The Fugitive of the Salt Caves by Josephine M Bettany

Both photographs of the Swiss Alps taken by me

Title: The Fugitive of the Salt Caves

Author: Josephine M Bettany 

Publisher: not known 

Source book: Tom Tackles the Chalet School by Elinor M Brent Dyer (Chalet School #31)

Tom Tackles the Chalet School was not written until Tom herself was ready to leave school. Evidently EBD realised that Tom (real name Lucinda Muriel, or is it Muriel Lucinda? Nobody knows) was a really original character and she should be given her own book. So this is Tom, as a new girl brought up almost as a boy, coping with the challenges of a girls boarding school. It probably ought to be #19½ in the series.

And to make sure that Tom reads a book or two by Josephine M Bettany, not her usual choice of reading matter I feel sure, she spends several days in the school San where your books are chosen for you by Matron or Nurse, whether you like it or not.

Tom reads The Fugitive of the Salt Caves. Because lying in bed in the San is extremely boring.

I have to tell you, only the fear of Matron would make me read all the way through this dreadful sounding book without complaint, and I haven’t been a schoolgirl for a very long time. It sounds absolutely dire. But it is dedicated to “My niece Daisy, because she loves adventures and Tyrol”. Daisy is of course the niece of Jo’s brother-in-law James Russell, and not related to Jo at all.

So, brace yourselves for this ‘really thrilling tale about some salt caves in the Austrian Tyrol which were (improbably) unknown to anyone, and where a girl, who had incurred the wrath of the local robber baron of the district, has hidden herself with her great St Bernard dog. She has sundry hair-raising adventures, from most of which she is rescued by her own wit and the faithfulness of her dog, which is called Rufino. She finally wins her way to safety, thanks to meeting with a young hunter, who turns out to be grandson and heir to the baron. He falls in love with Moidl, the girl, and after marrying her, presents her and Rufino, to his grandfather at a lucky moment, and so wins pardon for her.’

 No wonder Tom sniffs at the very mild love-making scenes. I would too. I would wonder too how you can sneak around a small Tyrolean village with a St Bernard: they’re huge! But most of the plot sounds more suitable for 8 year olds than boyish 12 year old Tom. 

Tom next tries The Secret House which sounds a lot like an Enid Blyton ripoff. It’s about a family of three boys and two girls who spend a holiday in North Wales and discover an old ruined house in a cleft in the mountains, because obviously that’s where people build houses. The house is a gangster headquarters (of course it is), one of the boys gets captured, the others rescue him from the clutches of the gangsters… this sounds better. And much more likely to appeal to Tom.

Tom also has a go at Jo’s first book Cecily Holds the Fort. She is moved to ask Matron if Mrs Maynard (Josephine M Bettany’s married name) went to a school like the Chalet School? Matron is able to explain that Mrs Maynard was the very first pupil. Food for thought for Tom, who didn’t realise that schoolgirls have very similar views about sneaking and so on, as schoolboys. Come on Tom! There’s even a Bluey episode about how we shouldn’t dob.

Anyway, another of Jo’s books, Gipsy Jocelyn, is one of the prizes in a school gym tournament which Tom wins. So maybe she reads this too.