“Well, I don’t think anyone has seen us come.” said Jack. “And we won’t light a fire, so nobody will see smoke from our chimney. We won’t have any lights on to-night, either. We’ll all sleep together in the top room of the tower, and lock the door and pile furniture against it. Then we’ll be safe!”
“Things are getting a bit too exciting again,” said Nora, who was really beginning to long for a little peace. “I wish Mr. Diaz hadn’t discovered our secret island - we should have been so happy and peaceful there. I don’t like Peep-Hole without Dimmy.”
“I’ll slip out down to the beach and see if George is anywhere about,” said Jack, thinking hard. “If he is he’ll come back with me, I’m sure - and he could tell me what’s happened to Dimmy - and I could tell him what has happened to Mr. Diaz and Luiz!”
The others laughed. They liked to think of Mr. Diaz and Luiz, prisoners on the secret island, not knowing when they were to be taken off!
Jack slipped out of the back door and the others bolted it after him. They decided to keep a watch from the windows, to see if anyone came near. So Peggy and Paul kept watch from the front windows, and Mike and Nora from the back. But nobody came near. Not even a dog barked anywhere. It was all very still and peaceful.
The children talked to one another. Peggy found her knitting, and knitted and chatted to Paul. Mike did a jig-saw puzzle with Nora, looking up every other minute to make sure that nobody was coming in through the back garden.
A loud thumping on the back door startled everybody dreadfully. Mike jumped and dropped the jig-saw on the floor. He had seen nobody come into the back garden. Paul and Peggy ran in from the front room, looking quite scared.
“Who do you suppose it is?” whispered Nora.
“Can’t imagine,” whispered back Mike. “Anyway, we’d better all keep as quiet as possible, then maybe they’ll go away.”
So they all kept very quiet. The thumping came again - somebody banging on the back door with his bare fists. “Bang all you like,” said Mike in a low voice. “You won’t get in!”