They were soon sitting down to a plain breakfast of boiled eggs, toast and butter. It seemed queer only to be three. Dick tried to make conversation, but the other two were very quiet. Timmy sat under the table with his head on Annes foot, and Sally stood beside her, paws on her knee. Anne comforted both the mournful dogs as best she could!
After breakfast Anne went to wash up and make the beds, and the boys went outside to have another look at the place where Georges dressing-gown girdle had been found. Sally and Timmy came with them.
Timmy sniffed around a good bit, and then, nose to ground, went down the garden path to the front gate, and then pushed it open and went through it. Nose to ground he went down the lane and turned off into a little path.
Dick – hes following some kind of trail, said Julian. Im certain its Georges. Even if somebody carried her away, Timmy is clever enough to know George might be with him – he might just get a whiff of her.
Come on then – lets follow Timmy, said Dick, and the boys and Sally went along the little path, hot on Timmys track. Timmy began to run, and Dick called to him.
Not so fast, old boy! Were coming too.
But Timmy did not slow down. Whatever it was he smelt, the scent was quite strong. The boys ran after him, beginning to feel excited.
But soon Timmy came to a full stop, in a little clearing in the wood. Dick and Julian panted up to where he was nosing round. He looked up at them forlornly. Evidently the scent came to an end there.
Car-tracks! said Dick, pointing down to where the dampish grass under a great oak tree had been rutted with big tyre-marks. See? The men brought a car here and hid it, then crept through the woods to Kirrin Cottage, and waited for a chance to get Berta. They got George instead – but they wouldnt have got anyone if only George hadnt been ass enough to take Sally to the kennel! The house was well and truly locked and bolted!
Julian was looking at the wheel-tracks. These tracks were made by very big tyres, he said. It was a car – and I rather think these are American tyre-marks. I can check that when I get back – Ill go and ask Jim, at the local garage – hell know. Ill just sketch one quickly.
He took out a notebook and pencil and began to sketch. Dick bent down and looked more carefully at the tracks. There is quite a lot of criss-crossing of tracks, he said. I think the men came here and waited. Then, when they got George, they must have pushed her into the car, and turned it to go back the way they came – see, the tracks lead down that wide path over there. They made a mess of the turning, though – bumped into this tree, look – theres a mark right across it.
Where? said Julian at once. Yes – a bright blue mark – the car was that colour – or the wings were, at any rate. Well, thats something weve learnt! A big blue car, probably American. Surely the police could trace that?
Timmys still nosing round, the picture of misery, said Dick. Poor old Tim. I expect he knows George was pushed into a car just there. Hallo – hes scraping at something!
They ran to see what it was. Timmy was trying to get at some small object embedded in a car-rut. Evidently, in turning, the car had run over whatever it was.
Dick saw something broken in half – something green. He picked up the halves. A comb! Did George have a little green comb like this?
Yes. She did, said Julian. She must have thrown it down when she got near to the car – to show us she was taken here – hoping we would find it. And look, whats that?
It was a handkerchief hanging on a gorse bush. Julian ran to it. It had the initial G on it in blue.
Yes, its Georges, he said. Shes got six of these, all with different-coloured initials. She must have thrown this out too. Quick, Dick, look for anything else she might have thrown out of the car, while they were trying to turn it. They would probably put her in the back, and she would just have had a chance to throw out anything she had in her dressing-gown pocket, to let us know she was here if we came along this way.
They searched for a long time. Timmy found one more thing, again embedded in a car-rut – a boiled sweet wrapped in cellophane paper.
Look! said Dick, picking it up. One of the sweets we all had the other night! George must have had one in her dressing-gown pocket! If only she had had a pencil and bit of paper – she might have had time to write a note too!
Thats an idea! said Julian. Well hunt even more carefully”
But although they searched every bit of ground and every bush, there was no note to be found. It was too much to hope for!
Lets just follow the car-tracks and make sure they reached the road, said Julian. So they followed them down the wide woodland path.
At the side, a little way along, a piece of paper blew in the wind, hopping an inch or two each time the breeze flapped it. Dick picked it up – and then looked at Julian excitedly.
She did have time to write a note! This is her writing. But theres only one word, look – whatever does it mean?
Julian and Dick frowned over the piece of paper. Yes, it was Georges writing – the G was exactly like the way she always wrote the big G at the beginning of her signature.
Gringo, read Julian. Just that one word. Gringo! What does it mean? Its something she heard them say, I suppose – and she just had time to write it and throw out the paper. Gringo! Timmy, what does Gringo mean?
Chapter Sixteen
JO!
Dick and Julian went back to Kirrin Cottage with the two disconsolate dogs. They showed Anne the things they had found, and she too puzzled over the word Gringo.
Well have to tell the police what you have discovered, she said. They might trace the car, and they might know who or what Gringo is.
Ill telephone them now, said Julian. Dick, you go down to the garage with this sketch of the tyre-mark, and see if its an American design.
The police were interested but not helpful. The sergeant said he would send his constable up to examine the place where the car had stood in the clearing, and gave it as his opinion that the bit of paper wasnt much use, as the boys had found it some way from the turning-place of the car.
Your cousin wouldnt be able to throw it out of the window once the car was going, he said. There would be sure to be someone in the back with her. The only reason she could throw things out at the clearing would be because the second fellow – and there would certainly be two – would be guiding the other man in the turning of the car.
The wind might have blown the note along the path, said Julian. Anyway, Ive given you the information.
It was a very miserable day, although the sun shone down warmly, and the sea was blue and most inviting. But nobody wanted to bathe, nobody really wanted to do anything but talk and talk about George and what had happened, and where she could be at that moment!
Joan came back in time to get their lunch, and was pleased to find that Anne had done the potatoes and prepared a salad, and that Dick had managed to pick some raspberries. They were very glad to see Joan. She was someone sensible and comforting and matter-of-fact.
Well, Miss Jane is now safely in my cousins cottage, she said. She was very miserable but I told her she must smile and play about, else the neighbours would wonder about her. I put her into some of Jos clothes – they fitted her all right. Hers are too expensive-looking, and would make people talk!
They told Joan what they had discovered in the clearing that morning. She took the note and looked at it. Gringo! she said. Thats a queer word – sounds like a gypsy word to me. Its a pity Jo isnt here – she might tell us what it means!
Did you see Jo? asked Dick.
No. She was out shopping, said Joan, lifting the lid to look at the potatoes. I only hope she gets on with Miss Jane all right. Really, its getting very difficult to remember that childs change of names!