read it and put it into his pocket. “I’d rather like it back,” said Julian,
surprised. “Unless you want it to show the police. What do you think about it
all? And is there anything we can do? I don’t like to think of...”
“I
will tell you what you are to do,” said Morgan. “You are to leave it to me,
Morgan Jones. You are but children, you know nothing. This matter is not for
children. I can tell you that. You must go back to the hut, and you must forget
all you have heard and all you have seen. And if Aily comes again you must
bring her down here to me, and I will talk to her.”
His
voice was so hard and determined that the two boys were startled and shocked.
“But,
Mr. Morgan!” said Julian. “Aren’t you going to do anything about this... go to
the police, or...”
“I
have told you, this is not a matter for children,” said Morgan. “I will say no
more. You will go back to the hut, and you will say nothing to anyone. If you
are not willing to do this, you will go home tomorrow.”
With
that the giant of a man put his rake over his shoulder, and left the two boys
alone in the barn. “What do you make of that?” said Julian, very angry. “Come
on - we’ll go back to the hut. I’m not going to the farm for supper. I don’t
feel as though I want to meet that rude, dour Morgan again this evening!”
Feeling
angry and disappointed the boys made their way out of the barn, towards the
path that led up to the hill. It was almost dark now, and Julian felt in his
pocket for his torch.
“Blow!
I didn’t bring it with me!” he said. “Have you one, Dick?”
Dick
hadn’t one either, and as neither of them felt like making their way up the
mountainside in the darkness Julian decided to go back to the farm, slip up to
his bedroom there, and find the extra torch he had put in one of the drawers.
“Come
along,” he said to Dick. “We’ll try and get in and out without seeing Morgan or
old Mrs. Jones.”
They
went quietly back to the farmhouse, keeping a look-out for Morgan. Julian
slipped up the stone stairway to the bedroom he had been given a few nights
before, and rummaged in the drawer for his torch. Good - there it was!
He
went downstairs again - and bumped into old Mrs. Jones at the bottom. She gave
a little scream.
“Oh,
’tis you, Julian bach! Now what have you been telling my Morgan to put him into
such a temper! Enough to turn the milk sour his face is! Wait now, while I get
you some supper. Would you like some pork and...”
“Well
- we’ve decided to go back to the hut, after all,” said Julian, hoping that the
kind old woman wouldn’t be upset. “The girls are alone, you know - and it’s
dark now.”
“Oh
yes, yes - then you shall go back!” said Mrs. Jones. “Wait for one minute - you
shall have some of my new bread, and some more pie. Wait now.”
The
boys stood in the doorway, waiting, hoping that Morgan would not come by. They
sudclcnly heard him in the distance, yelling at a dog, in his loud, really
fierce voice.
“Taking
it out on the dogs, I suppose,” said Julian to Dick. “Gosh - I wouldn’t like to
come up against him, if I was one of his men! Strong giant that he is, he could
take on a dozen men if he wanted to - or a score of dogs!”
 “Here you are,” she said. “Take
care of those girls - and don’t go near Morgan now. He’s in a fine temper, is
my Morgan, and he is not nice to hear!”
The
two boys thoroughly agreed. Morgan was not nice to hear. They were glad when
they were away up the path, out of reach of his enormous voice!
“Well,
that’s that,” said Julian. “No help to be got from this quarter! And we’re
forbidden to do anything at all about the matter. As if we were kids!”
“He
kept telling us we were only children,” said Dick, sounding disgusted. “I can’t
make it out. Ju, WHY was he so annoyed about it all? Didn’t he believe us?”
“Oh
yes - he believed us all right,” said Julian. “If you ask me, I think he knows
much much more than we were able to tell him.
He’s in what-ever’s going on, I’m sure of it.”
Dick
whistled. “My word! So that’s why he was so angry. He thought we might be
putting a spoke in his wheel. And of course the last thing he would want us to
do would be to go to the police! Well - whatever do we do next, Ju?”
“I
don’t know. We’ll have to talk it over with the girls,” said Julian, worried.
“This would crop up just when we’re all set for a jolly holiday!”
“Julian,
what do you think is going on at Old Towers?” asked Dick, puzzled. “I mean - it
isn’t only a question of locking up an old lady in a tower - and selling off
her goods and taking the money. It’s all the other things too - the rumblings
and shudderings and that queer mist.”
“Well
- apparently those things have been going on for some time,” said Julian. “They
may have nothing whatever to do with what Morgan is mixed up in - which is, I’m
sure, to do with robbing the old lady. In fact, those old tales may be a very
good way of keeping people away from the place - in these country places people
are much more afraid of strange happenings than townspeople are.”
“It
all sounds very convincing when you put it like that,” said Dick. “But somehow
I don’t feel convinced. I just can’t help feeling there’s something queer about
it all - something we don’t know!”
They
fell silent after that, walking one behind the other on the mountain path,
seeing the big black stones looming up one after the other in the light of
Julian’s torch. It seemed a long long way in the dark, much longer than in the
daylight.
But
at last they saw the light in the window of the hut. Thank goodness! They were
both very hungry now, and were glad that Mrs. Jones had presented them with
more food. They could really tuck in.
Timmy
barked as soon as they came near, and George let him out of the door. She knew
by his bark that it was the boys coming back.
“Oh,
we are glad you came back, instead of staying down at the farm!” cried Anne.
“What happened? Is Morgan going to the police?”
“No,”
said Julian. “He was angry. He told us not to interfere. He took that bit of
paper with the message on, and never gave it back to us. We think he’s mixed up
with whatever is going on!”
“Very
well then,” said George at once. “We’ll take up the matter ourselves! We’ll
find out what’s going on - and MOST CERTAINLY we’ll get poor old Mrs. Thomas
out of that tower. I don’t know how - but we’ll do it! Won’t we, Timmy?”
Chapter
Fifteen
“WHAT’S
UP, TIM?”
The
four children sat and talked for a long time, sitting round the little
oil-stove, eating a good supper. What would be the best thing to do? It was all
very well for George to flare up and say they would see to things, they would
rescue the old lady from the tower - but how could they even begin to do
anything? For one thing they didn’t know how to get into the house! No one was
going to risk a battle with that fierce dog!
“If
only that kid Aily would help us!” said Julian, at last. “She’s really our only
hope. It’s no good going to the police - it would take us ages to go down to
the village at the bottom of the mountain, and find out where the nearest
police station is - and we’d never get a village policeman to believe our
tale!”
“I
wonder the villagers don’t do something about Old Towers,” said Dick, puzzled.
“I mean - all those peculiar vibrations we felt last night - and the noises we
heard - and the light in the sky when that mist hung over the place...”
“Yes
- but I suppose all those things are seen and heard up here in the mountains
much more clearly than down in the valley below,” said Anne, sensibly. “I don’t
expect that queer shuddering would be felt in the valley nor would the
rumblings be heard, and even the strange mist over Old Towers might not be
seen.”
“That’s
true,” said Julian. “I never thought of that. Yes - we up here would see a
lot... and possibly the shepherd higher up on the hills would, as well. I dare
say the farm down below us would see something, too... Well, we know they did,
because of Morgan’s behaviour to us tonight! He obviously knew what we were
talking about!”
“He’s
also obviously hand in glove with the men in that place - the big men and
little men that Aily spoke of. Gosh - I wish she’d show us how to get into that
house. How does she get in? I’m blowed if I can think of any way. With that
electric fence all round, it sounds impossible.”
“The
fence that bites!” said George, with a laugh. “Fancy that child touching the
fence and getting a shock. She’s an extraordinary little creature, isn’t she -
quite wild!”
“I
hope she didn’t get a whipping,” said Anne.  Does anybody want more cheese? And there
are still some apples left - or I could open a tin of pears.”
“I
vote for the pears,” said Dick. “I feel like something really sweet. I say -
this stay up here is turning out rather exciting, isn’t it?”
“We
always seem to run into trouble,” said Anne, going to the cupboard to fetch the
tin of pears.
“Give
it a better name, Anne, old thing,” said Dick. “Adventure! That’s what we’re
always running into. Some people do, you know - they just can’t help it. And
we’re those sort of people. Jolly good thing too - it makes life exciting!”
Timmy
suddenly began to bark, and everyone started up at once. Now what was up?
“Let
Timmy out,” said Dick. “With all these queer goings-on I feel as if it would be
just as well to let Tim examine anyone coming by here at night!”
“Right,”
said George, and went to the door - but as she was about to open it, she heard
a dog barking outside, just beyond the hut. She swung round.
“I’m
not letting Timmy out! That might be Morgan with his dogs! I seem to recognise
that deep bark!”
“Someone’s
coming by,” said Anne, half scared. “My word - it is Morgan!”
So
it was. He passed by the window, and they saw his great shoulders and head bent
against the wind as he went on up the hill. He didn’t even glance in at them -
but the three dogs, who were with him, began to bark furiously as they sensed
another dog in the hut. Timmy barked back furiously too.
Then
all was quiet. Morgan had gone by and the dogs with him. “Whew - I’m glad you
didn’t let Tim out as I suggested,” said Dick. “He’d have been torn to pieces!”
“Where
do you suppose Morgan’s going?” asked Anne. “It’s funny he should be going up
the hill - not even in the direction of Old Towers!”
“Probably
going to talk to the shepherd,” said Julian. “He’s farther up the hill with his
sheep. I say - I wonder if he’s in this too!”
“Oh
no,” said Anne. “He’s good - I could feel it in my bones. I can’t imagine him
mixed up with a gang of any sort.”
Nobody
could, of course. They had all liked the shepherd. But why else would Morgan be
going up to him at this time of night?
“He
might be going to tell him that we know too much,” suggested Julian. “He might
ask him to keep an eye on us.”
“Or
he might be going to complain of Aily, and her doings inside the grounds of Old
Towers,” said Dick. “Goodness - do you suppose that kid will get into trouble
because we told Morgan about her - and gave him the bit of paper she found?”
They
all stared at one another in dismay. Anne nodded soberly. “Yes - that’s it, of
course. Aily will certainly get into trouble over this - oh, why did we think
of telling Morgan what we knew?
They
all felt very uncomfortable about Aily.  Now perhaps she would be well beaten
because of what they had told Morgan!
None
of them felt like playing cards just then. They sat and talked, wondering if
they would hear Morgan coming back. They knew Timmy would bark if he did.
Sure
enough he began to bark about half-past eight, and made them all jump. “That
will be Morgan coming back,” said Julian, and they watched the window to see if
his head and shoulders would pass by again. But they didn’t. Neither did any
dog bark outside.
Then
George saw that Timmy was sitting with his ears pricked up, and his head on one
side. Why? And if he could really hear something, why didn’t he bark again? She
was puzzled.
“Look
at Tim,” she said. “He’s heard something - and yet he’s not barking. And he
doesn’t look very worried either. What’s up, Tim?”
Timmy
took no notice. He sat there listening intently, still with his head on one
side. What could he hear? It was most tantalising to the others, because not
one of them could hear anything at all. The countryside seemed to be absolutely
quiet at that moment.
Then
suddenly Tim jumped up and barked joyfully! He ran to the door and whined,
scraping at the bottom of it with his paw. He looked back at George and barked
again, as if to say “Buck up! Open the door!”
“Well!”
said Dick, in surprise. “What’s up, Timmy? Has your best friend come to call?
Shall we open the door, Julian?”
“I’ll
go,” said Julian, and went to open the door cautiously. Timmy leapt out at
once, barking and whining.
“There’s
nobody here,” said Julian, astonished. “Nobody at all! Hey, Tim, what’s all the
fuss about? Give me that torch, Dick, will you? I’ll go out after him and see
what the excitement is.”
Out
he went, and flashed the torch around to find Timmy. Ah - there he was,
scraping at the little wooden bunker that held the oil-cans and the big enamel
jug. Julian was astonished.
“Whatever’s
come over you, Tim?” he said. “There’s nothing here in this bunker - look, I’ll
lift the lid so that you can peep inside and see, silly dog!”
He
lifted up the lid, and shone his torch inside, to show Timmy that it was empty.
But
it wasn’t! Julian almost let the lid drop down in his surprise! Someone was
there - someone small and half-frozen! It was Aily!
“Aily!”
said Julian, hardly believing his eyes. “What on earth - Aily - what are you
doing here?”
Aily
blinked up at him, looking scared to death. She clutched the lamb and the dog,
and didn’t say a word. Julian saw that she was shivering, and crying bitterly.
“Poor
little Aily bach!” he said, using the only Welsh word he knew. “Come into the
hut - we’ll get you warm and make you better.”
 But Julian was not going
to leave her there in the little oil-bunker on that cold night! He lifted her
up, animals and all, and cuddled her. Aily strove to get free but his arms were
strong and held her close.
George’s
voice came impatiently from the hut. “Ju! Tim! Where are you? Have you found
anything?”
“Yes,”
called back Julian. “We have. We’re bringing it along - it’s quite a surprise!”
He
carried the shivering child into the hut, and the others stared in the utmost
astonishment. Aily!  And the lamb and dog too!
“Bring
her near the stove,” said Anne, and stroked the child’s thin arm. “Poor Aily!”
Julian
tried to set her down, and the animals as well, but she clung to him. She
sensed that he was good and kind and strong, and his arms were very comforting.
Julian sat down on a chair, still holding the little creature closely. The dog
and lamb slid off his knee and ran sniffing round the room.
“She
was in the oil-bunker out there - she and the lamb and dog,” he said. “All
cuddled up together. Partly hiding, I should think, and partly for shelter.
Maybe she’s slept there before, with these two.
She seems very unhappy. Let’s give her something to eat.”
“I’ll
make some hot cocoa,” said Anne. “George, get some bread and butter and cheese
for her - and hadn’t we better get the lamb and dog something too? What do you
give lambs?”
“Milk
out of a bottle,” said Dick. “But we haven’t got a feeding-bottle! I dare say
it will lap milk. Good gracious - the things that happen here!”
Aily
felt warm and comforted in Julian’s arms. She lay there like a little animal,
too cold and tired to be scared. Julian was glad to hold her and comfort her.
Poor little thing - what had made her come this long way so late at night?
  And then my guess is that Morgan went down to see if she was
there, and to scold her, and tell her mother to be sure and not let her out,
and...”
“Morgan!”
repeated Aily, sitting up in fear, looking all round as if he might be there.
“Morgan! No! No!”
“It’s
all right, little thing,” said Julian. “We’ll look after you. Morgan shan’t get
you!”
“See?”
he said to the others.  It was he who went and scared her -
and as soon as he was gone, I expect she escaped from her mother’s house and
came up here to hide. That horrible fellow! If he shouted at her as he shouted
at us, she’d be scared stiff. I bet he was afraid she’d go and give more of the
game away unless she was shut up - might even show us the way into the old
house over on the opposite hill!”
Timmy
suddenly gave a bark - but not a joyful one this time! Anne cried out at once,
“That may be Morgan coming back! Hide Aily, for goodness sake - or he’ll drag
her out of here and take her back with him! Quick - where shall we hide her?”
Chapter
Sixteen
AILY
CHANGES HER MIND
Aily
leapt out of Julian’s arms as quickly and surely as a cat, when she heard that
it might be Morgan coming. She looked round the room like a hunted thing, and
then darted to the bunk-beds. With an amazing leap, she was up on one of the
top ones in a trice, and pulled a rug over her. She lay absolutely still. The
lamb looked up in surprise and bleated.
Then
it too leapt up the bunks, as sure-footed as a goat, and cuddled down with its
little mistress. Only Dave the dog was left below, whining miserably. “Gosh!”
said Dick, amazed at these incredibly sudden happenings. “Look at that! Did you
ever see such leaping!  We want to hear if Morgan is
coming. Ju - where shall we hide Aily’s dog? He mustn’t be seen - or heard
either!”
Julian
lifted the dog up to the top bunk and put him with the other two there. “That’s
about the only place where he’ll keep quiet!” he said. “Aily - lie quite still
till we tell you everything is safe.”
There
was no reply from the bunk - not a word or a bark or a bleat. Then Timmy began
to bark loudly again, and ran to the door.
“I’m
going to lock the door,” said Julian. “I’m not having Morgan and his dogs in
here, hunting for Aily! My guess is that he knows she’s escaped from her
mother’s - or maybe she ran off when he scolded her - and thinks she went to
her father, the old shepherd! He’s got to get hold of her, to stop her from
spreading what she knows!”
“Well
- for goodness sake don’t let those dogs in here!” said George, desperately. “I
can hear them barking away in the distance.”
“Quick
- let’s sit round the table with the cards, and pretend to be playing a game!”
said Dick, snatching the cards from a shelf. “Then if Morgan looks in, he’ll
think everything is normal - and won’t guess we’ve got Aily here. I bet he’ll
be sly enough to try and peep in without us seeing him - hoping to spot Aily if
we’ve got her!”
They
sat round the table, and Dick dealt out the cards. Anne’s hands were trembling,
and George felt a bit weak at the knees. Anne kept dropping her cards, and Dick
laughed at her.
“Butterfingers!
 Now - if I suddlenly say ‘What ho!’ you’ll
know I can see Morgan peeping in at the window, and you must laugh and play
like anything. See?”
Dick
was the one facing the window, and he kept a sharp eye on it as they played
snap. There was no sound of dogs barking now, though Tim sat by the door, his
ears cocked, as if he could hear something.
“Snap!”
said Julian, and gathered up the cards. They went on playing.
“Snap!
I say, don’t grab like that - you’ve almost broken my nail!”
“Snap!
I said it first!”
“What
ho!” said Dick, and that put everyone on their guard at once. They went on
playing, but without giving much attention to the game now. What could Dick
see?
Dick
could see quite a lot. He could see a shadowy face some way from the window,
looking in - yes, it was Morgan all right.
“What
ho!” said Dick again, to warn the others that there was still danger. “WHAT
HO!”
Morgan’s
face had now come quite near to the window. He evidently thought that no one
saw him, and that they were all too engrossed in their game to notice anything
else. His eyes swept the room from corner to corner. Then his face disappeared.
“He’s
gone from the window,” said Dick, in a low voice. “But go on playing. He may
come to the door.”
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
“Yes
- there he is,” said Dick. “Ju - you take charge now.”
“Who’s
there?” yelled Julian.
“Morgan.
Let me in,” said Morgan’s deep, growling voice.
“No
- we’ve got our dog here, and we don’t want him set on again,” said Julian,
determined not to let Morgan in at any cost.
Morgan
turned the handle - but the door was locked. He growled again.
“Sorry!
But we can’t unlock it!” shouted Julian.
He’s growling like anything already!”
“Bark,
Tim,” said George, in a low voice, and Timmy obligingly barked the place down!
Morgan
gave up. “If you see Aily, send her home,” he said. “She’s gone again, and her
Mam’s worried. I’ve been looking for her this cold night.”
“Right!
” called Julian. “If she comes we’ll give her a bed here.”
“No.
You send her home,” shouted Morgan. “And pay heed to what I told you down at
the barn there, or it will be the worse for all of us!”
“For
all of us! I like that!” said Dick, in disgust. “It will certainly be the worse
for him and his friends when the secret’s out! Awful fellow! Has he gone, Tim?”
Timmy
came away from the door and lay down peacefully. He gave a little bark as if to
say “All clear!”
When
dogs began to bark right away in the distance Tim took no notice. “That means
they’re going down the hill with Morgan, back to the farm,” said George,
thankfully. “We can get Aily down now, and give her something to eat.”
She
went to the bunk. “Aily!” she called. “Morgan is gone. Gone right away! Come
down and have a meal. We will give the lamb some milk and your dog some meat
and biscuits!”
 With a leap she
was down on the floor, as lightly as the lamb itself, which followed at once,
landing squarely on its four tiny hooves. The little dog had to be lifted out -
he was much too scared to jump!
To
everyone’s amusement, Aily ran straight to Julian, and held up her arms to be
taken into his.  He sat down with her on
his knees and she cuddled up to him like a kitten.
George
put some bread and butter and cheese on the table in front of her, and Anne put
down a dish of milk for the lamb, which lapped it greedily but most untidily.
The dog tried to get the milk too, but soon went to the dish of cut-up meat and
biscuits put down by Anne.
“There
- the Aily-family is fed,” she said. “My word - what an excitement all this is!
Julian, don’t let Aily gobble like that - she’ll be sick. I never did see
anyone eat so quickly. She can’t have had anything since the bit of cheese we
gave her this afternoon!”
Aily
snuggled back into Julian’s arms contentedly, when she had eaten every scrap of
her meal. She looked up at him, wanting to please him.
“Aily
tell how to get into big big house,” she said suddenly, taking everyone
completely by surprise. Julian looked down at her. He had the dog on his knee
now too, though he would not allow the lamb to climb on as well.
“Aily
tell me?” he said gravely. “Good little Aily bach!”
Aily
began to try and tell him. “Big hole,” she began. “Down, down, down...”
“Where’s
this big hole?” asked Julian.
“High
up,” said Aily. “Down it goes down...”
“But
where is it?” asked Julian again.
Aily
went off into a long jabber of Welsh and the children listened helplessly. How
maddening to have Aily willing to tell them her secret - and then not to be
able to follow what she said.
“Good
little Aily,” said Julian, when she came to a stop at last. “Where is this big
big hole?”
Aily
gazed at him in reproach.
“Yes,
I know - but I don’t understand Welsh,” said Julian, gently, despairing of trying
to make the child understand. “Where is this big hole - that’s all I want to
know.”
Aily
stared at him. Then she smiled. “Aily show,” she said, and slipped off his
knee. “Aily show! Come! ”
“Good
gracious! Not now,” said Julian. “Not in all this snow and darkness. No, Aily -
tomorrow - in the morning - not now!”
Aily
took a look out of the window into the darkness. She nodded. “Not now. In the
morning, yes? Aily show in morning.”
“Well,
thank goodness that’s settled!” said Julian. “I’d dearly love to see this big
big hole whatever it is, now, straightaway - but we’d only get lost on these
hills in the dark. We’ll look forward to it tomorrow!”
“Good!”
said Dick, yawning. “I must say that I think that’s best too. What a bit of
luck that Aily’s so grateful to you, Ju! I believe she’d do anything in the
world for you now.”
“I
believe she would too, funny little creature,” said Julian, looking at Aily as
she curled up on the rug near the stove, with her lamb and dog beside her. “How
could Morgan scare such a harmless little thing? He’s a brute!”
“Jolly
good thing he didn’t see her when he looked in,” said George. “He’d probably
have broken the door down! One blow of his fist and it would have cracked from
top to bottom!”
Everyone
laughed. “Well - good thing it didn’t come to that!” said Julian. “Now then,
let’s get to bed. We may have quite an exciting day tomorrow!”
“I
hope we manage to get to that poor old woman in her tower,” said Anne. “That’s
the most important thing to do. Aily, you can sleep in that topmost bunk, where
you hid. I’ll give you some rugs, and a blanket and a pillow.”
It
wasn’t long before the hut was quiet and peaceful, with all five children in
their bunks, and Timmy with George. The lamb and the little dog were with Aily,
Julian looked out from his bunk and smiled. What a collection of people and
animals in the hut tonight! Well - he was quite glad there were two dogs!
No
one woke in the night except George.  But he didn’t bark. He gave her a small lick, and sat with her,
listening.
The
queer rumbling noise was coming again - and then the “shuddering”, though not
so strongly as before. George felt the wooden edge of her bunk - it vibrated as
if machinery was in the room below, shaking everything a little.
She
leaned out of her bunk and looked out of the window. Her eyes widened as she
saw what Dick had seen the other night - the “shimmering” in the sky. She could
think of no other name for that strange quivering that rose and rose and
finally ended very high up indeed, seeming to lose itself in the stars, that
were now shining brightly.
George
didn’t wake the others.  Perhaps tomorrow they would know what caused such strange things - yes,
tomorrow would be very exciting!
Chapter
Seventeen
THE
BIG, BIG HOLE
Next
morning everyone was awake early.  To get into that old house,
with its many secrets, would be marvellous!
 She wanted to have her
breakfast on his knee, just as she had had her supper the night before, and he
let her. He was ready to do anything she wanted - if only she would show them
the way into Old Towers!
“We’d
better set off pretty soon,” said Anne, looking out of the window. “It’s
snowing pretty fast again - we don’t want to get lost!”
“No.
That’s true. If Aily is going to take us across country, we shan’t have the
faintest idea where we’re going, in this heavy snow!” said Julian, rather
anxiously.
“I’ll
just clear up a bit, then we’ll go, shall we?” said Anne. “Do we take any food
with us, Ju?”
“We
certainly do - all of us,” said Julian, at once. “Goodness knows what time
we’ll get back to this hut. George, you make sandwiches with Anne, will you?
And put in some bars of chocolate too, and some apples if there are any left.”
“And
for pity’s sake, remember your torches,” said Dick.
Aily
watched while the sandwiches were made, and scraped up the bits that fell on
the table to give to Dave, her small dog. The lamb frisked about, quite at
home, getting into everyone’s way.
At
last all the sandwiches were made and put into two kit-bags. The hut was
cleared up and tidied, and the children got into their out-door clothes.
“I
think it would be easiest to toboggan down the slope, and half-way up Old
Towers’ slope,” said Julian, looking out into the snow. “It would take us ages
to walk - and it’s no good skiing, because Aily hasn’t any skis - and couldn’t
use them if she had!”
“Oh
yes - let’s take the toboggans!” said George, pleased. “What do we do with the
lamb? Leave it here? And must we take Dave the dog, too?”
However,
that was not for them to settle! Aily absolutely refused to go without her lamb
and dog. She gathered them up into her arms, looking mutinous, when Julian
suggested they should be left in the warm hut. Neither would she allow herself
to be wrapped up warmly - and only consented to wear a scarf and a woollen hat
because they happened to be exactly the same as Julian was wearing!
They
set off at last. The snow was still falling, and Julian felt seriously doubtful
whether they would be able to find their way down the hill and up the other
slope without losing their sense of direction.
The
toboggans were rather crowded! Julian and Dick were on the first one, with Aily
and the lamb between them, and Anne and George were on the second one, with
Timmy and Dave between them. George was at the front, and Anne had the awkward
job of hanging on to both the dogs and keeping her balance too!
“I
know we shall all roll off,” she said to George. “Good gracious - I half wish
we had waited a bit! The snow is falling very fast now!”
“Good
thing!” called Julian. “No one will spot us when we are near Old Towers - they
won’t be able to see a thing through this snow!”
Julian’s
toboggan shot off down the snowy slope. It gathered speed, and the boys gasped
in delight at the pace. Aily clung to Julian’s back, half frightened, and the
lamb stared with astonished eyes, not daring to move from its place, squashed
in between Aily and Julian!
Whooooooosh!
Down the slope to the bottom, and up the opposite slope, gradually slowing
down! Julian’s toboggan came to a stop, and then, not far behind, came
George’s, slowing down too. George got out and dragged her toboggan over to
Julian.
“Well,”
she said, her face glowing, “what do we do now? Wasn’t that a wonderful run?”
“Wonderful!”
said Julian. “I only whish we could have a few more! Did you like that, Aily?”
“No,”
said Aily, pulling her woollen cap to exactly the same angle that Julian wore
his. “No. It make my nose cold, so cold.”
She
cupped her hand over her nose to make it warm. George laughed.
“Fancy
complaining about a cold nose when she’s hardly wearing anything on her skinny
little body - you’d think the whole of her would feel cold - not just her
nose!”
“Aily
- do you know where the big hole is?” asked Julian, looking about in the snow.
The snowflakes were quite big now, and nothing that was more than a few yards
away could be seen. Aily stood there, her feet sinking into the snow. She
looked all round, and Julian felt certain that she was going to say that she
didn’t know which way to go, in this thick snow. Even he was rather doubtful
which was the way back up the hill!
But
Aily was like a dog. She had a sure sense of direction, and could go from one
place to another on a dark night or in the snow without any difficulty at all!
She
nodded.
“Aily
know - Dave know, too.”
She
walked a few steps, but her feet sank into the snow above her ankles, and her
thin shoes were soon soaked through.
“She’ll
get her feet frost-bitten,” said Dick. “Better put her on one of the toboggans
and pull her, Ju. Pity we didn’t have any snow-boots small enough to lend her.
I say - this is a bit of a crazy expedition, isn’t it! I hope to goodness Aily
knows where she’s taking us. I haven’t the foggiest idea at the moment which is
east or west, north or south!”
“Wait
- I’ve got a compass in one of my pockets,” said Julian, and did a lot of
digging in his clothes. At last he pulled out a small compass. He looked at it.
“That’s
south,” he said, pointing, “so that’s where Old Towers Hill is - south is
directly opposite our hut; we know that because the sun shone straight in at
our front windows. I reckon we walk this way, then - due south.”
“Let’s
see which way Aily points,” said Dick. He set her on his toboggan, and wrapped
her scarf more closely round her. “Now - which way, Aily?”
Aily
at once pointed due south. Everyone was most impressed.
“That’s
right,” said Julian. “Come on, Dick - I’ll pull Aily’s toboggan, you can pull
the girls’ for them.”
They
all set off up the rest of the slope of Old Towers Hill, Aily on the toboggan
with Dave and Fany the lamb, and Timmy sitting in state on George’s toboggan,
the girls walking behind. Timmy was enjoying himself. He didn’t like the way
his legs went down into the snow when he tried to run - it was much easier to
sit on the toboggan and be pulled along!
“Lazy
thing!” said George, and Timmy wagged his tail, not caring a bit what anyone
said!
Julian
looked at his compass as he went, and walked due south for some time. Then Aily
gave a call, and pointed to the right.
“That
way, that way,” she said.
“She
wants us to go westwards now,” said Julian, stopping. “I wonder if she’s right.
By my reckoning we’re going dead straight for Old Towers now - but we shall be
going up the hill to the right of it, if we go her way.”
“That
way, that way,” repeated Aily, imperiously, and Dave barked as if to say she
was right!
“Better
follow her way,” said Dick. “She seems so jolly certain of it.”
So
Julian swerved to the right a little, and the others followed. They went a good
way up the steep hill, and Julian began to pant.
“Is
it far now?” he asked Aily, who was petting her lamb, and apparently taking no
notice of the way they were going. Not that there was anything much to take
notice of, except snow on the ground and snowflakes in the air!
Aily
looked up. Then she pointed again, a little more to the right, and said
something in Welsh, nodding her head.
“Well
- it looks as if we’re getting near this place of hers - this ‘big, big hole’,
whatever it is,” said Juiian, and on he went.
In
about a minute Aily suddenly leapt off the toboggan, and stood there, looking
round with a frown.
“Here,”
she said. “Big hole here.”
“Well
- it may be - but I’d like to see it a bit more clearly, Aily,” said Julian.
Aily began to scrape down through the snow, and Timmy and Dave obliyingly went
to help her, imagining that she was after rabbits or a hidden hare.
“I’m
afraid the poor kid’s led us on a wild-goose chase,” said Dick.
Timmy
and Aily had now got down through the snow to the buried clumps of heather that
grew all over the slopes of the mountains in that district. Julian could see
the clumps sticking up, stiff and wiry, in the clearing that Aily and the dogs
had made.
“Timmy
- you take Timmy!” said Aily suddenly to George. “He fall down, down - he fall
like Dave one day - down down!”
“I
say! I believe she’s looking for an old pot-hole! ” said Dick, suddenly. “You
know - those strange holes that are sometimes found on moors - sudden holes
that drop right down underground. They’re called dean-holes I think, in some
places. We found one once on Kirrin Island - don’t you remember?”
“Oh
yes - that was in the heather too!” said George, remembering. “And it led to a
cave below, by the seashore! That’s what Aily meant by a big big hole! A
pot-hole on the moors! Timmy - for goodness sake come away - you may drop right
down it!”
Timmy
very nearly did go down the hole! George just caught his collar in time! But
Dave was wary - he had fallen down once before!
“Hole!”
said Aily, pleased. “Big big hole! Aily find for you!”
“Well
- certainly you’ve found your hole - but how does it get us into Old Towers?”
said Dick. Aily didn’t understand. She knelt there, looking down at the hole
she had uncovered under the heather and the snow.
“I
must say that was a marvellous feat,” said Julian. “Coming straight to this
place and finding the hole when she couldn’t see a thing through the falling
snow. She really is as good as a dog. Good little Aily bach!”
Aily
gave one of her sudden smiles, and slipped her hand in Julian’s.
“Go
down, yes?” she said. “Aily show way?”
“Well
- we’d better go down if it’s possible,” said Julian, not much liking the idea,
for he could see nothing but darkness inside the hole, and had no idea of what
lay below.
Fany
the lamb was tired of waiting about.
“She’s
jumped into the hole!” said George, amazed.
But
Aily slithered into the hole, then let herself go.
“Aily
here,” came a small voice from below. “You come quick!”
Chapter
Eighteen
INSIDE
OLD TOWERS
Well!
Did you see that - she just let go and dropped!” said George, amazed. “I wonder
she didn’t break her legs. Julian, shine your torch down.”
Julian
shone it down.
“It’s
a pretty good drop,” he said. “I think we’ll take the ropes off our toboggans
and let ourselves down on those. I don’t particularly want to break a leg or
sprain an ankle just at present.”
“If
we pull our toboggans over the hole, and let their ropes hang down into it,
they will hold us safely,” said Dick, and pulled his toboggan right across the
hole.
Then
Julian pulled the other toboggan across as well, and soon the ropes were
dangling down, ready to take each of the four children.
“What
about Timmy?” asked George, anxiously. “Dave has jumped down - though I wonder
he didn’t break a leg!”
“I’ll
wrap my coat over him and tie one of the ropes round him,” said Julian. “Then
we can let him down easily. Come here, Tim.”
Tim
was soon tied up in the coat with the rope. Then Dick slithered down on another
rope, and stood on the floor of the hole, ready to take Timmy when Julian let
him down. It really wasn’t very difficult. Aily looked rather scornful as the
four children used the ropes.
Julian
laughed, and patted her shoulder.
“We’re
not all goat-like, you know,” he said. “We don’t gambol about the mountains all
day long, like you, Aily. Well - that was your big big hole. What next?”
He
shone his torch round.
“Yes
- it’s a pot-hole. There’s a small underground cave here. Look - is that a
tunnel leading out of it?”
“Yes,”
said George, as Aily and the lamb skipped off together down into the darkness
of the tunnel. “Look at that - no torch, no lamp - and yet she goes off into
the darkness without any fear!  “Well, do we follow her? We’d better or we
shall lose her!”
“Come
on, Timmy,” said George, and all Five went down the dark, winding little tunnel
after Aily. Anne glanced up at the rocky roof and thought with wonder of the
thick masses of heather growing on its upper surface, all covered with thick
snow.
Aily
was nowhere to be seen! Julian grew worried.
“Aily!
Come back!”
But
there was no answer.
“Never
mind,” said Dick. “There’s probably only one way to go, and she knows we must
take it! If we come to a fork, we’ll shout again.”
But
they didn’t come to a fork. The tunnel wound on and on, going steadily
downhill. Its roof was of rock, and so were the walls, but underfoot was sandy
soil alternating with rocky ridges that made the going rather rough.
Julian
looked at his compass.
“We’ve
been going in a north-easterly direction more or less,” he said. “And that
should be in the direction of Old Towers. I think I know how Aily gets into the
house!”
“Yes
- this tunnel must pass right under the fence-that-bites, and under the
grounds, and end somewhere near the cellars of the house,” said Dick. “Or
possibly in them. Where’s that child?”
They
caught sight of her just then, in the light of Julian’s torch. She was waiting
for them in a corner of the passage with Dave and Fany.
She
pointed upwards.
“Way
to garden!” she said. “Little hole there - big for Aily! Not for you!”
Julian
shone his torch upwards. Sure enough there was a small hole there, which
appeared to be overgrown with weeds or heather - he couldn’t tell what. He
looked at the rocky sides of the upward passage to the hole, and saw how easily
Aily could have climbed up to squeeze out of it, and roam the gardens! So that
was how it was she had been able to pick up the notes that the poor old woman
had constantly thrown out so hopefully! Aily must surely have been the only
person who managed to get into the grounds without permission!
“This
way,” said Aily, and led them past the garden-hole and downwards again.
“We
must be under the house now,” said Julian. “I wonder if...”
But
before he could finish his sentence he saw that the passage had led them into
some old, half-ruined cellars. It went through a half-fallen cellar wall, and
Aily proudly led them into a dark, cluttered-up cellar which, with its many
barrels and old bottles, must once have been the wine-cellar.
“What
cellars!” exclaimed Dick, in amazement, as they went through one after another.
“Dozens of them. Hey - what’s this, Aily?”
He
had come to where one high wall had been broken down completely - but the
breakage seemed to have been done by human hands, for the breaks looked new,
and were not covered with grime and mould as were the other fallen-down walls.
A vast opening had been made into what seemed at first glance to be a
low-walled cave.
Then
a curious sound came to their ears. The sound of water - water gurgling and
splashing! Julian took a step forward to peer into the cave beyond the broken
walls.
But
Aily tugged at his hand in terror.
“No,
no! Not go there! Bad mans, very bad mans. Bad place there!”
“I
say, look!” said Julian, amazed, taking no notice of Aily’s tugging hand. “An
underground river - not just a stream - a river! Flowing down through the
mountain, probably fed by springs on the way - and I bet it goes right down to
the sea somewhere! We know the sea isn’t far away!”
“Bad
mans down there,” said Aily, in panic, pulling Dick and George too. “Bang-bang
- big fires - big noise.  “What is going on
here? We really shall have to find out. What in the world does Aily mean?”
Anne
and George were astonished too, but had no desire to go along the river and
find out!
“Better
leave this for now, and go up into the house,” said George. “After all, the old
lady is the important thing at the moment. No wonder they imprisoned her in one
of the towers, so that she wouldn’t know what is going on!”
“Well,
I’m blowed if I know what’s going on,” said Dick. “I’m not quite sure if I’m in
some peculiar kind of nightmare or not!”
“You
come house,” said Aily again, and this time, to her great relief, they followed
her, Timmy trotting at the back with George, not quite knowing what to make of
it all.
Aily
led them unerringly back through the smashed walls, through the musty cellars,
and into some that looked as if they had recently been used for store-places.
Tins of food stood about, old furniture, old tins and baths and cans, barrels
of all sizes and shapes.
“We
go soft!” said Aily, meaning that they were now to walk quietly. They followed
her up a long flight of stone cellar steps to a great door that stood half
open. Aily stood at the top listening - probably for the tall caretaker, Julian
thought. He wondered if the fierce dog was anywhere about the house. He
whispered to Aily.

“Aily
find man,” said Aily, and shot off by herself, motioning to the others to wait.
“She’s
gone to find out where the caretaker is,” said Julian. “My word - did you ever
know anyone like her? Gosh, she’s back again already!”
So
she was, smiling mischievously all over her face.
“Man
sleep,” she said. “Man safe.” She took them through the door from the cellar
into a perfectly enormous kitchen, with a colossal range at one end, black and
empty now. A larder door near by was open and Aily darted into it. She brought
out a meat pie and offered it to Julian. He shook his head at once.
“No.
You mustn’t steal! ” he said. But Aily either didn’t understand, or didn’t want
to, for she bit into the pie herself, gobbling great pieces down, and then put
it on the floor for the animals to finish, which they were very pleased to do!
“Aily
- take us to the old woman,” said Dick, not wanting to waste time on things
like this. “Aily - you are sure there is no one else in the house?”
“Aily
know!” said the little girl. “One man to watch - he in there!” and she pointed
towards the door of a nearby room. “He watch old woman, and dog watch garden.
Other mans not come in here.”
“Oh
- well, where do they live then, these strange ‘other men’?” asked Julian, but
Aily didn’t understand. She led them to a great hall, from which two wide
stairways swept up, meeting above at an even wider landing.
The
lamb gambolled up, and the little dog Dave barked joyfully.
“Sh!”
said all the four children at once, but Aily laughed. She seemed quite at home
in the house and Dick wondered how many times she had let herself down into the
pot-hole and come wandering in here. No wonder she spent so many nights away
from home - she could always come and hide away in some corner of this big
house! They followed her up the wide stairs.
But
Aily would come no farther than the second floor. She had brought them up two
flights of stairs - and now before them stretched a great picture gallery, that
led to another stairway at the far end.
“What’s
the matter?” he asked.
“Aily
not come here,” said the child, shrinking back. “Not go here, not ever. Those
peoples see Aily!” And she pointed at the rows of great pictures, each a
portrait of some long-dead owner of the house.
“She’s
afraid of the portraits!” said Anne. “Afraid of all their eyes following her as
she runs down the long gallery! Funny little thing. All right - you stay here,
Aily. We’ll go on up to the towers.”
They
left Aily curled up behind a curtain, with Dave and Fany. Anne glanced at the
rows of grave portraits as the four of them, with Timmy, walked softly down the
long gallery. She shivered a little, for their eyes seemed to follow her as she
passed, looking grave and disapproving.
Up
another flight of stairs, and yet another. And now they were in a long passage
that ran from tower-room to tower-room. Which was the tower they wanted?
It
was very easy to find out! All of them had their doors wide open but one!
“This
must be it!” said Julian, and knocked at the door.
“Who
knocks?” said a weak, sorrowful voice. “Surely not you, Matthew - you have no
manners! Unlock the door and do not mock me with your knocking!”
“The
key’s in the door,” said Dick. “Unlock it, Julian - quick!”
Chapter
Nineteen
A
LOT OF EXCITEMENT
Julian
turned the key in the lock and opened the door. A stately old woman sat in a
chair beside the window, reading a book. She did not turn round.
“And
why have you come at this time of the morning, Matthew?” she said, without
turning round. “And how did you find the manners to knock? Are you remembering
the time when you knew how to behave to your elders and betters?”
“It
isn’t Matthew,” said Julian. “It’s us - we’ve come to set you free.”
The
old woman turned at once, gaping in amazement. She got up and went over to the
door, and the Five saw that she was trembling.
“Who
are you? Let me out of that door before Matthew comes! Let me out, I tell you!”
She
pushed by the four children and the dog, and then stood uncertainly in the
passage.
“What
shall I do? Where shall I go? Are those men here still?”

“I
feel faint.
Anne
sprang to pour out a glass of water from a jug on a table. The old woman took
it and drank it. She looked at Anne.
“Who
are you? What is the meaning of this? Where is Matthew? Oh, I must be going
mad!”
“Mrs.
Thomas - you are Mrs. Thomas, aren’t you?” said Julian. “Little Aily, the
shepherd’s daughter, brought us here. She knew you were locked up. You remember
her mother, don’t you? She told us she used to come and wait on you.”
“Aily’s
mother - Maggy - yes, yes. But what has Aily to do with this? I don’t believe
it. It’s another trick. Where are the men who killed my son?”
Julian
looked at Dick. It was clear that the poor old lady was not herself - or else
this sudden appearance of the children had upset her.
“Those
men that my Llewellyn brought here - they wanted to buy my house,” she said.
“But I wouldn’t sell it, no, I wouldn’t. Do you know what they said to me? They
said that in this hill, far, far below my house, was a rare metal - a powerful
metal - worth a fortune. What did they call it now?”
She
looked at the children, as if expecting them to know.
“Why
should you know about it - you are only children. But I wouldn’t sell it - no,
I wouldn’t sell my house - nor the metal below. Do you know what they wanted it
for?  And I said NO, never will I sell this place
so that men can dig the metal and make bombs. It is against the law of God, I
said, and I, Bronwen Thomas, will not do such a thing!”
The
children listened in awe. The old lady seemed beside herself, and rocked to and
fro as she spoke.
“So
they asked my son, and he said no, as I had. But they took him away and killed
him - and now they are at work below. Yes, yes, I hear them - I hear the noises
creeping up, I feel my house shake, I see strange things. But who are you? And
where is Matthew? He keeps me here, locked in my room.
She
seemed to forget the four children for a little while. They wondered what to
do. Julian saw that the poor woman was not fit to take down the stairs with
them, and through the tunnel - and certainly she could not get out of the
pot-hole. He began to wish that he hadn’t been so hasty in his ideas of rescue.
It would really be best to lock the door again and leave her here in safety until
he could get the police - for certainly now the police must come.
“We
will leave you now,” he said, “and send someone soon to bring you out of here.
We are sorry we disturbed you.”
And,
to the astonishment of the others, he pushed them out of the room, turned the
key in the lock again, and put it into his pocket!
“Aren’t
we going to take her with us?” said George, surprised. “Poor, poor old thing!”
“No.
How can we?” said Julian, troubled. “We must go to the police, no matter what
Morgan says. I see it all now, don’t you? The mother forbidding the son to sell
the old place, in spite of the enormous amount of money offered - the son
refusing too - and the men making a plot to get in somehow and down to this
metal, whatever it is - and work it...”
“And
killing the son?” said Dick. “Well, it may be so - but I should have thought
that was a pretty drastic thing to do! Surely the son would have been reported
missing very quickly, and the police would have made enquiries. Nobody said the
son was missing or dead, did they, except the old lady?”
“Well,
let’s not talk about it now,” said Julian. “We’ve got to do something. I’m
sorry to leave old Mrs. Thomas still locked up in that room, but I honestly
think she would be safer there than anywhere else.”
They
went down the two flights of stairs to the picture gallery. Aily was there,
still cuddling her two pets. She was pleased to see them, and ran up smiling.
She didn’t seem to notice that they hadn’t the old woman with them.
“Man
down there very cross!” she said, and laughed. “He wake now - he shout and
bang!”
“Goodness
- I hope he won’t see us,” said Julian. “We’ve got to get out of here, quick,
and go to the police. Let’s hope he won’t come rushing at us, or call in that
fierce dog.”
They
went downstairs at top speed, looking out for Matthew. But there was no sign of
him in person - though there was a most tremendous row going on somewhere, of
shouting and banging.
“Aily
lock door,” said Aily, suddenly, pointing in the direction of the sounds. “Man
lock old woman - Aily lock man!”
“Did
you? Did you really lock him in?” said Julian, delighted. “You really are a
monkey - but what a good idea! I wish I’d thought of it!”
He
went to the door of the room in which the angry Matthew was.
“Matthew!”
he called sternly.
“Who’s
that? Who locked me in? If it’s one of you men, you’ll be sorry for it! Silly
joke to play on me, when you know I’ve got to go up and see to old Mrs. Thomas!”
“Matthew
- this isn’t one of the men,” said Julian, and how the others admired his cool,
determined voice! “We have come to rescue Mrs. Thomas from that tower - and now
we are going to the police to report all this, and to report too that her son has
been killed by the men who are working far below this house.”
There
was an astonished silence. Then Matthew’s voice came again.
“What’s
all this? I don’t understand! The police can’t do anything. Mr.  Clear off at once - but let me out
before you go. I’m surprised that Alsatian outside didn’t get you, that I am!”
It
was the children’s turn to be amazed now. So the son wasn’t dead! Then where
was he? And why had Matthew told old Mrs. Thomas such a cruel untruth? Julian
asked him at once.
“Why
did you tell Mrs. Thomas her son was dead then?”
“What’s
it to do with you? Mr. Llewellyn, he told me to tell his mother that. The old
lady wouldn’t let him sell that stuff deep down under the house - the stuff
that gets hold of cars and bicycles, and ploughs, and makes them heavy as lead.
Magnetises them, so they say. Well, if he wants to sell it, why shouldn’t he?
But what I say is this - he shouldn’t sell it to foreigners, no, that he
shouldn’t! If I’d have known that - well - I wouldn’t have taken money from him
to act like I did!”
The
voice rose and fell as Matthew told his extraordinary tale. Then the man banged
frantically on the door again.
“Who
are you?  I’ve been kind to the old lady - you ask her - though
she’s difficult, and strange in her ways. I’ve been loyal to Mr. Llewellyn,
though he’s not easy, no, that he’s not. Who are you, I say? Let me out; let me
out! If Mr. Llewellyn catches me locked in here, he’ll kill me! He’ll say I’ve
let his secret out. He’ll say... LET ME OUT, I say!”
“He
sounds a bit mad,” said Julian, thankful that the man was locked up. “He must
be a bit simple too, to believe all that the son told him, and do everything he
was told to do. Well - we’d better go to the police. Come on - we’ll go back
the way we came.”
“Let’s
just have a look down that river to see what the men are up to,” said Dick.
“Just you and I, Julian. It’s such a chance - we needn’t be seen, and it would
only take a few minutes. The girls could wait somewhere with Tim.”
“I
don’t think we ought to stop now,” said Julian, “I really don’t.”
“No,
don’t let’s,” said Anne. “I don’t like this house. It’s got a horrid ‘feel’
about it. And I can’t imagine what the ‘shuddering’ would be like, when the men
start their work again deep down below - whatever it is!”
“Well,
come along then,” said Julian, and, completely ignoring Matthew’s yells and
bangs, the children made their way through the kitchen and down the
cellar-steps, flashing on their torches to light their way.
“I
bet Matthew is wild that we’ve left him locked up,” said Dick, as they went
through the vast cellars. “Serves him right! Taking bribes from the son - and telling
lies to that poor old woman. Hallo, we’ve come to where the men smashed the
walls here, to get along the river tunnel. I suppose they found that was the
easiest way to go down to where the precious metal was - whatever it is!”
They
stood looking through the smashed walls at the gurgling river.
“Come,
come,” said Aily, dragging at Julian’s hand. “Bad mans there!”
She
was holding Dave, her little dog, in case he fell into the rushing river, but
Fany the lamb was gambolling loose as usual.
“Fany,
Fany!” cried Aily. “Fany bach!”
But
the lamb, thinking that she was going the right way, gambolled on, deafened by
the rushing of the water. Aily ran after her, as sure-footed as the lamb,
hopping and skipping over the rough rocky bank of the river.
 But Aily either did not or would not
hear, and she disappeared into the blackness of the tunnel almost at once.
“She
hasn’t got a torch, Ju - she’ll fall in and drown!” yelled George, in a panic.
“Timmy, go after her, Fetch her back!”
And
away went Timmy obediently, running as fast as he could beside the black,
churning water, hurrying on its way downwards to the sea.
Julian
and the others waited anxiously. Aily didn’t come back, nor did any of the
animals - and George began to be very panicky about Timmy.
“Oh,
Julian - what’s happened to Tim - and the others?” she said. “They’ve no
torches - oh, why did I let Timmy go? We all ought to have gone!”
“They’ll
come back all right,” said Julian, much more confidently than he felt. “That
child Aily can see in the dark, I really do believe - and she knows her way
about like a dog.”
But
when, after five minutes, not one of the four had come back, George started
forward, flashing her torch on the rocky path beside the river.
“I’m
going to find Timmy,” she said. “And nobody’s going to stop me!”
And
she was gone before the boys could get hold of her! Julian gave a shout of
aggravation.
“George!
 Timmy will find his own way back.  “George won’t come back, we
know that - not unless she finds Tim and the others. We’d better go quickly
before anything awful happens!”
Anne
had to follow the boys, her heart beating fast. What a thing to happen! Just
the very worst possible!
Chapter
Twenty
IN
THE HEART OF THE HILL
It
seemed like a bad dream to the four children, making their way over the rocky
edge of the underground river. Their torches had good batteries, fortunately,
and gave a bright light, so that they could see their way alongside the river.
But at times this rocky “path” they had to walk on grew very narrow indeed!
“Oh
dear!” thought Anne, trying to keep up with the boys, “I know I shall slip! I
wish I hadn’t these heavy snow-boots on. What a noise the river makes, booming
along, and how fast it goes!”
Some
way in front of the two boys and Anne was George, still calling for Timmy. She
was very worried because he didn’t come back to her, as he always did when she
called him. She didn’t realise that Timmy couldn’t hear her! The river made
such a noise in the enclosed rocky tunnel that Timmy heard nothing at all but
the sound of the churning waters!
Quite
suddenly the tunnel widened tremendously - the river making a big, broad pool
before it tore on down the tunnel again. The walls opened out into an enormous
cave, half of which was water and the other half a stretch of rough, rocky
floor. George was most astonished. But she was even more astonished at other
things she saw!
Two
rafts, sturdy and immensely strong, were moored at the side of the deep pool!
And on the floor of the cave were what looked like tin barrels, standing in
rough rows - presumably waiting to be packed on to the rafts.
At
one side of the cave were stacked great heaps of tins and bottles and cans,
none of them opened - and on the other side an equally vast heap of discarded
ones - all opened and thrown to one side. Big wooden crates stood about too -
though George could not imagine what they were for.
The
cave was dimly lighted by electricity of some kind - probably from a battery
fixed up somewhere. Nobody seemed to be about at all! George gave a call,
hoping that Timmy was somewhere there.
“Timmy!
Where are you?”
And
at once Timmy came from behind one of the big crates, his tail wagging hard!
George was so glad that she fell on one knee and hugged him tight.
“You
naughty dog,” she said, fondling him. “Why didn’t you come when you were
called? Did you find the others? Where is Aily?”
A
small face peeped from behind the crate near by, the one from which Timmy had
appeared. It was Aily. She looked terrified, and tears were on her cheeks. She
clasped her lamb to her, and Dave was at her heels. She ran straight across to
George, crying out something in Welsh, pointing back up the tunnel. George
nodded.
“Yes.
We’ll go back straightaway! Look - here come the others! ”
Aily
had already seen them. She ran to Julian with a cry of delight, and he swung
her up in his arms, lamb and all. He was very glad to see George and Timmy too.
They
all had a good look round the strange cave.
“I
see what the idea is,” said Julian. “Jolly clever too! They are mining that
precious metal down here somewhere - and putting it on those rafts there, so
that the underground river can take it right down to the sea. I bet they’ve got
barges or something waiting down at some secret creek, to take the stuff away
at night!”
“Whew!”
said Dick. “Very ingenious! And they count on the queer noises and shudderings
and things tn frighten people and keep them away from this hill - nobody dares
to come prying round to see what’s up!”
“The
nearest farm is Magga Glen Farm, where the Jones’s live,” said Julian. “They
would really be the only people who could find out anything definite.”
“Which
they obviously did!” said Dick. “I bet Morgan knows all about this, and is in
with the son who sold the precious metal to the men who came after it - though
it was his mother’s.”
“There’s
no queer noise or anything down here - no noise at all except the sound of the
river,” said Julian. “Do you suppose the works aren’t going just now?”
“Well,”
began Dick, and then suddenly stopped as Dave and Timmy began to growl, Timmy
in a deep voice and Dave in a smaller one. Julian at once pulled Aily and
George behind a big crate, and Dick pushed Anne there. They listened intently.
What had the dogs heard? Was there time to rush back to the tunnel and make
their way out before they were seen?
Timmy
went on growling in a low voice. The children’s hearts began to beat fast - and
then they heard voices. Where did they come from? Dick peeped cautiously round
the crate. It was in a dark corner and he hoped he could not be seen.
The
voices seemed to come from the dirertion of the great pool, and Dick looked
over to it. He gave a sudden exclamation.
“Ju!
Look over there! Do you see what I see?”
Julian
looked - and was filled with astonishment. Two men had come up the tunnel, from
the sea - evidently walking on the rocky edge of the river, just as they
themselves had done - and were now wading in the shallows of the pool.
“One
is MORGAN!” whispered Julian. “And who’s the other man! Gosh - it’s the shepherd
- Aily’s father! Would you believe it? Well - we always thought Morgan was
mixed up in this - but I didn’t think the shepherd was.”
Aily
had seen both Morgan and her father. She made no move to go to the shepherd -
she was far too scared of Morgan!
Morgan
and the shepherd stood and gazed round a little, as if looking for someone.
Then, keeping to the shadows, they made their way across the great cave right
to the back of it, where another tunnel, very wide, led downwards into the
hill.
As
they went, a strange noise began.
“The
rumbling!” whispered George, and Timmy growled again. “But oh - doesn’t it
sound near. What a terrific noise - it’s got right inside my head!”
It
was no use whispering now! They had to shout if they wanted to say anything. And
then the shuddering began! Everything shuddered and vibrated, and when the
children touched one another, they could feel the vibration in the other’s
hands and arms.
“It’s
as if we’re being run by electricity ourselves!” said Dick, astonished. “I wonder
if it’s anything to do with that strange metal that is under this hill - that
makes steel things heavy, so that ploughs won’t plough, and spades won’t dig!”
“Let’s
follow Morgan and the shepherd,” said Julian, so excited now that he felt he
must see everything possible. “We can keep well in the shadows. Nobody would
ever guess we were here!”
“Aily
- you stay here,” said Julian. “Big noise, big big noise frighten Fany and
Dave.”
Aily
nodded. She settled down behind the crate with her pets.
“Aily
wait,” she said. She had no desire at all to go any nearer that strange noise!
In her simple mind she imagined that possibly the thunder itself came from this
hill and was made here. Yes, perhaps the lightning too!
Morgan
and the shepherd had now disappeared into the tunnel right at the back of the
cave, on the opposite side to the great pool. The Five went quickly over to it
and looked down. It was very wide and very steep - but rough steps had been cut
in it, so that it was not difficult to go down.
They
trod warily down the steep tunnel, astonished because it was dimly lighted -
and yet there were no lamps of any sort to be seen.
“I
think it’s the reflection of some great glare far below,” shouted Julian, above
the rumbling. The noise was so loud that it was almost like walking in the
middle of thunder.
Down
and down they went, and the tunnel curved and wound about, always steep, rocky
and dimly lit. Suddenly the noise grew louder, and the tunnel grew lighter. The
children saw the end of it, the exit outlined in brilliant light - a light that
shimmered and shook in a most curious way.
“We’re
coming to the works - the mine - where that strange metal is!” shouted Dick, so
excited that he felt his hands trembling. “Be careful we aren’t seen. JU! BE
CAREFUL WE AREN’T SEEN!”
They
went cautiously to the end of the tunnel and peered out. They were looking into
a vast pit of light, round which men stood, working some curious-looking
machines. The children could not make out what they were - and, indeed, the
light was so blinding that it was only possible to look with their eyelids
almost closed. All the men were wearing face-guards.
 Then, in the darkness, a glow formed, a strange glow
that came upwards and outwards, and seemed to go right through the roof itself!
Dick clutched at Julian.
“That’s
the kind of glow we saw the other night!” he said. “My word - it begins down
here, goes right up through the hill in some strange way, and hangs above it!
That shimmering must come from here too - some kind of rays that can go through
anything - like X-rays or something!”
“It’s
like a dream,” said Anne, feeling George to make sure it wasn’t! “Just like a
dream!”
“Where
are Morgan and the shepherd?” said Dick. “Look - there they are - in that
corner, not far off. Look out - they’re coming back!”
The
four children moved back quickly into the tunnel, afraid of being seen. They
suddenly heard shouts, and stumbled up the rocky steps even faster. Had they
been seen? It sounded like it!
“I
can hear someone coming up the tunnel behind us!” panted Dick. “Quick, quick! I
wish that noise would begin again. I know we can be heard!”
Someone
was climbing swiftly up behind them. There were shouts and yells from below
too. It sounded as if all the men were disturbed and angry. Why, oh why had
they followed Morgan and the shepherd? They could so easily have gone back to
the cellars!
They
came to the top of the steep rocky tunnel at last, and ran to hide behind the
crates, hoping to slip into the river-tunnel without being seen. They had to
get Aily before they fled! Where was she?
“Aily,
Aily!” shouted Julian. “Where’s she gone? We daren’t leave her here. AILY!”
It
was difficult to remember exactly where they had left her, in this great cave.
“There’s
the lamb!” cried Julian, thankfully, as he saw it on the other side of a crate.
“AILY!”
“Look
out! There’s Morgan!” shouted George, as the big farmer came out of the tunnel
and ran across the cave. He saw the children and stopped in the utmost
amazement.
“What
are you doing here?” he roared. “Come with us, quickly! You’re in danger!”
The
shepherd now appeared too, and Aily ran from behind her crate to him. He stared
as if he could not believe his eyes, and then picked her up, calling something
to Morgan in Welsh.
Morgan
swung round on Julian again.
“I
told you not to interfere!” he roared. “I was handling this! Now we shall all
be caught! Fool of a boy! Quick - we must hide and hope that the men will think
we’ve gone down the tunnel. If we try to escape now, they will overtake us, and
bring us back!”
He
swept the astonished children into a dark corner and pulled crates round them.
“Stay
there!” he said. “We will do what we can!”
Chapter
Twenty-one
AN
ASTOUNDING THING
The
five children crouched behind the pile of crates. Morgan pushed another crate
up, so that they werc completely hidden. Dick clutched Julian.
“Julian!
We’ve made fools of ourselves! Morgan was trying to find out the secret of Old
Towers himself - with the help of the shepherd! They were about the only people
in the neighbourhood who could guess what was going on. The shepherd could see
all the strange things we saw, while watching his sheep on the mountainside -
and he told Morgan...”
Julian
groaned.
“Yes.
No wonder he was angry when he thought we were meddling in such a serious
matter. No wonder he forbade us to do anything more!
Where is Morgan now? Can you see him?”
“No.
He’s hiding somewhere. Listen - here come the men!” said Dick. “There’s a crack
between two crates here - I can see the first man. He’s got an iron bar or
something. He looks pretty grim!”
The
men came out cautiously, evidently not sure how many people they were after.
They advanced across the cave, seven of them, all with weapons of some kind.
Two went to the upper river tunnel, two went to the one that led down to the
sea, and the others began to hunt among the crates.
They
found the children first! It was Aily’s fault, poor child. She gave a sudden
scream of fright - and in a trice the men had pulled away the crates. Crash -
one by one they fell to the ground - and the amazed men found themselves
looking at five children! But not for long! With a terrifying bark Timmy flung
himself on the first man!
He
yelled and began to fight him off, but Timmy held on like grim death. Morgan
appeared from the shadows and surprised another of the men, jumping on him and
getting him on the ground, at the same time catching hold of a second man and
tossing him away. He had the strength of a giant!
“Run!”
he yelled to the children, but they couldn’t. Two of the men had penned them
into a corner, and although Julian leapt at one of them, he was simply thrown
back again. These men were strong miners, and though not a match for the
giantlike Morgan, they could certainly take everyone else prisoner - including
the gentle shepherd! He too was penned into a corner - only Morgan and Timmy
were fighting now.
“Timmy
will be hurt!” said George, in a trembling voice, and she tried to push one of
the men away to get to him. “Oh look, Ju - that man is trying to hit him with
that bar!”
Timmy
dodged the bar and sprang at the man, who turned and ran for his life. Timmy
shot after him and got him on the ground. But there were too many men - and
more were now coming up from the tunnel at the back of the cave, pouring in,
with weapons of all kinds. All of them were amazed to see the five children!
The
men seemed mostly to be foreigners, and spoke a language the children couldn’t
understand. But one man was not a foreigner - he was obviously the boss, and
gave his orders as if he expected them to be obeyed. He hadn’t joined in the
fight at all.
The
shepherd was soon overpowered, and his hands bound behind his back. Morgan
fought off for some time - but then had to surrender. He was like an angry
bull, stamping here, pulling there, roaring with rage as three men tried to tie
his hands.
The
boss came up and faced him.
“You
will be sorry for this, Morgan,” he said. “All our lives we have been enemies -
you down at the farm - and I here at Old Towers.”
Morgan
suddenly spat at him.
“Where
is your old mother?” he shouted. “A prisoner in her own house! Who has robbed
her? You, Llewellyn Thomas!” Then he went off into a spate of Welsh, his voice
rising high as he denounced the man in front of him.
Julian
admired the fearless Morgan enormously, as he stood with his hands bound,
defying the man who had been a life-long enemy. How many quarrels had these two
had, living in the same countryside, trying their strength against one another?
Julian wished intensely that he had obeyed Morgan’s command and left everything
to him. But he had thought Morgan was on the side of the enemy!
“It’s
all because of us that he’s caught,” thought the boy, remorsefully. “I’ve been
a fool - and I thought I was doing something clever - and right! And now we’re
all landed in this mess - the girls too! What will they do with us? I suppose
the only safe thing for them to do is to keep us prisoner till they’ve finished
this mining job, collected a fortune from the metal, whatever it is, and gone.”
Llewellyn
Thomas was now giving some sharp orders, and the men were listening. Timmy was
growling, held by the collar in a stranglehold by one of the men. If he tried
to squirm away, the man twisted his hand in the collar a little more and poor
Timmy was half-choked.
George
was wild with despair. Julian had to keep stopping her from trying to make a
dash to Timmy. He was afraid that these rough men would strike her, though she
was a girl. Aily sat in a corner, hugging her lamb and Dave, who had been far
too scared even to take a little nip at any of the men!
Morgan
was held by two hefty miners - but, quite suddenly, he hurled himself sideways
at one of them and sent him flying - and then at the other, who staggered away
and fell over a tin.
With
a great roar Morgan stumbled to the pool, and waded to the entrance of the
tunnel that led to the sea, his hands still tightly tied behind his back.
“The
fool! ” said Llewellyn Thomas. “If he thinks he can get along that tunnel with
his hands tied, he is mad! He will fall into that rushing river - and without
his hands to help him, he will drown! No - don’t go after him. Let him go - let
him drown! We shall be well rid of him!”
The
shepherd struggled to his feet to go after his master, knowing quite well that
Llewellyn was right - no man could get along that rough edge to the river
without his hands to steady him, feeling along the wall at the side - and one
slip would put him into the churning, hurrying river, that ran at full-pelt
down to the sea far below, at the bottom of the hill.
But
Morgan did not mean to escape. He was not going to struggle along beside that
treacherous torrent! He had come all the way up beside it, with the shepherd,
and knew how easy it was to slip, on the wet rocky edge. No - Morgan had
another plan!
Julian
watched him disappear into the tunnel, and his heart sank. He too knew that no
one could walk along there without free hands to help him. But what could
anyone do?
The
boss turned to the other men, who were still staring after Morgan. He was just
about to say something to them, when a roar came to their ears.
Not
the roar of the torrent in the underground tunnel. Not the roar of the strange
rumbling mine. No - the roar of a giant voice, that crashed out of the tunnel,
and echoed round the cave.
It
was Morgan’s enormous voice. Morgan, calling the names of his seven great dogs!
The children listened in amazement at this unbelievable voice.
“DAI!
BOB! TANG! COME TO ME! DOON! JOLL! RAFE! HAL!”
The
names echoed round and round the cave, and it seemed as if the place was full
of giant voices. Aily, who was used to hearing the dogs called, didn’t turn a
hair - but the others crouched back in amazement at the sound of such a voice.
Surely no one in all the world had ever shouted so loudly before!
“DAI!
DAI! RAFE! RAFE!”
The
great voice boomed again and again, seeming to be louder each time. At first
Llewellyn Thomas, the boss, was taken aback - but then he laughed sneeringly.
“Does
he think he can get his dogs up from the beach?” he said. “All that way down
the tunnel. He’s mad! Let him be!”
Then
again the great voice roared out the names of the seven dogs belonging to
Morgan and the shepherd.
“DAI!
BOB! TANG! DOON! JOLL! RAFE! HAL!”
At
the last name, Morgan’s voice seemed to crack. The shepherd raised his head in
dismay. Morgan had over-strained that great voice of his, and no wonder. No megaphone
could possibly have been louder!
There
was silence after that. Morgan called no more. Neither did he appear again. The
children felt scared and depressed, and Aily began to whimper.
The
curious shuddering vibration began to creep into everything again, and the boss
turned sharply, giving some more orders. Two of the men ran to the tunnel at
the back of the cave and disappeared. Then things took on a curious shimmer, as
if a heat-haze had spread everywhere, and it began to feel very warm in the cave.
Suddenly
something happened. At first it sounded far-off in the distance, a confused
noise that made Tirnmy tug at his collar again and prick his ears. He barked,
and the man who was holding him hit him.
“What’s
that noise?” said Llewellyn Thomas, sharply, looking all round. There was no
telling where it came from. But it grew louder - and louder - and then suddenly
Julian knew what it was!
It
was the loud barking of seven angry dogs! The shepherd knew it too, and a glad
smile came over his face. He glanced at Llewellyn to see if he recognised it as
well.
Yes
- the boss had certainly recognised that dreadful sound now. He could hardly
believe it! Surely it was not possible that Morgan’s voice, enormous as it was,
had echoed all the way down the tunnel, and been heard by the sharp, pricked-up
ears of the dogs who loved him?
But
so it was! Dai, the oldest dog, who loved his master more than any of them, had
stood tense and listening ever since Morgan and the shepherd had left them.
And, from somewhere far distant, echoing down to the end of the tunnel they
were guarding, Dai had heard the faint echoes of his master’s beloved voice!
His
bark had told the other dogs the news - and, led by Dai, they had all rushed up
the rocky tunnel, sure-footed on the slippery, rocky path beside the racing
river.
They
came to Morgan, sitting beside the river, not far from the big cave, a little
way down the tunnel. It was a moment of joy for Morgan and his dogs!
Dai
soon snuffled at his hands and bit the ropes in half. Morgan was free!
“Down
now - and hush!” commanded Morgan. He began to walk steadily back to the cave,
then motioned the dogs before him.
“Attack!”
he cried in Welsh.
And
then, to the men’s horror, the seven dogs raced out of the tunnel at a great
speed, barking, growling, snarling - with a triumphant Morgan behind them, so
tall that he had to bend double to leave the tunnel.
The
men fled, every one of them. Llewellyn had turned to run even before the dogs
appeared, and was gone. Dai leapt at one man and got him down, and Tang leapt
at another. The cave was filled with snarls and growls and excited barking.
Timmy
delightedly joined in, for his captor had rushed away too. Even little Dave ran
to join this wonderful fight, while the children stood amazed and thankful to
see their enemy defeated!
“Who
would have thought of this?” said Dick, sending the crates crashing down. “What
an astounding thing! Hurrah for Morgan and his seven dogs!”
Chapter
Twenty-two
ALL’S
WELL THAT ENDS WELL!
Morgan
would not let the children stay underground any longer.
“We
have things to do,” he said, in his deep voice, which sounded rather hoarse
now. “You will go back to the farm and telephone to the police for me. You will
say ‘Morgan has won’ and tell them to send a boat to the little creek I have
already told them of. There I will bring these men all the way down the tunnel
to the sea. Go now, at once. Obey me this time, boy.”
“Yes,
sir,” said Julian. This man was a hero! And he had thought him a villain! He
was ready to obey his smallest command now. Then a thought struck him, and he
turned back.
“The
old woman,” he said. “Mrs. Thomas - that man’s mother. What about her? And
we’ve locked the caretaker up in his room!”
“You
will not do anything but go to the farm and telephone,” said Morgan, sternly.
“I will do everything there is to be done. Take Aily with you to the farm. She
must not be here. Now go.”
And
Julian went! He and the others took one last look round at the men, all
pinioned by the dogs, lying still and panic-stricken. Then, with Aily and her
lamb and dog, he led the others up the tunnel again, and at last back into the
cellars.
“I
don’t like leaving that old lady up there, in the tower,” said Dick.
“No.
But obviously Morgan has his plans,” said Julian, who was not going to disobey
orders in any way this time. “I expect he has arranged something with the
police. We can’t interfere now. We messed things up a bit, I’m afraid.”
They
climbed soberly up to the place where they had left their toboggans. It took
them some time, and they were beginning to feel very hungry.
“No,”
he said. “I’ve to telephone to the police as soon as ever I can. No stopping
now! We’ll munch our sandwiches on the way down to the farm.”
It
wasn’t very dificult to get out of the pot-hole, for they had left the ropes
dangling down. Julian and Dick helped the two girls up by pushing them, and
they in turn helped to pull up the boys from the top of the hole.
Aily
scrambled up easily, swinging delightedly on a rope, and then flinging herself
out of the hole. The lamb leapt up in a miraculous manner, and Julian handed
Dave to the small girl.
Timmy
was hauled up in the same way as he had been let down. He had badly wanted to
stay with the other dogs - but nothing would make him leave George!
“Well,
that’s that,” said Julian, scrambling out last of all. “Now, let’s see. We
could toboggan down this slope, and half-way up our own slope. That would save
a lot of time. Aily, you’re to come with us to the farm.”
“No,”
said Aily.
“Yes,
Aily bach,” said Julian. “I want you to.” He took her small hand in his and she
smiled her sudden little smile, quite content to go along with this big kind
boy, even though she was afraid of going down to the farm for fear she should
meet her mother.
“Aily
good girl,” said Julian, setting the little thing on his toboggan. “Aily shall
have big piece of chocolate at the farm!”
They
tobogganed down the slope at a great speed without any mishap, and half-way up
the opposite slope. It seemed queer to be out in the dazzling daylight after
the dark tunnels underground. Their adventure below began to seem slightly
unreal!
“We’ll
leave the toboggans at the hut,” said Julian, as they dragged them up the rest
of the slope. “Anyone thirsty? I am. I think it must be something to do with
that mine - my mouth got as dry as anything as soon as we were down there.”
Everyone
said the same.
“I’ll
run into the hut and pour out some orangeade,” said Anne. “You stack the
toboggans in their place, Ju, and just see if there’s enough oil in the can out
in the bunker - we’ll need to fill the stove tonight. And if there isn’t enough
we must bring some up with us.”
Julian
gave her the key of the hut and she unlocked it and went in with George. They
poured orangeade into five cups, and drank thirstily. Their mouths were drier
than they had ever been before! Anne felt thankful that she didn’t have to wait
any longer for a drink.
“I
think the roof of my mouth would have stuck to my tongue!” she said, putting
down her cup. “That was lovely!”
“There’s
plenty of oil,” reported Julian, coming to drink his orangeade. “My word - I
needed this. I’d not like to work down in that mine.”
They
locked the hut and set off down to the farm, munching their sandwiches
hungrily. They tasted very good indeed, and even Aily asked for one after
another. Timmy had his share, and once they missed him, and had to stop and
call him.
“Has
he lost his bit of meat in the snow?” wondered Anne.
Mrs.
Jones was most surprised to see them. When she heard Julian’s request to
telephone to the police, she looked worried.
“It’s
all right, Mrs. Jones,” said Julian, comfortingly. “It’s a message to them from
Morgan. Everything is fine. We’ll tell you what’s happened as soon as he comes
home. He might not like us to say anything till then!”
The
police did not seem at all surprised to hear Julian’s message - they appeared
to be expecting it!
“We
will see to the matter,” said the sergeant, in his deep, stolid voice. “Thank
you.” And he rang off at once. Julian wondered what would happen next - what
had Morgan arranged?
They
were pleased to see Mrs. Jones bringing in bowls of hot chicken soup, as they
sat talking round the wood fire she had hurriedly lighted in the living-room.
“Oh!
Just what we feel like!” said Anne, gratefully. “I’m still awfully thirsty -
aren’t you, George? And look, Timmy - there’s a nice meaty bone for you! You
are kind, Mrs. Jones!”
“You
know - I feel pretty awful about all this now,” said Julian. “We shouldn’t have
interfered after Morgan said we weren’t to. I wish we hadn’t. He can’t think
much of us!”
“I
vote we all apologise humbly,” said Dick. “How could we have thought he was the
villain of the piece? I know he’s dour and silent - but he didn’t look mean or
cruel.”
“We’d
better stay down here at the farm till Morgan comes back,” said George. “Quite
apart from wanting to say I’m sorry, I’d like to know what happened!”
“So
would I,” said Anne. “And Aily ought to wait for her father. He’ll want to know
that she’s safe.”
So
they asked Mrs. Jones if they could stay till Morgan came home. She was
delighted.
“Of
course, now,” she said. “We’ve a roasting turkey today - and you shall come and
sup with us in our room for a change!”
This
all sounded rather good.  She looked at his neck.
“That
man almost choked him,” she said. “Oh look, Julian - he’s bruised all round his
poor neck!”
“Now
don’t start moaning over Timmy’s neck again, for goodness’ sake!” said Dick.
“Honestly, George, I’m sure Tim thinks the adventure was worth a bruised neck!
He’s not grumbling. He was jolly brave, I think - and didn’t he enjoy himself
when the other dogs rushed into the cave, and he joined in the fight!”
“I
wonder what they’ll do about that poor old woman,” said Anne. “She will be glad
her son is alive, I suppose - but what a shock for her to know he’s lied to
her, and sold what is really hers - that strange metal under the hill!”
“Well
- I imagine it won’t be allowed to be sold now,” said Julian. “What a plan that
was! To get men up that tunnel to mine the stuff - and to send it down by rafts
to waiting ships, hidden in that creek. We ought to go down and examine the
creek - it would be interesting to see what sort of a place it is down there.
It must be well hidden in a fold of the cliff, I should think.”
“Yes
- let’s do that tomorrow,” said George, thrilled.
I feel tired after such an adventure! Don’t you?”
“I
do a bit,” said Julian. “Well - I suppose there won’t be quite so much
shuddering and shimmering and rumbling now! Funny that that hill should always
have been so queer, isn’t it - ‘ploughs that will not plough, spades that will
not dig!’ Must be some kind of iron, I suppose, that magnetises things. Oh well
- it’s all beyond me!”
Morgan
came back with the shepherd when it was dark. Julian went straight up to the
burly farmer.
“We
want to apologise for being such idiots,” he said. “We shouldn’t have
interfered after what you said.”
Morgan
gave a broad smile. He seemed to be in a very good humour indeed.
“Forget
it, boy,” he said. “All’s well now. The police came up the river tunnel, and
all the men are safe in jail. Llewellyn Thomas is a sad man tonight. His mother
is free and is staying with friends - poor lady, she doesn’t understand what
has happened, and that is as well. And maybe now the right people will get that
strange metal - it’s worth a hundred times its weight in gold!”
“Come
you in to your supper, Morgan bach, and shepherd too!” said Mrs. Jones, in her
lilting voice. “The children too are coming. We’ve a roasting turkey - it’s
your birthday, Morgan boy!”
“Well
there now, I didn’t know it!” said Morgan and gave his mother such a hug that
she squealed. “Let’s go in to the turkey. I’ve had nothing all day.”
Soon
they were all sitting down before the most enormous turkey that the children
had ever seen in their lives! Morgan carved it swiftly. Then he said something
to his mother in Welsh and she smiled and nodded.
“Yes,
you do that,” she said.
Morgan
collected some slices of turkey on a big enamel dish, and then went to the door
that led from the living-room into the farmyard. He roared loudly and the
children jumped. What a voice!
“DAI!
TANG! BOB! DOON! JOLL! RAFE! HAL!”
“He’s
calling the dogs,” said Anne. “Just as he called them up the tunnel. Well -
they certainly deserve a good dinner!”
Then
down to the door came the seven dogs, jostling each other, barking excitedly.
Morgan threw them the slices of turkey, and they gobbled the tasty bits up
greedily.
“Woof!”
said Timmy politely from behind him, and Morgan turned.
“Here!”
he said to Timmy and Dave. “You did well too! Catch!”
“There’ll
not be much left of your birthday turkey!” said his mother, half-cross,
half-amused. “Now fill your glasses again, children, and we will drink to my
Morgan - a better son there never was!”
Anne
poured home-made lemonade into the empty glasses, while Morgan sat and smiled,
listening to his seven dogs still barking together outside.
“Happy
birthday, happy birthday! ” shouted everyone, raising their glasses, and Julian
added his own few words.
“Happy
birthday, sir - and may your voice NEVER grow less!”


This inspection checks that feature methods using parameterization through
where
blocks include
@Unroll
.


Oops! Error 404 not found.
The page you were looking for doesn't exist.
We think the page may have moved.


5 references to HasInstanceMembers
System.Management.Automation (5)
engine\MshMemberInfo.cs (1)
4794
if (PSObject.
HasInstanceMembers
(_mshOwner, out instanceMembers))
engine\MshObject.cs (1)
1393
if (PSObject.
HasInstanceMembers
(mshObj, out PSMemberInfoInternalCollection<PSMemberInfo> instanceMembers))
engine\runtime\Binding\Binders.cs (3)
2094
if (PSObject.
HasInstanceMembers
(boxedT, out unused1) || PSObject.HasInstanceTypeName(boxedT, out unused2))
5881
memberInfo = PSObject.
HasInstanceMembers
(value, out instanceMembers) ? instanceMembers[memberName] : null;
7460
var memberInfo = PSObject.
HasInstanceMembers
(value, out instanceMembers) ? instanceMembers[memberName] : null;


 But when it gets going it looks purty nice.
better ant - 2019-04-11
Browsing the web i found
this demonstration of Langtons Ant
and noticed the much better performance, so being inspired to improve my attempt I
did so. And also changed the color.
flowing squares - 2019-04-12
This one uses various techniques
that i've learned such as border detection, Class creation, moving a defined shape
etc. creating this rug of squares, bouncing from wall to wall. Like those DVD
screensavers.
hollow boxes - 2019-04-09
For this one I went back to the 3D
shape/webGL library
three.js
and played around with stacking boxes further away but with decreasing size, using a
depth material for the mesh, and blabla. Looks nice.
point illusion - 2019-03-21
Same as last, difference being is the
circle motioned drawing speed. Making for a very slowly adding of blackness with
expanding patterns that you barely notice at first.
black hole - 2019-03-20
This one is one of my favourites, just
because it feels very clean and reminds me of being little and seeing similar shapes
and animations which would get me stuck staring at them for just a bit too long.
colours - 2019-03-20
Having a bit more experience I decided to
move away from using libraries to learn more about the basics of JavaScript. Which
turned out to be a good idea making me discover a technique for creating cool
patterns. Such as this one.
3d shapes bg - 2019-03-07
Edited the last one a bit so that it
could be used as a background, the moving is actually the camera rotating along its
axes.
3d shapes - 2019-03-06
Found a library:
three.js
making it easy to create 3D shapes and animations. So, i defined a cube, plopped a
couple of rotating shapes with random colors and added camera controls.
shaky triangles - 2019-02-28
Went a bit further with the polygon
creation. In this one the points defining the shape are moving around randomly(a bit
jittery, but funny).
polygon - 2019-02-28
Created a polygon, bit harded since you have
to defined the points of the shape, also made it spin 😌.
rectangle - 2019-02-26
First canvas drawing in JavaScript i
managed to create, using a library:
PixiJS, that I used for the next 3 aswell.
SETTINGS
| SETTING | CONFIGURATION | CURRENT |
|---|---|---|
| UI COLOR | ||
| DARK MODE | ||
| LANDING PAGE | ||
| DEFAULT PROJECT |


You are given a video that contains a person describing an action and a list of candidate reasons for why they want to do the action.
From the list of candidate reasons, select the ones that are mentioned verbally or shown visually in the video.
Please see three examples below:


{% extends "admin/base_site.html" %} {% block content %}
This interface lets you bulk-import assets into this database. You will need a spreadsheet meeting the following criteria:
Mandatory columns must appear somewhere in the spreadsheet. Other columns are optional and may be excluded.
| Column name | Description |
| ASSET TAG | (mandatory) The asset tag of the item (in form ITXXXXX). |
| SERIAL | (mandatory) The asset's serial number. |
| DATE PURCHASED | (mandatory) The purchase date for this asset. Must be in the form dd/mm/yyyy. |
| WARRANTY END | (optional) The end date of the warranty for this asset. Must be in the form dd/mm/yyyy. |
| FINANCE ASSET TAG | (optional) The asset tag of the item as issued by Finance Branch. |
| VENDOR | (optional) The vendor name of the product (eg. Dell). |
| MODEL TYPE | (optional, must match existing value) The hardware model type (eg. Server - Rackmount). |
| HARDWARE MODEL | (optional) The hardware model name (eg. Latitude E6320). |
| STATUS | (optional) The current deployment status of this asset. If not provided, this will be set to 'In storage'. |
| COST CENTRE | (optional) The cost centre to which is asset belongs. |
| LOCATION | (optional, must match existing name) The name of the location of this asset. |
| PURCHASED VALUE | (optional) The amount paid for the asset, inclusive of any permanent modules or upgrades. |
| ASSIGNED USER | (optional) The username of the user this asset is assigned to. |
| NOTES | (optional) Any additional notes regarding this asset. |
Select the .csv file in the box below and click upload.
{% endblock %}


There may be more methods than those listed here:
Using IP and WPAD spoofing when we relay the computer account, we can modify the account in Active Directory and give ourselves permission to impersonate users on that computer. We can then connect to the computer with a high-privilege user and execute code, dump hashes, etc.
See Privilege Escalation > Windows > Relay Everything > Combination > NTLM and Kerberos


{% extends 'base.html' %} {% load static %} {% block center_data %}
Lakhani generally conduct his seminars for bigger audience, say more than 500 and recommended duration is 90 to 180 minutes.
For booking, Contact him at WhatsApp:<PHONE_NUMBER>


About Me
A self taught full-stack web developer, currently pursuing a Bachelors in Computer Application Development.
I am currently a freelance web developer always interested in a challenge.
My hunger for knowledge and determination to turn information into action is what has led to
the choosing of a career in tech. This allows me to become a life long learner / 'forever student'.
Skills
Languages
When it comes to programming languages they are just tools, and as a developer you need different types of tools to complete certain tasks. I am currently learning a bit of everything 😂 but in the web Development space


An R interface for Rho's 'web-codebook' 'JavaScript' charting library, which provides a simple interactive framework for exploring data. 'datadigest' includes two key functions (codebook() and explorer()) that deliver a concise summary of every variable in a data frame, along with interactive features such as real-time filters, grouping, and highlighting. Each function has an associated 'RStudio' addin/'Shiny' app for quick and convenient exploration of one or more data frames.
| Version: | 1.0.2 |
| Depends: | R (≥ 3.3.0) |
| Imports: | htmlwidgets, shiny, miniUI, Hmisc, htmltools, haven, jsonlite, tibble, datasets |
| Suggests: | knitr, rmarkdown |
| Published: | 2018-09-03 |
| Author: | Becca Krouse [cre, aut], Spencer Childress [aut], Jeremy Wildfire [aut], Rho Inc. [cph] |
| Maintainer: | Becca Krouse <rebecca_krouse at rhoworld.com> |
| BugReports: | https://github.com/RhoInc/datadigest/issues |
| License: | MIT + file LICENSE |
| URL: | https://github.com/RhoInc/datadigest |
| NeedsCompilation: | no |
| Materials: | NEWS |
| CRAN checks: | datadigest results |
| Reference manual: | datadigest.pdf |
| Vignettes: |
Vignette Title |
| Package source: | datadigest_1.0.2.tar.gz |
| Windows binaries: | r-devel: datadigest_1.0.2.zip, r-release: datadigest_1.0.2.zip, r-oldrel: datadigest_1.0.2.zip |
| OS X binaries: | r-release: datadigest_1.0.2.tgz, r-oldrel: datadigest_1.0.2.tgz |
Please use the canonical form https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=datadigest to link to this page.


{% load staticfiles %}
Usually about 7 days, though in certain cases it may take a little longer.
Once you apply for a loan, a credit inquiry will be created so we can best evaluate your credit worthiness. Don't worry, no other creditors will be able to access your credit report as this is strictly confidential.
You'll receive multiple loan offers - each showing the loan amount, APR, interest rate, monthly payment, and term.
After registering we'll ask you to provide the following in a separate form: Social Security, current income and employment history.
Yes - we offer Traditional IRA, Roth IRA and 401(k) Rollover accounts.
Individual account, joint account, trust account, corporate account and custodial/minor account.
Standard individual investment accounts are our most popular.
Yes - Loans are graded from A-E (A being lowest risk) with average historical returns ranging from 4.5%-6.75%.


Another letter arrives, this one from Tim Thurn.
“Yesterday you posted a picture of Joanna Southcott's box without accompanying comment. Why?”
My lips, like the box, are sealed.


Attempted to trust a non-string value in a content requiring a string: Context: {0}
$sce.trustAs requires a string value.
Read more about Strict Contextual Escaping (SCE) in AngularJS.


[§11-411] Criminal referral. In lieu of an administrative determination that a violation of this part has been committed, the commission may refer the complaint to the attorney general or county prosecutor at any time it believes the respondent may have recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally committed a violation. [L 2010, c 211, pt of §2]


Ruby vs Javascript
tl;dr
Use both.
tl;dr +1
Use ruby for backend and javascript for frontend.
tl;dr +2
Ruby is excellent for writing very semantic code and handling backend operations via ruby frameworks such as Rails, Sinatra, etc. Javascript creates far greater front-end functionality and can be used in conjunction with ruby frameworks or with solely with a javascript framework
The whole story
The current climate of javascript vs ruby frameworks is a bit volatile. Ruby on Rails can typically create more stable apps at a faster rate of development than current javascript frameworks such as Angular, Ember, or even the 'MEAN' stack of frameworks. However, these javascript frameworks are currently trumping rails in user experience. In response, many developers are currently building apps with both frameworks. A javascript framework is often found handling the front-end of the application while rails continues to support the back-end. Although this does tend to create a larger, more complicated codebase, it does result in the best of both worlds. So the current short answer to ruby vs. javascript is "use both".