Five on a Hike Together (5 page)

Dick sat down again and thought. He put his torch on cautiously and looked at the piece of paper he had picked up. It was a dirty half sheet, with pencil marks on it that meant nothing to Dick at al . Words were printed here and there, but they were al nonsense to him. He simply couldn"t make head or tail of his visitor, his message or the bit of paper!

„I"m sure I must be dreaming," thought Dick, and put the paper into his pocket. He lay back in his straw, cuddling in deep, because he had got cold by the window. He lay and thought for a while, puzzling over the curious happenings, and then he felt his eyes closing.

But before he was quite asleep, he heard cautious footsteps again! Was that fel ow back once more? This time someone tried the door - but the wooden stick was in the hasps.

Whoever it was outside shook the door and the stick fel out at once. The man shook the door again as if thinking it had stuck, and then opened it. He came inside and shut the door behind him.

Dick caught a quick glimpse of him. No - this wasn"t the same man as before. This was a man with a head of thick hair, Dick hoped and prayed that he wouldn"t come over to the straw.

He didn"t. He sat down on a sack and waited. He talked to himself after a while, but Dick could only make out a word or two.

„What"s happened?" he heard. „How much longer do I wait?" Then there was a mumble and Dick could not catch a word.

„Wait, wait - that"s all I do," muttered the man, and he stood up and stretched himself.

Then he went to the door and looked out. He came back and sat down on the sack again.

He sat stil and quiet then, and Dick found his eyes closing once more. Was this part of a dream too? He didn"t have time to think it out because he was suddenly in a real dream, walking along ringing bel s and seeing trees in twos everywhere round him!

He slept heavily al night long. When morning came he awoke suddenly and sat up. He was alone in the barn. Where had the second visitor gone? Or could it all have been a dream?

Dick stood up and stretched himself. He felt dirty and untidy. Also he was very hungry. He wondered if the old woman would let him buy some bread and cheese and a glass of milk.

„Anne must be hungry too," he thought „I wonder if she"s al right." He went cautiously outside and looked up at the tiny window of the loft where Anne had spent the night. Her anxious face was already there, watching for Dick!

„Are you all right, Anne?" called Dick, in a low tone. She pushed open the tiny window and smiled at him.

„Yes. But I daren"t go down because that son is downstairs. I can hear him shouting at the deaf old woman every now and again. He sounds very bad-tempered."

„I"l wait for him to go out to his work then, before I go and see the old woman," said Dick.

„I must pay her something for letting you sleep up in that loft - and perhaps I can persuade her to let us have something to eat."

„I wish you could," said Anne. „I"ve eaten al the chocolate I had in my bag. Shall I wait til I hear you call me?"

Dick nodded and disappeared into the barn in a hurry. He had heard footsteps!

A man came into sight - a broad, short, hunched-up man, with a shock of untidy hair. He was the man that Dick had seen in the barn the night before. He was muttering to himself and looked very bad-tempered indeed. Dick decided to keep out of his way. He crouched down in the barn.

But the man did not go in there. He walked past, stil muttering. Dick listened for his footsteps to die away. He heard the opening of a gate somewhere, then it crashed behind the man.

'I"d better take my chance now," thought Dick, and he went quickly out of the barn and up to the little white house. It looked very tumble-down and neglected in the daylight, and had a most forlorn air.

Dick knew that it was no good knocking, because the old woman wouldn"t hear him. So he walked right into the house and found the woman washing up a few dishes in a cracked old sink. She stared at him in dismay.

'I"d forgotten about you! And the girl too! Is she stil up there? Get her down quickly before my son comes back! And then go, both of you!"

„Can you sel us some bread and cheese?" shouted Dick But the old woman real y was stone deaf, and all she did was to push Dick away towards the door, jabbing at him with the wet cloth in her hand. Dick slipped aside and pointed to some bread on a table,

„No, no - I tel you, you"re to go," said the old woman, obviously terrified in case her son should come back „Get the girl, quickly!"

But before Dick could do anything, there were footsteps outside and in came the hunched-up fel ow with the shock of hair! He was back already, holding some eggs he had been to find.

He walked into the kitchen and stared at Dick. „Clear out!" he said, angrily. „What do you want here?"

Dick thought he had better not say he had slept the night in the barn. There were queer goings-on here, and the man might be very savage if he knew Dick had slept the night nearby.

„I wanted to know if your mother could sel us some bread," he said, and could have bitten his tongue out. He had said „us"!" Now the man would guess there was someone with him.

„Us? Who"s “us”?" said the man, looking round. „You fetch him and I"ll tel you both what I do to boys who come stealing my eggs!"

„I"l go and fetch him," said Dick, seizing the chance to get away. He ran to the door. The man made a clumsy dart at him and almost caught him. But Dick was out and away, running down the path. He hid behind a shed, his heart thumping. He had to wait for Anne. Somehow he had to go back and get her.

The man stood at the door, shouting angrily after Dick. But he didn"t chase him. He went back into the house and after a while came out again with a pail of steaming food. Dick guessed he was going to feed the chickens wherever they were.

He had to take this chance of fetching Anne. He waited til he heard the crash of the distant gate again and then he rushed to the house. Anne"s face was at the window, scared. She had heard all that the man had said to Dick, and then to his mother about allowing boys to come to the house.

„Anne! Come down at once. He"s gone," shouted Dick. „Hurry!"

Anne"s face disappeared from the window, She ran to the door, tumbled quickly down the stairs, and ran through the kitchen. The old woman flapped a cloth at her, screaming at her.

Dick ran into the kitchen and put twenty pence on the table. Then he caught Anne"s arm and both children tore out of the house and down the path. They came to the hedge they had followed the night before.

Anne was quite scared. „That awful man!" she said. „Oh Dick - what a horrible place.

Honestly I think Julian must be mad to choose a place like that to sleep in for the night -

horrible little house! And it didn"t look a bit like a farm. There were no cows or pigs that I could see and not even a farm-dog!"

„You know, Anne, I don"t think it could possibly have been Blue Pond Farm-house," said Dick, as they walked beside the hedge, looking for the gate that they had come through the night before. „We made a mistake. It was an ordinary cottage. If we hadn"t lost our way we"d have come to the proper Blue Pond Farm-house I"m sure."

„Whatever wil George and Julian be thinking?" said Anne. „They"l be dreadful y worried, won"t they, wondering what has become of us. Do you suppose they"re at the real Blue Pond Farm-house?"

„We"ll have to find out," said Dick „Do I look very messy and untidy, Anne? I feel awful."

„Yes. Haven"t you a comb?" said Anne. „Your hair"s all up on end. And your face is very dirty. Look, there"s a little stream over there. Let"s get our flannels out and wash our hands and faces with them."

They did a little washing in the cold water of the stream, and Dick combed back his hair.

„You look a lot better," said Anne, „Oh dear - I wish we could have some breakfast. I"m real y starving! I didn"t sleep awfully well, did you, Dick? My mattress was so hard, and I was rather scared, up in that funny little room all alone."

Before Dick could answer, a boy came whistling through the gate. He looked astonished to see Dick and Anne.

„Hal o!" he said. „You hiking?"

„Yes," said Dick. „Can you tell me if that place up there is Blue Pond Farm-house?"

He pointed back to the old woman"s house. The boy laughed.

„That"s no farm-house. That"s Mrs. Taggart"s place, and a dirty old place it is. Don"t you go there, or her son wil drive you off. Dirty Dick we cal him - he"s a terror! Blue Pond Farmhouse is down along there, see? Past the Three Shepherds Inn and away up to the left."

„Thanks," said Dick, feeling very angry indeed with the man who had said „ar" and sent them all wrong the day before. The boy waved, and set off across a moorland path.

„We certainly went the wrong way last night," said Dick, as they walked over the fields they had crossed in the dark the night before. „Poor Anne! Dragging you all that way in the dark and the rain to a horrible place that wasn"t Blue Pond Farm-house after all. I can"t think what Julian is going to say to me."

„Well, it was my fault too," said Anne. „Dick, let"s go down to the Three Shepherds and telephone Blue Pond Farm-house from there, shal we? If it"s on the phone, that is. I don"t somehow feel as if I want to walk for miles and perhaps not find Blue Pond Farmhouse again."

„Good idea," said Dick. „The Three Shepherds was where that woman was shaking a duster out of the window, wasn"t it? She told Julian the way to Spiggy House. I wonder how old Timmy is. I hope he"s better. I say - this hike isn"t as good as we hoped it would be, is it?"

„Well, there"s stil time for it to be all right!" said Anne, much more cheerfully than she felt.

She so badly wanted her breakfast that she felt quite bad-tempered!

„We"ll telephone to Julian from the Three Shepherds to say what happened to us," said Dick, as they came to the lane where they had floundered in the mud the night before.

He helped Anne over the stile and they jumped down to the narrow road. „And what"s more, we"ll have breakfast at the Three Shepherds - and I bet we eat more than ever the Three Shepherds did, whoever they were!"

Anne felt more cheerful at once. She had thought they would have to walk all the way to find Blue Pond Farm-house before they had breakfast!

„See - a stream does flow right across the road here," she said. „No wonder I got my feet wet yesterday! Come on - the thought of breakfast makes my legs want to run!"

They at last arrived in Beacons Vil age, and made their way to the inn. On the sign three shepherds were painted, looking rather gloomy.

„They look like I feel," said Anne, „but I shall soon feel different. Oh Dick - think of porridge -

and bacon and eggs - and toast and marmalade!"

„We must telephone first," said Dick, firmly - and then he suddenly stopped, just as he was going into the inn. Someone was calling him.

„DICK! DICK! ANNE! Look, there they are! Hey, Dick, DICK!"

It was Julian"s voice! Dick swung round in delight. He saw Julian, George and Timmy racing along the vil age street, shouting and waving. Timmy was first to reach them of course - and there was no sign of limping either! He leapt on them, barking madly, and licked every bare part of them he could reach.

„Oh, Ju! I"m so glad to see you!" said Anne, in rather a trembling voice. „We lost our way last night. George, is Timmy all right?"

„Quite, Absolutely," said George. „You see..."

„Have you had breakfast?" interrupted Julian. „We haven"t. We were so worried about you we were just going to see the police. But now we can all have breakfast together and tell our news!"

It was wonderful to be all together again. Julian took hold of Anne"s arm and squeezed it.

„Al right, Anne?" he said, rather worried at her pale face.

Anne nodded. She felt better at once, now she had Julian, George and Timmy, as well as Dick. „I"m only just terribly hungry," she said.

„I"l ask for breakfast straight away," said Julian. „Al news later!"

The woman who had leaned out of the window shaking a duster the evening before, came up to them. „I expect it"s a bit late for you," said Julian. „But we haven"t had any breakfast. What have you got?"

„Porridge and cream," said the woman. „And our own cured bacon and our own eggs.

Our own honey and the bread I bake myself. Wil that do? And coffee with cream?"

„I could hug you," said Julian, beaming at her. The others felt the same. They went into a small, cosy dining-room and sat down to wait. Soon a smell of frying bacon and hot strong coffee would come into the room - what joy!

„Your news first," said Dick, patting Timmy. „Did you get to Spiggy House? Was Mr. Gaston there?"

„No, he wasn"t," said Julian. „He was out somewhere. He had a very nice wife who made us wait for him, and said he wouldn"t mind in the least looking at Timmy when he came back. So we waited and waited,"

„We waited til half past seven!" said George, „and we felt rather awkward because we thought it might be getting near their meal-time. And then at last Mr. Gaston came."

„He was awful y kind," said Julian. „He looked at Timmy"s leg, and then he did something, I don"t know what - put it back into place, I suppose - and Timmy gave a yell and George flung herself on him, and Mr. Gaston roared with laughter at George..."

„Well, he was very rough with Timmy"s leg," said George „But he knew what he was doing, of course, and now Timmy is perfectly al right, except for that bruise on his back, and even that is getting better. He can run as wel as ever."

„I"m glad," said Anne. „I kept thinking of poor old Tim al last night." She patted him, and he licked her lavishly and wetly.

„What did you do then?" asked Dick.

„Well, Mrs. Gaston insisted on us staying to supper," said Julian. „She simply wouldn"t take no for an answer, and I must say that by that time we were jolly hungry. So we stayed -

and we had a jolly good meal too. So did Timmy! You should have seen his tummy afterwards - as round as a barrel. Good thing it"s gone down today or I was thinking of changing his name to Tummy." They all laughed, George especially.