"Will they go to prison?" whispered Anne to d.i.c.k.
"You bet," said d.i.c.k. That"s where they ought to have gone long ago. Their burglaries have been worrying the police for four years!"
Out of the tunnel and into the cave with gleaming walls. Then down the hole and into the small cave and along the narrow pa.s.sage to the entrance-hole. Stars glittered over the black hole, and the children were very thankful to see them. They were tired of being underground!
Lou and Dan did not have a very comfortable journey along the tunnels and pa.s.sages, for their guards had a very firm hold of them indeed. Once out in the open they were handcuffed and put into the large police car that stood a little way down the track.
"What are you children going to do?" asked the big Inspector, who was now at the wheel of the car. "Hadn"t you better come down into the town with us after this disturbing adventure?"
"Oh, no, thanks," said Julian politely. "We"re quite used to adventures. We"ve had plenty, you know. We shall be all right here with Timmy and Pongo."
"Well, I can"t say I"d like a chimpanzee for company myself," said the Inspector. "We"ll be up here in the morning, looking round and asking a few questions, which I"m sure you"ll be pleased to answer. And many thanks for your help in capturing two dangerous thieves!"
"What about the wagon of goods?" asked d.i.c.k. "Are you going to leave it up here? It"s got lots of valuables in it."
"Oh, one of the men is driving it down," said the Inspector, nodding towards a policeman, who stood near by. "He"ll follow us. He can drive a horse all right. Well, look after yourselves. See you tomorrow!"
The car started up suddenly. The Inspector put her into gear, took off the brake and the car slid quietly down the hill, following the winding track. The policeman with the wagon followed slowly, clicking to the horse, which didn"t seem at all surprised to have a new driver.
"Well, that"s that!" said Julian thankfully. "I must say we were well out of that. Gosh, d.i.c.k, I was glad to see you back with those bobbies so quickly. That was a brain wave of yours to telephone from the farm."
d.i.c.k suddenly yawned. "It must be frightfully late!" he said. "Long past the middle of the night. But I"m so fearfully hungry that I simply must have something to eat before I fall into my bunk!"
"Got anything, Anne?" asked Julian.
Anne brightened up at once. "I"ll see," she said. "I can find something, I"m sure!"
And she did, of course. She opened two tins of sardines and made sandwiches, and she opened two tins of peaches, so they had a very nice meal in the middle of the night! They ate it sitting on the floor of George"s caravan. Pongo had as good a meal as anyone, and Timmy crunched at one of his bones.
It didn"t take them long to go to sleep that night. In fact they were all so sleepy when they had finished their meal that n.o.body undressed! They clambered into the bunks just as they were and fell asleep at once. n.o.bby curled up with Pongo, and Timmy, as usual, was on George"s feet. Peace reigned in the caravans - and tonight no one came to disturb them!
All the children slept very late the next morning. They were awakened by a loud knocking on Julian"s caravan. He woke up with a jump and yelled out:
"Yes! Who is it?"
"It"s us," said a familiar voice, and the door opened. Farmer Mackie and his wife peeped in, looking rather anxious.
"We wondered what had happened," said the farmer. "You rushed out of the farmhouse when you had used the "phone last night and didn"t come back."
"I ought to have slipped back and told you," said d.i.c.k, sitting up with his hair over his eyes. He pushed it back. "But I forgot. The police went down into the hills with us and got the two men. They"re well-known burglars. The police got all the goods, too. It was a very thrilling night. Thanks most awfully for letting me use the "phone."
"You"re very welcome," said Mrs Mackie. "And look - I"ve brought you some food."
She had two baskets stacked with good things. d.i.c.k felt wide awake and very hungry when he saw them. "Oh, thanks," he said gratefully. "You are a good sort!"
n.o.bby and Pongo suddenly uncurled themselves from their pile of rugs, and Mrs Mackie gave a squeal.
"Land-snakes, what"s that? A monkey?"
"No, an ape, Mam," said n.o.bby politely. "He won"t hurt you. Hi, take your hand out of that basket!"
Pongo, who had been hoping to find a little t.i.tbit unnoticed, covered his face with his hairy paw and looked through his fingers at Mrs Mackie.
"Look at that now - he"s like a naughty child!" said Mrs Mackie. "Isn"t he, Ted?"
"He is that," said the farmer. "Queer sort of bedfellow, I must say!"
"Well, I must be getting along," said Mrs Mackie, nodding and smiling at George and Anne, who had now come out of their caravan with Timmy to see who the visitors were. "You come along to the farm if you want anything. We"ll be right pleased to see you."
"Aren"t they nice?" said Anne as the two farm-folk went down the cart-track. "And oh, my goodness - what a breakfast we"re going to have! Cold bacon - tomatoes - fresh radishes - curly lettuces - and who wants new honey?"
"Marvellous!" said Julian. "Come on - let us have it now, before we clean up."
But Anne made them wash and tidy themselves first! "You"ll enjoy it much more if you"re clean," she said. "We all look as black as sweeps! I"ll give you five minutes - then you can come to a perfectly wonderful breakfast!"
"All right, Ma!" grinned n.o.bby, and he went off with the others to wash at the spring. Then back they all went to the sunny ledge to feast on the good things kind Mrs Mackie had provided.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
GOOD-BYE, n.o.bBY - GOOD-BYE, CARAVANNERS!
Before they had finished their breakfast the Inspector came roaring up the track in his powerful police car. There was one sharp-eyed policeman with him to take down notes.
"Hallo, hallo!" said the Inspector, eyeing the good things set out on the ledge. "You seem to do yourselves well, I must say!"
"Have some new bread and honey?" said Anne in her best manner. "Do! There"s plenty!"
"Thanks," said the Inspector, and sat down with the children. The other policeman wandered round the caravans, examining everything. The Inspector munched away at honey and bread, and the children talked to him, telling him all about their extraordinary adventure.
"It must have been a most unpleasant shock for those two fellows when they found that your caravan was immediately over the entrance to the place where they hid their stolen goods," said the Inspector. "Most unpleasant."
"Have you examined the goods?" asked d.i.c.k eagerly. "Are they very valuable?"
"Priceless," answered the Inspector, taking another bit of bread and dabbing it thickly with honey. "Quite priceless. Those rogues apparently stole goods they knew to be of great value, hid them here for a year or two till the hue and cry had died down, then got them out and quietly disposed of them to friends in Holland and Belgium."
"Tiger Dan used to act in circuses in Holland," said n.o.bby. "He often told me about them. He had friends all over Europe - people in the circus line, you know."
"Yes. It was easy for him to dispose of his goods abroad," said the Inspector. "He planned to go across to Holland today, you know - got everything ready with Lou - or, to give him the right name, Lewis Allburg - and was going to sell most of those things. You just saved them in time!"
"What a bit of luck!" said George. They almost got away with it. If d.i.c.k hadn"t managed to slip out when Pongo was attacking them, we"d still have been prisoners down in the hill, and Lou and Dan would have been half-way to Holland!"
"Smart bit of work you children did," said the Inspector approvingly, and looked longingly at the honey-pot. That"s fine honey, I must buy some from Mrs Mackie."
"Have some more," said Anne, remembering her manners. "Do. We"ve got another loaf."