Blyton, Enid – Famous Five 15 – Five On a Secret Trail

‘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’ll 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 pulling 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’ll 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 carefully 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 filling the big empty pineapple tin, and they each filled 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 all 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 will 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 will bark if anyone comes near.’

‘You’re right. I really 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 all 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 small 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 travelling slowly in the air, and Anne clutched George, breathing fast.

‘It won’t come here,’ she said. ‘It won’t, will 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’ll 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.’

Chapter Eleven

INTERESTING DISCOVERIES – AND A PLAN

The four sat in the dark and talked over the horrible noises and the weird blue and green and white lights. Anne sat close to Julian. She really was frightened.

‘I want to go back to Kirrin,’ she said. ‘Let’s go tomorrow. I don’t like this.’

‘I didn’t see a thing just now,’ said Julian, puzzled, his arm close round Anne. ‘I seemed to go quite close to those wailing sounds – and then they stopped as soon as I got fairly near. But although Timmy barked and ran around, there didn’t seem to be anyone there.’