"Listen," said Julian, in a low voice. "We"d better not talk at all, and we"d better go as quietly as we can. We don"t know who may be in or out of this tunnel this evening. We don"t want to walk bang into somebody."
So they said nothing at all, but kept close to one another in single file, walking at the side of the track.
They had not gone more than a quarter of a mile before Julian stopped suddenly. The others b.u.mped into one another, and Timmy gave a little whine as somebody trod on his paw. George"s hand went down to his collar at once.
The four of them and Timmy listened, hardly daring to breathe. Somebody was coming up the tunnel towards them! They could see the pin-point of a torch, and hear the distant crunch of footsteps.
"Other way, quick!" whispered Julian, and they all turned. With Jock leading them now, they made their way as quickly and quietly as they could back to the place where the two tunnels met. They pa.s.sed it and went on towards Kilty"s Yard, hoping to get out that way.
But alas for their hopes, a lantern stood some way down the tunnel there, and they did not dare to go on.
There might be n.o.body with the lantern-on the other hand there might. What were they to do?
"They"ll see that hole in the wall is open!" suddenly said d.i.c.k. "We left it open. They"ll know we"ve escaped then. We"re caught again! They"ll come down to find us, and here we"ll be!"
They stood still, pressed close together, Timmy growling a little in his throat. Then George remembered something!
"Julian! d.i.c.k! We could climb up that vent that I came down," she whispered. "The one poor old Timmy fell down. Have we time?"
"Where is the vent?" said Julian, urgently. "Quick find it."
George tried to remember. Yes, it was on the other side of the tunnel - near the place where the two tunnels met. She must look for the pile of soot. How she hoped the little light from her torch would not be seen. Whoever was coming up from Olly"s Yard must be almost there by now!
She found the pile of soot that Timmy had fallen into. "Here it is," she whispered. "But, oh Julian! How can we take Timmy?"
"We can"t," said Julian, "We must hope he"ll manage to hide and then slink out of the tunnel by himself. He"s quite clever enough."
He pushed George up the vent first and her feet found the first rungs. Then Jock went up, his nose almost on George"s heels. Then d.i.c.k - and last of all, Julian. But before he managed to climb the first steps, something happened.
A bright glare filled the tunnel, as someone switched on the light that hung there. Timmy slunk into the shadows and growled in his throat. Then there came a shout.
"Who"s opened the hole in the wall? It"s open! Who"s there?"
It was Mr Andrews"s voice. Then came another voice, angry and loud: "Who"s here? Who"s opened this place?"
"Those kids can"t have moved the lever," said Mr Andrews. "We bound them up tightly."
The men, three of them, went quickly through the hole in the wall. Julian climbed up the first few rungs thankfully. Poor Timmy was left in the shadows at the bottom.
Out came the men at a run. "They"ve gone! Their ropes are cut! How could they have escaped? We put Kit down one end of the tunnel and we"ve been walking up this end. Those kids must be about here somewhere."
"Or hiding in the caves," said another voice. "Peters, go and look, while we hunt here."
The men hunted everywhere. They had no idea that the vent was nearby in the wall. They did not see the dog that slunk by them like a shadow, keeping out of their way, and lying down whenever the light from a torch came near hitn.
George climbed steadily, feeling with her feet for the iron nails whenever she came to broken rungs. Then she came to a stop. Something was pressing on her head. What was it? She put up her hand to feel. It was the collection of broken iron bars that Timmy had fallen on that morning. He had dislodged some of them, and they had then fallen in such a way that they had lodged across the vent, all twined into each other. George could climb no higher. She tried to move the bars, but they were heavy and strong - besides, she was afraid she might bring the whole lot on top of her and the others. They might be badly injured then.
"What"s up, George? Why don"t you go on?" asked Jock, who was next.
"There"s some iron bars across the vent - ones that must have fallen when Timmy fell," said George. "I can"t go any higher! I daren"t pull too hard at the bars."
Jock pa.s.sed the message to d.i.c.k, and he pa.s.sed it down to Julian. The four of them came to a full-stop!
"Blow!" said Julian. "I wish I"d gone up first. What are we to do now?"
What indeed? The four of them hung there in the darkness, hating the smell of the sooty old vent, miserably uncomfortable on the broken rungs and nails.
"How do you like adventures now, Jock?" asked d.i.c.k. "I bet you wish you were in your own bed at home!"
"I don"t!" said Jock. "I wouldn"t miss this for worlds! I always wanted an adventure - and I"m not grumbling at this one!"
19
What an adventure!
And now, what had happened to Anne? She had stumbled on and on for a long time, shouting to Mr Luffy. And outside his tent Mr Luffy sat, reading peacefully. But, as the evening came, and then darkness, he became very worried indeed about the five children.
He wondered what to do. It was hopeless for one man to search the moors. Haifa dozen or more were needed for that! He decided to get his car and go over to Olly"s Farm to get the men from there. So off he went.
But when he got there he found no one at home except Mrs Andrews and the little maid. Mrs Andrews looked bewildered and worried.
"What is the matter?" said Mr Luffy gently, as she came running out to the car, looking troubled.
"Oh, it"s you, Mr Luffy," she said, when he told her who he was. "I didn"t know who you were. Mr Luffy, something strange is happening. All the men have gone - and all the lorries, too. My husband has taken the car and n.o.body will tell me anything. I"m so worried."
Mr Luffy decided not to add to her worries by telling her the children were missing. He just pretended he had come to collect some milk. "Don"t worry," he said comfortingly to Mrs Andrews. "You"ll find things are all right in the morning, I expect. I"ll come and see you then. Now I must be off on an urgent matter."
He went b.u.mping along the road in his car, puzzled. He had known there was something funny about Olly"s Farm, and he had puzzled his brains a good deal over Olly"s Yard and the spook-trains. He hoped the children hadn"t got mixed up in anything dangerous.
"I"d better go down and report to the police that they"re missing," he thought. "After all, I"m more or less responsible for them. It"s very worrying indeed."
He told what he knew at the police station, and the sergeant, an intelligent man, at once mustered six men and a police car.
"Have to find those kids," he said. "And we"ll have to look into this Olly"s Farm business, sir, and these here spook-trains, whatever they may be. We"ve known there was something funny going on, but we couldn"t put our finger on it. But we"ll find the children first."
They went quickly up to the moors and the six men began to fan out to search, with Mr Luffy at the head. And the first thing they found was Anne!
She was still stumbling along, crying for Mr Luffy, but in a very small, weak voice now. When she heard his voice calling her in the darkness she wept for joy.
"Oh, Mr Luffy! You must save the boys," she begged him. "They"re in that tunnel - and they"ve been caught by Mr Andrews and his men, I"m sure. They didn"t come out and I waited and waited! Do come!"
"I"ve got some friends here who will certainly come and help," said Mr Luffy gently. He called the men, and in a few words told them what Anne had said.
"In the tunnel?" said one of them. "Where the spook-trains run? Well, come on, men, we"ll go down there."
"You stay behind, Anne," said Mr Luffy. But she wouldn"t. So he carried her as he followed the men who were making their way through the heather, down to Olly"s Yard. They did not bother with Wooden-Leg Sam. They went straight to the tunnel and walked up it quietly. Mr Luffy was a good way behind with Anne. She refused to stay with him in the yard.
"No," she said, Tm not a coward. Really I"m not. I want to help to rescue the boys. I wish George was here. Where"s George?"
Mr Luffy had no idea. Anne clung to his hand, scared but eager to prove that she was not a coward. Mr Luffy thought she was grand!
Meanwhile, Julian and the others had been in the vent for a good while, tired and uncomfortable. The men had searched in vain for them and were now looking closely into every niche at the sides of the tunnel.
And, of course, they found the vent! One of the men shone his light up it. It shone on to poor Julian"s feet! The man gave a loud shout that almost made Julian fall off the rung he was standing on.
"Here they are! Up this vent. Who"d have thought it? Come on down or it"ll be the worse for you!"
Julian didn"t move. George pushed desperately at the iron bars above her head, but she could not move them. One of the men climbed up the vent and caught hold of Julian"s foot.
He dragged so hard at it that the boy"s foot was forced off the rung. Then the man dragged off the other foot, and Julian found himself hanging by his arms with the man tugging hard at his feet. He could hang on no longer. His tired arms gave way and he fell heavily down, landing half on the man and half on the pile of soot. Another man pounced on Julian at once, while the first climbed up the vent to find the next boy.
Soon d.i.c.k felt his feet being tugged at, too.
"All right, all right. I"ll come down!" he yelled, and climbed down. Then Jock climbed down, too. The men looked at them angrily.
"Giving us a chase like this! Who undid your ropes?" said Mr Andrews, roughly. One of the men put a hand on his arm and nodded up towards the vent. "Someone else is coming down," he said. "We only tied up three boys, didn"t we? Who"s this, then?"
It was George, of course. She wasn"t going to desert the three boys. Down she came, as black as night with soot.
"Another boy!" said the men. "Where did he come from?"
"Any more up there?" asked Mr Andrews.
"Look and see," said Julian, and got a box on the ears for his answer.
"Treat them rough now," ordered Peters. "Teach them a lesson, the little pests. Take them away."
The children"s hearts sank. The men caught hold of them roughly. Blow! Now they would be made prisoners again.
Suddenly a cry came from down the tunnel: "Police! Run for it!"
The men dropped the children"s arms at once and stood undecided. A man came tearing up the tunnel. "I tell you the police are coming!" he gasped. "Are you stone deaf? There"s a whole crowd of them. Run for it! Somebody"s split on us."
"Get along to Kilty"s Yard!" shouted Peters. "We can get cars there. Run for it!"
To the children"s dismay, the men tore down the tunnel to Kilty"s Yard. They would escape! They heard the sound of the men"s feet as they ran along the line.
George found her voice. "Timmy! Where are you? After them, Timmy! Stop them!"
A black shadow came streaking by out of the hole in the wall, where Timmy had been hiding and watching for a chance to come to George. He had heard her voice and obeyed. He raced after the men like a greyhound, his tongue hanging out, panting as he went.
These were the men who had ill-treated George and the others, were they? Aha, Timmy knew how to deal with people like that!
The policemen came running up, and Mr Luffy and Anne came up behind them.
"They"ve gone down there, with Timmy after them," shouted George. The men looked at her and gasped. She was black all over. The others were filthy dirty too, with sooty-black faces in the light of the lamp that still shone down from the wall of the tunnel.
"George!" shrieked Anne in delight. "Julian! Oh, are you all safe? I went bach to tell Mr Luffy about you and I got lost. I"m so ashamed!"
"You"ve nothing to be ashamed of, Anne," said Mr Luffy. "You"re a grand girl! Brave as a lion!"
From down the tunnel came shouts and yells and loud barks. Timmy was at work! He had caught up with the men and launched himself on them one after anu".her, bringing each one heavily to the ground. They were terrified to find a big animal growling and snapping all around them. Timmy held them at bay in the tunnel, riot allowing them to go one step further, snapping at any man who dared to go near.
The police ran up. Timmy growled extra fiercely just to let the men know that it was quite impossible to get by him. In a trice each of the men was imprisoned by a pair of strong arms and they were being told to come quietly.
They didn"t go quietly. For one thing Mr Andrews lost his nerve and howled dismally. Jock felt very ashamed of him.
"Shut up," said a burly policeman. "We know you"re only the miserable little cat"s-paw - taking money from the big men to hold your tongue and obey orders."
Timmy barked as if to say, "Yes, don"t you dare call him a dog"s paw! That would be too good a name for him!"
"Well, I don"t think I ever in my life saw dirtier children," said Mr Luffy. "I vote we all go back to my car and I drive the lot of you over to Olly"s Farm for a meal and a bath!"
So back they all went, tired, dirty, and also feeling very thrilled.
What a night! They told Anne all that had happened, and she told them her story, too. She almost fell asleep in the car as she talked, she was so tired.
Mrs Andrews was sensible and kind, though upset to hear that her husband had been taken off by the police. She got hot water for baths, and laid a meal for the hungry children.
"I wouldn"t worry overmuch, Mrs Andrews," said kindly Mr Luffy. "That husband of yours needs a lesson, you know. This will probably keep him going straight in future. The farm is yours, and you can now hire proper farm-workers who will do what you want them to do. And I think Jock will be happier without a stepfather for the present."
"You"re right, Mr Luffy," said Mrs Andrews, wiping her eyes quickly. "Quite right. I"ll let Jock help me with the farm, and get it going beautifully. To think that Mr Andrews was in with all those black marketeers! It"s that friend of his, you know, who makes him do all this. He"s so weak. He knew Jock was snooping about in that tunnel, and that"s why he wanted him to go away - and kept making him have a boy here or go out with him. I knew there was something funny going on."
"No wonder he was worried when Jock took it into his head to go and camp with our little lot," said Mr Luffy.
"To think of that old yard and tunnel being used again!" said Mrs Andrews. "And all those tales about spook-trains - and tha way they hid that train, and hid all the stuff, too. Why, it"s like a fairy tale isn"t it!"
She ran to see if the water was hot for the baths. It was, and she went to call the children, who were in the big bedroom next door. She opened it and looked in. Then she called Mr Luffy upstairs.
He looked in at the door, too. The five, and Timmy, were lying on the floor in a heap, waiting for the bathwater. They hadn"t liked to sit on chairs or beds, they were so dirty. And they had fallen asleep where they sat, their faces as black as a sweep"s.
"Talk about black marketeers!" whispered Mrs Andrews. "Anyone would think we"d got the whole lot of them here in the bedroom!"
They all woke up and went to have a bath one by one, and a good meal after that. Then back to camp with Mr Luffy, Jock with them, too.
It was glorious to snuggle down into the sleeping-bags. George called out to the three boys.