to the ship, and the other, the Sticks" boat, is coming back here with the goods.”
“We'll follow the Sticks when they get back and see where they put the goods."
After a long time the Sticks" boat came to shore again. The children could not see anything then, but presently they saw the Sticks going back towards the castle. Mr. Stick carried what looked like a large bundle, flung over his shoulder. They could not see if Mrs. Stick carried anything. The Sticks went into the courtyard of the castle, and came to the dungeon entrance.
"They're taking the smuggled goods down there," whispered Julian to George.
The children were now watching from behind a nearby wall.
"We'll go back and tell the others, and make some more plans. We must somehow or other get those goods ourselves, and take them back to the mainland and get in touch with the police!"
Just then a scream rang out in the night. It was a high-pitched, terrified scream, and frightened the watching children very much. They had no idea where it came from.
"Quick! It must be Anne!" said Julian, and the two ran as fast as they could to the hole that led down to the cave.
They dropped down the rope and Julian looked round the quiet cave anxiously. What had happened to Anne to make her scream like that? But Anne was peacefully asleep on her bed, and so was Dick. Edgar still snored and Timmy watched, his eyes gleaming green.
"Funny," said Julian, still startled. "Awfully queer. Who screamed like that? It couldn't possibly have been Anne—because if she had screamed in her sleep like that, she would have wakened the others."
"Well, who screamed, then?" said George, feeling rather scared.
"Wasn't it weird, Julian? I didn't like it. It was somebody who was awfully frightened. But who could it be?"
They woke Dick and Anne and told them about the strange scream. Anne was very startled. Dick was interested to hear that two boats had met at the wreck, and that the Sticks had brought back smuggled goods of some sort, and taken them down in the dungeons.
"We'll get those tomorrow, somehow!" he said, cheerfully. "We'll have good fun."
"Why did you think it was me screaming?" asked Anne. "Did you think it was a girl's scream?"
"Yes. It sounded like the scream you give when one of us jumps out at you suddenly," said Julian, "A proper little girl's scream—not a yell, like a boy gives."
"It's funny," said Anne. She cuddled down into her bed again, and George got in beside her.
"Oh Anne!" said George, in disgust, "you've got our bed simply full of those dolls—and that teddy bear is here too! You really are a baby!"
"No, I'm not," said Anne. "The dolls and the bear are babies—they are frightened and lonely because they're not with the little girl they belong to. So I had them in bed with me instead! I'm sure the little girl would be glad."
"The little girl!" said Julian, slowly. "We thought we heard a little girl scream tonight—we found a small trunk full of a little girl's clothes, and a little girl's dolls. What docs it all mean?"
There was a silence—and then Anne spoke excitedly. "I know! The smuggled goods are a little girl! They've stolen a little girl away—and these are her dolls, and those over there are her clothes that were stolen at the same time, for her to dress in and play with.”
“The little girl's here, on this island now—you heard her scream tonight when those horrid Sticks carried her down into the dungeons!"
"Well — I do believe Anne has hit on the right idea," said Julian. "Clever little girl, Anne! I think you're right. It isn't smugglers who are using this island—it's kidnappers!"
"What are kidnappers?" said Anne.
"People who steal away children or grown-ups and hide them somewhere till a large sum of money is paid out for them," explained Julian.
"It's called a ransom. Till the ransom is paid, the prisoner is held by the captors."
"Well, that's what's happened here then!" said George. "I bet it has! Some poor little rich girl has been stolen away—and brought to the wreck by boat from some ship — and taken over by those horrible Sticks. Wicked creatures!"
"And we heard the poor little thing scream just as she was taken down underground," said George.
"Julian, we've got to rescue her." "Yes, of course," said Julian. "We will, never fear! We'll rescue her tomorrow."
 Edgar woke up and joined in the conversation suddenly. "What you talking about?" he said. "Rescue who?"
"Never you mind," said Julian. George nudged him and whispered. "All I hope is that Mrs. Stick is feeling as upset about losing her dear Edgar as the mother of the little girl," she said.
"Tomorrow we find the little girl somehow, and take her away," said Julian. "I expect the Sticks will be on guard, but we'll find a way."
"I'm tired now," said George, lying down. "Let's go to sleep. We'll wake up nice and fresh. Oh Anne, do put these dolls your side. I'm lying on at least three."
Anne took the dolls and the bear and arranged them on her side of the bed.
"Don't feel lonely," George heard her say. "I'll look after you all right till you go back to your own mistress. Sleep tight!"
Soon they all slept—all but Timothy, who lay with one eye open all night long. There was no need to put anyone on guard while Timmy was there. He was the best guardian they could have.
Chapter Twenty : A Rescue—And A New Prisoner!
The next day Julian was awake early and went up the rope to the cliff-top to see if the Sticks were about. He saw them coming up the steps that led from the dungeons. Mrs. Stick looked pale and worried.
"We've got to find our Edgar," she kept saying to Mr. Stick. "I tell you we've got to find our Edgar. He's not down in the dungeons. That I do know. We've yelled ourselves hoarse down there."
"And he's not on the island," said Mr. Stick. "We hunted all over it yesterday. I think whoever was here then, took our goods, caught Edgar, and made off with him and everything else in their boat. That's what I think."
"Well, they've taken him to the mainland then," said Mrs. Stick. "We'd better take our boat and go back there and ask a few questions.”
“What I'd like to know is—who is it messing about here and interfering with our plans? It makes me scared. Just when things are going nicely Too!"
"Is it all right to leave here just now?" said Mr. Stick, doubtfully. "Suppose whoever was here yesterday is still here—they might pop down into the dungeons when we're gone."
"Well, they're not here," said Mrs. Stick, firmly. "Use your common sense, if you've got any—wouldn't our Edgar yell the place down if he was being kept prisoner on this little island—and wouldn't we hear him?”
“I tell you he must have been taken off in a boat, together with all the other things that are gone. And I don't like it."
"All right, all right!" said Mr. Stick in a grumbling tone. "That boy's always a nuisance— always in silly trouble of some sort."
"How can you talk of poor Edgar like that?" cried Mrs. Stick. "Do you think the poor child likes being captured! Goodness knows what he's going through — feeling frightened and lonely without me."
Julian felt disgusted. Here was Mrs. Stick talking like that about old Spotty-Face—and yet she had a little girl down in the dungeons—a child much younger than Edgar! What a beast she was.
"What about Tinker?" said Mr. Stick, in a sulky tone. "Better leave him here, hadn't we, to guard the entrance to the dungeons? Not that there will be anyone here, if what you say is right."
"Oh, we'll leave Tinker," said Mrs. Stick, setting off to the boat.
Julian saw them embark, leaving the dog behind. Tinker watched them rowing away, his tail well down between his legs. Then he turned and ran back to the courtyard, and lay down dolefully in the sun. He was very uneasy. His ears were cocked and he kept looking this way and that. He didn't like this queer island and its unexpected noises.
Julian tore back to the cave and dropped down the rope, startling Edgar very much.
"Come outside the cave and I'll tell you my plans," said Julian to the others. He didn't want Edgar to hear them.
They all went outside. Anne had got breakfast ready while Julian had been gone, and the kettle was boiling away merrily on the little stove.
"Listen!" said Julian. "The Sticks have gone off in their boat back to the mainland to see if they can find their precious little darling Edgar.”
“Mrs. Stick is all hot and bothered because she thinks someone's gone off with him and she's afraid the poor boy will be feeling frightened and lonely!"
"Well!" said George. "Doesn't she think that the little kidnapped girl must be feeling much worse? What a horrid woman she is!"
"You're right," said Julian. "Well, what I propose to do is this—we'll go down into the dungeons now and rescue the little girl—and bring her here to our cave for breakfast.”
“Then we'll take her off in our boat, go to the police, find out where her parents are, and telephone to them that she is safe."
"What shall we do with Edgar?" said Anne.
"I know!" said George at once. "We'll put Edgar into the dungeon instead of the little girl! Think how astonished the Sticks will be to find the little girl gone — and their dear Edgar shut up in the dungeon instead!"
"Oooh!—that is a good idea," said Anne, and all the others laughed and agreed.
"You stay here, Anne, and cut some more bread and butter for the little girl," said Julian. He knew that Anne hated going down into the dungeons.
Anne nodded, pleased."All right, I will. I'll just take the kettle off for a bit too, or else the water will boil away."
They all went back into the cave. "Come with us, Edgar," said Julian. "You come too, Timmy."
"Where you going to take me?" said Edgar, suspiciously. "A nice cosy, comfortable place, where cows can't get at you," said Julian. "Come on! Buck up."
"Gr-r-r-r-r-r," said Timmy, his nose against Edgar's leg. Edgar got up in a hurry. They all went up the rope, one after another, though Edgar was terribly scared, and was sure he couldn't. But with Timmy snapping at his ankles below, he climbed up the rope remarkably quickly, and was hauled out at the top by Julian.
"Now, quick march!" said Julian, who wanted to get everything over before the Sticks thought of returning. And quick march it was, over the cliffs, over the low wall of the castle, and down into the courtyard.
"I'm not going down into them dungeons with you," said Edgar, in alarm.
"You are, Spotty-Face," said Julian, amiably.
"Where's my Pa and Ma?" said Edgar, looking anxiously all round.
"Those cows have got them, I expect," said George. "The ones that came and mooed at you and threw things, you know."
 Everyone giggled, except Edgar, who looked worried and pale. He did not like this kind of adventure at all. The children came to the dungeon entrance, and found that the Sticks had not only closed down the stone that opened the way to the dungeons, but had also dragged heavy rocks across it.
"Blow your parents!" said Julian, to Edgar. "Making a lot of trouble for everybody. Come on, stir yourself— all hands to these stones. Edgar, pull when we pull. Go on! You'll get into trouble if you don't."
Edgar pulled with the rest, and one by one the rocks were moved away. Then the heavy trapdoor stone was hauled up too, and the flight of steps was exposed leading down into darkness.
"There's Tinker!" suddenly cried Edgar, pointing to a bush some distance away. Tinker was there, hiding, quite terrified at seeing Timothy again.
“That lot of good Stinker is," said Julian. "No, Timmy—you're not to eat him. Stay here! He wouldn't taste nice if you did eat him!"
Timothy was sorry not to be able to chase Stinker round and round the island. If he couldn't chase rabbits, he might at least be allowed to chase Stinker!
They all went down into the dungeons. Julian's white chalk-marks were still on the rocky walls, so it was easy to find the way to the cave-like room where the children, last summer, had found piles of golden ingots. They felt sure that the little kidnapped girl had been put there, for this cave had a big wooden door that could be bolted on the outside. They came to the door. It was well and truly bolted. There was no sound from inside. Everyone halted outside and Timmy scratched at the door, whining gently. He knew there was someone inside.
"Hallo, there!" shouted Julian, in a loud and cheerful voice. "Are you all right? We've come to rescue you."
There was a scrambling noise, as if someone had got up from a stool. Then a small voice sounded from the cave.
"Hallo! Who are you? Oh, do please rescue me! I'm so lonely and frightened!"
"Just undoing the door!" called back Julian, cheerfully. "We're all children out here, so don't be afraid. You'll soon be safe."
He shot back the bolts, and flung open the door. Inside the cave, which was lighted by a lantern, stood a small girl, with a scared little white face, and large dark eyes. Dark red hair tumbled round her cheeks, and she had evidently been crying bitterly, for her face was dirty and tear-stained.
Dick went to her and put his arm round her. "Everything's all right now," he said. "You're safe. We'll take you back to your mother."
"I do want her, I do, I do," said the little girl, and tears ran down her cheeks again. "Why am I here? I don't like being here."
"Oh, it's just an adventure you've had," said. Julian. "It's over now—at least, nearly over. There's still a bit of it left—a nice bit, though. We want you to come and have breakfast with us in our cave. We've a lovely cave."
"Oh, have you?" said the little girl, rubbing her eyes. "I want to go with you, I like you, but I didn't like those other people."
"Of course you didn't," said George. "Look! This is Timothy, our dog. He wants to be friends with you."
"What a simply lovely dog!" said the little girl, and flung her arms around Timmy's neck. He licked her in delight.
George was pleased. She put her arm round the little girl. "What's your name?" she said.
"Jennifer Mary Armstrong," said the little girl. "What's yours?" "George," said George, and the little girl nodded, thinking that George was a boy, not a girl, for she was dressed in jeans just like Julian and Dick, and her hair was short, too, though very curly. The others told her their names—and then she looked at Edgar, who had said nothing.
"This is Spotty-Face," said Julian. "He isn't a friend of ours. It was his father and mother who put you here, Jennifer. Now we are going to leave him here in your place. It will be such a pleasant surprise for them, won't it?"
Edgar gave a yell of dismay and tried to back away—but Julian gave him a strong shove that sent him flying into the cave.
 "There's only one way to teach people like you and your parents that wickedness doesn't pay!" said the boy, grimly. "And that is to punish you hard. People like you don't understand kindness. You think it's just being soft and silly. All right—you can have a taste of what Jennifer has had. It will do you good, and do your parents a lot of good too! Good-bye!"
Edgar began to howl dismally as Julian bolted the big wooden door top and bottom. "I shall starve!" he wailed.
"Oh no, you won't," said Julian. "There's plenty of food and water in there, so help yourself. It would do you good to go hungry for a while, all the same."
"Mind the cows don't get you!" called Dick, and he gave a realistic moo that startled Jennifer very much, for the echoes came mooing round too.
"It's all right—only the echoes," said George, smiling at her in the torch-light. Edgar howled away in the cave, sobbing like a baby.
"Little coward, isn't he?" said Julian. "Come on—let's get back. I'm awfully hungry for my breakfast."
"So am I," said Jennifer, slipping her small hand into Julian's. "I wasn't hungry at all in that cave — but now I am. Thank you for rescuing me."
"Don't mention it," said Julian, grinning at her. "It's a real pleasure—and an even greater one to put old Spotty-Face there instead of you. Nice to give the Sticks a dose of their own medicine."
Jennifer didn't know what he meant, but the others did, and they chuckled. They made their way back through the dark, musty passages of the dungeons, passing many caves, big and small, on the way. They came at last to the flight of steps and went up them into the dazzling sun-light.
"Oh!" said Jennifer, breathing in great gulps of the fresh, sea-smelling air. "Oh! This is lovely! Where am I?"
"On our island," said George. "And this is our ruined castle. You were brought here last night in a boat. We heard you scream, and that's how we guessed you were being made a prisoner."
They walked to the cliff, and Jennifer was amazed at the way they disappeared down the knotted rope. She was eager to try too, and soon slid down into the cave.
"Nice kid, isn't she?" said Julian to George. "My word, she's had even more of an adventure than we have!"
Chapter Twenty-One : A Visit To The Police Station.
Anne liked Jennifer very much, and gave her a hug and a kiss. Jennifer looked round the well-furnished cave in amazement and wonder—and then she gave-a scream of surprise and joy. She pointed to Anne's neatly-made bed, on which sat a number of beautiful dolls, and a large teddy-bear. “My dolls!" she said. "Oh, and Teddy, too! Oh, oh, where did you get them? I've missed them so! Oh Josephine and Angela and Rosebud and Marigold, have you missed me?"
She flung herself on the dolls. Anne was very interested to hear their names. "I've looked after them well," she told Jennifer. "They're quite all right."
"Oh, thank you," said the little girl, happily. "I do think you're all nice. Oh, I say—what a lovely breakfast!"
It was. Anne had opened a tin of salmon, two tins of peaches, a tin of milk, cut some bread and butter, and made a big jug of cocoa. Jennifer sat down and began to eat. She was very hungry, and as she ate, she began to lose her paleness and look rosy and happy. The children talked busily as they ate. Jennifer told them about herself.
"I was playing in the garden with my nurse," she said, "and suddenly, when nurse had gone indoors to fetch something, a man climbed over the wall, threw a shawl round my head, and took me away. We live by the sea, you know, and I soon heard the sound of the waves splashing on the shore, and I knew I was being put into a boat. I was taken to a big ship, and locked down in a cabin for two days. Then I suppose I was brought here one night. I was so frightened that I screamed."
"That was the scream we heard," said George. "It was lucky we heard it. We had thought there was smuggling going on here, in our island—we didn't guess it was a case of kidnapping, till we heard you scream—though we had found your trunk with your clothes and toys."
"I don't know how the man got those," said Jennifer. "Maybe one of our maids helped him. There was one I didn't like at all. She was called Sarah Stick.”
"Ah!" said Julian, at once. "That's the one, then! It was Mr. and Mrs. Stick who brought you here. Sarah Stick, your maid, must be some relation of theirs. They must have been in the pay of someone else, I should think someone who had a ship, and could bring you here to hide you."
"Jolly good hiding-place, too," said George. "No one but us would ever have found it out."
They ate all their breakfast, made some more cocoa, and discussed their future plans. "We'll take our boat and go to the mainland this morning," said Julian.
"We'll go straight to the police station with Jennifer. I expect the newspapers are full of her disappearance, and the police will recognise her at once."
"I hope they catch the Sticks," said George. "I hope they won't disappear into thin air as soon as they hear that Jennifer is found."
"Yes, we must warn the police of that," said Julian, thoughtfully. "Better not spread the news abroad till the Sticks are caught. I wonder where they are."
"Let's get the boat now," said Dick. "There's no point in waiting about. Jennifer's parents will be thrilled to know she is safe."
"I don't really want to leave this lovely cave," said Jennifer, who was thoroughly enjoying herself now. "I wish I lived here, too. Are you going to come back to the island and live here, Julian?"
"Well, we shall come back for a few days more, I expect," said Julian. "You see, our aunt's home is empty at the moment because she is away ill and our uncle is with her. So we might as well stay on our island till they come back."
"Oh, could I come back with you?" begged Jennifer, her small round face alight with joy at the thought of living in a cave on an island with these nice children and their lovely dog. "Oh, do let me! I would so like it. And I do so love Timmy."
"I don't expect your parents would let you, especially after you've just been kidnapped," said Julian. "But you can ask them, if you like."
They all went to the boat and got in. Julian pushed off. George steered the boat in and out of the rocks. They saw the wreck, which interested Jenny very much indeed. She badly wanted to stop, but the others thought they ought to get to land as quickly as possible. Soon they were near the beach. Alf, the fisher-boy was there. He saw them and waved. He ran to help them to pull in their boat.
"I was coming out in my boat this morning," he said. "Your father's back, Master George. But not your mother. She's getting better, they say, and will be back in a week's time."
"Well, what's my father come back for?" demanded George, in surprise.
"He got worried because nobody answered the telephone," explained Alf. "He came down and asked me where you all were. I didn't tell him, of course. I kept your secret. But I was just coming out to warn you this morning. He got back last night and wasn't he wild? No one there to give him any food. All the house upside down and half the things gone! He's at the police station now."
"Golly!" said George. "That's just where we are going too! We shall meet him there. Oh dear, I do hope he won't be in an awful temper. You just can't do anything with my father when he's cross."
"Come on!" said Julian. "It's a good thing, in a way, that your father is here, George — we can explain everything to him and to the police at the same time."
They left Alf, who looked very surprised to see Jennifer with the others. He couldn't make out where she had come from. Certainly she had not started out to the island with them—but she had come back in their boat. How was that? It seemed very mysterious to Alf. The children arrived at the police station and marched in, much to the surprise of the policeman there.
"Hallo!" he said. "What's the matter? Been doing a burglary, or something, and come to own up?"
"Listen!" said George, suddenly, hearing a loud voice in the room next to theirs. "That's Father's voice!" She darted to the door.
The policeman called to her, shocked. "Now don't you go in there. The Inspector's in there. Come over here special, he has, and mustn't be interrupted."
But George had flung open the door and gone inside. Her father turned and saw her. He rose to his feet. "George! Where have you been? How dare you go away like this and leave the house and everything! It's been robbed right and left! I've just been telling the Inspector about all the things that have been stolen."
"Don't worry, Father," said George. "Really don't worry. We've found them all. How's Mother?"
"Better, much better," said her father, still looking amazed and angry. "Thank goodness I can go back and tell her where you are. She kept asking me about you all, and I had to keep saying you were all right, so as not to worry her but I hadn't any idea what was happening to you or where you had gone. I feel very displeased with you. Where were you?"
"On the island," said George, looking rather sulky, as she often did when her father was angry with her. "Julian will tell you all about it."
Julian came in, followed by Dick, Anne, Jennifer and Timothy. The Inspector, a big, clever-looking man with dark eyes under shaggy eyebrows, looked at them all closely. When he saw Jennifer, he stared hard and then suddenly rose to his feet.
 "What's your name, little girl?" he said. "Jennifer Mary Armstrong," said Jenny, in a surprised voice.
"Bless us all!" said the-Inspector, in a startled voice. "Here's the child the whole country is looking for and she walks in here as cool as a cucumber! Lands sakes, where did she come from?"
"What do you mean?" said George's father, looking surprised. "What child is the whole country looking for? I haven't read the papers for some days."
"Then you don't know about little Jenny Armstrong being kidnapped?" said the Inspector, sitting down and pulling Jenny near him.
"She's the daughter of Harry Armstrong, the millionaire, you know. Well, somebody kidnapped her and wants a hundred thousand pounds ransom for her. My word, we've combed the country for her — and here she is, as merry as you please. Well, I'm blessed—this is the queerest thing I ever knew. Where have you been, little Missy?"
"On the island," said Jenny. "Julian—you tell it all." So Julian told the whole story from beginning to end. The policeman from outside came in, and took notes down as he spoke. Everyone listened in amazement. As for George's father, his eyes nearly fell out of his head. What adventures these children did have, to be sure and how well they managed everything!
"And do you happen to know who was the owner of the ship that brought little Miss Jenny along—the one that sent a boat off to the wreck and put her there for the Sticks to take?" asked the Inspector.
"No," said Julian. "All we heard was that the Roomer was coming that night."
"A-HA!" said the Inspector, with great satisfaction in his voice. "Aha and oho! We know the Roomer all right— a ship we've been watching for some time—owned by somebody we're very, very suspicious of we think he's dabbling in a whole lot of shady deals. Now this is very good news indeed. The thing is — where are the Sticks—and how can we catch them redhanded, now you've got Miss Jenny out of their clutches? They'll probably deny everything."
"I know how we could catch them," said Julian, quickly. "We've left their nasty son, Edgar, locked in the same dungeon where they put Jenny. If only one of us could pass the word to the Sticks, that that is where Edgar is, they'd go back to the island all right, and go right into the dungeons. So if you found them there, it wouldn't be much good them denying that they don't know anything about the island, and have never been there."
"That would certainly make things a lot easier," said the Inspector. He pressed a bell and another policeman came into the room. The Inspector gave him a full description of Mr. and Mrs. Stick, and told him to watch the countryside round about, and report when they were found.
"Then, Master Julian, you might like to go and have a little conversation with them about their son, Edgar," said the Inspector, smiling. "If they do go back to the island, we shall follow them, and get all the evidence we want. Thank you for your very great help. Now we must telephone to Miss Jenny's parents and tell them she is safe."
"She can come back to Kirrin Cottage with us," said George's father, still looking rather dazed at all that had happened. "'I've got Joanna, our old cook, to come back for a while to put things straight, so there will be someone there to see to the children. They must all come back."
"Well, Father," said George, firmly, "we will come back just for today, but we plan to spend another week on Kirrin Island till Mother comes back. She said we could, and we are having such a fine time there. Let Joanna stay at Kirrin Cottage and keep it in order and get it ready for Mother when she comes home — she won't want the bother of looking after us too. We can look after ourselves on the island."
"I certainly think these children deserve a reward for. the good work they have done," remarked the Inspector, and that settled the matter.
"Very well," said George's father, "you can all go off to the island again—but you must be back when your Mother returns, George."
"Of course I will," said George. "I badly want to see Mother. But home isn't nice without her. I would rather be on our island."
"And I want to be there, too," said Jenny, unexpectedly. "Ask my parents to come to Kirrin, please…so that I can ask them if I can go with the other children."
"I'll do my best," said the Inspector, grinning at the five children. They liked him very much.
George's father stood up. "Come along!" he said. "I want my lunch. All this has made me feel hungry. We'll go and see if Joanna has got anything for us."
Off they all went, talking nineteen to the dozen, making George's poor father feel quite bewildered. He always seemed to get into the middle of some adventure when these children were about!
Chapter Twenty-Two : Back To Kirrin Island!
Soon everyone was at Kirrin Cottage. Joanna, the old cook they had had before, gave them a good welcome, and listened to their adventures in astonishment, getting the lunch ready all the while. It was while they were having lunch that Julian, looking out of the window, suddenly caught sight of a figure he knew very well—someone skulking along behind the hedge.
"Old Pa Stick!" he said, and jumped up. "I'll go after him. Stay here, everyone." He went out of the house, ran round a corner and came face to face with Mr. Stick."
"Do you want to know where Edgar is?" said Julian mysteriously. Mr. Stick looked startled. He stared at Julian not knowing what to say.
"He's down in the dungeons, locked in that cave," said Julian, even more mysteriously. "You don't know nothin' about Edgar," said Mr. Stick. "Where have you been? Didn't you go home?"
"Never you mind," said Julian. "But if you want to find Edgar—look in that cave!" Mr. Stick gave the boy a glare and left him.
Julian hurried indoors and rang up the police station. He felt sure that Mr. Stick would tell Mrs. Stick what he had said, and that Mrs. Stick would insist on going back to the island to see if what he had said was true. So all that needed to be done was for the police to keep a watch on the boats along the shore and see when the Sticks left.
The children finished their dinner and Uncle Quentin announced that he must return to his wife, who would want to know his news. "I'll tell her you are having a fine time on the island," he said, "and we can tell her all the extraordinary details when she returns home, better."
He left in a car, and the children wondered whether they might now return to their island or not. But they decided to wait a little, for they did not know what to do with Jennifer. Very soon a large car drove up and stopped outside the gate of Kirrin Cottage. Out jumped a tall man with dark red hair, and a pretty woman.
"They must be your father and mother, Jenny," said Julian. They were—and Jennifer got so many hugs and kisses that she quite lost her breath. She had to tell her story again and again, and her father could not thank Julian and the others enough for all they had done.
"Ask me for any reward you like!" he said, "and you can have it. I shall never, never be able to tell you how grateful I am to you for rescuing our little Jenny."
"Oh—we don't want anything, thank you," said Julian, politely. "We enjoyed it all very much. We like adventures."
"Ah, but you must tell me something you want!" said Jenny's father.
Julian glanced round at the others. He knew that none of them wanted a reward. Jenny nudged him hard and nodded her head vigorously. Julian laughed. "Well," he said, "there is one thing we'd all like very much."
"It's granted before you ask it!" said Jenny's father.
"Will you let Jenny come and spend a week with us on our island?" said Julian. Jenny gave a squeal and pressed Julian's arm very hard between her two small hands. Jenny's parents looked rather taken-aback.
"Well," said her father, "well—she's just been kidnapped, you know—and we don't feel inclined to let her out of our sight at the moment — and..."
"You promised Julian you'd grant what he asked, you promised, Daddy," said Jenny, urgently. "Oh please do let me. I've always wanted to live on an island. And this one has got a perfectly marvellous cave, and a wonderful ruined castle, and the dungeons where I was kept, and…"
"And we take Timothy, our dog, with us," said Julian. "See what a big powerful fellow he is—nobody could come to much harm with Timmy about — could they, Tim?" "Woof!" said Timothy, in his deepest voice.
"Well, you can go, Jenny, on one condition," said the little girl's father at last, "and that is that I and your mother, come over tomorrow and spend the day on the island, to see that everything is all right for you."
"Oh, thank you, thank you, Daddy!" cried Jenny, and danced round the room in delight. A whole week on the island with these new friends of hers, and Timmy the dog! What could be lovelier?
"Jenny can stay here the night, can't she?” said George. "You'll be staying at the hotel, I suppose?"
Soon Jenny's parents left and went to the police station to get all the details of the kidnapping. The children went to see if Joanna was going to make cakes for tea. Just about tea-time there came a knocking at the-door. A large policeman stood outside.
"Is Master Julian here?" he said. "Oh, you're the boy we want, sir. The Sticks have just left for the island in their boat, and we've got ours on the beach to follow. But we don't think we know the way in and out of those hidden rocks that lie all round Kirrin Island. Could you or Miss Georgina guide us, do you think?"
"I'm Master George, not Miss Georgina," said George, in a cold voice.
"Sorry, sir," said the policeman, with a grin. "Well, could you come too?"
"We'll all come!" said Dick, jumping up. "I want to go back to the dear old island and sleep in our cave again tonight. Why should we miss a single night? We can fetch Jenny's people tomorrow in our own boat. We'll all come."
The policeman was a little doubtful about the arrangement, but the children insisted, and as there was no time to waste, they all ended in crowding into the two boats, with three big policemen, George and Julian leading the way in their own boat. Timmy lay down at George's feet as usual. George guided the boat as cleverly as ever, and soon they landed in the usual little sandy cove. The Sticks had evidently gone round by the wreck as usual, and landed on the rockier part.
"Now, no noise," said Julian, warningly. They all went quietly towards the ruin, and came into the courtyard. There was no sign of the Sticks.
"We'll go down underground," said Julian. "I've got my torch. I expect the Sticks are down there already, letting out dear Edgar."
They went down the steps into the dark dungeons. Anne went too, this time, holding on to the hand of one of the big policemen. They moved quietly through the long, dark, winding passages. They came at last to the door of the cave in which they had imprisoned Edgar. It was still bolted at the top and bottom!
"Look!" said Julian, in a whisper, shining his torch on to the door. "The Sticks haven't been down here yet."
"Sh!" said George, as Timmy growled softly. "There's someone coming. Hide! It's the Sticks, I expect."
They all hid behind the wall that ran near by. They could hear footsteps coming nearer, and then the voice of Mrs. Stick raised in anger.
"If my Edgar's locked in there, I'll have something to say about it! Locking up a poor innocent boy like that. I don't understand it. If he's there, where's the girl? You answer me that. Where's the girl? It's my belief that the boss has done some double-crossing to do us out of our share of the money. Didn't he say that he'd give us a thousand pounds if we kept Jenny Armstrong for a week? Now I think he must have sent someone to this island, played tricks on us, taken the girl himself and locked up our Edgar."
"You may be right, Clara," said Mr. Stick, his voice coming nearer and nearer. "But how did this boy Julian know where Edgar was? There's a lot I don't understand about all this."
Now the Sticks were right at the door of the cave, with Stinker at their heels. Stinker smelt the others in hiding and whined in fear. Mr. Stick kicked him. !Stop it! It's enough to hear our own voices echoing away all round without your whines too!"
 Mrs. Stick was calling out loudly: "Edgar! Are you there? Edgar!" "Ma! Yes, I'm here!" yelled Edgar. "Let me out, quick! I'm proper scared. Let me out!"
Mrs. Stick undid the bolts at once and flung open the door. By the light of the lantern in the cave she saw Edgar. He ran to her, half-crying. "Who put you here?" demanded Mrs. Stick.
"You tell your Pa and he'll knock their heads off, won't you, Pa? Putting a poor frightened child into a dark cave like this. It's a wicked thing to do!"
Suddenly the Stick family had the fright of their lives — for a large policeman stepped out of the shadows, torch in one hand and notebook in the other!
"Ah!" said the policeman, in a deep voice. "You're right, Clara Stick. To shut up a poor frightened child in that cave is a wicked thing to do and that's what you did, isn't it? You put Jenny Armstrong there! She's only a little girl. This boy of yours knew he wasn't coming to any harm — but that little girl was scared to death!"
Mrs. Stick stood there, opening and shutting her mouth like a goldfish, not finding a word to say. Mr. Stick squealed like a rat caught in a corner. "We're copped! It's a trap, that's it We're copped!"
Edgar began to cry, sobbing like a four-year-old. The other children felt disgusted with him. The Sticks suddenly caught sight of all the children when Julian switched on his torch.
"Snakes alive, there's all the children—and there's Jenny Armstrong too!" said Mr. Stick, in a tone of the greatest amazement. "What's all this? What's happening? Who shut up Edgar?"
"We'll tell you the answers when we get to the police-station," said the big policeman. "Now, are you coming quietly?"
The Sticks went quietly, Edgar sobbing away to himself. He imagined his mother and father in prison, and he himself sent to a hard and difficult school, not allowed to see his mother for years. Not that that would matter, for the Sticks, both mother and father, were no good to Edgar, and had taught him nothing but bad things. There might be a chance for the wretched boy if he were kept away from them and set a good example instead of a bad one.
"We shan't be coming back with you," said Julian politely, to the policeman. "We're staying here the night. You could go back in the Sticks boat. They know the way all right. Take their dog with you. There he is—Stinker, we call him." Then he added, I guess your colleagues could follow in the police boat!"
The Sticks boat was found and the policeman, the two grown-up Sticks and Edgar got in. Stinker jumped in too, glad to get away from the glare of Timothy's green eyes.
Julian pushed the boat out. "Good-bye!" he called, and the other children waved goodbye, too. "Good-bye, Mr. Stick, don't go kidnapping any more children. Good-bye, Mrs. Stick, look after Edgar better, in case he gets kidnapped again! Good-bye, Spotty-Face, try and be a better boy! Good-bye, Stinker, do get a bath as soon as possible. Good-bye!"
The policemen grinned and waved. The Sticks said not a word nor did they wave. They sat sullen and angry, trying to work out in their minds what had happened to make things end up like this. The boats rounded a high rock and were soon out of sight.
"Hurrah!" said Dick. "They've gone—gone for ever! We've got our island to ourselves at last. Come on, Jenny, we'll show you all over it! What a lovely time we're going to have."

They raced away, happy and carefree, five children and a dog, alone on an island they loved. And we will leave them there to enjoy their week's happiness. They really do deserve it!

END

Nah ini penampakkan para aktor serial tv yang dulu kutonton di TVRI ☺