29 A very strange journey
　　What had happened to Philip? He was certainly having a most adventurous¹ time.
　　He slept under the pile of coats and rugs in the plane until dawn. Then the planes landed, andbumped along the ground on their huge wheels. Philip awoke at once.
　　He made a peephole through the rugs and watched to see what the two men in his plane weredoing. They were getting out. What a bit of luck that they hadn’t even looked round the plane, ortaken a coat from the pile!
　　Other men outside were greeting the new arrivals. Philip sat up and tried to hear what was said.
　　But half of the speech was in a foreign language, and there was such a babel that it was impossibleto make out anything.
　　He glanced round the plane. One of the crates³ was now in it, and a tarpaulin⁴ was tied looselyround it. Philip tried to see what was in it. Packed in straw was one of the statues, evidently onethat was very valuable.
　　Philip peeped cautiously out of the window of the plane, for now the men’s voices had ceased.
　　Where were the men? Could he slip out now and escape to get help?
　　He stared in surprise. The planes, and others too, were on a vast grassy⁵ plain – and in front andall round was the blue sea. All round! Well, then, they must be on some island somewhere.
　　He sat and thought for a moment. These men were rogues⁶. They were doing a deal in valuabletreasures hidden and perhaps forgotten during the last war; they had planes of their own – and asecret landing ground. What could be better than a lonely island, say, off the coast of Scotland?
　　‘Then I suppose they’ll have motor boats or launches of their own to get the stuff away,’
　　thought Philip. ‘A proper gang of them! I’ll never get away from here without being seen – never.
　　If it’s an island – and it seems as if it must be – I’m as much a prisoner here as I was in thetreasure caves. Blow!’
　　Then Dinah’s idea came into his mind. What about hiding in the crate

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