9
Time for Action
CHARLIE AND SUZE WERE TIRED AND HUNGRY, too. This was the tenth hour of their captivity. The two men who had hauled them on board had dragged them down to the bottom of the ship. Every time the children asked why they were there and why they were being treated that way, the men shook them roughly and told them to be quiet.
They spoke angrily to each other about the repercussions of Poppy’s escape and took their annoyance out on the children. They gagged them and tied their hands and feet, taking little account of their age. Then the men opened a disguised wooden bulwark in the stern of the ship and thrust the children inside.
When the police search party came on board, the children heard them and their eyes brightened only to dim again when the footsteps and voices re
