Chapter Twenty-Two BACK TO KIRRIN ISLAND!
　　SOON everyone was at Kirrin Cottage. Joanna, the old cook they had had before, gave them a goodwelcome, and listened to their adventures in astonishment¹, getting the lunch ready all the while.
　　It was while they were having lunch that Julian, looking out of the window, suddenly caught sight ofa figure he knew very well - someone skulking² along behind the hedge.
　　"Old Pa Stick!" he said, and jumped up. "I'll go after him. Stay here, everyone."He went out of the house, ran round a corner and came face to face with Mr. Stick.""Do you want to know where Edgar is?" said Julian mysteriously.
　　Mr. Stick looked startled. He stared at Julian not knowing what to say.
　　"He's down in the dungeons³, locked in that cave," said Julian, even more mysteriously.
　　"You don't know nothin' about Edgar," said Mr. Stick. "Where have you been? Didn't you go home?""Never you mind," said Julian. "But if you want to find Edgar - look in that cave!"102
　　Mr. Stick gave the boy a glare and left him. Julian hurried indoors and rang up the police station.
　　He felt sure that Mr. Stick would tell Mrs. Stick what he had said, and that Mrs. Stick would insist ongoing⁴ back to the island to see if what he had said was true. So all that needed to be done was for thepolice to keep a watch on the boats along the shore and see when the Sticks left.
　　The children finished their dinner, and Uncle Quentin announced that he must return to his wife, whowould want to know his news. "I'll tell her you are having a fine time on the island," he said,"and we can tell her all the extraordinary details when she returns home, better."He left in a car, and the children wondered whether they might now return to their island or not.
　　But they decided⁵ to wait a little, for they did not know what to do with Jennifer.
　　Very soon a large car drove up and stopped outside the gate of Kirrin Cottage. Out jumped a tall manwith dark red hair, and a pretty woman. "They must be your father and mother, Jenny," said Julian.
　　They were - and Jennifer got so many hugs and kisses that she quite lost her breath. She had to tellher story again and again, and her father could not thank Julian and the others enough for all they haddone.

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