Five on a Secret Trail (5 page)

„No," said Anne, sleepily. „Anyway, I"m not getting up til I have to! I"m tired."

She went to sleep, and so did George. Timmy didn"t, though. He had heard the far-off growl of thunder, and he was uneasy. Timmy was not afraid of thunderstorms, but he didn"t like them. They were things that growled like enormous dogs in the sky, and flashed angrily - but he never could get at them, or frighten them!

He closed both eyes, and put down one ear, leaving the other one up, listening.

Another thunder growl came, and one large and heavy drop of rain fel on Timmy"s black nose. Then another fel on his cardboard collar and made a very loud noise indeed, startling him. He sat up, growling.

The rain came closer, and soon large drops, the size of half-crowns, peppered the faces of the two sleeping girls. Then came such a crash of thunder that they both awoke in a fright.

„Blow! It"s a thunderstorm!" said George. „And thunder rain too. We shall be soaked."

„Better get into the tent," said Anne, as a flash of lightning forked down the sky and lighted up everything with a quick bril iance.

„No good," said George. „It"s soaked already. There"s nothing for it but to get into the cottage, Anne. At least we"l have a roof over our heads or rather, a ceiling, for the roof"s gone. Come on."

Anne didn"t in the least want to shelter in the old cottage, but there was absolutely nothing else to do. The girls grabbed their rug and ran through the rain, George flashing her torch to guide them. Timmy ran too, barking.

They came to the doorway of the cottage and went inside. What a relief to get out of the rain! The two girls huddled down into a corner, the rug round them - but soon they were too hot and threw it off.

The storm passed overhead with a few terrific crashes and much lightning. Gradual y the rain grew less and soon stopped. One star came out, and then others fol owed as the thunder-clouds swept away in the wind.

„We can"t go back to the tent - we"ll have to stay here," said George. „I"l go and get our bags for pil ows. We can lie on the rug."

Anne went with her, and carried a bag back too. Soon the girls were lying in a corner on the rug, their heads on the bags, and Timmy close beside them.

„Good night," said Anne. „We"ll try to go to sleep again! Blow that storm!"

Soon they were both asleep - but Timmy wasn"t. Timmy was uneasy. Very uneasy! And quite suddenly he broke into a vol ey of such loud barks that both girls woke up in a panic.

„Timmy! What"s the matter? Oh Tim, what is it?" cried George. She clutched his leather collar and held on to him.

„Don"t leave us! Timmy, what"s scared you?"

Timmy stopped barking and tried to get away from George"s hand on his col ar. But she would not let him. George was not easily frightened, but what with the thunderstorm, the queer old cottage and now Timmy"s sudden excitement, she wanted him near her.

„What is it?" asked Anne, in a scared whisper.

„I don"t know. I can"t even imagine," said George, also in a low voice. „Perhaps it"s nothing - just the thunderstorm that has upset him and made him nervous. We"ll keep awake a bit, and see if we hear anything queer."

They lay quietly in their corner, and George kept a firm hand on Timmy. He growled once or twice, but did not bark any more. George began to think it really must have been the storm that had upset him.

A rumble of thunder came again - the storm was returning, or else another one was blowing up!

George felt relieved. „It"s all right, Anne. It must have been the thunder and lightning in the distance that upset Timmy. You"re sil y, Timmy - scaring us like that!"

Crash - rumble - crash! Yes, certainly the storm was gathering force again! Timmy barked angrily.

„Be quiet! You make more noise than the thunder!" said George, crossly. „No, you can"t go out into the rain, Timmy. It"s begun again, as bad as before. You"d only get dripping wet - and then you"d want to come and sit as close to me as possible and make me wet too. I know you!"

„No - don"t let him go, George," said Anne. „I like him here with us. My word - what a storm! I hope it won"t strike this cottage."

„Well, considering that it must have stood here for three or four hundred years, and have seen thousands of storms, I expect it wil come safely through one more!" said George.

„Where are you going, Anne?"

„Just to look out of the window," said Anne. „Or out of the place where the window used to be! I like to see the countryside suddenly lit up for just one moment in a lightning flash -

and then go back to darkness again."

She went to stand at the window. There came the crash of thunder, not far away, and a bril iant flash of lightning. Anne stared over the countryside, which had suddenly become visible in the flash - and then disappeared like magic in a second!

Anne gave a sudden cry and stumbled back to George. „George - George..."

„Whatever"s the matter?" asked George, alarmed.

„There"s someone out there - people!" said Anne, clutching George and making her jump.

„I saw them just for an instant, when the lightning flashed."

„People? What sort of people?" said George, astonished. „How many?"

„I don"t know. It was al so quick. I think there were two - or maybe three. They were standing some way off - quite stil , out there in the storm."

„Anne, those are trees!" said George, scornfully. „There are two or three smal trees standing against the sky out there - I noticed them the other day."

„These weren"t trees," said Anne. „I know they weren"t. What are people doing out there in this storm? I"m frightened."

George was absolutely certain that Anne had seen the group of little trees that she knew were there - they would look just like people, in a quick flash of lightning. No sooner did you see something in a storm than it was gone!

She comforted Anne. „Don"t worry, Anne! It"s the easiest thing in the world to imagine seeing things in a lightning flash. Timmy would bark if there were people around. He would..."

„Well, he did bark, didn"t he?" said Anne. „He woke us both up with his barking."

„Ah yes - but that was just because he heard the storm coming up again," said George.

„And you know he gets angry when he hears the thunder growling."

Just at that moment the thunder crashed again - then the lightning flashed its weird and bril iant light.

This time both the girls screamed, and Timmy gave an enormous bark, trying his hardest to get away from George.

„There! Did you see that?" said Anne, in a shaky voice.

„Yes. Yes, I did. Oh, Anne, you"re right! Someone was looking in at the window! And if we saw him, he must have seen us! Whatever is he doing here in the middle of the night?"

„Well, I told you I saw two or three people," said Anne, stil shakily. „I expect it was one of them. Maybe they saw the cottage in one of the lightning flashes, and thought they might shelter here - and sent one of their number to see."

„Maybe. But what in the world is anyone doing, wandering about here at night?" said George. „They can"t possibly be up to any good. Let"s go home tomorrow, Anne. I wish the boys were here! They"d know what to do, they would have some good plan!"

„The storm"s going off again," said Anne. „Timmy has stopped barking too, thank goodness. Don"t let him go, George. You never know - those people, whoever they are, might do him harm. Anyway, I feel safer when he"s with us!"

„I wouldn"t dream of letting him go," said George. „You"re trembling, Anne! You needn"t be as scared as that! Timmy won"t let you come to any harm."

„I know! But it wasn"t very nice suddenly seeing somebody looking in at the window like that, outlined in a lightning flash!" said Anne. „I can"t possibly go to sleep again. Let"s play some sil y game to take our minds off it."

So they played the Alphabet game with Animals. Each had to think in turn of an animal beginning with A, and a mark went to the one who could keep it up longest! Then they went on to B and to C and to D.

They were doing the E"s when they heard a loud and very comforting sound.

„Timmy"s snoring," said George. „He"s fast asleep. What an elephantine snore, Tim!"

„E for elephant," said Anne, quickly.

„Cheat! That should have been my E!" said George. „Al right. E for Eland."

„E for Egg-Eater," said Anne, after a pause.

„Not allowed - you made that up!" said George. „My mark!"

By the time they got to M, and Anne was two marks ahead, the dawn was breaking. It was a great relief to the two girls to see the silvering of the sky in the east and to know that soon the sun would be up. They immediately felt much better. George even stood up and went bravely to the window, where there was nothing to be seen but the quiet countryside outside, with its stretches of heather, gorse-bushes and silver birches

„We were sil y to be so scared," said George. „I don"t think we"ll go back home today after all, Anne. I hate running away from anything. The boys would laugh at us.

„I don"t care if they do," said Anne. „I"m going back. If the boys were here, I"d stay - but goodness knows when they"l come - it might not be til next week! I"m just NOT staying here another night."

„Al right, al right," said George. „Do as you like - but for goodness" sake tell the boys it was you who wanted to run away, not me!"

„I wil ," said Anne. „Oh dear - now I feel sleepy all over again. I suppose it"s because daylight is here and everything seems safe, so I know I can fal asleep."

George felt the same! They cuddled down together on the rug again and immediately feel asleep, They did not wake til quite late - and even then something woke them, or they might have slept on for hours, tired out with their broken night and the fright they had had.

They were awakened by something scuttling round them, making a very loud noise indeed. Then Timmy barked.

The girls awoke and sat up, rather dazed. „Oh, it"s Jet!" said Anne. „Jet, have you come to see if we"re al right, you dear, funny little one-eyed thing!"

„Wuff-wuff!" said Jet, and rolled over on his back to be tickled, his long thin tail wagging all the time. Timmy leaped on him and pretended to eat him. Then a loud voice called to them.

They looked up. The boy was standing at the door, grinning widely.

„Hal o, sleepy-heads! I came to see if you were all right after that awful storm. I know I promised I wouldn"t come here, but I felt a bit worried about you."

„Oh. Well, that"s nice of you," said Anne, getting up and brushing the dust from her skirt.

„We"re quite al right - but we had rather a queer night. We..."

She got a hard nudge from George and stopped suddenly. George was warning her not to say anything about the people they had seen - or the person at the window. Did she think they might have anything to do with this boy? Anne said no more and George spoke instead.

„Wasn"t it a dreadful storm? How did you get on?"

„Al right. I sleep down in a trench, and the rain can"t get at me. Well - so long! Come on, Jet!"

The boy and the dog disappeared. „That was nice of him," said Anne. „He doesn"t seem crazy this morning, does he - quite normal! He didn"t even contradict us. I think I quite like him after all."

They went to their soaked tent and got a tin of sardines out to eat with bread and butter.

Just as they were opening it, they heard someone whistling and looked up.

„Here comes that boy again!" said Anne.

„Good morning. I don"t want to butt in - but I just wondered if you were al right after the storm," said the boy, without even a smile. The girls stared at him in amazement.

„Look - don"t start being crazy al over again!" said George. „You know jolly well we"re all right. We"ve already told you."

„You haven"t. And I didn"t know!" said the boy. „Well, I only came out of politeness. Sorry to see you are stil balmy!"

And off he went. „There!" said Anne, vexed. „Just as we thought he was nice again, and not crazy, he starts al over again. I suppose he thinks it"s funny. Silly ass!"

They set their things out to dry in the sun, and it was half-past twelve before they were ready to pack and go back to Kirrin Cottage. George was rather cross about going, but Anne was quite firm. She was NOT going to spend another night on the common.

George was just strapping a package on her bicycle, when the two girls heard the sound of voices - and then Timmy went quite mad! He barked wildly, and set off down a path at top speed, his tail wagging nineteen to the dozen!

„Oh! It can"t be - surely it can"t be Julian and Dick!" shouted George, in sudden delight, and she shot off after Timmy.

It was! It was Julian and Dick! There they came, packs on their backs, grinning al over their faces! Hurrah! The Famous Five were al together once more!

There was such excitement at the arrival of the boys that at first nobody could make themselves heard. Timmy barked at the top of his very loud voice and simply would not stop! George shouted, and Dick and Julian laughed. Anne hugged them, and felt proud of two such brown, good-looking brothers.

„Ju! We never guessed you"d come so soon!" said the delighted George. „Gosh, I"m pleased to see you!"

„We got fed up with French food," said Dick. „I came out in spots and Julian was sick, and it was SO hot. Phew! Next time I go there I"l go when it"s cooler."

„And we kept on thinking of Kirrin and the bay, and you two girls and Timmy," said Julian, giving George a friendly punch. „I think we really got a bit homesick. So we packed up before we should, and flew home,"

„Flew?" said George. „You lucky things! And then did you come straight down here?"

„We spent the night with Mother and Dad at home," said Julian, „and then caught the first train here that we possibly could this morning - only to find that you weren"t at Kirrin!"

„So we packed camping-out things in smal er bags and came straight along to you!" said Dick. „I say, George, old thing, do you think you could possibly make Timmy stop barking?