Five Get Into a Fix (10 page)

“How on earth did Aily get in, then?” said Dick. “Aily - have you seen this old woman many times? Has she seen you?”

Aily didn"t understand and he had to ask his questions again, more simply. The child nodded her head. “Many times Aily see her - up high - and one time she see Aily. She throw out papers - little bits - out of the window.”

“Aily - did you pick them up?” said Julian, sitting up straight at once. “Was there writing on them?”

Everyone waited for Aily"s answers. She nodded her head. “Yes. Writings like they do at school - pen writings.”

“Did you read any of them?” asked Dick.

Aily suddenly wore a hunted expression. She shook her head - then she nodded it. “Yes, Aily read them,” she said. “They say „Good morning, Aily. How are you, Aily?"”

“Does the old woman know you then?” asked Dick, surprised.

“No, she not know Aily - only Aily"s Mam,” said the child. “She say on her papers „Aily, you good girl. Aily, you very good!"”

“She"s not telling the truth now,” said Dick, noticing that the child would not look at them when she spoke. “I wonder why?”

“I think I know,” said Anne. She took a piece of paper and wrote on it clearly. “Good morning, Aily.” Then she showed it to the child. “Read that, Aily,” she said.

But Aily couldn"t! She had no idea what was written on the paper.

“She can"t even read,” said Anne. “And she was ashamed, so she pretended she could.

Never mind, Aily! Listen - have you any of those bits of paper that the old woman dropped?”

Aily felt about in her few clothes, and at last produced a piece of paper that looked as if it had been tom from the top of a page in a book. She gave it to Dick.

Al the four bent over it, reading what was written there, in small, rather il egible writing.

“I want help. I am a prisoner here, in my own house, while terrible things go on. They have kil ed my son. Help me, help me! Bronwen Thomas.”

“Good gracious!” said Julian, very startled. “I say - this is extraordinary, isn"t it! Do you think we ought to show it to the police?”

“Well - there is probably only one policeman shared between three or four of these little places,” said Dick. “And there"s another thing - the old lady might be off her head, you know. What she says may not be true.”

“How can we possibly find out if it is or not?” said George.

Dick turned to Aily. “Aily - we want to see the old lady - we want to take her something nice to eat - she is al by herself, she is sad. Wil you show us the way into the grounds?”

“No,” said Aily, shaking her head vigorously. “Big dog there - dog with teeth like this!” And she bared her own small white teeth and snarled, much to Timmy"s astonishment. The children laughed.

“Well - we can"t make her tel us,” said Julian. “And anyway, even if we got into the grounds, that dog would be there - and - I don"t fancy him, somehow.”

“Aily show you way into house,” suddenly said the small girl, much to everyone"s astonishment. They al stared at her.

“Into the house!” said Dick. “But - you"d have to show us the way into the grounds first if we are to get into the house, Aily!”

“No,” said Aily, shaking her head. “Aily show you way to house. Aily do that. No big dog there!”

Just then Timmy began to bark, and someone came by the door, looking in as she passed. It was Aily"s mother, who had again been to take some things to her shepherd husband. She saw Aily sitting on the floor and gave an angry shout. Then standing at the door she poured out a long string of Welsh words which the children didn"t understand. In a great fright Aily ran straight to a cupboard, her dog and lamb with her.

But it was no good. Her mother stormed into the hut and dragged Aily out, shaking her well. Timmy growled, but Aily"s little dog was as frightened as she was, and the lamb bleated pitiful y in the child"s arms.

“I take Aily home!” said her angry mother, glaring at the four children as if she thought they were responsible for the child"s keeping away from home. “I whip her well!”

And out she went, holding the protesting child firmly by one arm. The children could do nothing. After all, she was Aily"s mother, and the child really was a little monkey, the way she wandered round the country.

“You know - I think we"d better go down to the farm and tel Morgan what we know,” said Julian, making up his mind. “I real y do. If this thing is serious - and if the old lady is real y a prisoner - I don"t see how we can do a thing - but Morgan might be able to. He"d know the police for one thing. Come on - let"s go down now. We can stay at the farm for the night if it gets dark. Buck up - let"s go straightaway!”

George did not particularly want to go down to the farm, as she was afraid of Timmy meeting the farm dogs again, and being attacked. Julian saw her doubtful face and understood.

“Would you like to stay here by yourself with Timmy, George, til we come back?” he said.

“You should be all right with Tim - he"ll look after you. The only thing is - wil you be scared if any more rumblings and shudderings and shimmerings come again tonight?”

“I"l stay with George,” said Anne. “It would really be best if you two boys went alone. I"m a bit tired and I don"t think I could go as fast as you"d want to.”

“Right. Then Dick and I wil go together, and leave you two girls here with Timmy,” said Julian. “Come on, Dick. If we hurry, we might get back before dark.”

They set off together, and went swiftly down the winding mountain path, stil white with snow. They were glad when at last they saw the farmhouse. A light was already in the kitchen, and looked very welcoming!

They went in at the front door, and made their way to the big kitchen, where Mrs. Jones was washing up at the sink. She turned in astonishment when they came in, stamping the snow from their shoes.

“Well now - this is a surprise!” she said, drying her hands on a towel. “Is there something wrong? Where are the girls?”

“They"re up at the hut - they"re fine,” said Julian.

“You have come for something more to eat?” said Mrs. Jones, feeling certain this was the reason for their sudden visit.

“No, thank you - we"ve got plenty!” said Julian. “We just wondered if we could talk to your son - Morgan. We - well, we"ve got something to tell him. Something rather urgent.”

“Well now - what could that be?” said Mrs. Jones, all curiosity at once. “Let me see - yes, Morgan wil be up at the big barn.” She pointed out of the window, where a big and picturesque old barn stood, outlined against the evening sky. “It is there you wil find my Morgan. You wil be staying the night, now, wil you not? You wil like supper - a good supper”

“Well - yes, we should,” said Julian, suddenly realising that they had missed out tea altogether. “Thanks awfully. We"ll just go and find Morgan.”

They made their way out to the big old barn. Morgan"s three dogs at once ran out when they heard strange footsteps, and growled. But they recognised the boys immediately and leapt round them, barking.

The giantlike Morgan came out to see what the dogs were barking about. He was surprised to find the two boys there, fondling the dogs.

“Hey?” he said, questioningly. “Anything wrong?”

“We think there is,” said Julian. “May we tell you about it?”

Morgan took them into the almost dark barn. He had been raking it over and he went on with his raking as Julian began his tale.

“It"s about Old Towers,” said Julian, and Morgan stopped his raking at once. But he went on again almost immediately, listening without a word.

Julian told him his story. He told him about the noises of rumbling, the shimmering in the sky that Dick had seen, the “shuddering” they had all felt - then about the old woman they had seen in the tower - and how Aily had told of the pieces of paper, and shown them one, which proved that old Mrs. Thomas was a prisoner in her own house.

For the first time Morgan spoke. “And where is this paper?” he asked in his deep bass voice.

Julian produced it and handed it over. Morgan lighted a lamp to look at it, for it was now practically dark.

He read it and put it into his pocket. “I"d rather like it back,” said Julian, surprised. “Unless you want it to show the police. What do you think about it all? And is there anything we can do? I don"t like to think of...”

“I wil tell you what you are to do,” said Morgan. “You are to leave it to me, Morgan Jones. You are but children, you know nothing. This matter is not for children. I can tell you that. You must go back to the hut, and you must forget all you have heard and all you have seen. And if Aily comes again you must bring her down here to me, and I wil talk to her.”

His voice was so hard and determined that the two boys were startled and shocked.

“But, Mr. Morgan!” said Julian. “Aren"t you going to do anything about this... go to the police, or...”

“I have told you, this is not a matter for children,” said Morgan. “I wil say no more. You wil go back to the hut, and you wil say nothing to anyone. If you are not wil ing to do this, you wil go home tomorrow.”

With that the giant of a man put his rake over his shoulder, and left the two boys alone in the barn. “What do you make of that?” said Julian, very angry. “Come on - we"ll go back to the hut. I"m not going to the farm for supper. I don"t feel as though I want to meet that rude, dour Morgan again this evening!”

Feeling angry and disappointed the boys made their way out of the barn, towards the path that led up to the hil . It was almost dark now, and Julian felt in his pocket for his torch.

“Blow! I didn"t bring it with me!” he said. “Have you one, Dick?”

Dick hadn"t one either, and as neither of them felt like making their way up the mountainside in the darkness Julian decided to go back to the farm, slip up to his bedroom there, and find the extra torch he had put in one of the drawers.

“Come along,” he said to Dick. “We"ll try and get in and out without seeing Morgan or old Mrs. Jones.”

They went quietly back to the farmhouse, keeping a look-out for Morgan. Julian slipped up the stone stairway to the bedroom he had been given a few nights before, and rummaged in the drawer for his torch. Good - there it was!

He went downstairs again - and bumped into old Mrs. Jones at the bottom. She gave a little scream.

“Oh, "tis you, Julian bach! Now what have you been tel ing my Morgan to put him into such a temper! Enough to turn the milk sour his face is! Wait now, while I get you some supper. Would you like some pork and...”

“Well - we"ve decided to go back to the hut, after al ,” said Julian, hoping that the kind old woman wouldn"t be upset. “The girls are alone, you know - and it"s dark now.”

“Oh yes, yes - then you shall go back!” said Mrs. Jones. “Wait for one minute - you shal have some of my new bread, and some more pie. Wait now.”

The boys stood in the doorway, waiting, hoping that Morgan would not come by. They sudclcnly heard him in the distance, yelling at a dog, in his loud, real y fierce voice.

“Taking it out on the dogs, I suppose,” said Julian to Dick. “Gosh - I wouldn"t like to come up against him, if I was one of his men! Strong giant that he is, he could take on a dozen men if he wanted to - or a score of dogs!”

Mrs. Morgan came up with a net bag ful of food. “Here you are,” she said. “Take care of those girls - and don"t go near Morgan now. He"s in a fine temper, is my Morgan, and he is not nice to hear!”

The two boys thoroughly agreed. Morgan was not nice to hear. They were glad when they were away up the path, out of reach of his enormous voice!

“Well, that"s that,” said Julian. “No help to be got from this quarter! And we"re forbidden to do anything at all about the matter. As if we were kids!”

“He kept tel ing us we were only children,” said Dick, sounding disgusted. “I can"t make it out. Ju, WHY was he so annoyed about it all? Didn"t he believe us?”

“Oh yes - he believed us all right,” said Julian. “If you ask me, I think he knows much much more than we were able to tell him. There"s some kind of racket going on at Old Towers -

something queer and underhand - and Morgan is in it! That"s why he shut us up and told us not to interfere, and to forget all about it! He"s in what-ever"s going on, I"m sure of it.”

Dick whistled. “My word! So that"s why he was so angry. He thought we might be putting a spoke in his wheel. And of course the last thing he would want us to do would be to go to the police! Well - whatever do we do next, Ju?”

“I don"t know. We"ll have to talk it over with the girls,” said Julian, worried. “This would crop up just when we"re al set for a jol y holiday!”

“Julian, what do you think is going on at Old Towers?” asked Dick, puzzled. “I mean - it isn"t only a question of locking up an old lady in a tower - and selling off her goods and taking the money. It"s all the other things too - the rumblings and shudderings and that queer mist.”

“Well - apparently those things have been going on for some time,” said Julian. “They may have nothing whatever to do with what Morgan is mixed up in - which is, I"m sure, to do with robbing the old lady. In fact, those old tales may be a very good way of keeping people away from the place - in these country places people are much more afraid of strange happenings than townspeople are.”

“It al sounds very convincing when you put it like that,” said Dick. “But somehow I don"t feel convinced. I just can"t help feeling there"s something queer about it all - something we don"t know!”

They fel silent after that, walking one behind the other on the mountain path, seeing the big black stones looming up one after the other in the light of Julian"s torch. It seemed a long long way in the dark, much longer than in the daylight.

But at last they saw the light in the window of the hut. Thank goodness! They were both very hungry now, and were glad that Mrs. Jones had presented them with more food.

They could really tuck in.

Timmy barked as soon as they came near, and George let him out of the door. She knew by his bark that it was the boys coming back.

“Oh, we are glad you came back, instead of staying down at the farm!” cried Anne.