The Enid Blyton Adventure Series – Plot Synopsis – Book Three: Valley of Adventure
Bill has arranged for a long weekend flying trip to Scotland. It’s late and the weather is turning nasty. While the kids wait in the plane, Tel and Ivan, with the kidnapped Otto Scheer, arrive at the aerodrome. They steal the plane, unaware of the children crouched fearfully behind the seats.
Allison and Bill are distraught. They find out that Tel was a church looter in the Second World War, and that a Madonna he had stolen was still being hunted by Father Paul, a young priest 50 years before. Ivan is his simpleton nephew. Sir George offers his help but no-one knows where Otto hid the treasure – he has suffered amnesia since an airplane crash at the end of the war.
In the plane, Tel forces the terrified Otto to remember where he hid the treasure. As dawn breaks they land in an isolated valley and disembark. The kids make good their escape and find a tumbled down barn to rest in. Tel would like a rest too. He sends Ivan to the plane to retrieve the sleeping bags he saw there earlier, but they are gone. Tel and Ivan, leaving Otto tied up, go in search of their unknown passengers.
Jack sees them approaching from the barn window. The others escape with Kiki but Jack is captured.
While seeking shelter from the storm, the kids are led to a fissure by Kiki. A thunder clap blocks their entrance and they are forced to crawl through a sub-terranean tunnel which eventually leads them to a cave behind a waterfall. They make it their temporary home and plot to rescue Jack.
Meanwhile, Otto has drawn a map for Tel and Ivan and they head off. Jack and Otto escape just as the kids approach. Otto has given Tel a false map. It won’t be long before he finds out. Otto confides in Jack as to the whereabouts of the treasure. He is too old to travel fast. Philip and the girls are almost discovered by a furious Tel and head off. They bump into Jack and Otto but before long they are spotted by Tel and Ivan who catch up with them. Tel recaptures Otto, and Ivan sets off after the children. He finds their hideaway and settles down to wait.
In the morning the kids set off to find the treasure, followed by Ivan. Ivan returns to inform Tel who, in the meantime, has contacted Father Paul. Father Paul avoids the police surveillance instigated by Bill by shaving off his beard and changing from his vestments into ordinary clothes. He slips the net and sets off to join his nephew, Tel, and hopefully to be reunited with his precious Madonna.
Bill decides to act alone.
The kids find the treasure cave but their excitement is short-lived. The baddies turn up and shut them in the cave, together with Father Paul and Ivan. Tel is off to get reinforcements.
While exploring their prison, Jack sprains his ankle. Philip finds a grille and he and Dinah decide to try and escape through it. They fall into an underground river and are swept out into the open. They make their way to the plane and while Dinah distracts Tel and Otto, Philip sneaks onto the plane.
Dinah makes her way back to the treasure cave to free her friends, and Philip, when the plane lands, goes to seek help.
The baddies return, but before they can escape Bill turns up with Philip and a team of Special Forces men and overpower them. Back home again safe and sound they decide they don’t want to go