Five on a Secret Trail (10 page)

The two hidden boys were beside themselves with interest and excitement. How they wished they could go and watch! But it was impossible. They must just listen and try to make out what was happening from what the men said below them.

„Is it a well down there? Yes, it is! My, the water"s pretty far down - and black as pitch too."

There was a silence as the well was examined in the light of torches. Then an exasperated voice, the one with the drawl, said: „This is no secret way! Who"s going to get through that water! It"s just an ordinary smal wel , and nothing else. That word can"t have meant Water."

„Al right, boss. What does it mean then?" said the woman. „I don"t know. This isn"t a plan, it"s a riddle! Why couldn"t Paul have made it clear where this stone slab is - he just goes and does a lot of scribble round it - and all we can make out is that it"s on this common, somewhere near here - and the secret way is behind the slab!"

„And all we have to do is to go and look behind dozens of heavy slabs!" said someone else. „I"m fed up. We"ve lifted slabs in that wretched camp - we"ve lifted some here - and we stil don"t know if we"re anywhere near the right one."

„Shut up," said the voice of the drawler but now the voice was sharp and angry. „If we have to pul this cottage down, if we have to lift every slab there is, if we have to take over that camp, I"l do it! I tel you, this makes all the difference between wealth and poverty! Anyone who wants to back out can do so - but he"d better be careful!"

„Now boss, now boss, don"t you fly off the handle!" said the woman. „We"re all in this! We"ll do all you say. Look, let"s start by lifting a few more slabs. There are not so very many that are the size that Paul figured on this plan."

Then began a boring time for the two hidden boys, as slab after slab was lifted and put back. Nothing was found under any of them, apparently.

The men went to the out-buildings too, leaving the woman in the cottage. The boys thought she had gone as well, and Julian moved a little, feeling rather cramped after being stil for so long. The woman"s ears must have been sharp for she cal ed out at once.

„Who"s there? Is it you, Tom?"

The boys stiffened and stood like statues. The woman said no more. It was not long before the men came back, talking among themselves. It sounded as if there were three of them.

„No go," said the drawler. „I think we"ll have to search that camp really well again."

„That"s going to be difficult with someone already there," said the woman.

„We"ll deal with him," said a voice, grimly. Julian frowned. Did that mean that Guy was in danger? He had better warn him!

„I"m fed up with this place," said the woman. „Let"s go. I don"t think the slab is anywhere here! We"re wasting our time!"

To the boys" great relief, the four searchers left the cottage and went off together. Julian and Dick leaned over the crumbling wall of the room they stood in, and watched the lights of the torches and lanterns getting dimmer and dimmer over the common. Good!

Now they could go back to the girls!

„I"m stiff!" said Dick, stretching himself.

„Well, Ju - we know a lot more now, don"t we? It"s clear that someone cal ed Paul has stolen some valuable blue-prints of something - maybe a new plane, or battleship perhaps - and has hidden them in some secret place he knew of about here - and to get to it you have to lift a slab of stone of a certain size."

„Yes. And we know the size because we"ve already seen the one they lifted in the old stables," said Julian. „I vote we go there and measure it - or measure the one by the sink. I should think that the right slab wil be somewhere in the old camp. We"d better tell Guy and let him into the secret. He"l help us to search!"

„What a peculiar business this is to find ourselves mixed up in," said Dick. „Al because George didn"t like people laughing at old Timmy with a cardboard collar round his neck!

Timmy"s the cause of this!"

The boys went down the stone stairs, and, of course, Dick quite forgot about the rambler, which caught him neatly round the ankle and almost tripped him headlong down the stairs!

„Blow!" he said, clutching Julian and nearly making him topple too. „Sorry. It was that rambler again. It"s ripped my ankle al round. Put on the torch for goodness" sake."

They careful y measured the stone slab by the sink and then made their way out of the cottage and up towards the spring, hoping that they would find the great gorse-bush in the dark. They tried to get under the wrong one at first, but at last found the right one.

They heard a smal welcome bark from Timmy.

„Oh! Julian! Dick! Is it you?" said Anne"s voice, as the boys squeezed through into the hol ow middle. „Oh, what AGES you"ve been! We haven"t slept a wink. Keep stil , Timmy, do - this place is too small for you to rampage about in!"

The boys settled down and torches were put on. Julian related the curious happenings to the two interested girls. George was thril ed.

„Oh I say! Fancy all this springing up out of the blue so suddenly! What are you going to do?"

„Warn Guy first thing in the morning - and then get in touch with the police, I think," said Julian. „We ourselves can"t stop the men searching the camp, and as soon as they do find the slab they"re looking for, they can easily get what they want and go off with it!"

„Well, it"s real y thril ing," said George. „I wish I"d been with you. I"l never go to sleep tonight!"

But they did manage to drop off to sleep, for they were al very tired. After a few hours, just as dawn was breaking, Timmy lifted his head and growled. George awoke at once.

„What is it, Tim? I can"t hear anything."

But Timmy could, that was certain. George woke Julian, and made him listen to Timmy"s continuous growling.

„What do you think he"s growling at?" she asked. „He keeps on and on. I can"t hear a thing, can you?"

„No," said Julian, listening. „Well, it"s no use my creeping out and going searching in the dark for whatever Timmy"s growling at. It might be something sil y like a weasel or a hedgehog or a stoat. Shut up, Tim. That"s enough."

Although it was as dark as night under the thick old gorse-bush, outside it was just getting light. What was Timmy growling at? Were there people about again? Or was it just one of the hedgehogs he so heartily disliked?

He stopped growling at last and put his head down on his paws, closing his eyes. George patted him.

„Well, whatever it was, it"s gone. Are you comfy, Julian? It"s very cramped in here - and hot too, isn"t it?"

„Yes. We"ll get up fairly early and go to warn Guy - then we"ll have a swim," said Julian, yawning. He switched off his torch and went to sleep again.

It was late when they awoke. Dick was the first, and he looked at his watch. He gave an exclamation.

„Gosh! It"s half past eight! Hey, Ju - Anne - George - wake up, it"s almost afternoon!"

Everyone felt stiff and cramped, and they went off to have a swim and to warn Guy. As they came near the camp, they stopped in amazement.

Someone was howling down in the trench, howling so miserably and so broken-heartedly that the Five felt quite panic-stricken. Whatever in the world could have happened? They ran to the edge of the excavations and looked down into the trench.

The boy was there, lying on his face, sobbing. He kept lifting his head and howling, then putting it down again.

„Guy! GUY! Whatever"s happened?" shouted Julian. He leapt down beside the boy. „Are you hurt'? Is Jet hurt? What"s the matter?"

„It"s Guy! He"s gone! They"ve taken him," howled the boy. „And I was so awful to him. Now he"s gone. He"l never come back, I know he won"t!"

„Guy"s gone? But - but you"re Guy!" said Julian in astonishment. „What do you mean?"

He felt sure that the boy real y was mad now - quite mad - talking about himself like that.

He patted him on the shoulder. „Look - you"re il . You come along with us. You need a doctor."

The boy sprang to his feet, his face swollen and stained. „I"m not il ! I tell you Guy"s gone.

I"m not Guy. He"s my twin. There are two of us."

Everyone gasped. It took half a minute to think about this and get everything straight -

and then, of course many things were clear! There was not one mad boy, there were two ordinary boys - but they were twins! There wasn"t, as they had thought, just one boy who contradicted himself al the time, who seemed continual y to appear suddenly and unexpectedly, and who was sometimes nice and sometimes not.

„Twins! Why on earth didn"t we think of that before?" said Julian. „We thought there was only one of you. You were never together."

„No. We quarrelled - quarrel ed bitterly," said the boy, tears in his eyes again. „And when twins quarrel, real y quarrel, it"s worse than any quarrel there is! We hated one another then - we real y did! We wouldn"t be with one another, we wouldn"t eat together, or dig together, or sleep together. We"ve often quarrelled before, but not like this - not like this! I just pretended that he didn"t exist - and he did the same with me!"

„What a to-do!" said Julian, astonished and worried. „Well now - what"s happened to make you so upset? Tell me!"

„Guy wanted to be friends with me again last night," said the boy. „And I wouldn"t. I hit him and walked away. Then this morning I was sorry and went to find him and be friends -

and - and..."

He stopped and howled again. Everyone felt very sad and uncomfortable. „Go on, tell us," said Julian, gently.

„I was just in time to see him fighting two men, and screaming at them, and kicking - then they hustled him away somewhere!" said the boy. „I fel down in the trench and hurt my leg - and by the time I dragged myself up, Guy had gone - and so had everyone else!"

He turned away and wept again. „I"l never forgive myself, never! If I"d made friends last night I could have helped him - and I didn"t!"

It was Anne who comforted the boy. She went to him and pul ed him down on a stone beside her. „Let me look at your leg," she said. „It"s pretty bad, isn"t it? Look, I"l bind it up for you. Don"t be so upset - we"ll help you. I think we know what"s happened, don"t we Julian?"

The boy looked at Anne grateful y, and sniffed hard. When she offered him her handkerchief, he took it and wiped his face. Dick gave Anne his big hanky to bind up the boy"s cut and bruised leg. He must have fal en right into the trench in his fright at seeing his brother fighting and being taken away.

„How do you know what"s happened?" he said to Julian. „Can you get Guy back? Do say you can! I"l never forgive myself for this. My twin-brother - and I wasn"t there to fight by his side when he needed me!"

„Now don"t soak my hanky all over again!" said Anne. He gave her a forlorn little smile and turned to Julian again.

„My name"s Harry Lawdler, and Guy and I are mad on old camps and buildings and things. We spend almost all our holidays together, digging and finding all kinds of things, like these." He nodded his head towards the little shelf of relics that the four had seen before.

„Yes - Guy told us," said Dick. „But he never said a word about you. We were often very puzzled - we thought you and he were one boy - not two, you see - and we couldn"t understand a lot of things you both said. You"re so very, very alike."

„Well - I tell you, we each pretended that the other didn"t even exist," said Harry. „We"re like that. We love each other best in the world, and we hate each other worse - when we quarrel. We"re simply horrible then!"

„Can you tell us a bit about the people that Guy was fighting?" asked Dick.

„Yes. They were some that came before, wanting Guy to clear out while they had a look round," said Harry, wiping his face again. „Guy was pretty rude to them. In fact I heard him say that if they messed about his camp he would throw stones at them - he"s like that, you know, very fierce, when he"s roused."

„And you think these were the same people?" said Dick. „Which way did they go with Guy?"

„That way," said Harry, pointing. „I"ve hunted the whole camp round, but they"re gone -

disappeared into thin air! It"s extraordinary!"

„Let"s have a hunt round," said Julian. „We might find something. But I imagine that the searchers have taken Guy off with them because he knew too much - perhaps they found here what they were looking for, and saw Guy watching."

„Oh! Then we"re too late!" said George, in deep disappointment. „They"ve got what they want - and they"l disappear now and never be caught. I expect by now they are speeding away in a fast car - and have taken Guy with them to make sure he doesn"t talk before they"re safely in another country!"

„Oh no!" cried Harry. „He"s not kidnapped, is he? Don"t say that!"

„Come on - let"s have a hunt," said Julian, and they all made their way among the various trenches and pits, looking for they hardly knew what.

They gave it up after a while. There were too many slabs and stones of all sizes! Besides, what good would it be even if they found the right one? The birds had flown - presumably with what they had come for! In fact, if Guy hadn"t come along and seen the searchers, nobody would even have known that they had been in the camp and made a successful search!

„It"s no good," said Julian, at last. „This is too big a place to know where to look for anything that might help us. Let"s go back to the gorse-bush and col ect our things, return to Kirrin and go to the police. It"s the only sensible thing left to do!"

„Come along, Harry," said Anne, to the miserable twin. He was so ful of remorse that her handkerchief was now soaked for the third time! „You"d better come with us and tel al you know."

„I"l come," said Harry. „I"l do anything to get Guy back. I"l never quarrel with him again.

Never. To think that..."

„Now don"t go all through that again," said Anne. „Look, you"re upsetting Timmy so much that his tail is down all the time!"

Harry gave another forlorn little smile. They all left the camp and made their way back to the gorse-bush. It was only when they got there, and began pul ing out the tins of food, as well as the rug and other things, that they realized how extremely hungry they were!