Five on a Hike Together (8 page)

„We could ask at the post-office," said George. „Probably once upon a time the postman had to take letters there. They might know, They could tell us the way to go."

They went back to the vil age and found the post-office. It was part of the vil age store.

The old man who kept it looked over the top of his glasses at the children.

„Gloomy Water! Now what be you wanting that for? A real miserable place it is, for al it was so fine years ago."

„What happened to it?" asked Dick,

„It was burnt," said the old man. „The owner was away, and only a couple of servants were there. It flared up one night, no one knows how or why - and was burnt almost to a shel . Couldn"t get a fire-engine out there, you see. There was only a cart-track to the place."

„And wasn"t it ever built up again?" asked Julian. The old man shook his head.

„No. It wasn"t worth it, The owner just let it fall to rack and ruin. The jackdaws and the owls nest there now, and the wild animals snuggle in the ruins. It"s a queer place. I once went out to see it, hearing tales of lights being seen there. But there was nothing to see but the shel of the place, and the dark blue water. Ah, Gloomy Water"s a good name for that lake!"

„Could you tel us the way? And how long would it take us to get there?" asked Julian.

„What for do you want to go and gaze at a poor old ruin?" said the old man. „Or do you want to bathe in the lake? Well, don"t you do so - it"s freezing cold!"

„We just thought we"d go and see Gloomy Water," said Julian. „Such a strange name.

Which is the way, did you say?"

„I didn"t say," said the old fel ow. „But I wil if so be you"re set on it. Where"s your map? Is that one in your hand?"

Julian spread it out. The old fel ow took a pen from his waistcoat pocket and began to trace a path over the moor. He put crosses here and there.

„See them crosses? They mark marshland. Don"t go treading there, or you"l be up to your knees in muddy water! You fol ow these paths I"ve inked in for you and you"l be all right.

Keep your eyes open for deer - there"s plenty about those parts, and pretty things they are too."

„Thank you very much," said Julian, folding up the map. „How long would it take us to get there from here?"

„Matter of two hours or more," said the old man. „Don"t you try to go this afternoon. You"l find yourselves in darkness coming back, and with them dangerous marshy bits you"re in danger all the time!"

„Right," said Julian. „Thanks very much. Er - we"re thinking of doing a bit of camping, as the weather is so beautiful. I suppose you couldn"t hire us a groundsheet or two and a few rugs?"

The other three stared at him in astonishment. Camping out? Where? Why? What was Julian thinking of al of a sudden?

Julian winked at them. The old man was ferreting about in a cupboard. He pul ed out two large rubber ground-sheets and four old rugs. „Thought I had them somewhere!" he said.

„Well, better you camping out in October than me! Be careful you don"t catch your deaths of cold!"

„Oh thanks - just what we want," said Julian, pleased. „Roll them up, you others. I"l settle up for them."

Dick, Anne and George folded up the ground-sheets and the rugs in astonishment. Surely

- surely Julian wasn"t thinking of camping out by Gloomy Water? He must think the message that Dick had been given was very important!

„Julian!" said Dick, as soon as they got outside. „What"s up? What"s all this for?"

Julian looked a little sheepish. „Well - something suddenly came over me in the store," he said. „I suddenly felt we ought to go to Gloomy Water and snoop round. I felt excited somehow. And as we"ve got so little time this week-end I thought if we took things and camped out in the ruin we might make more of our few days."

„What an idea!" said George. „Not go on with our hiking, do you mean?"

„Well," said Julian. „If we find nothing, we can go on with our hike, of course. But if there"s anything interesting, it"s up to us to unearth it. I"m quite sure there"s something up at Two-Trees."

„We might meet Maggie there!" said Anne, with a giggle.

„We might!" said Julian. „I feel quite free to go and investigate on our own seeing that we"ve made our report to the police, and it"s been turned down with scorn. Somebody ought to follow up that message - besides Maggie!"

„Dear Maggie," said Dick. „I wonder who in the wide world she is!"

„Somebody worth watching if she"s the friend of convicts," said Julian, more soberly. „Look, this is what I thought we"d do - buy some extra food, and go along to Gloomy Water this afternoon, arriving there before dark. We"ll find a good place to shelter in - there must be some good spot in the old ruin - and get heather or bracken for beds. Then tomorrow we can be up bright and early to have a look round."

„It sounds smashing," said Dick, pleased. „Sort of thing we like. What do you say, Tim?"

„Woof," said Tim, solemnly, bumping his tail to and fro across Dick"s legs.

„And if we find there"s absolutely nothing of interest, well, we can come back here with the things we"ve borrowed, and go on with our hike," said Julian. „But we"ll have to sleep the night there because it wil be dark by the time we"ve had a look round."

They bought some loaves of bread, some butter and potted meat, and a big fruit cake.

Also some more chocolate and some biscuits. Julian bought a bottle of orangeade as well.

„There"s sure to be a well," he said. „Or a spring of some sort. We can dilute the orangeade and drink it when we"re thirsty. Now I think we"re ready. Come on!"

They couldn"t go as fast as usual because they were carrying so many things. Timmy was the only one that ran as fast as ever - but then Timmy carried nothing but himself!

It was a real y lovely walk over the moorlands. They climbed fairly high and had wonderful views al over the autumn country-side. They saw wild ponies again, in the distance this time, and a little herd of dappled deer, that sped away immediately, Julian was very careful to take the right paths - the ones traced so carefully on the map by the old man in the post-office. „I expect he knew the way well because he was once a postman and had to take letters to Two-Trees!" said Dick, bending over the map. „We"re getting on, Ju - halfway there!"

The sun began to sink low. The children hurried as much as they could because once the sun had gone darkness would soon come. Fortunately the sky was very clear, so twilight would be later than it had been the night before.

„It looks as if the moorland near here gives way soon to a little bit of wooded country, according to the map," said Julian. „We"ll look out for clumps of trees."

After another little stretch of moorland Julian pointed to the right. „Look!" he said. „Trees!

Quite a lot - a proper little wood."

„And isn"t that water over there?" said Anne. They stood stil and gazed hard. Was it Gloomy Water? It might be. It looked such a dark blue, They hurried on eagerly. It didn"t look very far now. Timmy ran ahead, his long tail waving in the air.

They went down a little winding path and joined a cart-track that was very much overgrown - so overgrown that it hardly looked like a track. „This must lead to Two-Trees,"

said Julian. „I wish the sun wasn"t going down so quickly. We"ll hardly have any time to look round!"

They entered a wood. The track wound through it. The trees must have been cleared at some time to make a road through the wood. And then, quite suddenly, they came on what had once been the lovely house of Two-Trees.

It was a desolate ruin, blackened and scorched with fire. The windows had no glass, the roof had gone, except for a few rafters here and there. Two birds flew up with a loud cry as the children went near.

„Two Maggies!" said Anne, with a laugh. They were black and white magpies, their long tails stretched out behind them. „I wonder if they know the message too."

The house stood on the edge of the lake. Gloomy Water was indeed a good name for it.

It lay there, smooth and dark, a curious deep blue. No little waves lapped the edge. It was as stil as if it were frozen.

„I don"t like it," said Anne. „I don"t like this place at al ! I wish we hadn"t come!"

Nobody particularly liked the place. They all stared round and Julian pointed silently to something. At each end of the house was the great burnt trunk of a big tree.

„Those must be the two trees that gave the place its name," said Julian. „How horrid they look now, so stiff and black. Two-Trees and Gloomy Water - all so lonely and desolate now."

The sun disappeared and a little chil came on the air. Julian suddenly became very busy.

„Come on - we must see if there"s anywhere to shelter at all in this old ruin!"

They went to the silent house. The upper floors were all burnt out. The ground floor was pretty bad too, but Julian thought it might be possible to find a sheltered corner.

„This might do," he said, coming out of a blackened room and beckoning the others to him. „There is even a mouldy carpet stil on the floor! And there"s a big table. We could sleep under it if it rained - which I don"t think it wil do!"

„What a horrid room!" said Anne, looking round. „I don"t like its smell, either. I don"t want to sleep here."

„Well, find somewhere else then, but be quick about it," said Julian. „It wil soon be dark.

I"m going to col ect heather and bracken straight away, before it"s too dark. Coming, Dick and George?"

The three of them went off and came back with vast armfuls of heather and brown bracken. Anne met them, looking excited.

„I"ve found somewhere. Somewhere much better than this horrid room. Come and look."

She took them to what once had been the kitchen. A door lay flat on the floor at the end of the room, and a stone staivvay led downwards.

„That leads down to the cel ars," said Anne. „I came in here and saw that door. It was locked and I couldn"t open it. Well, I tugged and tugged and the whole door came off its rusty old hinges and tumbled down almost on top of me! And I saw there were cel ars down there!"

She stared at Julian beseechingly. „They"l be dry. They won"t be burnt and black like everywhere else. We"ll be well-sheltered. Can"t we sleep down there? I don"t like the feel of these horrid burnt rooms."

„It"s an idea," said Julian, He switched on his torch and let the beam light up the cel ar below. It seemed spacious and smelt all right.

He went down the steps, Timmy just in front. He cal ed up in surprise.

„There"s a proper room down here, as well as cel ars all round. Maybe it was a kind of sitting-room for the staff. It"s wired for electricity too - they must have had their own electricity generator. Yes - we"ll certainly come down here."

It was a queer little room. Moth-eaten carpets were on the floor, and the furnishings were moth-eaten too and covered with dust. Spiders had been at work and George slashed fiercely at the long cobwebs that hung down and startled her by touching her face.

„There are stil candles in the candle-sticks on this shelf!" said Dick, surprised. „We can light them and have a bit of brightness when it"s dark. This isn"t bad at al . I must say I agree with Anne. There"s something hateful about those burnt-out rooms."

They piled heather and bracken into the cel ar room on the floor. The furniture was so old and moth-eaten that it gave beneath their weight, and was useless for sitting on. The table was al right though, They soon set out their food on it after George had wiped it free of dust. She caused them all to have fits of choking because she was so vigorous in her dusting! They were driven up into the kitchen til the dust had settled.

It was dark outside now. The moon was not yet up. The wind rustled the dry leaves left on the trees around, but there was no lap-lap of water. The lake was as stil as glass.

There was a cupboard in the cel ar room. Julian opened it to see what was there. „More candles - good!" he said, bringing out a bundle. „And plates and cups. Did anyone see a well outside? If so we could dilute some orangeade and have a drink with our supper."

No one had noticed a well - but Anne suddenly remembered something queer she had seen in a corner of the kitchen, near the sink.

„I believe I saw a pump up there!" she said. „Go and see, Ju. If so, it might stil work."

He went up the cellar-steps with a candle. Yes - Anne was right. That was an old pump over there in the corner. It probably pumped water into a tank and came out of the kitchen taps.

He turned on a big tap which was over the large sink. Then he took the handle of the pump and worked it vigorously up and down. Splash! Splash! Water came flooding through the big tap and splashed into the sink! That was good.

Julian pumped and pumped, feeling that he had better get rid of any water running into the tank for the first time for years. The tank might be dirty or rusty - he must wash it round with a good deal of pumped water first.

The water seemed to be clean and clear, and was certainly as cold as ice! Julian held a cup from the cel ar cupboard under the tap, and then tasted the water. It was delicious.

„Good for you, Anne!" he cal ed, going down the cellar-steps with a cupful of water.

„Dick, you find some more cups - or a jug or something in that cupboard, and we"ll wash them out and fil them with water for our orangeade."

The cel ar room looked very cheerful as Julian came down the steps. George and Anne had lighted six more candles, and stuck them about here and there. The light they gave was very pleasant, and they also warmed the room a little.

„Well, I suppose as usual, everyone wants a meal?" said Julian. „Good thing we bought that bread and potted meat and stuff. I can"t say I"m as hungry as I was at breakfast, but I"m getting that way."

The four squatted round on their beds of heather and bracken. They had put down their ground-sheets first in case the floor was damp, though it didn"t seem to be. Over bread and butter and potted meat they discussed their plans. They would sleep there for the night and then have al the next day to examine Two-Trees and the lake.