Free The Mystery of Adventure Island by Paul Moxham Page B

no one was about, Marvin sat down on a nearby rock.
    The boys waited for a minute or two, but the man didn’t move. Creeping back a tad, Will whispered to Joe. “There’s only one reason why he would sit there.”
    “If he was waiting for someone to come out of the shaft,” Joe said.
    Will nodded. “And I don’t think he’s waiting for his friends.”
    “No, so it looks as though the girls are down there,” Joe said.
    “What do we do about it?” Will asked.
    Joe thought for a moment before he answered. “We have to distract the man.”
    “What if we throw a rock into the other end of the quarry?” Will said. “While he sees what the noise is, we can slip into the hole.”
    Joe grinned. “Good thinking.” He searched the ground for a rock that would be suitable for the diversion. It needed to be small enough to go a long distance, but big enough to make a loud noise when it landed. He found one a few seconds later. “This should do it.”
    Will parted the bushes with his hand. Looking down at the man, he calculated where the rock needed to land. After pointing this out to Joe, he waited for him to throw it.
    The rock sailed out of Joe’s hand a second later. As it fell towards the ground, he hoped that it would hit the pile of rocks that were past some bushes. That would provide some cover for them when they raced down.
    Unfortunately, it didn’t get that far. As it landed five feet short of the bushes, Joe grimaced. Still hoping for the best, he waited at the edge of the bushes.
    As soon as the rock hit the other rocks, the man stood up, frowned, and walked over to the bushes.
    Joe and Will raced down the hill. After reaching the rocky ground, they spurted towards the hole. But , before they could get there, the man turned around and headed back.
    The boys ducked behind a rock, certain that they had been seen . Luckily, at that very moment, there was a yell as someone called out. Peeking out from behind the rock, Joe saw Luke walk towards the quarry.
    “I lost sight of my kid,” Luke called. “What about yours?”
    “They went down the tin mine,” Marvin replied.
    The boys heard his footsteps retreat and they brea thed a sigh of relief. They didn’t know what Marvin had seen that interested him enough to walk towards them, but it had obviously been nothing since he was now engaged in a conversation with the other man.
    With the wind in the other direction, the boys could only hear scraps of the conversation between them. Words like food, torch, and rope.
    The talking subsided. Peeking around the hill, Joe saw Marvin leave the quarry and disappear into the bushes. But where was Luke? Looking in the opposite direction, Joe saw that he was sitting in the same spot as Marvin had been sitting.
    Joe turned to Will. “We have to do something before Marvin gets back. We can’t do anything if they’re both here, but we might be able to outsmart one of them.”
    “What about throwing a rock?” Will suggested.
    “But we tried that and it didn’t work,” Joe replied.
    “We’re closer now,” Will said . “If we threw it from here, it would have to go past those bushes. I’m sure it would give us enough time to go down the shaft.”
    Since Joe was unable to come up with a better plan, he decided to give it one more attempt. After finding a rock, Will took aim and hurled it. As soon as Luke moved, so did they .
    Reaching the shaft first, Joe climbed down. Will glanced over at Luke before he climbed down and was relieved to see that he was still behind the bushes. He breathed a sigh of relief as he followed his friend down into the darkness.
    Joe switched on his torch and shone it around. The girls were nowhere in sight.
    After deciding to go down the nearest tunnel, the boys walked along it, calling as they went. They hadn’t gone far before a light was shone upon them and voices cried out.
    It was the girls. They hugged the boys, relieved that help had arrived.
    “How did you find us?” Sarah