Five on a Secret Trail (7 page)

'Easy, old man, easy!" said Julian. „No need to yell at her like that. You scared that little dog of yours and made him jump almost out of his skin! We"d better go, I think."

„Well - I don"t like being disturbed too much," said the boy. „People always seem to be wandering around. I"ve turned off quite a lot."

„People?" said Julian, remembering Anne"s story of two or three figures standing outside the cottage the night before, and of someone looking in. „What kind of people?"

„Oh - nosey ones - wanting to get down and explore - disturbing me - it"s surprising how many idiots there are wandering about this lonely place," said the boy, picking up a tool again and setting to work. He grinned suddenly. „I don"t mean you. You real y know something about this kind of thing."

„Was anyone about last night?" asked Julian.

„Well - I rather think so," said the boy. „Because Jet here barked like mad. But it might have been the storm that frightened him - not that he"s usual y frightened of storms."

„What"s your name?" asked Dick.

„Guy Lawdler," said the boy, and Dick whistled.

„My word - is your father the famous explorer, Sir John Lawdler?" he asked. The boy nodded.

„Well, no wonder you"re so keen on archaeology!" said Dick. „Your father"s done pretty well in that line, hasn"t he?"

„Come on, Dick!" said George. „Let"s go now. We might have time for a swim in the pool.

We forgot to tell you about that."

„Right," said Dick. „Come on, Julian. Good-bye, Guy!"

They left the rather desolate old camp and went back to the cottage to get their swim-suits and change. It wasn"t long before they were running over the heather to the pool.

„Hal o - Guy"s having a swim!" said Dick, in surprise. Sure enough, a boy was there, his hair falling over his forehead as usual.

„Hey, Guy!" shouted George. „Have a swim with us!"

But the boy was already getting out of the water. Dick shouted. „Wait a minute - don"t go.

We"d like to have a swim with you, Guy!"

The boy turned defiantly. „Don"t be an ass!" he said. „My name"s not Guy!"

And, leaving four astonished people behind him, he ran lightly over the heather and disappeared.

„There you are - he"s mad after all!" said Anne. „Don"t bother about him. Come on in - the water"s lovely and warm."

They lazed about afterwards and began to feel hungry. „Though how any of us could feel hungry after eating about fifty sandwiches between us at dinner-time, I don"t know!" said Dick. „Race you back to the cottage, Ju!"

They changed back into ordinary clothes and then had tea - fruit cake, shortbread biscuits, and tinned pineapple on bread. They kept the juice and diluted it with cold spring water - it was simply delicious.

„Now let"s explore the cottage," said Dick.

„We already have, Anne and I," said George. „So I don"t expect you"l find anything much."

They went methodical y through the old house, and even up the old stone stairway to the two rooms upstairs - though they could hardly be cal ed rooms, for they had very little roof and not much wall!

„Nothing much here, that"s certain," said Dick clattering down the stone stairway. „Now let"s go to the out-buildings - not that there"s much left of them either!"

They examined everything, and came last of all to the old stables. It was dark inside, for the windows were very small, and it was some seconds before anyone could see properly.

„Old mangers," said Dick, touching them. „I wonder how long ago it is since they were used - and..."

„I say!" said George, suddenly. „There"s something funny here. Anne, look - this bit of floor was undisturbed yesterday, wasn"t it?"

Anne looked down at the big white flagstone on which George was standing. It was quite obvious that it had been lifted, for the edges were not as green with moss as the others were, and the stone had been put back a little crookedly.

„Yes - someone"s been interested in this stone - or in what is beneath it!" said Dick. „I bet something is buried underneath!"

„Those men last night - that"s what they came about!" said George. „They went into these stables and lifted this stone. Why?"

„We"ll soon find out!" said Julian. „Come on everyone, loosen it with your fingers - then we"ll heave it up!"

Forty fingers and thumbs were very hard at work trying to loosen the heavy stone. At last Julian got hold of a corner which could be held more easily than any other part of the stone. He tried to lift it and it came away a little.

„Help me this side, Dick," said Julian, and Dick put his strong fingers there too. „Heave-ho!"

he said - and up came the stone.

It went over with a crash and Timmy barked loudly, jumping aside. Everyone peered down - and then looked exceedingly disappointed!

There was nothing there at all. Not even a hole! The black earth, hard as iron, lay underneath, and nothing else.

They all stared down at the dry, hard earth, puzzled. George looked up at Julian.

„Well - that"s queer, isn"t it? Why should anyone lift up this heavy stone if there is nothing hidden underneath?"

„Well, it"s clear that whoever was here didn"t find anything - nor did he hide anything either," said Julian. „Dear me - why should anyone lift up a heavy stone and put it back -

just for nothing?"

„He was obviously looking for something that wasn"t here," said Anne. „The wrong stone, probably!"

„Yes. I think Anne"s right," said Dick. „It"s the wrong stone! Probably there is something very interesting under the right stone! But which one is it?"

They all sat and looked at one another, and Timmy saw it too, wondering why all this fuss was made about a flat white stone. Julian thought hard.

„From what you"ve told me, Anne - about seeing a light in the cottage that first night you were here - and hearing voices - and then seeing those figures outside last night in the storm - it looks as if someone is urgently hunting for something round about here."

„Yes - something under a stone. Treasure of some sort, do you think?" said George.

Julian shook his head. „No. I hardly think that much treasure would be hidden anywhere about this old cottage - all the people who lived here must have been fairly poor. The most they would have hidden would have been a few pieces of gold, and that would have been found long ago."

„Well - someone modern might have hidden something valuable here - even something stolen," said Anne.

„Yes. We can"t tell. It"s obviously important and urgent to somebody," said Dick. „I wonder if the people that Guy said came bothering him were anything to do with this?"

„They may have been," said Julian. „But they have clearly decided that what they are looking for is here now, whatever it is. And they must have been most annoyed to find you and Anne here last night, George. That"s why someone came and looked in at the window, I expect - to make sure you were asleep! And you weren"t."

„I don"t know whether I want to stay on here or not now," said Anne, alarmed. „If they haven"t found what they want, they"l probably come again - in the night too."

„Who cares?" said Dick. „We"ve got Timmy, haven"t we? I"m not turning out of here because somebody"s got a habit of turning up big stones!"

Julian laughed. „Nor am I. Let"s stay on! And I don"t see why we shouldn"t do a bit of pul ing up of stones ourselves! We might come across something very interesting!"

„Right. It"s decided that we stay on then, is it?" said Dick. „What about you, Anne?"

„Oh yes - of course I"l stay," said Anne, not wanting to in the least, but knowing that she simply could not bear not to be with the others.

The Five walked round and about the cottage for a while, trying to make out where the people that the girls had seen the night before had come from - from what direction did they come and go?

„The figures I saw first in the lightning stood about there," said Anne, pointing. „Let"s go and see if there are any foot-prints. It was pouring with rain and the ground must have been very muddy."

„Good idea," said Dick, and off they went to where Anne had pointed. But it was a heathery piece of ground, and difficult to tell even if anyone had trodden there, for the heather was thick and springy.

„Let"s look just outside the window now - the one where Anne saw someone looking in,"

said Dick. And there they had a find! Just in front of the window were two quite deeply-printed foot-marks. One was slightly blurred as if the maker of them had turned his foot sideways as he waited. The other was very clear indeed.

Dick got out a piece of paper. „I rather think I"ll measure these," he said, „and make a note of the pattern on the soles. They had rubber soles and heels - look at the markings -

crepe rubber I should think."

He measured the prints. „Size eight shoes," he said. „Same as yours, Ju. Then he careful y drew an exact picture of the sole and heel markings.

„You"re quite a detective, Dick," said Anne, admiringly, and he laughed.

„Oh, anyone can copy foot-prints!" he said. „The thing is to match them up with the owner!"

„I have a feeling it"s getting on for supper-time - if anyone wants any supper," said George. „It"s half-past eight! Would you believe that the time could fly so fast."

„I don"t really feel very hungry," said Dick. „We"ve done pretty well today."

„Well, don"t waste our precious food if you don"t feel hungry," said George. „We shall have to keep going home for more if we eat everything too quickly."

Nobody felt terribly hungry. They made a cosy corner in the cottage and had a slice of cake and a biscuit each, with a drink of pineapple juice and spring-water. George had had the bright idea of fil ing the big empty pineapple tin, and they each fil ed a mug from it in turn, and drank.

„It"s getting dark," said Julian. „Are we going to sleep inside the cottage or out?"

„In," said Dick, promptly. „We"ll make things just as difficult for any night-prowlers as possible!"

„Right," said Julian. „I bet they won"t be pleased to find old Timmy here too. Shall we go out and get some heather for beds? I don"t fancy sharing a thin rug between the four of us."

Soon they were al dragging in armfuls of the springy heather. They laid it in the front room, in two corners, for the boys thought they would rather be in the same room as the girls, in case of danger.

„You need an awful lot of heather to make a soft bed," said Dick, trying his. „My bones seem to go right through the clumps and rub against the floor!"

„We can put our macs over our heather," said Julian. „That wil help. The girls can have the rug. We shan"t need any covering, it"s so hot."

By the time they had finished, it was dark. George lay on her heather and yawned. „I"m going to sleep," she announced. „We don"t need to keep guard or anything like that do we? Timmy wil bark if anyone comes near."

„You"re right. I real y don"t think we need take turns at keeping awake," said Julian. „Move up, Dick - you"ve left me no room."

Julian was the last to go to sleep. He lay awake puzzling over the lifted stone slab. It was clear that someone had expected to find something under it. How did they know it was that particular slab? Had they a map? If so, it must have shown the wrong stone - or perhaps the searchers read the map wrong?

Before he could work it out any further, he was asleep. Timmy was asleep too, happy because al the others were under his care. He had one ear open as usual, but not very much open!

It was enough to let him hear a smal mouse of some kind run across the floor. It was even enough for him to hear a beetle scraping its way up the wall. After a while his ear dropped down and he didn"t even hear a hedgehog outside.

But something caused his ear to listen again and it pricked up. A noise crept inside the cottage - a noise that got louder and louder - a weird and puzzling noise!

Timmy woke up and listened. He pawed at George, not knowing whether to bark or not.

He knew he should not bark at owls, but this was not an owl. Perhaps George would know.

„Don"t, Timmy," said George sleepily, but Timmy went on pawing her. Then she too heard the noise and sat up in a hurry.

What a truly horrible sound! It was a whining and a wailing, rising and falling through the night. A sound of misery and woe, that went on and on.

„Julian! Dick! Wake up!" called George, her heart beating wildly. „Something"s happening."

The boys awoke at once and so did Anne. They sat and listened to the weird noise. What in the world could it be? There it went again - wailing high in the air, and then dying away with a moan, only to begin again a few seconds later.

Dick felt the roots of his hair pricking. He leapt off the heather-bed and ran to the window.

„Quick! Gome and look at this!" he cried. „What is it?"

They all crowded to the window, Timmy barking now as loudly as he could. In silence the others gazed at a very strange sight.

Blue and green lights were shining here and there, sometimes dimly, sometimes brightly. A curious round white light was travel ing slowly in the air, and Anne clutched George, breathing fast.

„It won"t come here," she said. „It won"t, wil it? I don"t like it. What is happening, Julian?"

„I wish that awful wailing, whining noise would stop," said Dick. „It gets right inside my head. Do you make anything of all this, Julian?"

„Something"s queer abroad," said Julian. „I"l go out with Timmy and see what I can find."

And before anyone could stop him, out he went, Timmy barking beside him.

„Oh Julian - come back!" called Anne, listening as his footsteps became distant. They all waited tensely at the window - and then suddenly the wailing noise stopped and the strange lights began to fade.

Then they heard Julian"s footsteps coming back firmly in the darkness.

„Ju! What was it?" called Dick, as his brother came in at the doorway."

„I don"t know Dick," said Julian, sounding very puzzled. „I simply - don"t - know! Perhaps we can find out in the morning."