"Silly chap he sounds," said Mr Luffy, shaking the crumbs off his front. "All the same - I should keep away from the yard, if I were you. Stories don"t get about for nothing, you know. No smoke without fire!"
"Why, sir - surely you don"t believe there"s anything spooky about the trains there?" said d.i.c.k, in surprise.
"Oh, no - I doubt if there are any trains," said Mr Luffy. "But when a place has got a bad name it"s usually best to keep away from it."
"I suppose so, sir," said d.i.c.k and Julian together. Then they hastily changed the subject, afraid that Mr Luffy, like Mr Andrews, might also be going to forbid them to visit the railway yard. And the more they were warned about it and forbidden to go, the more they felt that they really must!
"Well, we must get back," said d.i.c.k. "We"re expecting Jock - that"s the boy at the farm - to come up for the day, and we thought we"d go out walking and take our food with us. Are you going out, too, sir?"
"Not today," said Mr Luffy. "My legs are tired and stiff with so much scrambling about yesterday, and I want to mount some of the specimens I found. Also I"d like to meet your farm friend - what"s his name -Jock?"
"Yes, sir," said Julian. "Right. We"ll bring him along as soon as he comes, then off we"ll go. You"ll be left in peace all day!"
But Jock didn"t come. The children waited for him all the morning and he didn"t turn up. They held up their lunch until they were too hungry to wait any longer, and then they had it on the heather in front of their tents.
"Funny," said Julian. "He knows where the camp is, because we pointed it out to him when he came half-way home with us yesterday. Perhaps he"ll come this afternoon."
But he didn"t come in the afternoon either, nor did he come after tea. Julian debated whether or not to go and see what was up, but decided against it. There must be some good reason why Jock hadn"t come, and Mrs Andrews wouldn"t want them all visiting her two days running.
It was a disappointing day. They didn"t like to leave the tents and go for even a short stroll in case Jock came. Mr Luffy was busy all day long with his specimens. He was sorry Jock had disappointed them. "He"ll come tomorrow," he said. "Have you got enough food? There"s some in that tin over there if you want it."
"Oh, no, thank you, sir," said Julian. "We"ve plenty really. We"re going to have a game of cards. Like to join us?"
"Yes, I think I will," said Mr Luffy, getting up and stretching himself. "Can you play rummy?"
They could - and they beat poor Mr Luffy handsomely, because he couldn"t play at all. He blamed his luck on his bad cards, but he enjoyed the game immensely. He said the only thing that really put him off was the way that Timmy stood behind him and breathed down his neck all the time.
"I kept feeling certain that Timmy thought he knew how to play my cards better than I could," he complained. "And whenever I did something wrong, he breathed down my neck harder than usual."
Everyone laughed, and George privately thought that Timmy would probably play very much better than Mr Luffy if only he could hold the cards.
Jock didn"t come at all. They put the cards away when they could no longer see them, and Mr Luffy announced that he was going to bed. "It was very late when I got back last night," he said. "I really must have an early night."
The others thought they would go to bed too. The thought of their cosy sleeping-bags was always a nice one when darkness came on.
The,girls crept into their bags and Timmy flopped down on George. The boys were in their bags about the same time and d.i.c.k gave a loud yawn.
"Good night, Ju," he said, and fell fast asleep. Julian was soon asleep too. In fact, everyone was sound asleep when Timmy gave a little growl. It was such a small growl that neither of the girls heard it, and certainly d.i.c.k and Julian didn"t, away in their tent.
Timmy raised his head and listened intently. Then he gave another small growl. He listened again. Finally he got up, shook himself, still without waking George, and stalked out of the tent, his ears c.o.c.ked and his tail up. He had heard somebody or something, and although he thought it was all right, he was going to make sure.
d.i.c.k was sound asleep when he felt something brushing against the outside of his tent. He awoke at once and sat up. He looked at the tent opening. A shadow appeared there and looked in.
Was it Timmy? Was it Mr Luffy? He mustn"t make a mistake this time. He waited for the shadow to speak. But it didn"t! It just stayed there as if it were listening for some movement inside the tent. d.i.c.k didn"t like it.
"Timmy!" he said at last, in a low voice.
Then the shadow spoke: "d.i.c.k? Or is it Julian? It"s Jock here. I"ve got Timmy beside me. Can I come in?"
"Jockl" said d.i.c.k, in surprise. "Whatever have you come at this time of night for? And why didn"t you come today? We waited ages for you."
"Yes. I know I"m awfully sorry," said Jock"s voice, and the boy wriggled himself into the tent. d.i.c.k poked Julian awake.
"Julian! Here"s Jock - and Timmy. Get off me, Timmy. Here, Jock, see if you can squeeze inside my sleeping-bag - there"s room for us both, I think."
"Oh, thanks," said Jock, and squeezed inside with difficulty. "How warm it is! I say, I"m terribly sorry I didn"t come today - but my stepfather suddenly announced he wanted me to go somewhere with him for the whole day. Can"t think why. He doesn"t bother about me as a rule."
"That was mean of him, seeing that he knew you were to come on a picnic with us," said Julian. "Was it something important?"
"No. Not at all," said Jock. "He drove off to Endersfield - that"s about forty miles away - parked me in the public library there, saying he"d be back in a few minutes - and he didn"t come back till past tea-time! I had some sandwiches with me, luckily. I felt pretty angry about it, I can tell you."
"Never mind. Come tomorrow instead," said d.i.c.k.
"I can"t," said Jock in despair. "He"s gone and arranged for me to meet the son of some friend of his-a boy called Cecil Dearlove - what a name! I"m to spend the day with this frightful boy. The worst of it is Mum"s quite pleased about it. She never thinks my stepfather takes enough notice of me - good thing he doesn"t, /think."
"Oh blow - so you won"t be able to come tomorrow either," said Julian. "Well - what about the next day?"
"It should be all right," said Jock. "But I"ve feeling I"ll have dear love of a Cecil plonked on me for the day - to show him the cows and the puppies, dear pet! Ugh! When I could be with you four and Timmy."
"It"s bad luck," said Julian. "It really is."
"I thought I"d better come and tell you," said Jock. "It"s the first chance I"ve had, creeping up here tonight.
I"ve brought some more food for you, by the way. I guessed you"d want some. I feel down in the dumps about that adventure - you know, going to see the railway yard. I was going to ask you to take me today."
"Well - if you can"t come tomorrow either - and perhaps not the next day - what about going one night?" said d.i.c.k. "Would you like to come up tomorrow night, about this time? We won"t tell the girls. We"ll just go off by ourselves, we three boys - and watch!"
Jock was too thrilled to say a word. He let out a deep breath of joy. d.i.c.k laughed.
"Don"t get too thrilled. We probably shan"t see a thing. Bring a torch if you"ve got one. Come to our tent and jerk my toe. I"ll probably be awake, but if I"m not, that"ll wake me all right! And don"t say a word to anyone of course."
"Rather not, "said Jock, overjoyed. "Well -1 suppose I"d better be going. It was pretty weird coming over the moorland in the dark. There"s no moon, and the stars don"t give much light. I"ve left the food outside the tent. Better look out that Timmy doesn"t get it."
"Right. Thanks awfully," said Julian. Jock got out of d.i.c.k"s sleeping-bag and went backwards out of the tent, with Timmy obligingly licking his nose all the way. Jock then found the bag of food and rolled it in to Julian, who put it safely under the groundsheet.
"Good night," said Jock, in a low voice, and they heard him scrambling over the heather. Timmy went with him, pleased at this unexpected visitor, and the chance of a midnight walk. Jock was glad to have the dog"s company. Timmy went right to the farm with him and then bounded back over the moorland to the camping-place, longing to pounce on the rabbits he could smell here and there, but wanting to get back to George.
In the morning Anne was amazed to find the food in her "larder" under the gorse bush. Julian had popped it there to surprise her. "Look at this!" she cried, in astonishment. "Meat-pies - more tomatoes - eggs, wherever did they come from?"
"Spook-train brought them in the night," said d.i.c.k, with a grin.
"Volcano shot them up into the air," said Mr Luffy, who was also there. Anne threw a tea-cloth at him.
"Tell me how it came here," she demanded. "I was worried about what to give you all for breakfast - and now there"s more than we can possibly eat. Who put it there? George, do you know?"
But George didn"t. She glanced at the smiling faces of the two boys. "I bet Jock was here last night," she said to them. "Wasn"t he?" And to herself she said: "Yes - and somehow I think they"ve planned something together. You won"t trick me, d.i.c.k and Julian. I"ll be on the lookout from now on! Wherever you go, I go too!"
10
Hunt for a spook-train
That day pa.s.sed pleasantly enough. The children, Timmy, and Mr Luffy all went off to a pool high up on the moorlands. It was called The Green Pool" because of its cuc.u.mber-green colour. Mr Luffy explained that some curious chemicals found there caused the water to look green.
"I hope we shan"t come out looking green, too," said d.i.c.k, getting into his bathing trunks. "Are you going to bathe, Mr Luffy?"
Mr Luffy was. The children expected him to be a very poor swimmer and to splash about at the edge and do very little- but to their surprise he was magnificent in the water, and could swim faster even than Julian.
They had great fun, and when they were tired they came out to bask in the sun. The highroad ran alongside the green pool, and the children watched a herd of sheep being driven along, then a car or two came by, and finally a big army lorry. A boy sat beside the driver, and to the children"s surprise he waved wildly at them.
"Who was that?" said Julian astonished. "Surely he doesn"t know us?"
George"s sharp eye had seen who it was. "It was Jock! Sitting beside the driver. And, look, here comes his stepfather"s fine new car. Jock"s preferred to go with the lorry-driver instead of his stepfather! I don"t blame him, either!"
The bright new car came by, driven by Mr Andrews. He didn"t glance at the children by the wayside, but drove steadily on after the lorry.
"Going to market, I suppose," said d.i.c.k, lying back again. "Wonder what they"re taking?"
"So do I," said Mr Luffy. "He must sell his farm produce at very high prices to be able to buy that fine car and all the machinery and gear you"ve told me about. Clever fellow, Mr Andrews!"
"He doesn"t look at all clever," said Anne. "He looks rather a weak, feeble sort of man, really, Mr Luffy. I can"t even imagine him being clever enough to beat anyone down, or get the better of them."
"Very interesting," said Mr Luffy. "Well, what about another dip before we have our dinner?"
It was a very nice day, and Mr Luffy was very good company. He could make fine jokes very solemnly indeed, and only the fact that his ear waggled violently showed the others that he too, was enjoying the joke. His right ear seemed to love to join in the joke, even if Mr Luffy"s face was as solemn as Timmy"s.
They arrived home at the camp about tea-time and Anne got a fine tea ready. They took it down to eat in front of Mr Luffy"s tent. As the evening came on Julian and d.i.c.k felt excitement rising in them. In the daytime neither of them really believed a word about the "spook-trains", but as the sun sank and long shadows crept down the hills they felt pleasantly thrilled. Would they really see anything exciting that night?
It was a very dark night at first, because clouds lay across the sky and hid even the stars. The boys said good night to the girls and snuggled down into their sleeping-bags. They watched the sky through the tent opening.
Gradually the big clouds thinned out. A few stars appeared. The clouds thinned still more and fled away in rags. Soon the whole sky was bright with pin-points of light, and a hundred thousand stars looked down on the moorlands.
"We shall have a bit of starlight to see by," whispered Julian. "That"s good. I don"t want to stumble about over the heather and break my ankle in rabbit-holes in the pitch darkness. Nor do I want to use my torch on the way to the yard in case it"s seen."
"It"s going to be fun!" d.i.c.k whispered back. "I hope Jock comes. It will be maddening if he doesn"t."
He did come. There was a scrambling over the heather and once again a shadow appeared at the tent opening.
"Julian! d.i.c.k! I"ve come. Are you ready?"
It was Jock"s voice, of course. d.i.c.k"s thumb pressed the switch of his torch and for a moment its light fell on Jock"s red, excited face, and then was switched off again.
"Hallo, Jock! So you were able to come," said d.i.c.k. "I say, was that you in the lorry this morning, going by the green pool?"
"Yes. Did you see me? I saw you and waved like mad," said Jock. "I wanted to stop the lorry and get down and speak to you, but the driver"s an awful bad-tempered sort of fellow. He wouldn"t hear of stopping. Said my stepfather would be wild with him if he did. Did you see him - my stepfather, I mean? He was in his car behind."
"Were you off to market or something?" asked Julian.
"I expect that"s where the lorry was going," said Jock. "It was empty, so I suppose my stepfather was going to pick up something there. I came back in the car. The lorry was supposed to come later."
"How did you like Cecil Dearlove?" asked d.i.c.k, grinning in the darkness.
"Awful! Worse than his name," groaned Jock. "Wanted me to play soldiers all the time! The frightful thing is I"ve got to have him at the farm for the day tomorrow. Another day wasted. What shall I do with him?"
"Roll him in the pig-sty," suggested d.i.c.k. "Or put him with Biddy"s puppies and let him sleep there. Tell him to play soldiers with them."
Jock chuckled. "I wish I could. The worst of it is Mum is awfully pleased that my stepfather"s got this Cecil boy for me to be friends with. Don"t let"s talk about it. Are you ready to start off?"
"Yes," said Julian, and began to scramble quietly out of his bag. "We didn"t tell the girls. Anne doesn"t want to come, and I don"t want George to leave Anne by herself. Now, let"s be very, very quiet till we"re out of hearing."
d.i.c.k got out of his bag too. The boys had not undressed that night, except for their coats, so all they had to do was to slip these on, and then crawl out of the tent.
"Which is the way - over there?" whispered Jock. Julian took his arm and guided him. He hoped he wouldn"t lose his way in the starlit darkness. The moorland look so different at night!
"If we make for that hill you can dimly see over there against the starlit sky, we should be going in the right direction," said Julian. So on they went, keeping towards the dark hill that rose up to the west.
It seemed very much farther to the railway yard at night than in the daytime. The three boys stumbled along, sometimes almost falling as their feet caught in tufts of heather. They were glad when they found some sort of path they could keep on.
"This is about where we met the shepherd," said d.i.c.k, in a low voice. He didn"t know why he spoke so quietly. He just felt as if he must. "I"m sure we can"t be very far off now."
"[Tiey went on for some way, and then Julian pulled d.i.c.k by the arm. "Look," he said. "Down there, I believe that"s the old yard. You can see the line* gleaming faintly here and there."
They stood on the heathery slope above the old yard, straining their eyes. Soon they could make out dim shapes. Yes, it was the railway yard all right.
Jock clutched Julian"s sleeve. "Look - there"s a light down there! Do you see it?"
The boys looked - and, sure enough, down in the yard towards the other side of it, was a small yellow light. They stared at it.
"Oh - I think I know what it is," said d.i.c.k, at last. "It"s the light in the watchman"s little hut - old Wooden-Leg Sam"s candle. Don"t you think so, Ju?"
"Yes. You"re right," said Julian. "I tell you what we"ll do - we"ll creep right down into the yard, and go over to the hut. We"ll peep inside and see if old Sam is there. Then we"ll hide somewhere about and wait for the spook-train to come!"
They crept down the slope. Their eyes had got used to the starlight by now, and they were beginning to see fairly well. They got right down to the yard, where their feet made a noise on some cinders there.
They stopped. "Someone will hear us if we make a row like this," whispered Julian.
"Who will?" whispered back d.i.c.k. "There"s no one here except old Sam in his hut!"