THE RESCUE OF DANNY
“The deserted Grange.” The very words thrilled Nipper to the marrow. It
was Bobby Brown who suggested going there. He knew about it because,
once, when out with his father as he drove on his rounds in his
dog-cart, Dr. Brown had pointed it out.
It was a smallish, grey stone house, in a straggling garden where a
huge army of weeds had nearly choked the flowers, a few of which still
fought for existence--a rose or two, and a few thin, sad wallflowers.
A moat ran half-way round the deserted Grange. In one place the walls
went right down into the water.
With all the strength of their lungs the Cubs’ shouted the familiar
call, “Ya-hoo-oo-wah!” and then stood still and listened.
“Ya-hoo-oo-wah! Yah-hoo-oo-wah!” came back a faint answer from the grey
walls of the Grange.
“A beastly echo again,” said Nipper, in despair. But Billy Brown was
clutching his arm with perspiring fingers.
“No, no, Nipper!” he panted; “not an echo; echoes don’t say it _twice_!”
“No they don’t!” cried Nipper excitedly. “Bob, you aren’t such a chump
as I thought you were!”
“_Danny--Danny!_” shouted Nipper.
“Hul-_lo_!” came Danny’s voice, very faint and far away.
Running through the tangled garden, the Cubs entered the Grange through
the open door. Their footsteps sounded hollow and uncanny on the wooden
floors.
Again they called, and again Danny answered. This time his voice came
from below their feet.
“He’s in the _dungeons_!” said Nipper, dwelling on the word with
delicious horror. “I expect he’s chained up among the skeletons of the
men what’s been _starved_ to death--like that guide told us at the
Castle. It’s a good thing there aren’t any _bloodhounds_ nowadays.”
But try as they would, the Cubs could not force open a single one of
the heavy doors that seemed as if they might lead down to the cellar.
“Come round to the window,” called Danny. “If you could give me a rope,
and break the bars, I could climb up and get out.”
The Cubs ran out again into the garden. Before long they had espied
what must be the grating of the dungeon--a small, barred window. But,
alas! it was in the wall which went down into the moat. Calling out
once more, they found Danny’s voice certainly came from this window.
What _should_ they do?
Then the puzzle was suddenly solved, for, moored to a stump they
discovered an old and rotten punt. It was half-full of water, but this
did not matter. Getting in, they pushed off from the bank with two
long sticks, and punted themselves across.
“Here we are!” they said, as they reached the barred window.
“Thank God!” came Danny’s voice. “I knew He wouldn’t let me die here!”
“What shall we do?” said Nipper.
“Let down a rope; about five foot would do,” said Danny.
The Cubs looked around them in despair. They hadn’t got a rope. Then
Nipper caught sight of the chain by which the punt had been moored to
the bank. This the Cubs let down through the grating, and then hung
on to it for dear life. Soon Danny’s face appeared at the window. It
filled them with horror, for he looked years older and as pale as a
ghost, with grey shadows under his eyes.
“Oh, how ripping to see you kids!” he said. “You don’t know all I’ve
suffered in that damp hole, with the rats, and no food.”
The bars were thin and rusty, but Danny could not manage to break
them. Punting themselves back to the other side of the moat, the Cubs
collected two enormous stones, and then punted back.
Danny slipped to the ground again, and by dint of a few tremendous
blows with the stones, the Cubs smashed in the bars. Letting down the
chain, they then hauled Danny up once more. Crawling through the tiny
window he stepped into the punt.
“Quick--she’s sinking!” he said, and got her back to the bank only just
in time.
“Now,” said Danny, “for home, and then to rescue Mariette!”
[Illustration: Crawling through the narrow window, Danny stepped into
the punt.
[_To face page 118._
]