3 A grave mistake
　　Bill was talking to three or four men very earnestly. He waved to the children, a tall, burly shadowin the night.
　　‘Hallo, kids! I’m busy for a few minutes. You cut along to the aeroplane and wait for me. Stowyour cases in at the back where mine is. I’ll be about ten minutes or so.’
　　‘Right, Bill,’ said Jack¹, and the four of them moved off to where the taxi man had put theircases, beside an aeroplane not very far away.
　　It was dark where the aeroplane stood, but the children could see enough to pick up their cases.
　　They climbed up the ladder and into the cabin.
　　The inside of the plane was in darkness. The children had no idea how to put the lights on. Theyfelt their way to the back of the plane and put down their things. They threw their rugs there too.
　　Jack put Kiki’s basket down carefully. Kiki had been most indignant all the way.
　　‘Humpy dumpy bumpy,’ she said. ‘Pop goes the weasel!’
　　There was a large crate² in the middle of the plane. The children wondered what was in it. Was itempty or full? It must be something Bill was taking back with him.
　　‘It’s blocking up all the inside,’ said Jack. ‘We can’t sit down properly with that thing there.
　　Let’s squat³ down on our rugs at the back. We’ll be quite comfortable there. Perhaps Bill will shiftthe crate a bit when he comes, and tell us where he wants us to sit.’
　　So they sat down patiently on their rugs and waited. The noise of the plane’s engines went onand on, and it was impossible to hear anything else, though once Jack thought he could hearsomebody shouting.
　　He went to the door and looked out. But all was darkness and Bill was nowhere to be seen.
　　What a time he was!
　　He went back to his place, yawning. Lucy-Ann was half asleep. ‘I wish Bill would come,’ saidPhilip. ‘I shall go to sleep if he doesn’t.’
　　Then a lot of things happened very quickly indeed. Over and above the sound of the enginecame the sound of shots – gunshots. That made the children sit up in a hurry.
　　Then another shot sounded – and then there came the noise of someone clambering hurriedly upthe steps into the plane, and a man flung himself down in the control seat. Another followed,panting, hardly to be seen in the darkness. The children sat as if they were frozen. What in theworld was happening? Was one of the men Bill? Who was the other – and what was the hurry?

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