Five On A Hike Together
Chapter
One
A
LETTER FROM JULIAN
‘Anne!’
shouted George, running after her cousin as she went along to her classroom.
‘Anne! I’ve just been down to the letterboard and there’s a letter from your
brother Julian, I’ve brought it for you.’
Anne
stopped. ‘Oh thanks,’ she said. ‘What can Julian want? He only wrote a few days
ago - it’s most extraordinary for him to write again so soon. It must be
something important.’
‘Well,
open it and see,’ said George. ‘Hurry up - I’ve got a maths class to go to.’
Anne
ripped open the envelope. She pulled out a sheet of notepaper and read it
quickly. She looked up at George, her eyes shining.
‘George!
Julian and Dick have got a few days off at our half-term week-end! Somebody’s
won a wonderful scholarship or something, and the boys have got two days tacked
on to a week-end to celebrate! They want us to join them in a hike, and all go
off together.’
‘What
a glorious idea!’ said George, ‘Good old Julian. I bet he thought of that.
Let’s read the letter, Anne.’
But
before she could read it a mistress came along. ‘
George
scowled. She hated to be called by her full name. She went off without a word.
Anne tucked the letter into her pocket and rushed off joyfully. Half-term with
her brothers, Julian and Dick - and with George and Timmy the dog. Could
anything be better?
She
and George talked about it again after morning school. ‘We get from Friday
morning till Tuesday,’ said George. ‘The boys are getting the same. What luck!
They don’t usually have a half-term in the winter term.’
‘They
can’t go home because the painters are in our house,’ said Anne. ‘That’s why I
was going home with you, of course.  Your father never likes us in the middle of the term.’
‘No,
he doesn’t,’ said George, ‘He’s always deep in the middle of some wonderful
idea, and he hates to be disturbed. It will suit everyone if we go off on a
hike.’
‘Julian
says he will telephone to us tonight and arrange everything,’ said Anne. ‘I
hope it will be a nice fine week-end. It will still be October, so there’s a
chance of a bit of warm sunshine.’
‘The
woods will be beautiful,’ said George. ‘And won’t Timmy enjoy himself, Let’s go
and tell him the news.’
The
boarding-school that the two girls were at was one that allowed the children to
bring their own pets to school, There were kennels down in the yard for various
dogs, and Timmy lived there during term-time. The two girls went to get him.
He
heard their footsteps at once and began to bark excitedly. He scraped at the
gate of the kennel yard, wishing for the thousandth time that he could find out
how to open it.
He
flung himself on the two girls, licking and pawing and barking.
‘Silly
dog. Mad dog!’ said George, and thumped his back affectionately. ‘Listen, Tim -
we’re going off for the week-end with Julian and Dick! What do you think of
that? We’re going on a hike, so you’ll love it. All through the woods and up
the hills and goodness knows where!’
Timmy
seemed to understand every word. He cocked up his ears, put his head on one
side and listened intently while George was speaking,
‘Woof,’
he said, at the end, as if he approved thoroughly. Then off he went with the
girls for his walk, his plumy tail wagging happily. He didn’t like term-time
nearly as much as the holidays - but he was quite prepared to put up with
kennel life so long as he could be near his beloved George.
Julian
rang up that night as he had promised. He had got everything planned already.
Anne listened, thrilled.
'It
sounds super,’ she said. ‘Yes - we can meet where you say, and we’ll be there
as near as we can on time. Anyway, we can wait about if you others aren’t
there. Yes - we’ll bring the things you say. Oh Julian, won’t it be fun?’
'What’s
he say?’ asked George impatiently when at last Anne put the receiver down. ‘You
might have let me have a word with Julian. I wanted to tell him all about
Timmy.’
‘He
doesn’t want to waste an expensive telephone call listening to you raving about
Timmy,’ said Anne. ‘He asked how he was and I said “fine”, and that’s all he
wanted to know about Tim. He’s made all the arrangements. I’ll tell you what
they are.’
The
girls went off to a corner of their common-room and sat down. Timmy was there
too. He was allowed in at certain times, and so were three other dogs belonging
to the girls. Each dog behaved well - he knew that if he didn’t he would be
taken back to the kennels at once!
‘Julian
says that he and Dick can get off immediately after breakfast,’ said Anne. ‘So
can we, so that’s all right. He says we’ve got to take very little with us -
just night-things, tooth-brush, hair-brush and flannel and a rolled-up mac. And
any biscuits or chocolate we can buy, Have you any money left?’
‘A
bit,’ said George. ‘Not much. Enough to buy a few bars of chocolate, I think.
Anyway, you’ve got all the biscuits your mother sent last week. We can take
some of those.’
‘Yes.
And the barley sugar one of my aunts sent,” said Anne. ‘But Julian says we’re
not to take much because this is to be a proper hike, and we’ll get tired if we
have to carry a heavy load. Oh, he said put in two pairs of extra socks.’
‘Right,’
said George, and she patted Timmy who was lying close beside her. ‘There’s
going to be a long walky-walk, Tim. Won’t you love that!’
Timmy
grunted comfortably. He wondered if there would be any rabbits on the walk. A
walk wasn’t really exciting unless there were rabbits all over the place. Timmy
thought it was a pity that rabbits were allowed to live down holes. They always
disappeared most unfairly just when he had nearly caught one!
Anne
and George went to see their house-mistress to tell her that they were not
going to Kirrin Cottage after all, but were going walking.
‘My
brother says he has written to you,’ said Anne. ‘So you’ll know all about it
tomorrow, Miss Peters. And George’s mother will be writing too. We can go,
can’t we?’
‘Oh,
yes - it will be a lovely half-term for you!’ said Miss Peters. ‘Especially if
this sunny weather lasts. Where are you going?’
‘Over
the moors,’ said Anne. ‘In the very loneliest, most deserted parts that Julian
can find! We might see deer and wild ponies and perhaps even a few badgers. We
shall walk and walk.’
‘But
where will you sleep if the parts you are going to are so very lonely?’ asked
Miss Peters.
‘Oh
Julian is arranging all that,’ said George. ‘He’s been looking up little inns
and farm-houses on the map, and we shall make for those at night. It will be
too cold to sleep out of doors.’
‘It
certainly will!’ said Miss Peters. ‘Well don’t get into trouble, that’s all I
know what you five are when you get together. I imagine Timmy is going with you
too?’
‘Of
course!’ said George. ‘I wouldn’t go if he didn’t go! I couldn’t leave him here
alone.’
The
two girls got their things ready as Friday came near. The biscuits were taken
out of the tin and put into paper bags. The barley sugar was put into a bag
too, and the bars of chocolate.
Both
girls had rucksacks with straps for their shoulders. They packed and repacked
them several times. One by one more and more things were added. Anne felt she
must take a book to read. George said they must each take a torch with a new
battery.
‘And
what about biscuits for Timmy?’ she said. ‘I simply must take something for him.
He’d like a bone too - a big one that he can chew and chew and that I can put
back into the bag for another time.’
‘Well,
let me carry all the biscuits and chocolate then if you’re going to put a
smelly old bone into your bag,’ said Anne. ‘I don’t see why you want to take
anything for Timmy - he can always have something to eat when we do - wherever
we have a meal.’
George
decided not to take the bone. She had fetched one from his kennel, and it
certainly was big and heavy, and equally certainly it was smelly. She took it
back to the kennel again, Timmy following her rather puzzled. Why keep carrying
his bone here and there? He didn’t approve at all.
It
seemed a long time till Friday, but at last it came. Both girls woke up very
early indeed. George was out in the kennels before breakfast, brushing and
combing Timmy to make him look spruce and tidy for Julian and Dick. He knew it
was the day they were to set off and he was as excited as the two girls.
‘We’d
better eat a good breakfast,’ said Anne. ‘We might have to wait some time
before our next meal. Let’s slip off immediately after breakfast. It’s lovely
to feel free of school and bells and time-tables-but I shan’t feel really free
till I’m outside the school grounds!’
They
ate an enormous breakfast though really they were too excited to want much.
Then they got their rucksacks, ready-packed the night before, said goodbye to
Miss Peters, and went to fetch Timmy.
He
was waiting impatiently for them, and barked madly when they came near. In a
trice he was out of his kennel-yard and capering round them, almost tripping
them up.
‘Good-bye,
Anne and George!’ yelled one of their friends. ‘Have a good time on your hike -
and it’s no good coming back on Tuesday and telling us you’ve had one of your
usual hair-raising adventures, because we just shan’t believe it!’
‘Woof,’
said Timmy, ‘Woof, woof!’ Which meant that he was going to have adventures with
hundreds of rabbits, anyway!

‘I
never liked Willis or Johnson much,’ said Dick, as they walked out of the
school grounds. ‘Awful swotters they were - never had any time for games or
fun. But I take my hat off to them today! Because of their swotting they’ve won
medals and scholarships and goodness knows what - and we’ve got a week-end off
in celebration! Good old Willis and Johnson!’
‘Hear
hear,’ said Dick. ‘But I bet they’ll sit in a corner with their books all the
week-end - they won’t know if it’s a brilliant day like this, or pouring with
rain like yesterday!  ‘It would be utter misery to them. Do
you remember how awful Johnson was at rugger? He never knew which goal he was
playing against - always ran the wrong way!’
‘Yes.
But he must have got terrific brains,’ said Dick. ‘Why are we talking about
Willis and Johnson? I can think of plenty of more interesting things. Anne and
George, for instance - and old Tim. I hope they’ll manage to get off in time
all right.’
Julian
had carefully looked up a large-scale map of the moors that lay between the two
schools that he and the girls went to. They were vast stretches of lonely
heathery land, dotted with farms here and there, with a few small cottages, and
some inns.
‘We’ll
keep right off the main roads, and the second-and third-grades,’ he said.
‘We’ll take the little lanes and paths. I wonder what Timmy will say if we see
deer. He’ll wonder what in the world they are!’
‘He’ll
only be interested in rabbits,’ said Dick. ‘I hope he’s not as fat as he was
last hols. I think we must have given him too many ice-creams and too much
chocolate!’
‘Well,
he won’t get that in term-time!’ said Julian. ‘The girls don’t get as much
pocket money as we do. Buck up - there’s the bus!’
They
ran for the little country bus that rumbled along the country lanes, taking
people to market, or to the tiny villages that lay here and there tucked away
in the moor. It stopped most obligingly for them, and they leapt in.
‘Ha!
Running away from school?’ said the conductor. ‘Have to report you, you know!’
‘Very
funny,’ said Julian, bored at this joke, which the conductor produced regularly
every time a boy got on board with a rucksack over his shoulders.
They
had to get out at the next village and cut across country to get to another
bus-route, They managed to catch a bus there easily and settled down
comfortably in their seats. It was half an hour’s run from there to where they
had planned to meet the girls.
‘Here
you are, young sirs,’ called the conductor, as the bus ran into a village. It
had a wide green on which geese cackled, and a small pond for ducks. ‘You
wanted Pippin Village, didn’t you? We don’t go any farther - we just turn round
and go back.’
‘Thanks,’
said the boys and got out. ‘Now - are the girls here or not?’ said Julian.
‘They have to walk from a tiny railway station about two miles away.’
They
were not there. Julian and Dick went to have a drink of orangeade at the
village store. They had hardly finished when they saw the two girls looking in
at the door.
‘Julian!
Dick! We guessed you’d be eating or drinking!’ said Anne, and she rushed at her
brothers. ‘We came as quickly as we could. The engine broke down - it was such
a funny little train! All the passengers got out and advised the engine-driver
what to do!’
‘Hallo!’
said Julian, and gave Anne a hug. He was very fond of his young sister. 'Hallo,
George! My, you’ve grown fat, haven’t you?’
‘I
have not,’ said George, indignantly. ‘And Timmy isn’t fat either, so don’t tell
him he is.’
‘Julian’s
pulling your leg as usual,’ said Dick, giving George a friendly slap on the
back. ‘All the same, you’ve grown a bit - you’ll soon be as tall as I am.
Hallo, Timmy! Good dog, fine dog! Tongue as wet as usual? Yes, it is! I never
knew a dog with a wetter tongue than yours!’
Timmy
went nearly mad with joy at being with all four of his friends. He leapt round
them, barking, wagging his long tail and sending a pile of tins crashing to the
floor in his delight.
‘Now,
now!’ said the shop-woman, emerging from a dark little room at the back, ‘Take
that dog out. He’s gone mad!’
‘Don’t
you girls want a drink of ginger-beer or something?’ asked Julian, getting hold
of Timmy’s collar. ‘You’d better, because we don’t want to have to carry heavy
bottles of drinkables with us.’
‘Where
are we going to set off to?’ asked George. ‘Yes, I’d like ginger-beer please.
Get down, Timmy. Anyone would think you’d been away from Julian and Dick for at
least ten years!’
‘It
probably does seem like ten years to him,’ said Anne. ‘I say - are those
sandwiches?’
She
pointed to a ledge at the back of the counter. There was a little pile of
sandwiches there, looking most appetizing.
‘Yes,
they’re sandwiches, Miss,’ said the shop-woman, opening two bottles of
ginger-beer. ‘I’ve made them for my son who works over at Blackbush Farm -
he’ll be in for them soon.’
‘I
suppose you couldn’t make us some, could you?’ asked Julian, ‘We wouldn’t need
to bother about trying to get to some village at lunch time then. They look
jolly good.’
‘Yes.
I can make you all you want,’ said the shop-woman, putting two glasses down in
front of the girls, ‘What do you want - cheese, egg, ham or pork?’
‘Well
- we’d like some of all of those,’ said Julian, ‘The bread looks so nice too.’
‘I
make it myself,’ said the woman, pleased, ‘All right - I’ll go and make you
some. You tell me if anyone comes into the shop while I’m gone.’
She
disappeared. ‘That’s good,’ said Julian. ‘If she makes plenty of those we can
avoid villages all the day and have a really good day of exploration - treading
where no foot has trod before and all that!’
‘How
many can you manage each?’ asked the woman, suddenly reappearing. ‘My son, he
has six - that’s twelve rounds of bread.’
‘Well
- could you manage eight sandwiches for each of us?’ said Julian. The woman
looked astonished. ‘It’s to last us all day,’ he explained, and she nodded and
disappeared again.
‘That’s
a nice little sum for her,’ said Anne. ‘Eight sandwiches each, making sixteen
rounds of bread - for four people!’
‘Well,
let’s hope she’s got a bread-cutting machine!’ said Dick. ‘Or we’ll be here for
keeps! Hallo - who’s this?’
A
tall man appeared at the entrance of the shop, a bicycle in his hand. ‘Ma!’ he
called.
The
children guessed who he was at once - the son who worked over at Blackbush
Farm. He had come for his sandwiches!
‘Your
mother is hard at work cutting sixty-four rounds of bread,’ said Dick. ‘Shall I
get her for you?’
‘No.
I’m in a hurry,’ said the man and he set his bicycle by the door, came in,
reached over the counter for his sandwiches and then went back to his bicycle.
‘Tell
my mother I’ve been in,’ he said, ‘And you might tell her I’ll be late home
today - got to take some stuff to the prison.’
He
was off at once, sailing away down the road on his bicycle. The old woman
suddenly came in, a knife in one hand, a loaf in the other.
‘Did
I hear Jim?’ she said. ‘Oh yes - he’s got his sandwiches. You should have told
me he was in!’
‘He
said he was in a hurry,’ explained Julian. ‘And he said we were to tell you
he’d be late today because he had to take some stuff to the prison.’
‘I’ve
got another son there,’ said the woman. The four looked at her. Did she mean he
was a prisoner? And what prison?
She
guessed their thoughts and smiled. ‘Oh, my Tom isn’t a prisoner!’ she said.
‘He’s a warder - a fine fellow. Not a nice job there though - I’m always afraid
of those men in prison - a fierce lot, a bad lot!’
‘Yes
- I’ve heard there is a big prison on this moor,’ said Julian. ‘It’s marked on
our map too. We’re not going near it, of course.’
'No.
Don’t you take the girls near there,’ said the woman, disappearing again. ‘If I
don’t get on with your sandwiches you’ll not have them before tomorrow
morning,’
Only
one customer came in while the children were waiting - a solemn old man smoking
a clay pipe. He looked round the shop, couldn’t see the woman, took a packet of
blancmange powder, which he slipped into his pocket, and put the money down on
the counter.
 Timmy growled. The old man smelt very unwashed and Timmy didn’t like
him.
At last the sandwiches were finished and the old woman appeared again. She had
packed them up neatly in four parcels of grease-proof paper, and had pencilled
on each what they were, Julian read what she had written and winked at the
others.
‘My
word - we’re in for a grand time!’ he said. ‘Cheese, Pork, Ham and Egg - and
what’s this?’
'Oh,
that’s four slices of my home-made fruit cake,’ said the old woman. ‘I’m not
charging you for that, It’s just so that you can taste it!’
‘It
looks like half the cake!’ said Julian, touched, ‘But we shall pay for it, with
many thanks. How much is all that?’
She
told him. Julian put down the money and added some extra for the cake. ‘There
you are, and many thanks,’ he said. ‘And that money there was left by an old
fellow with a clay pipe who took a packet of blanc mange powder.’
‘That
would be Old Man Gupps,’ said the woman. ‘Well, I hope you’ll enjoy your tour.
Come back here if you want any more sandwiches cut! If you eat all those today
you won’t do badly!’
‘Woof,’
said Timmy, hoping that he too would share a few. The woman produced a bone for
him, and he took it up in his mouth.
‘Thanks!’
Julian said. ‘Come on - now we’ll really start!’
Chapter
Three
ACROSS
THE COUNTRYSIDE
They
set off at last, Timmy running in front. School already seemed far behind them.
The October sun shone down warmly, and the trees in the village glowed yellow
and red and golden, dressed in their autumn colourings. A few leaves floated
down in the breeze, but not until there was a real frost would many come
whirling down.
‘It’s
a heavenly day,’ said George. ‘I wish I hadn’t got my blazer on. I’m cooked
already.’
‘Well,
take it off and carry it over your shoulder,’ said Julian. ‘I’m going to do the
same. Our jerseys are quite warm enough today!’
They
took off their thick blazers and carried them. Each of them had a rucksack, a
mac rolled up tightly and tied to it, and now a blazer to carry. But none of
them noticed the weight at the outset of their day.
‘I’m
glad you girls took my advice and wore your thickest shoes,’ said Julian,
looking with approval at their brogues. ‘Some of our walking may be wet. Have
you got changes of socks?’
‘Yes.
We brought everything you told us to,’ said Anne. ‘Your rucksack looks a bit
fuller than ours, Ju!’
‘Well,
I’ve got maps and things in it,’ said Julian.  Queer names on it too - Blind Valley - Rabbit
Hill - Lost Lake - Coney Copse!’
‘Rabbit
Hill! Timmy would love that,’ said George, and Timmy pricked up his ears.
Rabbits? Ah, that was the kind of place he liked!
‘Well,
actually we’re going towards Rabbit Hill now,’ said Julian, ‘And after that
there’s Coney Copse, and as coney is a country word for rabbit, Timmy ought to
enjoy himself!’
‘Woof,’
said Timmy joyfully and bounded ahead. He felt very happy. His four friends
were with him, their rucksacks were full of delicious-smelling sandwiches, and
a long, long walk lay ahead, teeming, he hoped with rabbits!
It
was lovely walking along in the sun. They soon left the little village behind
and took a winding lane. The hedges on either side became so high that the four
couldn’t see over the tops at all.
‘What
a sunken lane!’ said Dick. ‘I feel as if I’m walking in a tunnel! And how
narrow! I wouldn’t like to drive a car along this lane. If I met another car I
might have to back for miles!’
‘We
shan’t meet anyone much,’ said Julian, ‘It’s only in the summer that cars come
along these lanes - people on holiday, touring round the countryside. Look - we
take that path now - it leads to Rabbit Hill, according to the map!’
They
climbed over a stile in the high hedge and walked over a field towards a
curious little hill. Timmy suddenly went mad with excitement. He could smell
rabbits - and he could see them too!
‘You
don’t often see so many rabbits out in the daytime,’ said George, surprised.
‘Big ones and little ones too - what a scampering.’
They
came to the hill and sat down quietly to watch the rabbits. But it was quite
impossible to make Timmy do the same. The sight and smell of so many made him
quite wild. He pulled away from George’s hand and went bounding madly up the
hill, scattering rabbits by the dozen.
‘Timmy!’
yelled George, but for once Timmy paid no attention. He rushed here and rushed
there, getting very angry as first one rabbit and then another neatly popped down
a hole.
‘It’s
no use calling him,’ said Dick. 'He won’t catch one, anyway - see how nippy
they are, It’s my belief they’re having a game with our Timmy!’
It
did look rather like it. As soon as Timmy had chased two or three rabbits down
one hole, a few more would pop up from another behind him. Tht children
laughed, It was as good as a pantomime.
‘Where
do you mean to have lunch?’ asked Anne, ‘If we stay here much longer I shall
really have to have something to eat - and it’s not nearly time yet. I wish I
didn’t always feel so hungry in the open air.’
‘Well,
come on then,’ said Julian. ‘We’ve got some way to go before we get to our
lunch-place. I’ve made a pretty good time-table of our tour - we’re going to go
all round the moors and finish at the place we started at! I’ve really marked
it all out pretty well.’
‘Do
we sleep at farm-houses or something at night?’ asked George. ‘I should like
that. Will they mind having us, do you think? Or do we go to inns?’
‘Farm-houses
for two nights and inns for the other nights,’ said Julian. ‘I’ve marked them
all.’
They
went up Rabbit Hill and down the other side. There were just as many rabbits
there. Timmy chased them till he panted like an engine going uphill!
‘You’ve
had enough, Tim,’ said George. ‘Be sensible now.’
But
Timmy couldn’t be sensible with so many rabbits about. So they left him to
chase and dart and race at top speed and went on down the hill. Timmy came
rushing after them when they got to the bottom.
‘Now
perhaps you’ll stop tearing about like a mad thing and walk with us,’ scolded
George. But she spoke too soon, for soon they were in a small wood which Julian
informed them was Coney Copse.

They
very nearly lost Timmy in Coney Copse. A rabbit disappeared down a very big
hole, and Timmy was actually able to get down a little way. Then he got stuck.
He scrabbled violently with his feet but it was no good. He was well and truly
stuck.
The
others soon discovered he wasn’t with them and went back, calling. Quite by
chance they came on the hole he was in and heard the sound of panting and
scraping. A shower of sand flew out of the hole.
‘There
he is!  TIMMY! Come
on out!’
There
was nothing that Timmy would have liked better, but he couldn’t come out,
however much he tried. A root of a tree had got wedged into his back, and he
couldn’t seem to push himself out again, past the annoying root.
It
took the four children twenty minutes to get Timmy out. Anne had to lie down
and wriggle in a little way to reach him. She was the only one small enough to
get into the hole.
She
caught hold of Timmy’s back legs and pulled hard. Somehow the root slid off his
back and he came backwards. He whined loudly.
‘Oh
Anne, you’re hurting him, you’re hurting him!’ shouted George. ‘Let him go!’
‘I
can’t!’ yelled back Anne. ‘He’ll only go down deeper, if I leave go his legs.
Can you pull me out? If so Timmy will come too - he’ll have to because I’ve got
his legs!’
Poor
Anne was pulled out by her legs, and poor Timmy came too, pulled by his. He
whined and went to George.
‘He’s
hurt himself somewhere,’ said George anxiously. ‘I know he has. He wouldn’t
whine like that if he wasn’t hurt.’
She
ran her fingers over him, pressing here and there. She examined each leg and
each paw. She looked at his head. Still he whined, Where could he have hurt
himself?
‘Leave
him,’ said Julian, at last. ‘I can’t see that he’s hurt anywhere - except in
his feelings! He probably didn’t like Anne hauling him out by his hind legs.
Most undignified!’
George
wasn’t satisfied. Although she could find nothing wrong, she couldn’t help
being sure that Timmy had hurt himself somewhere. Ought he to see a vet?
‘Don’t
be silly, George,’ said Julian. ‘Vets don’t grow on trees in a moorland country
like this! Let’s go on walking, You’ll see Timmy will follow quite all right,
and soon forget to whine.
His vanity is wounded!’
They
left Coney Copse and went on, George rather silent. Timmy trotted beside her,
also rather quiet. Still, there really didn’t seem anything the matter with
him, except that he gave sudden little whines now and again.
‘Now
here’s where I thought we might have our lunch,’ said Julian, at last,
‘Fallaway Hill! It’s a good name for it too - it falls away steeply, and we’ve
got a marvellous view.’
So
they had. They had come to the top of a steep hill, not guessing that it fell
away on the other side. They could sit on the tip and see the sun shining on
miles and miles of lonely heather-grown moor. They might see shy deer in the
distance - or little wild ponies.
‘This
is heavenly,’ said Anne, sitting down on a great tuft of heather. ‘It’s as warm
as summer too! I do hope it’s like this all over the week-end. We shall all be
burnt brown!’
‘It
will also be heavenly having some of those sandwiches,’ said Dick, choosing a
lump of heather too. ‘What comfortable seats are provided for us! I’ve a good
mind to take a tuft of this heather back to school with me to put on the very
hard chair that goes with my desk!’
Julian
put the four packets of sandwiches down in the heather. Anne undid them. They
looked wonderful!
‘Super!’
said Anne. ‘What do you want first?’
‘Well,
speaking for myself I’m going to have one of each, put them all on top of one
another, and have a huge bite of cheese, ham, pork and egg at once,’ said Dick.
Anne laughed.
 But somehow Dick managed,
though it was difficult.
‘Disgusting
behaviour,’ he said, when he had managed the first mouthful. ‘I think on the
whole that one at a time is more economical. Hie, Timmy - have a bit?’
Timmy
obliged. He was very quiet, and George was still anxious about him. Still, his
appetite seemed remarkably good, so nobody but George wondered any more if he
had hurt himself. He lay beside George, occasionally putting a great paw on her
knee if he wanted another bit of sandwich.
 ‘He gets bits from us all. I
bet he eats more than any of us. I say - did anyone ever taste such smashing
sandwiches? Have you tried the pork? It must have come from a super pig!’
It
was lovely sitting there in the sun, looking over miles of countryside, eating
hungrily. They all felt very happy. Except George. Was there anything wrong
with Timmy? It would spoil the whole week-end if so!
Chapter
Four
GEORGE
IS WORRIED
They
lazed for some time in the sun after they had finished their meal. There were
three sandwiches each left, and half a piece each of the fruit cake. No one had
been able to manage a whole piece, much as they would have liked to.
Timmy
seemed to think he could finish all the cake that was left, but Julian said no.
‘It’s such a gorgeous cake it would be really wasted on Timmy,’ he said.,
‘You’ve had enough, Tim. Greedy dog!’
‘Woof,’
said Timmy, wagging his tail, and eyeing the cake watchfully. He sighed when he
saw it being packed up. He had only had a bit of George’s half-slice - what a
cake!
‘I’ll
pack three sandwiches and a half-slice of the cake into each of four bags,’
said Julian, ‘Anyone can eat his or hers whenever they like. I expect we shall
have a good meal at the farm-house I’ve chosen for tonight, so you can eat when
you like before then.’
'I
don’t feel as if I could eat anything till tomorrow morning,’ said Anne,
putting her bag of food into her rucksack.  ‘Nothing wasted when
Tim’s about. Now are we all ready? We’re going through a little village soon,
where we’ll stop for a drink. I could do with a ginger-beer. And then on we go
to our farm-house. We ought to try and arrive about five, because it gets dark
so soon.’
‘What’s
the farm-house called?’ asked Anne.
‘Blue
Pond Farm,’ said Julian. ‘Nice name, isn’t it? I hope it’s still got a blue
pond.’
‘Suppose
they haven’t room for us?’ said Anne.
‘Oh,
they can always put a couple of girls somewhere,’ said Julian. ‘Dick and I can
sleep in a barn if necessary. We’re not particular!’
‘I’d
like to sleep in a barn too,’ said Anne, ‘I’d love to. Let’s not ask for a
bedroom, let’s all sleep in a barn - on straw or hay or something.’
‘No,’
said Julian. ‘You girls will have to be in the house. It gets cold at night,
and we’ve brought no rugs. We boys will be all right with our macs over us.
‘Always having to be careful when boys can do as they like! I’m going to sleep
in a barn, anyway.  You may look like a boy and behave like a boy,
but you’re a girl all the same. And like it or not, girls have got to be taken
care of.’
‘I
should have thought that boys hated having to take care of girls,’ said George,
sulkily.  But I won’t count you as a
girl, George, decent or otherwise. I’ll merely count you as a boy who’s got to
have an eye on him - my eye, see? So take that look off your face, and don’t
make yourself any more difficult than you already are.’
George
couldn’t help laughing, and the sulky look went at once. She gave Julian a
punch. ‘All right. You win. You’re so jolly domineering these days I feel quite
afraid of you!’
‘You’re
not afraid of anyone,’ said Dick. ‘You’re the bravest girl I ever knew! Aha!
That’s made old George blush like a girl! Let me warm my hands, George!’
 She didn’t know whether to be pleased or angry. She
pushed his hands away and got up, looking more like a boy than ever with her
short tousled hair and her well-freckled face!
The
others got up and stretched.
Timmy
followed, but he didn’t bound about as usual. He went slowly and carefully.
George looked round for him, and frowned.
‘What
is the matter with Timmy?’ she said. ‘Look at him! Not a jump or a scamper in
him!’
They
all stopped and watched him. He came towards them and they saw that he was
limping slightly with his left hind leg. George dropped down beside him and felt
the leg carefully.
‘I
think he must have twisted it - sprained it or something, when he was down that
rabbit-hole,’ she said. She patted him gently on the back and he winced.
‘What’s
the matter, Tim?’ said George, and she parted the hair on his back, examining
the white skin underneath to see why he had winced when she had patted him.
‘He’s
got an awful bruise here,’ she said at last, and the others bent to see.
‘Something must have hurt his back down in that hole. And Anne must have hurt
one of his legs when she held on to them and dragged him out. I told you not to
hold on to his legs, Anne.’
‘Well,
how were we to get him out if I didn’t?’ demanded Anne, feeling cross but
rather guilty. ‘Did you want him to stick there for days and days?’
‘I
don’t think there’s much damage done,’ said Julian, feeling the hind leg. ‘I
honestly think he’s only just twisted it a bit, George. He’ll be all right
after tonight, I’m sure.’
‘But
I must be certain,’ said George. ‘Did you say we come to a village soon, Ju?’
‘Yes
- Beacons Village,’ said Julian, ‘We can ask if there’s a vet anywhere in the
district if you like. He’ll look at Timmy’s leg and tell you if there’s
anything much wrong. But I don’t think there is.’
‘We’ll
go on to the village then,’ said George. ‘Oh dear - the only time I ever wish
Timmy was a little dog is when he’s hurt - because he’s so very very heavy to
carry.’
‘Well,
don’t think of carrying him yet,’ said Dick. 'He can walk on three legs even if
he can’t on four! He’s not as bad as all that, are you, Timmy?’
‘Woof,’
said Timmy, mournfully. He was rather enjoying all the fuss. George patted his
head. ‘Come on,’ she said, ‘we’ll soon get that leg put right. Come on, Tim.’
They
all went on, looking round to see how Timmy was getting on. He followed slowly,
and then began to limp more badly. Finally he lifted his left hind leg up from
the ground and ran on three legs only.
‘Poor
boy,’ said George. ‘Poor Timmy! I do hope his leg will be all right tomorrow. I
can’t possibly go on with the hike if it isn’t.’
It
was rather a gloomy company that came to Beacons Village, Julian made his way
to a little inn that stood in the middle, called Three Shepherds.
A
woman was shaking a duster out of a window, Julian called up to her.
‘I
say! Is there a vet anywhere in this district? I want someone to have a look at
our dog’s leg.’
‘No.
No vet here,’ answered the woman. ‘Not one nearer than Marlins over six miles
away.’
George’s
heart sank. Timmy would never be able to walk six miles.
‘Is
there a bus?’ she called.
‘No.
Not to Marlins,’ said the woman. ‘No bus goes there, missy.  Mr.  You take the dog
there. He’ll know what to do.’
‘Oh
thank you,’ said George, gratefully. ‘Is it very far?’
‘About
half a mile,’ said the woman. ‘See that hill? You go up there, take the turning
to the right and you’ll see a big house. That’s Spiggy House. You can’t mistake
it because of the stables built all round it. Ask for Mr. Gaston. He’s nice, he
is. Maybe you’ll have to wait a little if he’s out with his horses though - he
may not be in till it’s almost dark ’
The
four held a little council. ‘We’d better go up to this Mr. Gaston’s, I think,’
said Julian. ‘But I think you and Anne, Dick, should go on to the farm-house I
planned to stay in for the night, and make arrangements for us. We don’t want
to leave it till the last minute. I’ll go with George and Timmy, of course.’
‘Right,’
said Dick. ‘I’ll take Anne now. It will be dark pretty soon. Got your torch,
Julian?’
‘Yes,’
said Julian. ‘And I’m pretty good at finding my way, as you know. I shall come
back to this village after we’ve been to Mr. Gaston’s, and then make straight for
the farm-house. It’s about a mile and a half away.’
‘Thanks
awfully for saying you’ll come with me, Julian,’ said George. ‘Let’s go now,
shall we? Well, Dick and Anne - see you later!’
Julian
set off with George and Timmy up the hill to Spiggy House. Timmy went on three
legs, and still seemed very sorry for himself. Anne and Dick watched him,
feeling sorry for him.
‘I
hope he’s all right tomorrow,’ said Dick. ‘It will spoil our week-end if he’s
not, no doubt about that!’
They
turned away and walked through the little village of Beacons. ‘Now for Blue
Pond Farm-house,’ said Dick. ‘Julian didn’t give me very clear directions, I
think I’ll ask someone exactly where it is.’
But
they met nobody except a man driving a little cart. Dick hailed him and he pulled
up his horse.
‘Are
we on the right road for Blue Pond Farm-house?’ shouted Dick.
‘Ar,’
answered the man, nodding his head.
‘Is
it straight on - or do we take any paths or little lanes?’ asked Dick,
‘Ar,’
said the man, nodding again.
‘What
does he mean - “ar”?’ said Dick. He raised his voice again.
‘Is
it this way?’ and he pointed.
‘Ar,’
said the man again. He raised his whip and pointed up the road where the two
were going, and then across to the west.
‘Oh,
I see - we turn to the right up there?’ called Dick.
‘Ar,’
said the man, nodding, and drove on so suddenly that the horse almost stepped
on Dick’s foot.
‘Well
- if we find the farm-house after all those “ars” we’ll be clever,’ said Dick.
‘Come on!’
Chapter
Five
ANNE
AND DICK
It
began to get dark very suddenly.  ‘It’s going to rain,’ said Dick. ‘Blow! I thought it was
going to be a lovely evening.’
‘We’d
better hurry,’ said Anne. ‘I hate sheltering under a hedge in the pouring rain,
with drips down my neck, and puddles round my feet!’
They
hurried. They went up the road that led out of the village and then came to a
turning on the right. This must be the one the man had meant. They stopped and
looked down it It seemed to be like one of the sunken lanes they had walked
down in the morning, and it looked rather dark and tunnel-like now, in the
twilight.
‘I
hope it’s right,’ said Dick. ‘We’ll ask the very first person we meet.’
‘If
we do meet anyone!’ said Anne, feeling that they never would in this curious
deep lane. They went up it. It wound round and about and then went downhill
into a very muddy bit indeed. Anne found herself sloshing about in thick mud.
‘A
stream or something must run across the lane here,’ she said. ‘Ugh! The water’s
got into my shoes! I’m sure we don’t go this way, Dick. The water’s quite deep
farther on, I’m certain. I was up to my ankles just now.’
Dick
looked about in the deepening twilight. He made out something above him in the
high hedge that grew on the steep bank each side.
‘Look
- is that a stile?’ he said, ‘Where’s my torch? At the bottom of my rucksack,
of course! Can you get it out, Anne, to save me taking the thing off?’
Anne
found the torch and gave it to Dick. He switched it on, and immediately the
shadows round them grew blacker, and the lane seemed more tunnel-like than
ever. Dick flashed the torch upwards to what he had thought was a stile.
‘Yes
- it is a stile,’ he said. ‘I expect that leads up to the farm-house - a short
cut, probably. I’ve no doubt this lane is the one used by the farm-carts, and
probably goes right round to the farm - but if this is a short cut we might as
well take it. It must lead somewhere, anyway!’
They
scrambled up the bank to the stile. Dick helped Anne over, and they found
themselves in a wide field. In front of them was a narrow path, running between
crops of some sort.
‘Yes
- this is obviously a short cut,’ said Dick, pleased. ‘I expect we’ll see the
lights of the farm-house in a minute.’
‘Or
fall into the blue pond first,’ said Anne, rather dismally. It was just
beginning to rain and she was wondering if it was worth while to untie her mac
from her shoulder and put it on. Or was the farm-house really nearby? Julian
had said it wasn’t very far.
They
walked across the field and came to another stile. The rain was coming down
fast now, Anne decided to put on her mac. She stood under a thick bush and Dick
helped her on with it. She had a small sou’wester in the pocket and put that on
too.
The
second stile led into another endless field, and the path then came at last to
a big field-gate. They climbed over it and found themselves on what looked like
a heathery moor - wild and uncultivated land! No farm-house was to be seen -
though, indeed they could not have seen anything of one unless they had been
very close to it, because the night was on them, dark and rainy.
‘If
only we could see some lights somewhere - shining out of a window,’ said Dick.
He shone his torch on to the moor in front of them. ‘I don’t quite know what to
do.  ‘I really didn’t like that lane.
There must be a path somewhere! It’s silly for a gate to open on to moorland!’
And
then, as they stood there, with the rain dripping on them and not much else to
be heard, another noise came to their ears.
It
was so unexpected and so very startling that both of them clutched the other in
a start of alarm. It was certainly a strange noise to hear in that deserted bit
of country.
Bells!
Wild, clanging bells sounding without a stop, jangling out over the dark
countryside in peal after peal. Anne held on tightly to Dick.
‘What
is it? Where are those bells? What are they ringing for?’ whispered Anne.
Dick
had no idea. He was as startled as Anne to hear this extraordinary noise. It
sounded some distance away, but every now and again the wind blew hard and then
the noise of the jangling swept round them, close to them it seemed.
‘I
wish they’d stop, Oh, I wish they’d stop!’ said Anne, her heart beating fast.
‘I don’t like them. They frighten me. They’re not church bells.’
‘No.
They’re certainly not church bells,’ said Dick. ‘They’re a warning of some
kind. I’m sure - but what for? Fire? We’d see fire if there was one anywhere
near us. War? No - bells and beacons were used to warn people of war long long
ago, Not now.’
‘That
village was called Beacons,’ said Anne, suddenly remembering. ‘Do you suppose
it has that name because long ago there was a nearby hill where people lighted
a beacon, to send a warning to other towns telling them that the enemy was
coming? Did they ring
bells
too? Are we hearing long-ago bells, Dick? They don’t sound like bells I’ve ever
heard in my life before.’
‘Good
gracious! They’re certainly not long-ago bells!’ said Dick, speaking
cheerfully, though he was really just as puzzled and alarmed as Anne. ‘Those
bells are being rung now, at this very minute!’
Quite
suddenly the bells stopped and an enormous silence took the place of the wild
ringing. The two children stood and listened for a minute or two and then
heaved a sigh of relief.
‘They’ve
stopped at last,’ said Anne, ‘I hated them! Why did they ring out on this dark
dark night? Oh do let’s find Blue Pond Farm-house as soon as ever we can, Dick.
I don’t like being lost in the dark like this, with bells ringing madly for
nothing at all!’
‘Come
on,’ said Dick. ‘Keep close to the hedge. As long as we follow that we must
come to somewhere. We won’t wander out on to the moorland.’
He
took Anne’s arm and the two of them kept close to the hedge. They came to
another path at last and followed it. That led to a lane, but not a sunken one
this time - and then, oh wonderful sight, - not far off they saw a light
shining!
‘That
must be Blue Pond Farm-house!’ said Dick, thankfully. ‘Come on, Anne - not much
farther now!’
They
came to a low stone wall and followed it till they came to a broken-down gate.
It opened with a squeak, and Anne stepped through - right into an enormous
puddle!
‘Blow!’
she said. ‘Now I’m wetter than ever! For a moment I thought I must have stepped
into the blue pond!’
But
it was only a puddle. They went round it and followed a muddy path to a little
door set in a white stone wall. Dick thought it must be the back door. Nearby
was a window, and in it shone the light they had seen so thankfully.
An
old woman sat near the light, her head bent over some sewing. The children
could see her quite clearly as they stood by the door.
Dick
looked for a bell or knocker but there was none. He knocked with his bare
knuckles. Nobody answered. The door remained shut. They looked at the old woman
by the lamp, and saw that she was still sewing.
‘Perhaps
she’s deaf,’ said Dick and he knocked again, much more loudly. Still the old
woman sewed on placidly. She must indeed be deaf!
‘We’ll
never get in at this rate!’ said Dick, impatiently. He tried the handle of the
door - it opened at once!
‘We’ll
just have to walk in and announce ourselves,’ said Dick, and he stepped on to
the worn mat inside the door. He was in a narrow little passage that led to a
stone stairway, steep and narrow at the farther end.
On
his right was a door, a little ajar. It opened into the room where the old
woman was sitting. The two children could see a streak of light coming through
the crack.
Dick
pushed the door open and walked boldly in, followed by Anne. Still the old woman
didn’t look up. She pushed her needle in and out of her sewing and seemed to
hear and see nothing else whatsoever.
Dick
had to walk right up to her before she knew he was in the room. Then she leapt
up in such a fright that her chair fell over with a bang.
‘I’m
sorry,’ said Dick, upset at frightening the old lady. ‘We knocked but you
didn’t hear!’
She
stared at them, her hand over her heart. ‘You give me such a fright,’ she said.
‘Where did you come from, this dark night?’

‘We’ve
been looking for this place,’ said Dick. ‘Blue Pond Farm-house, isn’t it? We
wondered if we could stay the night here - and two others of us as well.’
The
old woman pointed to her ears and shook her head. ‘Deaf as a post,’ she said.
‘No good talking to me, my dear. You’ve lost your way, I suppose?’
Dick
nodded.
 ‘My son won’t have no one here at
all. You’d best be gone before he comes. He have a nasty temper, he have.’
 Then he pointed out to the dark rainy night, then pointed to
Anne’s wet shoes and clothes. The old woman knew what he meant.
 ‘But there’s my son, you see. He don’t like strangers here.’
Dick
pointed to Anne, and then to a sofa in a corner of the room. Then he pointed to
himself, and then outside, Again the old woman understood at once.
‘You
want me to give your sister shelter, but you’ll go out into the night?’ she
said. Dick nodded. He thought he could easily find some shed or barn for
himself. But Anne really must be indoors.
‘My
son mustn’t see either of you,’ said the old woman, and she pulled Anne to what
the girl thought was a cupboard. But when the door opened, she saw a very
small, steep wooden staircase leading upwards into the roof.
‘You
go up there,’ said the old woman to Anne.  I’ll get into trouble if my son knows you’re here.’
‘Go
up, Anne,’ said Dick, rather troubled. ‘I don’t know what you’ll find there. If
it’s too bad, come down. See if there’s a window or something you can call out
from, and then I’ll know if you’re all right.’
‘Yes,’
said Anne, in rather a trembling voice, and she went up the steep, dirty wooden
stairs. They led straight into a little loft. There was a mattress there,
fairly clean, and a chair. A rug was folded up on the chair and a jug of water
stood on a shelf, Otherwise the room was bare.
A
tiny window opened out of one side. Anne went to it and called out. ‘Dick! Are
you there? Dick!’
‘Yes,
I’m here,’ said Dick. ‘What’s it like, Anne? Is it all right? Listen, I’ll find
somewhere nearby to shelter in - and you can always call me if you want me!’
Chapter
Six
IN
THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
‘It’s
not bad,’ said Anne. ‘There’s a fairly clean mattress and a rug. I’ll be all
right. But what about if the others come, Dick? Will you look out for them? I
almost think George will have to sleep in a barn with you and Julian if she
comes. That old woman won’t let anyone else in, I’m sure!’
‘I’ll
look out for them and arrange something,’ said Dick.  There’s a shed or something out here. I shall be
quite all right. Yell for me if you want me.’
Anne
went back into the room. She felt wet and tired, hungry and thirsty. She ate
all her food, and had a drink from the jug. Then she felt sleepy and lay down
on the mattress, throwing the rug over her. She meant to listen for the others
to come, but she was too tired. She fell fast asleep!
Dick
was prowling about down below. He was careful because he didn’t want to run
into the old woman’s son. He didn’t like the sound of him somehow! He came to a
small barn with piles of straw in one corner. He flashed his torch cautiously
round.
‘This
will do for me,’ he thought. ‘I can be quite comfortable here in that straw.
Poor Anne! I wish old George was with her. I’d better wait about and watch for
the other two, or I’ll fall asleep and miss them, once I bed down in that
straw! It’s only about six o’clock too - but we’ve had a long day. I wonder how
Timmy is. I wish he was here!’
Dick
thought that probably George and Julian would come in through the same gate as
he and Anne had used. He found a broken-down shed near the gate and sat down on
a box there, waiting for them to come.
He
ate his sandwiches while he waited. They were very comforting! He ate every one
and then the cake. He yawned. He felt very sleepy indeed, and his feet were wet
and tired.
No
one arrived at all - not even the old woman’s son. She could still be seen
sewing under the lamp. But after about two hours, when it was almost eight
o’clock, and Dick was beginning to be very worried about George and Julian, the
old woman got up and put away her work-basket.
She
disappeared out of Dick’s sight, and didn’t come back But the light was still
there, shining out of the window. Left for her son, probably, thought Dick.
He
tiptoed to the window. The rain had stopped now and the night was much clearer.
 Dick’s spirits rose.
He
peered in at the lighted room. Then he saw the old woman lying on a broken-down
sofa in a corner. A blanket was pulled right up to her chin and she seemed to
be asleep. Dick went back to his shed, but now he felt there was no use in
watching for George and Julian. They must have lost their way completely! Or else
Mr. Gaston, or whatever his name was, must have had to do something to Timmy’s
leg, and Julian had decided to stay at the inn in Beacons Village for the
night.
He
yawned again. ‘I’m too sleepy to watch any more,’ he decided ‘I shall fall off
this box with sleep if I don’t go and lie down in that straw. Anyway I think
I’d hear if the others came.’
Using
his torch cautiously again, he made his way to the barn. He shut the door
behind him and bolted it roughly from the inside by running a stick through two
hasps. He didn’t know why he did that - perhaps because he was still thinking
of the old woman’s bad-tempered son!
He
flung himself down on the straw, and immediately fell asleep. Outside the sky
became clearer and clearer. The moon came up, not fully, but large enough to
give some light. It shone down on the desolate little stone house and ill-kept
out-buildings.
Dick
slept soundly. He lay in the soft straw and dreamed of Timmy and George and
Blue Ponds and bells. Especially bells.
He
awoke suddenly, and lay for a moment wondering where he was. What was this
prickly stuff round him? Then he remembered - of course, it was straw and he
was in a barn! He was about to cuddle down again when he heard a noise.
lt
was only a small noise - a scratching on the wooden walls of the barn perhaps.
 Were there rats there? He hoped not!
He
listened. The scratching seemed to come from outside the barn, not inside. Then
it stopped. After an interval it began again. Then there came a gentle tapping
at the broken window just above Dick’s head.
He
felt very startled. Rats scratched and scrabbled about - but they didn’t tap on
windows. Who was tapping so very very cautiously on the little window? He held
his breath and listened, straining his ears.
And
then he heard a voice - a hoarse whisper.
‘Dick!
Dick!’
Dick
was amazed. Could it be Julian? If so, how in the world did he know that he,
Dick, was in the barn? He sat listening, stiff with surprise.
The
tapping came again, and then the voice, a little louder. ‘Dick! I know you’re
there. I saw you go in. Come here to the window - quiet, now!’
 It wasn’t Julian’s, and it certainly wasn’t either
George’s or Anne’s. Then how did the owner know his name and that he was there?
It was astounding.
‘Buck
up!’ said the voice. ‘I’ve got to go in half a tick. I’ve got that message for
you.’
Dick
decided to go nearer to the window. He was quite certain that he didn’t want
whoever it was outside to come into the barn. He cautiously knelt up in the
straw and spoke just underneath the window.
‘I’m
here,’ he said, trying to make his voice deep and grown-up.
 He crouched back, thankful that the face couldn’t see him in the darkness
of the barn.
‘Here’s
the message from Nailer,’ said the voice. ‘Two-Trees. Gloomy Water. Saucy Jane.
And he says Maggie knows. He sent you this. Maggie’s got one too.’
A
bit of paper fluttered in at the broken pane. Dick picked it up in a daze. What
was all this? Was he dreaming?
The
voice came again, insistent and urgent. ‘You heard all that, Dick? Two-Trees.
Gloomy Water. Saucy Jane. And Maggie knows too. Now I’m going.’
There
came the sound of someone cautiously creeping round the barn - and then there
was silence. Dick sat amazed and bewildered. Who was this wild-eyed fellow, who
called him by his name in the middle of the night and gave him extraordinary
messages that meant nothing at all to a sleepy boy? But Dick was wide awake
now. He stood up and looked out of the window. There was nothing and no one to
be seen except the lonely house and the sky.
Dick
sat down again and thought. He put his torch on cautiously and looked at the
piece of paper he had picked up. It was a dirty half sheet, with pencil marks
on it that meant nothing to Dick at all. Words were printed here and there, but
they were all nonsense to him. He simply couldn’t make head or tail of his
visitor, his message or the bit of paper!
‘I’m
sure I must be dreaming,’ thought Dick, and put the paper into his pocket. He
lay back in his straw, cuddling in deep, because he had got cold by the window.
He lay and thought for a while, puzzling over the curious happenings, and then
he felt his eyes closing.
But
before he was quite asleep, he heard cautious footsteps again! Was that fellow
back once more? This time someone tried the door - but the wooden stick was in
the hasps. Whoever it was outside shook the door and the stick fell out at
once. The man shook the door again as if thinking it had stuck, and then opened
it. He came inside and shut the door behind him.
Dick
caught a quick glimpse of him. No - this wasn’t the same man as before.
He
didn’t. He sat down on a sack and waited. He talked to himself after a while,
but Dick could only make out a word or two.
‘What’s
happened?’ he heard. ‘How much longer do I wait?’ Then there was a mumble and
Dick could not catch a word.
‘Wait,
wait - that’s all I do,’ muttered the man, and he stood up and stretched
himself. Then he went to the door and looked out. He came back and sat down on
the sack again.
He
sat still and quiet then, and Dick found his eyes closing once more. Was this
part of a dream too? He didn’t have time to think it out because he was
suddenly in a real dream, walking along ringing bells and seeing trees in twos
everywhere round him!
He
slept heavily all night long. When morning came he awoke suddenly and sat up.
He was alone in the barn. Where had the second visitor gone? Or could it all
have been a dream?
Chapter
Seven
IN
THE MORNING
Dick
stood up and stretched himself. He felt dirty and untidy. Also he was very
hungry. He wondered if the old woman would let him buy some bread and cheese
and a glass of milk.
‘Anne
must be hungry too,’ he thought ‘I wonder if she’s all right.’ He went cautiously
outside and looked up at the tiny window of the loft where Anne had spent the
night. Her anxious face was already there, watching for Dick!
‘Are
you all right, Anne?’ called Dick, in a low tone. She pushed open the tiny
window and smiled at him.
‘Yes.
But I daren’t go down because that son is downstairs. I can hear him shouting
at the deaf old woman every now and again. He sounds very bad-tempered.’
‘I’ll
wait for him to go out to his work then, before I go and see the old woman,’
said Dick. ‘I must pay her something for letting you sleep up in that loft -
and perhaps I can persuade her to let us have something to eat.’
‘I
wish you could,’ said Anne. ‘I’ve eaten all the chocolate I had in my bag.
Shall I wait till I hear you call me?’
Dick
nodded and disappeared into the barn in a hurry. He had heard footsteps!
A
man came into sight - a broad, short, hunched-up man, with a shock of untidy
hair. He was the man that Dick had seen in the barn the night before. He was
muttering to himself and looked very bad-tempered indeed. Dick decided to keep
out of his way. He crouched down in the barn.
But
the man did not go in there. He walked past, still muttering.  He heard the opening of a gate somewhere, then it
crashed behind the man.
'I’d
better take my chance now,’ thought Dick, and he went quickly out of the barn
and up to the little white house. It looked very tumble-down and neglected in
the daylight, and had a most forlorn air.
Dick
knew that it was no good knocking, because the old woman wouldn’t hear him. So
he walked right into the house and found the woman washing up a few dishes in a
cracked old sink. She stared at him in dismay.
'I’d
forgotten about you! And the girl too! Is she still up there? Get her down
quickly before my son comes back!  Dick slipped aside and pointed to some
bread on a table,
‘No,
no - I tell you, you’re to go,’ said the old woman, obviously terrified in case
her son should come back ‘Get the girl, quickly!’
But
before Dick could do anything, there were footsteps outside and in came the
hunched-up fellow with the shock of hair! He was back already, holding some
eggs he had been to find.
He
walked into the kitchen and stared at Dick. ‘Clear out!’ he said, angrily.
‘What do you want here?’
Dick
thought he had better not say he had slept the night in the barn. There were
queer goings-on here, and the man might be very savage if he knew Dick had
slept the night nearby.
‘I
wanted to know if your mother could sell us some bread,’ he said, and could
have bitten his tongue out. He had said ‘us’!’ Now the man would guess there
was someone with him.
‘Us?
Who’s “us”?’ said the man, looking round. ‘You fetch him and I’ll tell you both
what I do to boys who come stealing my eggs!’
‘I’ll
go and fetch him,’ said Dick, seizing the chance to get away. He ran to the
door. The man made a clumsy dart at him and almost caught him. But Dick was out
and away, running down the path. He hid behind a shed, his heart thumping. He
had to wait for Anne. Somehow he had to go back and get her.
The
man stood at the door, shouting angrily after Dick. But he didn’t chase him. He
went back into the house and after a while came out again with a pail of
steaming food. Dick guessed he was going to feed the chickens wherever they
were.
He
had to take this chance of fetching Anne. He waited till he heard the crash of
the distant gate again and then he rushed to the house. Anne’s face was at the
window, scared. She had heard all that the man had said to Dick, and then to
his mother about allowing boys to come to the house.
‘Anne!
Come down at once. He’s gone,’ shouted Dick. ‘Hurry!’
Anne’s
face disappeared from the window, She ran to the door, tumbled quickly down the
stairs, and ran through the kitchen. The old woman flapped a cloth at her,
screaming at her.
Dick
ran into the kitchen and put twenty pence on the table. Then he caught Anne’s
arm and both children tore out of the house and down the path. They came to the
hedge they had followed the night before.
Anne
was quite scared. ‘That awful man!’ she said.
 And it didn’t look a bit like a farm. There
were no cows or pigs that I could see and not even a farm-dog!’
‘You
know, Anne, I don’t think it could possibly have been Blue Pond Farm-house,’
said Dick, as they walked beside the hedge, looking for the gate that they had
come through the night before. ‘We made a mistake. It was an ordinary cottage. If
we hadn’t lost our way we’d have come to the proper Blue Pond Farm-house I’m
sure.’
‘Whatever
will George and Julian be thinking?’ said Anne. ‘They’ll be dreadfully worried,
won’t they, wondering what has become of us. Do you suppose they’re at the real
Blue Pond Farm-house?’
‘We’ll
have to find out,’ said Dick ‘Do I look very messy and untidy, Anne? I feel
awful.’
‘Yes.
Haven’t you a comb?’ said Anne. ‘Your hair’s all up on end.  Look, there’s a little stream over there. Let’s get our flannels
out and wash our hands and faces with them.’
They
did a little washing in the cold water of the stream, and Dick combed back his
hair.
‘You
look a lot better,’ said Anne, ‘Oh dear - I wish we could have some breakfast.
I’m really starving!
Before
Dick could answer, a boy came whistling through the gate. He looked astonished
to see Dick and Anne.
‘Hallo!’
he said. ‘You hiking?’
‘Yes,’
said Dick. ‘Can you tell me if that place up there is Blue Pond Farm-house?’
He
pointed back to the old woman’s house. The boy laughed.
‘That’s
no farm-house.    Blue Pond Farm-house is down along there, see? Past the Three Shepherds
Inn and away up to the left.’
‘Thanks,’
said Dick, feeling very angry indeed with the man who had said ‘ar’ and sent
them all wrong the day before. The boy waved, and set off across a moorland
path.
‘We
certainly went the wrong way last night,’ said Dick, as they walked over the
fields they had crossed in the dark the night before. ‘Poor Anne! Dragging you
all that way in the dark and the rain to a horrible place that wasn’t Blue Pond
Farm-house after all. I can’t think what Julian is going to say to me.’
‘Well,
it was my fault too,’ said Anne. ‘Dick, let’s go down to the Three Shepherds
and telephone Blue Pond Farm-house from there, shall we? If it’s on the phone,
that is. I don’t somehow feel as if I want to walk for miles and perhaps not
find Blue Pond Farmhouse again.’
‘Good
idea,’ said Dick. ‘The Three Shepherds was where that woman was shaking a
duster out of the window, wasn’t it? She told Julian the way to Spiggy House. I
wonder how old Timmy is. I hope he’s better. I say - this hike isn’t as good as
we hoped it would be, is it?’
‘Well,
there’s still time for it to be all right!’ said Anne, much more cheerfully
than she felt. She so badly wanted her breakfast that she felt quite
bad-tempered!
‘We’ll
telephone to Julian from the Three Shepherds to say what happened to us,’ said
Dick, as they came to the lane where they had floundered in the mud the night
before. He helped Anne over the stile and they jumped down to the narrow road.
‘And what’s more, we’ll have breakfast at the Three Shepherds - and I bet we
eat more than ever the Three Shepherds did, whoever they were!’
Anne
felt more cheerful at once. She had thought they would have to walk all the way
to find Blue Pond Farm-house before they had breakfast!
‘See
- a stream does flow right across the road here,’ she said. ‘No wonder I got my
feet wet yesterday! Come on - the thought of breakfast makes my legs want to
run!’
They
at last arrived in Beacons Village, and made their way to the inn. On the sign
three shepherds were painted, looking rather gloomy.
‘They
look like I feel,’ said Anne, ‘but I shall soon feel different. Oh Dick - think
of porridge - and bacon and eggs - and toast and marmalade!’
‘We
must telephone first,’ said Dick, firmly - and then he suddenly stopped, just
as he was going into the inn. Someone was calling him.
‘DICK!
DICK! ANNE! Look, there they are! Hey, Dick, DICK!’
It
was Julian’s voice! Dick swung round in delight. He saw Julian, George and
Timmy racing along the village street, shouting and waving. Timmy was first to
reach them of course - and there was no sign of limping either! He leapt on
them, barking madly, and licked every bare part of them he could reach.
‘Oh,
Ju! I’m so glad to see you!’ said Anne, in rather a trembling voice. ‘We lost
our way last night. George, is Timmy all right?’
‘Quite,
Absolutely,’ said George. ‘You see...’
‘Have
you had breakfast?’ interrupted Julian. ‘We haven’t. We were so worried about
you we were just going to see the police. But now we can all have breakfast
together and tell our news!’
Chapter
Eight
ALL
TOGETHER AGAIN
It
was wonderful to be all together again. Julian took hold of Anne’s arm and
squeezed it. ‘All right, Anne?’ he said, rather worried at her pale face.
Anne
nodded. She felt better at once, now she had Julian, George and Timmy, as well
as Dick. ‘I’m only just terribly hungry,’ she said.
‘I’ll
ask for breakfast straight away,’ said Julian. ‘All news later!’
The
woman who had leaned out of the window shaking a duster the evening before,
came up to them. ‘I expect it’s a bit late for you,’ said Julian. ‘But we
haven’t had any breakfast. What have you got?’
‘Porridge
and cream,’ said the woman. ‘And our own cured bacon and our own eggs. Our own
honey and the bread I bake myself. Will that do? And coffee with cream?’
‘I
could hug you,’ said Julian, beaming at her. The others felt the same. They went
into a small, cosy dining-room and sat down to wait. Soon a smell of frying
bacon and hot strong coffee would come into the room - what joy!
‘Your
news first,’ said Dick, patting Timmy. ‘Did you get to Spiggy House? Was Mr.
Gaston there?’
‘No,
he wasn’t,’ said Julian. ‘He was out somewhere. He had a very nice wife who
made us wait for him, and said he wouldn’t mind in the least looking at Timmy
when he came back. So we waited and waited,’
‘We
waited till half past seven!’ said George, ‘and we felt rather awkward because
we thought it might be getting near their meal-time. And then at last Mr.
Gaston came.’
‘He
was awfully kind,’ said Julian. ‘He looked at Timmy’s leg, and then he did
something, I don’t know what - put it back into place, I suppose - and Timmy
gave a yell and George flung herself on him, and Mr. Gaston roared with
laughter at George...’
‘Well,
he was very rough with Timmy’s leg,’ said George ‘But he knew what he was
doing, of course, and now Timmy is perfectly all right, except for that bruise
on his back, and even that is getting better. He can run as well as ever.’
‘I’m
glad,’ said Anne. ‘I kept thinking of poor old Tim all last night.’ She patted
him, and he licked her lavishly and wetly.
‘What
did you do then?’ asked Dick.
‘Well,
Mrs. Gaston insisted on us staying to supper,’ said Julian. ‘She simply
wouldn’t take no for an answer, and I must say that by that time we were jolly
hungry. So we stayed - and we had a jolly good meal too. So did Timmy! You
should have seen his tummy afterwards - as round as a barrel. Good thing it’s
gone down today or I was thinking of changing his name to Tummy.’ They all
laughed, George especially.
‘Idiot,’
she said. ‘Well, we didn’t leave till about nine o’clock. We didn’t worry about
you because we felt sure you would be safely at Blue Pond Farm-house and would
guess we’d had to wait about with Timmy. And when we got there and found you
hadn’t arrived - well, we were in a state!’
‘And
then we thought you must have found somewhere else for the night,’ said Julian,
‘but we thought if we heard nothing we’d go down to the police first thing this
morning and report your disappearance!’
‘So
down we came - without any breakfast either!’ said George. ‘That shows how
worried we were! Blue Pond Farm-house was nice.  On it was a steaming tureen of porridge, a bowl
of golden syrup, a jug of very thick cream, and a dish of bacon and eggs, all
piled high on crisp brown toast. Little mushrooms were on the same dish.
‘It’s
like magic!’ said Anne, staring ‘Just the very things I longed for!’
‘Toast,
marmalade and butter to come, and the coffee and hot milk,’ said the woman,
busily setting everything out. ‘And if you want any more bacon and eggs, just
ring the bell.’
‘Too
good to be true!’ said Dick, looking at the table. ‘For goodness’ sake, help
yourselves quickly, girls, or I shall forget my manners and grab.’
It
was a wonderful breakfast - extra wonderful because they were all so ravenously
hungry. There wasn’t a word said as they spooned up their porridge and cream,
sweetened with golden syrup. Timmy had a dishful too - he loved porridge,
though he didn’t like the syrup - it made his whiskers sticky!
‘I
feel better,’ said Anne, looking at the porridge dish. ‘The thing is - shall I
have some more porridge and risk not enjoying my bacon and eggs so much - or
shall I go straight on with bacon and eggs?’
‘A
difficult question,’ said Dick. ‘And one that I am faced with too. On the whole
I think I’ll go on with bacon and eggs - we can always have more of those if we
want to - and those little mushrooms really do make my mouth water! Aren’t we
greedy? But how can anyone help that when they’re so hungry?’
‘You
haven’t told us a single word of what happened to you last night,’ said Julian,
serving out the bacon and eggs with a generous hand. ‘Now that you’ve got
something inside you, perhaps you feel able to tell us exactly why you ignored
my instructions and didn’t arrive where you were supposed to last night.’
‘You
sound like our headmaster at school!’ said Dick. ‘The plain fact is - we got
lost! And when we did finally arrive somewhere, we thought it was Blue Pond
Farm-house, and we stayed the night there.’
‘I
see,’ said Julian, ‘But didn’t the people there tell you it wasn’t the right
place? Just so that you could have let us know? You must have known that we
would worry about you.’
‘Well,
the old woman there was stone-deaf,’ explained Anne, attacking her bacon and
eggs vigorously. ‘She didn’t understand a word we said, and as we thought it
was Blue Pond Farm-house, we stayed there - though it was a horrible place. And
we were worried because you didn’t arrive!’
‘A
chapter of accidents,’ said Julian. ‘All’s well that ends well, however.’
‘Don’t
sound so pompous!’ said Dick. ‘Actually we had a pretty poor time, Ju. Poor
Anne had to sleep in a little loft, and I slept in straw in a barn - not that I
minded that - but - well, peculiar things happened in the night. At least - I
think they did. I’m not really sure it wasn’t all a dream.’
‘What
peculiar things?’ asked Julian at once.
‘Well
- I think perhaps I’ll tell you when we’re on our way again,’ said Dick. ‘Now I
think about it in full daylight I feel that either it was all a silly dream -
or - well, as I said - something very peculiar.’
‘You
never told me, Dick!’ said Anne, in surprise.
‘Well,
to tell you the truth I forgot about it because other things happened,’ said
Dick. ‘Having to get away from that man, for instance - and wondering about
Julian and George - and feeling so hungry.’
‘You
don’t sound as if you had a good night at all,’ said George. ‘It must have been
awful, too, trying to find your way in the dark. It poured with rain, didn’t
it?’
‘Yes,’
said Anne, ‘but oh - the thing that frightened me more than anything was the
bells! Did you hear them Julian? They suddenly clanged out, and they made me
terribly scared. I couldn’t think what they were! Whatever were they ringing
out for? They were so loud.’
‘Didn’t
you know what they were ringing for?’ said Julian. ‘They were bells rung from
the prison that nice old woman told us about - they were rung to tell everyone
on the countryside that a prisoner had escaped! Lock your doors. Guard your
folk.’
Anne
stared at Julian in silence. So that was why the bells had made such a clamour
and clangour. She shivered.
‘I’m
glad I didn’t know that,’ she said. ‘I would have slept in the straw with Dick
if I’d known there was an escaped prisoner. Have they caught him?’
‘I
don’t know,’ said Julian. ‘We’ll ask the inn-woman when she comes.’
They
asked her, and she shook her head. ‘No. He’s not caught yet. But he will be. All
the roads from the moor are guarded and everyone is on the watch. He was a
robber who broke into houses and attacked anyone who tried to prevent him. A
dangerous fellow.’
‘Julian
- is it all right to go hiking on the moors if there’s an escaped prisoner
about?’ said Anne. ‘I shan’t feel very comfortable.’
‘We’ve
got Timmy,’ said Julian. ‘He would be strong enough to protect us from three
prisoners if necessary! You needn’t worry.’
‘Woof,’
agreed Timmy, at once, and thumped his tail on the floor.
At
last everyone had finished breakfast. Even starving Anne couldn’t manage the
last bit of toast. She sighed happily, ‘I feel myself again,’ she announced. ‘I
can’t say I feel very much like walking - but I know it would be good for me
after that enormous meal.’
‘Good
or not, we’re going on our way,’ said Julian, getting up. ‘I’ll buy some
sandwiches first.’
The
inn-woman was delighted with their hearty praises. She gave them some packets
of sandwiches and waved good-bye. ‘You come again whenever you can,’ she said.
‘I’ll always have something nice for you.’
The
four went down the street and took a lane at the bottom. It wound about for a
short way and then came into a valley. A stream ran down the middle of the
valley. The children could hear it gurgling from where they stood.
‘Lovely!’
said Anne. ‘Are we going along by the stream? I’d like to.’
Julian
looked at his map. ‘Yes - we could,’ he said. ‘I’ve marked the path to follow,
and the stream joins it some way on. So if you like we could go along by it,
though it will be very rough walking.’
They
made their way to the stream. ‘Now Dick,’ said Julian, when they had left the
path. ‘What about telling us all those peculiar things that happened in the
night? There’s nobody about to hear - not a soul in sight. Let’s hear
everything. We’ll soon tell you whether it was a dream or not.’
‘Right,’
said Dick, ‘Well, here’s the tale. It does sound pretty queer. Listen...’
Chapter
Nine
DICK
SURPRISES THE OTHERS
Dick
began his tale - but it really was very difficult to hear it because they
couldn’t walk four abreast, as there was no path to follow.
In
the end Julian stopped and pointed to a thick clump of heather. ‘Let’s go and
sit there and hear Dick’s story properly. I keep missing bits. No one can hear us
if we sit here.’
They
sat down and Dick started again. He told about the old woman who was afraid her
son would be angry if she let them stay the night. He told about his bed in the
straw.
‘And
now here comes the bit I think must have been a dream,’ he said. ‘I woke up to
hear a scratching noise on the wooden walls of the barn...’
‘Rats
or mice?’ said George, and Timmy leapt up at once, of course. He was sure she
had said the words to him!
‘I
thought that too,’ said Dick. ‘But then I heard a gentle tap-tap-tapping on the
window.’
‘How
horrid,’ said Anne. ‘I shouldn’t have liked that at all.’
‘Neither
did I,’ said Dick, ‘But the next thing I heard was my name being called! “Dick!
Dick!” Just like that.’
‘It
must have been a dream then,’ said Anne. 'There was no one there who knew your
name.’
Dick
went on. ‘Well, then the voice said - “Dick! I know you’re there, I saw you go
in!” And it told me to go to the window,’
‘Go
on,’ said Julian. He was puzzled. No one in the world but Anne could have known
that Dick was in the barn - and it certainly wasn’t Anne out there in the
night!
‘Well,
I went to the window,’ said Dick, ‘and I saw, rather dimly, of course, a
wild-eyed looking fellow, He couldn’t see me in the darkness of the barn. I
just mumbled, “I’m here,” hoping he would think I was whoever he wanted.’
‘What
did he say next?’ asked George.
‘He
said something that sounded stuff and nonsense,’ said Dick, ‘He said it twice.
It was “Two-Trees. Gloomy Water. Saucy Jane.” And he said “Maggie knows.” Just
like that!’
There
was a silence. Then George laughed. ‘Two-Trees! Gloomy Water! Saucy Jane - and
Maggie knows about it! Well, it must have been a dream, Dick! You know it must.
What do you think, Julian?’
‘Well
- it does sound a bit nonsensical to have someone come in the middle of the
night and call Dick by name and give him a strange message that doesn’t mean a
thing to him!’ said Julian. ‘It sounds more dream-like than real. I’d say it
was a dream too.’
Dick
began to think they were right - and then a sudden thought struck him. He sat
up straight. ‘Wait a bit!’ he said ‘I’ve remembered something! The man slipped
a bit of paper through the broken pane of the window, and I picked it up!’
‘Ah
- that’s different,’ said Julian. ‘Now - if you can’t find that paper, it’s all
a dream and you dreamt the paper too - but if you can fmd it, well the whole
thing is true. Very peculiar indeed - but true.’
Dick
searched quickly in his pockets, He felt paper in one of them, and drew it out.
It was a dirty, crumpled piece, with a few words on it and a few lines. He held
it out to the others in silence, his eyes shining.
‘Is
this the paper?’ asked Julian. ‘My word - so you didn’t dream it after all,
then!’
He
took the paper. Four heads bent over it to examine it. No, five - because Timmy
wanted to see what they were all so interested in, He thrust his hairy head
between Julian’s and Dick’s.
‘I
can’t make any sense of this paper,’ said Julian, ‘It’s a plan of some kind, I
think - but what of, or where, it’s impossible to know.’
‘The
fellow said that Maggie had one of these bits of paper too,’ said Dick,
remembering.
‘Who
in the wide world is Maggie?’ said George, ‘And why should Maggie know?’
‘Any
more to tell?’ asked Julian, intensely interested now.
‘Well
- the son of the deaf old woman came into the barn later on,’ said Dick. ‘And
he sat and waited and waited, and muttered and muttered - and then when I woke
up he wasn’t there. So I thought I must have dreamt him too. He didn’t see me,
of course.’
Julian
pursed up his lips and frowned. Then Anne spoke excitedly.
‘Dick!
Ju! I think I know why the second man came into the barn. It was the second man
that the wild-eyed man wanted to give the message to, and the bit of paper -
not to Dick. He didn’t want Dick. But he had seen him creep into the barn, and
I suppose he thought Dick was the man he really wanted and that he was in the
barn waiting for him!’
‘That’s
all very well - but how did he know my name?’ asked Dick,
‘He
didn’t know it! He didn’t know it was you at all!’ said Anne, excitedly. ‘The
other man’s name must have been Dick too! Don’t you see? They must have planned
to meet there, the wild-eyed man and the old woman’s son - and the first man
saw Dick go in, so he waited a bit and then went and tapped on the window! And
when he called “Dick! Dick!” of course Dick thought it was he that he wanted,
and he took the message and everything! And then the other man, the real Dick
came along - and was too late to meet the first one. Our Dick had met him and
got the message!’
Anne
was quite breathless after this long speech. She sat and stared at the others
eagerly. Didn’t they think she was right?
They
did, of course. Julian clapped her on the back. ‘Well worked out, Anne! Of
course that’s what happened.’
Dick
suddenly remembered the boy they had met on the way down from the old woman’s
cottage to Beacons Village - the whistling boy. What had he said about the old
woman and her son?
‘Anne
- what did that whistling boy say? Wait a bit - he said that was Mrs. Taggart’s
place - and he said we’d better not go there or her son would drive us off. And
he said - yes, I remember now - he said “Dirty Dick we call him - he’s a
terror!” Dirty Dick! His name must be Dick then! Why didn’t I think of it
before?’
‘That
proves that Anne is right,’ said Julian, pleased. Anne looked pleased too. It
wasn’t often that she thought of something clever before the others did!
They
all sat thinking. ‘Would this have anything to do with the escaped prisoner?’
said George at last.
‘It
might,’ said Julian. ‘He might have been the prisoner himself, that fellow who
came with the message. Did he say who the message was from?’
‘Yes,’
said Dick, trying to remember, ‘He said it was from Nailer. I think that was
the name - but it was all given in whispers, you know.’
‘A
message from Nailer,’ said Julian. ‘Well - perhaps Nailer is in prison - a
friend of the man who escaped. And maybe when he knew this fellow was going to
make a dash for it, he gave him a message for someone - the man at that old
cottage, son of the old woman. They may have had a prearranged plan.’
‘How
do you mean?’ asked Dick, looking puzzled.
‘Well
- the old woman’s son, Dirty Dick, may have known that when the bells rang out,
this fellow was making a run for it - and would come to bring him a message. He
was to wait in the barn at night if the bells rang, just in case it was
Nailer’s friend who had escaped.’
‘Yes,
I see,’ said Dick ‘I think you’re right. Yes, I’m sure you are. My word, I’m
glad I didn’t know that fellow at the window was an escaped convict!’
‘And
you’ve got the message from Nailer!’ said Anne. ‘What a peculiar thing! Just
because we lost our way and went to the wrong place, you get a message from a
prisoner given you by one who’s escaped! It’s a pity we don’t know what the
message means - or the paper either.’
‘Had
we better tell the police?’ said George. ‘I mean - it may be important. It
might help them to catch that man.’
‘Yes,’
said Julian. ‘I think we should tell the police. Let’s have a look at our map.
Where’s the next village?’
He
looked at the map for a minute. ‘I think really we might as well go on with
what I had planned,’ he said. ‘I planned we should reach this village here -
Reebles, look - in time for lunch, in case we hadn’t got sandwiches. We’d have
gone there for drinks anyway. So I vote we just carry on with our ramble, and
call in at Reebles police station - if there is one - and tell them our bit of
news.’
They
all got up. Timmy was glad. He didn’t approve of this long sit-down so soon after
breakfast. He bounded ahead in delight.
‘His
leg’s quite all right,’ said Anne, pleased. ‘Well I hope it teaches him not to
go down rabbit holes again!’
It
didn’t, of course. He had his head down half a dozen within the next half-hour,
but fortunately he could get no farther, and he was able to pull himself out
quite easily.
The
four saw little wild ponies that day. They came trotting over a hillock
together, small and brown, with long manes and tails, looking very busy indeed.
The children stopped in delight. The ponies saw them, tossed their pretty
heads, turned one way all together and galloped off like the wind.
Timmy
wanted to go after them, but George held his collar tightly. No one must chase
those dear little wild ponies!
‘Lovely!’
said Anne. ‘Lovely to meet them as suddenly as that. I hope we meet some more.’
The
morning was as warm and sunny as the day before. Once again the four of them
had to take off their blazers, and Timmy’s tongue hung out, wet and dripping.
The heather and wiry grass was soft underfoot. They followed the stream
closely, liking its brown colour and its soft gurgling voice.
They
bathed their hot feet in it as they ate one of their sandwiches at half past
eleven. ‘This is bliss!’ said George, lying back on a tuft of heather with her
feet lapped by the water. ‘The stream is tickling my feet, and the sun is
warming my face - lovely!  Breathing down my
neck like that, and making my face so wet!’
The
stream at last joined the path that led to the village of Reebles. They walked
along it, beginning to think of dinner. It would be fun to have it in a little
inn or perhaps a farm-house, and keep their sandwiches for tea-time.
‘But
first we must find the police-station,’ said Julian. ‘We’ll get our tale told,
and then we’ll be ready for our meal!’
Chapter
Ten
AN
ANGRY POLICEMAN AND A FINE LUNCH
There
was a police-station at Reebles, a small one with a house for the policeman
attached. As the one policeman had four villages under his control he felt
himself to be rather an important fellow.
He
was in his house having his dinner when the children walked up to the
police-station. They found nobody there, and walked out again. The policeman
had seen them from his window and he came out, wiping his mouth. He wasn’t very
pleased at having to come out in the middle of a nice meal of sausage and
onions.
‘What
do you want?’ he said, suspiciously. He didn’t like children of any sort.  He didn’t
know which were worse, the small ones or the big ones!
Julian
spoke to him politely. ‘We’ve come to report something rather strange, which we
thought perhaps the police ought to know. It might help them to catch the
prisoner who escaped last night.’
‘Ha!’
said the policeman scornfully. ‘You’ve seen him too, I suppose? You wouldn’t
believe how many people have seen him. ’Cording to them he’s been in every part
of the moor at one and the same time. Clever fellow he must be to split himself
up like that.’
'Well,
one of us saw him last night,’ said Julian politely. ‘At least, we think it
must have been him. He gave a message to my brother here.’
‘Ho,
he did, did he?’ said the policeman, eyeing Dick in a most disbelieving manner.
‘So he runs about giving messages to school-boys, does he? And what message did
he give you, may I ask?’

‘Two-Trees. Gloomy Water, Saucy Jane. And Maggie knows.’
‘Really?’
said the policeman, in a sarcastic voice. ‘Maggie knows as well, does she?
Well, you tell Maggie to come along here and tell me too. I’d like to meet
Maggie - specially if she’s a friend of yours.’
‘She’s
not,’ said Dick feeling annoyed. ‘That was in the message. I don’t know who
Maggie is! How should I? We thought perhaps the police could unravel the
meaning. We couldn’t. The fellow gave me this bit of paper too.’
He
handed the piece of dirty paper to the policeman, who looked at it with a
crooked smile ‘So he gave you this too, did he?’ he said. ‘Now wasn’t that kind
of him? And what do you suppose all this is, scribbled on the paper?’
‘We
don’t know,’ said Dick. ‘But we thought our report might help the police to
catch the prisoner, that’s all.’
‘The
prisoner’s caught,’ said the policeman, with a smirk on his face. ‘You know so
much - but you didn’t know that! Yes, he’s caught - four hours ago - and he’s
safe back in prison now And let me tell you youngsters this - I’m not taken in
by any silly schoolboy spoofing, see?’
‘It’s
not spoofing,’ said Julian, in a very grown-up manner, ‘You should learn to see
the difference between the truth and a joke.’
That
didn’t please the policeman at all.  ‘I’m not having any cheek from you! Do you want me to
take your names and addresses and report you?’
‘If
you like,’ said Julian, in disgust. ‘Have you got a notebook there? I’ll give
you all our names, and I myself will make a report to the police in our district
when I get back.’
The
policeman stared at him. He couldn’t help being impressed by Julian’s manner,
and he calmed down a little.
‘You
go away, all of you,’ he said, his voice not nearly so fierce. ‘I shan’t report
you this time. But don’t you go spreading silly stories like that or you’ll get
into trouble. Serious trouble too.’
‘I
don’t think so,’ said Julian. ‘Anyway, seeing that you are not going to do
anything about our story, may we have back our bit of paper, please?’
The
policeman frowned. He made as if he would tear the paper up, but Dick snatched
at it. He was too late. The aggravating policeman had torn it into four pieces
and thrown it into the road!
‘Don’t
you have laws against scattering litter in your village?’ asked Dick, severely,
and carefully picked up the four pieces of paper. The policeman glared at Dick
as he put the bits into his pocket. Then he made a peculiar snorting noise,
turned on his heel and marched back to his sausages and onions.
‘And
I hope his dinner’s gone cold!’ said George. ‘Horrid fellow! Why should he
think we’re telling a lot of untruths?’
‘It
is rather a queer story of ours,’ said Julian, ‘After all - we found it a bit
dificult to believe when Dick first told it. I don’t blame the policeman for
disbelieving it - I blame him for his manner. It’s a good thing most of our
police aren’t the same. Nobody would ever report anything.’
‘He
told us one bit of good news, anyway,’ said Anne. ‘That escaped prisoner is
back in prison again! I’m so relieved to know that.’
‘I
am too,’ said Dick. ‘I didn’t like the look of him at all. Well, Ju - what do
we do now? Forget the whole business? Do you think there’s anything in that
message to follow up? And if so - can we do anything?’
‘I
don’t know,’ said Julian. ‘We must think a bit. Let’s go and see if we can
scrounge a meal in some farm-house somewhere. There seem to be plenty around.’
They
asked a little girl if there was a farm-house anywhere near that would give
them dinner. She nodded and pointed.
‘See
that farm-house up on the hill there? That’s my Gran’s place. She’ll give you
dinner, I expect. She used to give dinner in the summer to trippers, and I
expect she would give you some too, if you ask her, though it’s late in the
season.’
‘Thanks,’
said Julian, and they all went up the lane that curved round the hill-side.
Dogs barked loudly as they came near and Timmy’s hackles went up at once. He
growled.
‘Friends,
Timmy, friends,’ said George. ‘Dinner here, Timmy. Dinner, perhaps a nice bone
for you. Bone!’
Timmy
understood. The fur down his neck lay flat again and he stopped growling. He
wagged his tail at the two dogs near the farm-gate who sniffed his doggy-smell
suspiciously even when he was some distance away.
A
man hailed them. ‘What do you kids want? Mind those dogs!’
‘We
wondered if we could get a meal here!’ called back Julian. ‘A little girl down
in the village said we might.’
‘I’ll
ask my mother,’ said the man, and he yelled in an enormous voice to the
farm-house nearby. ‘Ma! Ma! Four kids out here want to know if you can give
them a meal.’

She took one glance at the four by the gate, and nodded her head, ‘Yes. They
look decent children. Tell them to come along in. Better hold their dog’s
collar though.’
The
four walked to the farm-house, George holding Timmy firmly. The other two dogs
came up, but as Timmy was hoping for a bone, he was determined to be friendly,
and not a single growl came from him, even when the two dogs growled
suspiciously. He wagged his tail, and let his tongue hang out.
The
other dogs soon wagged theirs, and then it was safe to let Timmy go. He bounded
over to them and there was a mad game of ‘chase-me-roll-me-over’ as George
called it.
‘Come
your ways in,’ said the plump old lady. ‘Now you’ll have to take what we’ve
got. I’m busy today and haven’t had time for cooking. You can have a bit of
home-made meat-pie, or a slice or two of ham and tongue, or hard-boiled eggs
and salad. Bless you, you look as pleased as Punch! I’ll put the lot on the
table for you and you can help yourselves! Will that do? There’s no vegetables
though. You’ll have to make do with pickled cabbage and my own pickled onions
and beetroot in vinegar.’
‘It
sounds too marvellous for words,’ said Julian. ‘We shan’t want any sweet after
that!’
‘There’s
no pudding today,’ said the old lady. ‘But I’ll open a bottle or two of our own
raspberries and you can have them with cream if you like. And there’s the cream
cheese I made yesterday too.’
‘Don’t
tell us any more!’ begged Dick. ‘It makes me feel too hungry. Why is it that
people on farms always have the most delicious food? I mean, surely people in
towns can bottle raspberries and pickle onions and make cream cheese?’
‘Well
either they can’t or they don’t,’ said George ‘My mother does all those things
- and even when she lived in a town she did. Anyway, I’m going to when I’m
grown-up. It must be so wonderful to offer home-made things by the score when
people come to a meal!’
It
was extraordinary to think that any children could possibly eat the meal the
four did, after having had such a huge breakfast. Timmy ate an enormous dinner
too, and then lay down with a sigh. How he wished he could live at that
farm-house! How lucky those other two dogs were!
A
small girl came in shyly as they ate. ‘I'm Meg,’ she said. ‘I live with my
Gran. What are your names?’
They
told her. Then Julian had an idea, ‘We’re walking over your moor,’ he said.
‘We’ve been to lots of nice places. But there’s one we haven’t been to yet. Do
you know it? It’s called Two- Trees.’
 ‘Gran would know,’ she said. ‘Gran! Where’s
Two-Trees?’
The
old lady looked in at the door, ‘What’s that? Two-Trees? Oh, that was a lovely
place once, but it’s all in ruins now. It was built beside a queer dark lake,
in the middle of the moors. Let’s see now - what was it called?’
‘Gloomy
Water?’ said Dick.
‘Yes!
That’s right. Gloomy Water,’ said the old lady. ‘Are you thinking of going by
there? You be careful then, there’s marshland around there, just when you least
expect it! Now - would you like anything more?’
‘No
thank you,’ said Julian, regretfully, and paid the very modest bill. ‘It’s the
nicest lunch we’ve ever had. Now we must be off.’
‘Off
to Two-Trees and Gloomy Water, I hope!’ George whispered to Dick. ‘That would
be really exciting.’
Chapter
Eleven
JULIAN’S
IDEA
Once
outside the farm-house Julian looked round at the others. ‘We’ll find out how
far Two-Trees is and see if we’ve got time to pay it a visit,’ he said. ‘If we
have, we’ll go along there and snoop round. If we haven’t we’ll go tomorrow.’
‘How
can we find out how far it is?’ said Dick eagerly. ‘Will it be on your map?’
‘It
may be marked there if the lake is big enough,’ said Julian. They walked down
the hill, and took a path that led once more over the moors. As soon as they
were out of sight and hearing of anyone Julian stopped and took out his big
map. He unfolded it and the four of them crouched over it as he spread it out on
the heather.
‘That
nice old lady said it was in the middle of the moors,’ said Julian. ‘Also we
know there’s a lake or at any rate a big pool of some kind.’
His
finger traced its way here and there on the map. Then George gave a cry and
dabbed her finger down.
‘There,
look! It’s not really in the middle. See - Gloomy Water! That must be it. Is
Two-Trees marked as well?’
‘No,’
said Julian, ‘But perhaps it wouldn’t be if it’s in ruins. Ruins aren’t marked
on maps unless they are important in some way. This can’t be important. Well -
that’s certainly Gloomy Water marked there. What do you say? Shall we have a
shot at going there this afternoon? I wonder exactly how far it is.’
‘We
could ask at the post-office,’ said George. ‘Probably once upon a time the
postman had to take letters there. They might know, They could tell us the way
to go.’
They
went back to the village and found the post-office. It was part of the village
store. The old man who kept it looked over the top of his glasses at the
children.
‘Gloomy
Water! Now what be you wanting that for? A real miserable place it is, for all
it was so fine years ago.’
‘What
happened to it?’ asked Dick,
‘It
was burnt,’ said the old man. ‘The owner was away, and only a couple of
servants were there. It flared up one night, no one knows how or why - and was
burnt almost to a shell.  There
was only a cart-track to the place.’
‘And
wasn’t it ever built up again?’ asked Julian. The old man shook his head.
‘No.
It wasn’t worth it, The owner just let it fall to rack and ruin. The jackdaws
and the owls nest there now, and the wild animals snuggle in the ruins.  I once went out to see it, hearing tales of lights being seen
there. But there was nothing to see but the shell of the place, and the dark
blue water. Ah, Gloomy Water’s a good name for that lake!’
‘Could
you tell us the way? And how long would it take us to get there?’ asked Julian.
‘What
for do you want to go and gaze at a poor old ruin?’ said the old man. ‘Or do
you want to bathe in the lake? Well, don’t you do so - it’s freezing cold!’
‘We
just thought we’d go and see Gloomy Water,’ said Julian. ‘Such a strange name.
Which is the way, did you say?’
‘I
didn’t say,’ said the old fellow. ‘But I will if so be you’re set on it.
Where’s your map? Is that one in your hand?’
Julian
spread it out. The old fellow took a pen from his waistcoat pocket and began to
trace a path over the moor. He put crosses here and there.
‘See
them crosses? They mark marshland. Don’t go treading there, or you’ll be up to
your knees in muddy water! You follow these paths I’ve inked in for you and
you’ll be all right. Keep your eyes open for deer - there’s plenty about those
parts, and pretty things they are too.’
‘Thank
you very much,’ said Julian, folding up the map. ‘How long would it take us to
get there from here?’
‘Matter
of two hours or more,’ said the old man. ‘Don’t you try to go this afternoon.
You’ll find yourselves in darkness coming back, and with them dangerous marshy
bits you’re in danger all the time!’
‘Right,’
said Julian. ‘Thanks very much. Er - we’re thinking of doing a bit of camping,
as the weather is so beautiful. I suppose you couldn’t hire us a groundsheet or
two and a few rugs?’
The
other three stared at him in astonishment. Camping out? Where? Why? What was
Julian thinking of all of a sudden?
Julian
winked at them. The old man was ferreting about in a cupboard. He pulled out
two large rubber ground-sheets and four old rugs. ‘Thought I had them
somewhere!’ he said. ‘Well, better you camping out in October than me! Be
careful you don’t catch your deaths of cold!’
‘Oh
thanks - just what we want,’ said Julian, pleased. ‘Roll them up, you others.
I’ll settle up for them.’
Dick,
Anne and George folded up the ground-sheets and the rugs in astonishment.
Surely - surely Julian wasn’t thinking of camping out by Gloomy Water? He must
think the message that Dick had been given was very important!
‘Julian!’
said Dick, as soon as they got outside. ‘What’s up? What’s all this for?’
Julian
looked a little sheepish. ‘Well - something suddenly came over me in the
store,’ he said. ‘I suddenly felt we ought to go to Gloomy Water and snoop
round. I felt excited somehow. And as we’ve got so little time this week-end I
thought if we took things and camped out in the ruin we might make more of our
few days.’
‘What
an idea!’ said George. ‘Not go on with our hiking, do you mean?’
‘Well,’
said Julian. ‘If we find nothing, we can go on with our hike, of course. But if
there’s anything interesting, it’s up to us to unearth it. I’m quite sure
there’s something up at Two-Trees.’
‘We
might meet Maggie there!’ said Anne, with a giggle.
‘We
might!’ said Julian. ‘I feel quite free to go and investigate on our own seeing
that we’ve made our report to the police, and it’s been turned down with scorn.
Somebody ought to follow up that message - besides Maggie!’
‘Dear
Maggie,’ said Dick. ‘I wonder who in the wide world she is!’
‘Somebody
worth watching if she’s the friend of convicts,’ said Julian, more soberly.
‘Look, this is what I thought we’d do - buy some extra food, and go along to
Gloomy Water this afternoon, arriving there before dark. We’ll find a good
place to shelter in - there must be some good spot in the old ruin - and get
heather or bracken for beds. Then tomorrow we can be up bright and early to
have a look round.’
‘It
sounds smashing,’ said Dick, pleased. ‘Sort of thing we like. What do you say,
Tim?’
‘Woof,’
said Tim, solemnly, bumping his tail to and fro across Dick’s legs.
‘And
if we find there’s absolutely nothing of interest, well, we can come back here
with the things we’ve borrowed, and go on with our hike,’ said Julian. ‘But
we’ll have to sleep the night there because it will be dark by the time we’ve
had a look round.’
They
bought some loaves of bread, some butter and potted meat, and a big fruit cake.
Also some more chocolate and some biscuits. Julian bought a bottle of orangeade
as well.
‘There’s
sure to be a well,’ he said. ‘Or a spring of some sort. We can dilute the
orangeade and drink it when we’re thirsty. Now I think we’re ready. Come on!’
They
couldn’t go as fast as usual because they were carrying so many things. Timmy
was the only one that ran as fast as ever - but then Timmy carried nothing but
himself!
It
was a really lovely walk over the moorlands. They climbed fairly high and had
wonderful views all over the autumn country-side. They saw wild ponies again,
in the distance this time, and a little herd of dappled deer, that sped away immediately,
Julian
was very careful to take the right paths - the ones traced so carefully on the
map by the old man in the post-office. ‘I expect he knew the way well because
he was once a postman and had to take letters to Two-Trees!’ said Dick, bending
over the map. ‘We’re getting on, Ju - halfway there!’
The
sun began to sink low. The children hurried as much as they could because once
the sun had gone darkness would soon come. Fortunately the sky was very clear,
so twilight would be later than it had been the night before.
‘It
looks as if the moorland near here gives way soon to a little bit of wooded
country, according to the map,’ said Julian. ‘We’ll look out for clumps of
trees.’
After
another little stretch of moorland Julian pointed to the right. ‘Look!’ he
said. ‘Trees! Quite a lot - a proper little wood.’
‘And
isn’t that water over there?’ said Anne. They stood still and gazed hard. Was
it Gloomy Water? It might be. It looked such a dark blue, They hurried on
eagerly. It didn’t look very far now. Timmy ran ahead, his long tail waving in
the air.
They
went down a little winding path and joined a cart-track that was very much
overgrown - so overgrown that it hardly looked like a track. ‘This must lead to
Two-Trees,’ said Julian. ‘I wish the sun wasn’t going down so quickly. We’ll
hardly have any time to look round!’
They
entered a wood. The track wound through it. The trees must have been cleared at
some time to make a road through the wood. And then, quite suddenly, they came
on what had once been the lovely house of Two-Trees.
It
was a desolate ruin, blackened and scorched with fire. The windows had no
glass, the roof had gone, except for a few rafters here and there. Two birds
flew up with a loud cry as the children went near.
‘Two
Maggies!’ said Anne, with a laugh. They were black and white magpies, their
long tails stretched out behind them. ‘I wonder if they know the message too.’
The
house stood on the edge of the lake. Gloomy Water was indeed a good name for
it. It lay there, smooth and dark, a curious deep blue. No little waves lapped
the edge. It was as still as if it were frozen.
‘I
don’t like it,’ said Anne. ‘I don’t like this place at all! I wish we hadn’t
come!’
Chapter
Twelve
A
HIDING PLACE AT TWO-TREES
Nobody
particularly liked the place. They all stared round and Julian pointed silently
to something. At each end of the house was the great burnt trunk of a big tree.
‘Those
must be the two trees that gave the place its name,’ said Julian. ‘How horrid
they look now, so stiff and black. Two-Trees and Gloomy Water - all so lonely
and desolate now.’
The
sun disappeared and a little chill came on the air. Julian suddenly became very
busy. ‘Come on - we must see if there’s anywhere to shelter at all in this old
ruin!’
They
went to the silent house. The upper floors were all burnt out. The ground floor
was pretty bad too, but Julian thought it might be possible to find a sheltered
corner.
‘This
might do,’ he said, coming out of a blackened room and beckoning the others to
him. ‘There is even a mouldy carpet still on the floor! And there’s a big
table. We could sleep under it if it rained - which I don’t think it will do!’
‘What
a horrid room!’ said Anne, looking round. ‘I don’t like its smell, either. I
don’t want to sleep here.’
‘Well,
find somewhere else then, but be quick about it,’ said Julian. ‘It will soon be
dark. I’m going to collect heather and bracken straight away, before it’s too
dark. Coming, Dick and George?’
The
three of them went off and came back with vast armfuls of heather and brown
bracken. Anne met them, looking excited.
‘I’ve
found somewhere. Somewhere much better than this horrid room. Come and look.’
She
took them to what once had been the kitchen. A door lay flat on the floor at
the end of the room, and a stone staivvay led downwards.
‘That
leads down to the cellars,’ said Anne. ‘I came in here and saw that door. It
was locked and I couldn’t open it. Well, I tugged and tugged and the whole door
came off its rusty old hinges and tumbled down almost on top of me! And I saw
there were cellars down there!’
She
stared at Julian beseechingly. ‘They’ll be dry. They won’t be burnt and black
like everywhere else. We’ll be well-sheltered. Can’t we sleep down there? I
don’t like the feel of these horrid burnt rooms.’
‘It’s
an idea,’ said Julian, He switched on his torch and let the beam light up the
cellar below. It seemed spacious and smelt all right.
He
went down the steps, Timmy just in front. He called up in surprise.
‘There’s
a proper room down here, as well as cellars all round. Maybe it was a kind of
sitting-room for the staff. It’s wired for electricity too - they must have had
their own electricity generator. Yes - we’ll certainly come down here.’
 Moth-eaten carpets were on the floor, and the
furnishings were moth-eaten too and covered with dust. Spiders had been at work
and George slashed fiercely at the long cobwebs that hung down and startled her
by touching her face.
‘There
are still candles in the candle-sticks on this shelf!’ said Dick, surprised.
‘We can light them and have a bit of brightness when it’s dark. This isn’t bad
at all. I must say I agree with Anne. There’s something hateful about those
burnt-out rooms.’
They
piled heather and bracken into the cellar room on the floor. The furniture was
so old and moth-eaten that it gave beneath their weight, and was useless for
sitting on. The table was all right though, They soon set out their food on it
after George had wiped it free of dust. She caused them all to have fits of
choking because she was so vigorous in her dusting! They were driven up into
the kitchen till the dust had settled.
It
was dark outside now. The moon was not yet up. The wind rustled the dry leaves
left on the trees around, but there was no lap-lap of water. The lake was as
still as glass.
There
was a cupboard in the cellar room. Julian opened it to see what was there.
‘More candles - good!’ he said, bringing out a bundle. ‘And plates and cups.
Did anyone see a well outside? If so we could dilute some orangeade and have a
drink with our supper.’
No
one had noticed a well - but Anne suddenly remembered something queer she had
seen in a corner of the kitchen, near the sink.
‘I
believe I saw a pump up there!’ she said. ‘Go and see, Ju. If so, it might
still work.’
He
went up the cellar-steps with a candle. Yes - Anne was right. That was an old
pump over there in the corner. It probably pumped water into a tank and came
out of the kitchen taps.
He
turned on a big tap which was over the large sink. Then he took the handle of
the pump and worked it vigorously up and down. Splash! Splash! Water came
flooding through the big tap and splashed into the sink! That was good.
Julian
pumped and pumped, feeling that he had better get rid of any water running into
the tank for the first time for years. The tank might be dirty or rusty - he
must wash it round with a good deal of pumped water first.
The
water seemed to be clean and clear, and was certainly as cold as ice! Julian
held a cup from the cellar cupboard under the tap, and then tasted the water.
It was delicious.
‘Good
for you, Anne!’ he called, going down the cellar-steps with a cupful of water.
‘Dick, you find some more cups - or a jug or something in that cupboard, and
we’ll wash them out and fill them with water for our orangeade.’
The
cellar room looked very cheerful as Julian came down the steps. George and Anne
had lighted six more candles, and stuck them about here and there. The light
they gave was very pleasant, and they also warmed the room a little.
‘Well,
I suppose as usual, everyone wants a meal?’ said Julian. ‘Good thing we bought
that bread and potted meat and stuff. I can’t say I’m as hungry as I was at
breakfast, but I’m getting that way.’
The
four squatted round on their beds of heather and bracken. They had put down
their ground-sheets first in case the floor was damp, though it didn’t seem to
be. Over bread and butter and potted meat they discussed their plans. They
would sleep there for the night and then have all the next day to examine
Two-Trees and the lake.
‘What
exactly are we looking for?’ asked Anne. ‘Do you suppose there’s some secret
here, Julian?’
‘Yes,’
said Julian. ‘And I think I know what it is!’
‘What?’
asked George and Anne, surprised. Dick thought he knew. Julian explained.
‘Well,
we know that a prisoner called Nailer sent an important message by his escaped
friend to two people - one he wanted to send to Dirty Dick - but he didn’t get
it - and the other to Maggie, whoever she is. Now what secret does he want to
tell them?’
‘I
think I can guess,’ said Dick. ‘But go on.’
‘Now
suppose that Nailer has done some big robberies,’ said Julian. ‘I don’t know
what. Jewellery robberies probably, because they are the commonest with big
criminals. All right - he does a big robbery - he hides the stuff till he hopes
the hue and cry will be over - but he’s caught and put into prison for a number
of years. But he doesn’t tell where the stuff is hidden! He daren’t even write
a letter to tell his friends outside the prison where it is. All his letters
are read before they leave the prison, So what is he to do?’
‘Wait
till someone escapes and then give him a message,’ said Dick. ‘And that’s just
what happened, isn’t it, Julian? That round-headed man I saw was the escaped
prisoner, and he was sent to tell Dirty Dick and Maggie where the stolen goods
were hidden - so that they could get them before anyone else did!’
‘Yes.
I’m sure that’s it,’ said Julian, ‘His friend, the escaped prisoner, probably
wouldn’t understand the message at all - but Dirty Dick and Maggie would,
because they knew all about the robbery. And now Maggie will certainly try to
find out where the stuff is.’
‘Well,
we must find it first!’ said George, her eyes gleaming with excitement. ‘We’re
here first, anyway. And tomorrow, as early as possible we’ll begin to snoop
round. What was the next clue in the message, Dick? After Two-Trees and Gloomy
Water.’
‘Saucy
Jane,’ said Dick.
‘Sounds
a silly sort of clue,’ said Anne. ‘Do you suppose Maggie and Jane are both in
the secret?’
'Saucy
Jane sounds more like a boat to me,’ said Dick.
'Of
course!’ said George. ‘A boat! Why not? There’s a lake here, and I imagine that
people don’t build a house beside a lake unless they want to go boating and
bathing and fishing. I bet we shall find a boat called Saucy Jane tomorrow -
and the stolen goods will be inside it.’
‘Too
easy!’ said Dick. ‘And not a very clever place either. Anyone could come across
goods hidden in a boat. No - Saucy Jane is a clue, but we shan’t find the stolen
goods in her. And remember, there’s that bit of paper as well It must have
something to do with the hiding-place too, I should think.’
‘Where
is it?’ asked Julian. ‘That wretched policeman! He tore it up. Have you still
got the pieces, Dick?’
‘Of
course,’ said Dick. He fished in his pocket and brought them out. ‘Four little
pieces! Anyone got some gummed paper?’
Nobody
had - but George produced a small roll of Elastoplast. Strips were cut and
stuck behind the four portions of paper, Now it was whole again. They all
examined it carefully.
‘Look
- four lines drawn, meeting in the centre,’ said Julian. ‘At the outer end of
each line there’s a word, so faintly written I can hardly read one of them.
What’s this one? “Tock Hill.” And this next one is “Steeple”. Whatever are the
others?’
They
made them out at last. ‘ “Chimney,” ’ said Anne. ‘That’s the third.’
‘And
“Tall Stone” is the fourth,’ said George. ‘Whatever do they all mean? We shall
never, never find out!’
‘We’ll
sleep on it,’ said Julian, cheerfully. ‘It’s wonderful what good ideas come in
the night. It will be a very interesting little problem to solve tomorrow!’
Chapter
Thirteen
A
NIGHT IN THE CELLAR
The
piece of paper was carefully folded and this time Julian took it for safe keeping.
‘I can’t imagine what it means, but it’s clearly important,’ he said. ‘We may
quite suddenly come on something - or think of something - that will give us a
clue to what the words and the lines mean on the paper.’
‘We
mustn’t forget that dear Maggie has a copy of the paper too,’ said Dick. ‘She
probably knows better than we do what it all means!’
‘If
she does, she will pay a visit to Two-Trees too,’ said Anne ‘We ought to keep a
look-out for her. Should we have to hide if we saw her?’
Julian
considered this. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I certainly don’t think we should hide. Maggie
can’t possibly guess that we have had the message from Nailer, and the paper
too, We had better just say we are on a hike and found this place and thought
we would shelter here. All perfectly true.’
‘And
we can keep an eye on her, and see what she does if she comes!’ said Dick, with
a grin. ‘Won’t she be annoyed!’
‘She
wouldn’t come alone,’ said Julian, thoughtfully.
‘I
should think it quite likely that she would come with Dirty Dick! He didn’t get
the message, but she did - and probably part of her message was the statement
that Dirty Dick would know everything too. So she would get in touch with him.’
‘Yes
- and be surprised that he hadn’t got the message or the paper,’ said George,
‘Still, they’d think that the escaped fellow hadn’t been able to get to Dirty
Dick.’
‘All
very complicated,’ said Anne, yawning. ‘I can’t follow any more arguments and
explanations - I’m half asleep. How long are you going to be before you settle
down?’
Dick
yawned too. ‘I’m coming now,’ he said. ‘My bed of bracken and heather looks
inviting. It’s not at all cold in here, is it?’
‘The
only thing I don’t like is the thought of those cellars beyond this little
underground room,’ said Anne. ‘I keep thinking that Maggie and her friends
might be there, waiting to pounce on us when we are asleep.’,
‘You’re
silly,’ said George, scornfully. ‘Really silly! Do you honestly suppose that
Timmy would lie here quietly if there was anyone in those cellars? You know
jolly well he would be barking his head off!’
‘Yes.
I know all that,’ said Anne, snuggling down in her heathery bed. ‘It’s just my
imagination. You haven’t got any, George, so you don’t bother about imaginary
fears. I’m not really scared while Timmy is here. But I do think it’s funny the
way we always plunge into something peculiar when we’re together.’
‘Adventures
always do come to some people,’ said Dick. ‘You’ve only got to read the lives
of explorers and see how they simply walk into adventures all the time.’
‘Yes,
but I’m not an explorer,’ said Anne. ‘I’m an ordinary person, and I’d be just
as pleased if things didn’t keep happening to me.’
The
others laughed, ‘I don’t expect anything much will happen this time,’ said
Julian, comfortingly. ‘We go back to school on Tuesday and that’s not far off.
Not much time for anything to happen!’
He
was wrong of course. Things can happen one after the other in a few minutes!
Still, Anne cuddled down feeling happier. This was better than last night when
she was all alone in that horrid little loft. Now she had all the others with
her, Timmy too.
Anne
and George had one big bed between them. They drew their two rugs over
themselves, and put their blazers on top too. Nobody had undressed because
Julian had said that they might be too cold in just their night things.
Timmy
as usual put himself on George’s feet, She moved them because he was heavy. He
wormed his way up the bed and found a very comfortable place between the knees
of the two girls. He gave a heavy sigh.
‘That
means he’s planning to go to sleep!’ said George. ‘Are you quite comfortable,
Anne?’
‘Yes,’
said Anne, sleepily. ‘I like Timmy there. I feel safe!’
Julian
was blowing out the candles. He left just one burning. Then he got into his bed
of bracken and heather beside Dick. He felt tired too.
The
four slept like logs. Nobody moved except Timmy, who got up once or twice in
the night and sniffed round inquiringly. He had heard a noise in the cellars.
He stood at the closed door that led to the cellars and listened, his head on
one side.
He
sniffed at the crack. Then he went back to bed, satisfied. It was only a toad!
Timmy knew the smell of toads. If toads liked to crawl about in the night, they
were welcome to!
The
second time he awoke he thought he heard something up in the kitchen above. He
padded up the steps, his paws making a click-click-click as he went. He stood
in the kitchen silently, his eyes gleaming like green lamps, as the moon shone
on him.
An
animal with a long bushy tail began to slink away outside the house. It was a
fine fox. It had smelt unusual smells near the old ruin - the scent of people
and of a dog, and it had come to find out what was happening.
It
had slunk into the kitchen and then smelt the strong scent of Timmy in the room
below. As quietly as a cat it had slunk out again - but Timmy had awakened!
Now
the dog stood watching and waiting - but the fox had gone! Timmy sniffed its
scent and padded to the door. He debated whether to bark and go after the fox.
The
scent grew very faint, and Timmy decided not to make a fuss. He padded back to
the steps that led down to the cellar room, and curled up on George’s feet
again. He was very heavy, but George was too tired to wake up and push him off.
Timmy lay with one ear cocked for a while, and then went to sleep again, with
his ear still cocked. He was a good sentinel!
It
was dark in the cellar when the one candle went out. There was no daylight or
sunshine to wake the children down in that dim little room, and they slept
late.
Julian
woke up first. He found his bed suddenly very hard, and he turned over to find
a comfortable place. The heather and bracken had been flattened with his
weight, and the floor below was very hard indeed! The movement woke him up, and
he lay blinking in the darkness. Where was he?
He
remembered at once and sat up. Dick woke too and yawned. ‘Dick! It’s half-past
eight! !’ said Julian, looking at the luminous hands of his wrist-watch. ‘We’ve
slept for hours and hours!’
They
rolled out of their heathery bed. Timmy leapt off George’s feet and came over
to them, his tail wagging gladly. He had been half-awake for a long time and
was very glad to see Julian and Dick awake too, because he was thirsty.
The
girls awoke - and soon there was a great deal of noise and activity going on.
Anne and George washed at the big stone sink, the cold water making them
squeal. Timmy lapped up a big bowlful of water gladly. The boys debated whether
or not to have a splash in the lake. They felt very dirty.
Dick
shivered at the thought. ‘Still, I think we ought to,’ he said ‘Come on, Ju!’
The
two boys went down to the lake-side and leapt in. It was icy-cold! They struck
out strongly and came back glowing and shouting.
By
the time they were back the girls had got breakfast in the cellar room. It was
darker than the kitchen, but all of them disliked the look of the burnt,
scorched rooms above. The bread and butter, potted meat, cake and chocolate
went down well.
In
the middle of the meal a sound came echoing into the old house - bells! Anne
stopped eating, and her heart beat fast.
But
they were not the clanging warning bells she had heard before!
‘Church
bells,’ said Julian at once, seeing Anne’s sudden look of fright. ‘Lovely sound
I always think!’
‘Oh
yes,’ said Anne, thankfully. ‘So it is. It’s Sunday and people are going to
church. I’d like to go too, on this lovely sunny October day.’
‘We
might walk across the moor to the nearest village if you like,’ said Dick,
looking at his watch, ‘But we should be very late.’
It
was decided that it was much too late. They pushed their plates aside and
planned what to do that day.
‘The
first thing, of course, is to see if there’s a boathouse and find out if
there’s a boat called Saucy Jane,’ said Julian. ‘Then we’d better try and puzzle
out what that plan means. We could wander here and there and see if we can find
Tall Stone - and I’ll look at the map to see if Tock Hill is marked. That was
on the plan too, wasn’t it?’
‘You
boys go and get some more heather and bracken while we clear away and wash up,’
said Anne. ‘That is if you mean us to camp here another night.’
‘Yes.
I think we will,’ said Julian. ‘I think we may find things rather interesting
here this week-end!’
Julian
went out with Dick and they brought in a great deal more bedding. Everyone had
complained that the hard floor came through the amount of heather and bracken
they had used the night before, and poor George was quite stiff.
The
girls took the dirty things up to the big sink to wash them. There was nothing
to dry them with but that didn’t matter. They laid them on the old worn
draining board to dry.
They
wiped their hands on their hankies and then felt ready for exploring round
outside. The boys were ready too.
With
Timmy bounding here and there they went down to the lake. A path had once led
down to it, with a low wall on each side. But now the wall was broken, moss had
crept everywhere, and the path was choked with tufts of heather and even with
small bushes of gorse.
The
lake was as still and dark as ever. Some moor-hens chugged across it quickly,
disappearing under the water when they saw the children.
‘Now,
what about that boat-house?’ said Dick at last. ‘Is there one - or not?’
Chapter
Fourteen
WHERE
IS THE ‘SAUCY JANE’?
They
walked beside the lake-side as best they could. It was difficult because bushes
and trees grew right down to the edge. It seemed as if there was no boat-house
at all.
And
then George came to a little backwater, leading off the lake. ‘Look!’ she
called. ‘Here’s a sort of river running from the lake.’
‘It’s
not a river. It’s only a little backwater,’ said Dick. ‘Now we may find a
boat-house somewhere here.’
They
followed the backwater a little way, and then Julian gave an exclamation.
‘There it is! But it’s so covered up with ivy and brambles that you can hardly
see it!’
They
all looked where he pointed. They saw a long low building built right across
the backwater, where it narrowed and came to an end. It was almost impossible
to tell that it was a building, it was so overgrown.
‘That’s
it!’ said Dick, pleased. ‘Now for the Saucy Jane!’
They
scrambled through bushes and brambles to get to the entrance of the building.
It had to be entered by the front, which was over the water and completely
open. A broad ledge ran right round the boat-house inside, and the steps that
went up to it from the bank outside were all broken away, completely rotted.
‘Have
to tread warily here,’ said Julian. ‘Let me go first.’
He
tried the old wooden steps, but they gave way beneath him at once. ‘Hopeless!’
he said. ‘Let’s see if there’s any other way into the boat-house.’
There
wasn’t - but at one side some of the wooden boards that made the wall of the
boat-house were so rotten that they could be pulled away to make an opening.
The boys pulled them down and then Julian squeezed through the opening into the
dark, musty
boat-house.
He
found himself on the broad ledge that went round the great shed. Below him was
the dark, quiet water with not even a ripple on it. He called to the others.
‘Come
along in! There’s a wooden ledge to stand on here, and it’s hardly rotted at
all. It must be made of better wood.’
They
all went through the opening and stood on the ledge, peering down. Their eyes
had to get used to the darkness at first, because the only light came through
the big entrance at the farther end - and that was obscured by big trails of
ivy and other creepers hanging down from roof to water.
‘There
are boats here!’ said Dick, excited. ‘Tied up to posts. Look - there’s one just
below us. Let’s hope one of them is the Saucy Jane!’
There
were three boats. Two of them were half full of water, and their bows were sunk
right down. ‘Must have got holes in them,’ said Julian, peering about. He had
got out his torch and was shining it all round the old boat-house.
Oars
were strung along the walls. Dirty, pulpy masses of something lay on the
shelves too - rotted cushions probably. A boat-hook stood in one corner. Ropes
were in coils on a shelf. It was a dreary desolate sight, and Anne didn’t like
the queer echoes of their voices in the damp-smelling, lonely boat-house.
‘Let’s
see if any of the boats are called Saucy Jane,’ said Dick. He flashed his torch
on to the nearest one. The name was almost gone.
‘What
is it?’ said Dick, trying to decipher the faded letters. ‘Merry something.’
‘Meg!’
said Anne. ‘Merry Meg. Well, she may be a sister of Saucy Jane. What’s the next
boat’s name?’
The
torch shone steadily on to it. The name there was easier to read. They all read
it at once.
‘Cheeky
Charlie!’
‘Brother
to Merry Meg!’ said Dick. ‘Well, all I can say is that these poor old boats
look anything but merry or cheeky.’
‘I’m
sure the last one must be Saucy Jane!’ said Anne, excited. ‘I do hope it is!’
They
went along the broad ledge and tried to read the name on the half-sunk boat
there. ‘It begins with C,’ said George, disappointed. ‘I’m sure it’s C,’
Julian
took out his handkerchief and dipped it in the water, He rubbed at the name to
try and clean it and make it clearer.
It
could be read then - but it wasn’t Saucy Jane!
‘Careful
Carrie!’ read the four, mournfully. ‘Blow!’
‘Merry
Meg, Cheerful Charlie, Careful Carrie,’ said Julian. ‘Well, it’s quite obvious
that Saucy Jane belongs to the family of boats here - but where oh where is
she?’
‘Sunk
out of sight?’ suggested Dick.
‘Don’t
think so,’ said Julian. ‘The water is pretty shallow in this boat-house - it’s
right at the very end of the little backwater, you see. I think we should be
able to spot a boat sunk to the bottom. We can see the sandy bottom of the
backwater quite clearly by the light of our torches.’
Just
to make quite sure they walked carefully all rouncl the broad wooden ledge and
flashed their torches on the water that filled the boat-house. There was no
completely sunken boat there at all.
‘Well,
that’s that,’ said Dick. ‘The Saucy Jane is gone. Where? Why? And when?’
They
flashed their torches round the walls of the boat-house once more. George’s eye
was caught by a large flat wooden thing standing upright on the ledge at one
side of the house.
‘What’s
that?’ she said. ‘Oh - a raft, isn’t it? That’s what those paddles are for,
then, that I saw on the shelf above.’
They
went and examined the raft. ‘Yes - and in quite good condition too,’ said
Julian. ‘It would be rather fun to see if it would carry us on the water.’
‘Ooooh
yes!’ said Anne, thrilled ‘That would be super. I always like rafts. I’d rather
try that raft than any of those boats.’
‘Well,
there’s only one boat that is possible to use,’ said Julian. ‘The others are
obviously no good - they must have big holes in to sink down like that.’
‘Hadn’t
we better look into them carefully just to make sure there’s no loot hidden
there?’ said Dick.
‘If
you like,’ said Julian. ‘But I think it’s Saucy Jane that’s got the loot -
otherwise why mention it by name in that message?’
Dick
felt that Julian was right. All the same he went to examine the three boats
most methodically. But except for rotted and burst cushions and coils of rope
there was nothing to be seen in the boats at all.
‘Well
- where’s the Saucy Jane?’ said Dick, puzzled. ‘All the family are here but
her. Can she be hidden anywhere on the banks of the lake?’
'That’s
an idea!’ said Julian, who was trying to shift the big raft. ‘That’s a really
good idea! I think we ought to explore all round the lake and see if we can
find the Saucy Jane hidden anywhere.’
‘Let’s
leave the raft for a bit then,’ said George, feeling thrilled at the thought of
possibly finding the Saucy Jane tucked away somewhere, all the loot hidden in
her. ‘Let’s go now!’
They
made their way round the wooden ledge to the opening they had made in the side
of the boathouse, and jumped down. Timmy leapt down gladly. He hadn’t liked the
dark boat-house at all. He ran into the warm sunshine, wagging his tail.
‘Now
which side of the lake shall we go first?’ said Anne. ‘The left or the right?’
They
went down to the edge of the silent water and looked to left and right. They
both seemed to be equally thick with bushes!
‘It’s
going to be difficult to keep close to the edge of the water,’ said Julian.
‘Anyway, we’ll try. The left side looks a bit easier. Come on!’
It
was fairly easy at first to keep close to the water, and examine any tiny creek
or look under over-hanging bushes. But after about a quarter of a mile the
undergrowth became so very thick and grew so close to the water’s edge that it