Five Get Into a Fix (12 page)

Dick could see quite a lot. He could see a shadowy face some way from the window, looking in - yes, it was Morgan al right.

“What ho!” said Dick again, to warn the others that there was stil danger. “WHAT HO!”

Morgan"s face had now come quite near to the window. He evidently thought that no one saw him, and that they were all too engrossed in their game to notice anything else.

His eyes swept the room from corner to corner. Then his face disappeared.

“He"s gone from the window,” said Dick, in a low voice. “But go on playing. He may come to the door.”

KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Yes - there he is,” said Dick. “Ju - you take charge now.”

“Who"s there?” yelled Julian.

“Morgan. Let me in,” said Morgan"s deep, growling voice.

“No - we"ve got our dog here, and we don"t want him set on again,” said Julian, determined not to let Morgan in at any cost.

Morgan turned the handle - but the door was locked. He growled again.

“Sorry! But we can"t unlock it!” shouted Julian. “Our dog might rush out and bite you. He"s growling like anything already!”

“Bark, Tim,” said George, in a low voice, and Timmy obligingly barked the place down!

Morgan gave up. “If you see Aily, send her home,” he said. “She"s gone again, and her Mam"s worried. I"ve been looking for her this cold night.”

“Right! ” cal ed Julian. “If she comes we"ll give her a bed here.”

“No. You send her home,” shouted Morgan. “And pay heed to what I told you down at the barn there, or it wil be the worse for al of us!”

“For al of us! I like that!” said Dick, in disgust. “It wil certainly be the worse for him and his friends when the secret"s out! Awful fel ow! Has he gone, Tim?”

Timmy came away from the door and lay down peaceful y. He gave a little bark as if to say “Al clear!”

When dogs began to bark right away in the distance Tim took no notice. “That means they"re going down the hil with Morgan, back to the farm,” said George, thankful y. “We can get Aily down now, and give her something to eat.”

She went to the bunk. “Aily!” she cal ed. “Morgan is gone. Gone right away! Come down and have a meal. We wil give the lamb some milk and your dog some meat and biscuits!”

Aily"s head peered cautiously over the side of the little bunk-bed. With a leap she was down on the floor, as lightly as the lamb itself, which followed at once, landing squarely on its four tiny hooves. The little dog had to be lifted out - he was much too scared to jump!

To everyone"s amusement, Aily ran straight to Julian, and held up her arms to be taken into his. She felt safe with this big kind boy. He sat down with her on his knees and she cuddled up to him like a kitten.

George put some bread and butter and cheese on the table in front of her, and Anne put down a dish of milk for the lamb, which lapped it greedily but most untidily. The dog tried to get the milk too, but soon went to the dish of cut-up meat and biscuits put down by Anne.

“There - the Aily-family is fed,” she said. “My word - what an excitement all this is! Julian, don"t let Aily gobble like that - she"l be sick. I never did see anyone eat so quickly. She can"t have had anything since the bit of cheese we gave her this afternoon!”

Aily snuggled back into Julian"s arms contentedly, when she had eaten every scrap of her meal. She looked up at him, wanting to please him.

“Aily tell how to get into big big house,” she said suddenly, taking everyone completely by surprise. Julian looked down at her. He had the dog on his knee now too, though he would not allow the lamb to climb on as wel .

“Aily tell me?” he said gravely. “Good little Aily bach!”

Aily began to try and tell him. “Big hole,” she began. “Down, down, down...”

“Where"s this big hole?” asked Julian.

“High up,” said Aily. “Down it goes down...”

“But where is it?” asked Julian again.

Aily went off into a long jabber of Welsh and the children listened helplessly. How maddening to have Aily wil ing to tell them her secret - and then not to be able to follow what she said.

“Good little Aily,” said Julian, when she came to a stop at last. “Where is this big big hole?”

Aily gazed at him in reproach. “Aily tell you, tell you, tell you!” she said.

“Yes, I know - but I don"t understand Welsh,” said Julian, gently, despairing of trying to make the child understand. “Where is this big hole - that"s all I want to know.”

Aily stared at him. Then she smiled. “Aily show,” she said, and slipped off his knee. “Aily show! Come! ”

“Good gracious! Not now,” said Julian. “Not in all this snow and darkness. No, Aily -

tomorrow - in the morning - not now!”

Aily took a look out of the window into the darkness. She nodded. “Not now. In the morning, yes? Aily show in morning.”

“Well, thank goodness that"s settled!” said Julian. “I"d dearly love to see this big big hole whatever it is, now, straightaway - but we"d only get lost on these hil s in the dark. We"ll look forward to it tomorrow!”

“Good!” said Dick, yawning. “I must say that I think that"s best too. What a bit of luck that Aily"s so grateful to you, Ju! I believe she"d do anything in the world for you now.”

“I believe she would too, funny little creature,” said Julian, looking at Aily as she curled up on the rug near the stove, with her lamb and dog beside her. “How could Morgan scare such a harmless little thing? He"s a brute!”

“Jolly good thing he didn"t see her when he looked in,” said George. “He"d probably have broken the door down! One blow of his fist and it would have cracked from top to bottom!”

Everyone laughed. “Well - good thing it didn"t come to that!” said Julian. “Now then, let"s get to bed. We may have quite an exciting day tomorrow!”

“I hope we manage to get to that poor old woman in her tower,” said Anne. “That"s the most important thing to do. Aily, you can sleep in that topmost bunk, where you hid. I"l give you some rugs, and a blanket and a pil ow.”

It wasn"t long before the hut was quiet and peaceful, with all five children in their bunks, and Timmy with George. The lamb and the little dog were with Aily, Julian looked out from his bunk and smiled. What a collection of people and animals in the hut tonight! Well - he was quite glad there were two dogs!

No one woke in the night except George. She felt Timmy stir and sat up, resting on her elbow. But he didn"t bark. He gave her a small lick, and sat with her, listening.

The queer rumbling noise was coming again - and then the “shuddering”, though not so strongly as before. George felt the wooden edge of her bunk - it vibrated as if machinery was in the room below, shaking everything a little.

She leaned out of her bunk and looked out of the window. Her eyes widened as she saw what Dick had seen the other night - the “shimmering” in the sky. She could think of no other name for that strange quivering that rose and rose and final y ended very high up indeed, seeming to lose itself in the stars, that were now shining brightly.

George didn"t wake the others. As soon as the queer happenings stopped, she lay down again. Perhaps tomorrow they would know what caused such strange things - yes, tomorrow would be very exciting!

Next morning everyone was awake early. They had slept wel , and were ful of beans -

and excited to think that an adventure lay ahead. To get into that old house, with its many secrets, would be marvel ous!

Aily followed Julian about the room like a little dog. She wanted to have her breakfast on his knee, just as she had had her supper the night before, and he let her. He was ready to do anything she wanted - if only she would show them the way into Old Towers!

“We"d better set off pretty soon,” said Anne, looking out of the window. “It"s snowing pretty fast again - we don"t want to get lost!”

“No. That"s true. If Aily is going to take us across country, we shan"t have the faintest idea where we"re going, in this heavy snow!” said Julian, rather anxiously.

“I"l just clear up a bit, then we"ll go, shall we?” said Anne. “Do we take any food with us, Ju?”

“We certainly do - al of us,” said Julian, at once. “Goodness knows what time we"ll get back to this hut. George, you make sandwiches with Anne, wil you? And put in some bars of chocolate too, and some apples if there are any left.”

“And for pity"s sake, remember your torches,” said Dick.

Aily watched while the sandwiches were made, and scraped up the bits that fel on the table to give to Dave, her smal dog. The lamb frisked about, quite at home, getting into everyone"s way. But nobody minded it - it was such a charming little long-leggitty creature!

At last all the sandwiches were made and put into two kit-bags. The hut was cleared up and tidied, and the children got into their out-door clothes.

“I think it would be easiest to toboggan down the slope, and half-way up Old Towers"

slope,” said Julian, looking out into the snow. “It would take us ages to walk - and it"s no good skiing, because Aily hasn"t any skis - and couldn"t use them if she had!”

“Oh yes - let"s take the toboggans!” said George, pleased. “What do we do with the lamb? Leave it here? And must we take Dave the dog, too?”

However, that was not for them to settle! Aily absolutely refused to go without her lamb and dog. She gathered them up into her arms, looking mutinous, when Julian suggested they should be left in the warm hut. Neither would she al ow herself to be wrapped up warmly - and only consented to wear a scarf and a wool en hat because they happened to be exactly the same as Julian was wearing!

They set off at last. The snow was stil falling, and Julian felt seriously doubtful whether they would be able to find their way down the hil and up the other slope without losing their sense of direction.

The toboggans were rather crowded! Julian and Dick were on the first one, with Aily and the lamb between them, and Anne and George were on the second one, with Timmy and Dave between them. George was at the front, and Anne had the awkward job of hanging on to both the dogs and keeping her balance too!

“I know we shal al roll off,” she said to George. “Good gracious - I half wish we had waited a bit! The snow is fal ing very fast now!”

“Good thing!” cal ed Julian. “No one wil spot us when we are near Old Towers - they won"t be able to see a thing through this snow!”

Julian"s toboggan shot off down the snowy slope. It gathered speed, and the boys gasped in delight at the pace. Aily clung to Julian"s back, half frightened, and the lamb stared with astonished eyes, not daring to move from its place, squashed in between Aily and Julian!

Whooooooosh! Down the slope to the bottom, and up the opposite slope, gradual y slowing down! Julian"s toboggan came to a stop, and then, not far behind, came George"s, slowing down too. George got out and dragged her toboggan over to Julian.

“Well,” she said, her face glowing, “what do we do now? Wasn"t that a wonderful run?”

“Wonderful!” said Julian. “I only whish we could have a few more! Did you like that, Aily?”

“No,” said Aily, pul ing her wool en cap to exactly the same angle that Julian wore his.

“No. It make my nose cold, so cold.”

She cupped her hand over her nose to make it warm. George laughed.

“Fancy complaining about a cold nose when she"s hardly wearing anything on her skinny little body - you"d think the whole of her would feel cold - not just her nose!”

“Aily - do you know where the big hole is?” asked Julian, looking about in the snow. The snowflakes were quite big now, and nothing that was more than a few yards away could be seen. Aily stood there, her feet sinking into the snow. She looked all round, and Julian felt certain that she was going to say that she didn"t know which way to go, in this thick snow. Even he was rather doubtful which was the way back up the hil !

But Aily was like a dog. She had a sure sense of direction, and could go from one place to another on a dark night or in the snow without any difficulty at al !

She nodded.

“Aily know - Dave know, too.”

She walked a few steps, but her feet sank into the snow above her ankles, and her thin shoes were soon soaked through.

“She"ll get her feet frost-bitten,” said Dick. “Better put her on one of the toboggans and pul her, Ju. Pity we didn"t have any snow-boots small enough to lend her. I say - this is a bit of a crazy expedition, isn"t it! I hope to goodness Aily knows where she"s taking us. I haven"t the foggiest idea at the moment which is east or west, north or south!”

“Wait - I"ve got a compass in one of my pockets,” said Julian, and did a lot of digging in his clothes. At last he pulled out a smal compass. He looked at it.

“That"s south,” he said, pointing, “so that"s where Old Towers Hill is - south is directly opposite our hut; we know that because the sun shone straight in at our front windows. I reckon we walk this way, then - due south.”

“Let"s see which way Aily points,” said Dick. He set her on his toboggan, and wrapped her scarf more closely round her. “Now - which way, Aily?”

Aily at once pointed due south. Everyone was most impressed.

“That"s right,” said Julian. “Come on, Dick - I"l pul Aily"s toboggan, you can pul the girls"

for them.”

They all set off up the rest of the slope of Old Towers Hil , Aily on the toboggan with Dave and Fany the lamb, and Timmy sitting in state on George"s toboggan, the girls walking behind. Timmy was enjoying himself. He didn"t like the way his legs went down into the snow when he tried to run - it was much easier to sit on the toboggan and be pul ed along!

“Lazy thing!” said George, and Timmy wagged his tail, not caring a bit what anyone said!

Julian looked at his compass as he went, and walked due south for some time. Then Aily gave a cal , and pointed to the right.

“That way, that way,” she said.

“She wants us to go westwards now,” said Julian, stopping. “I wonder if she"s right. By my reckoning we"re going dead straight for Old Towers now - but we shall be going up the hil to the right of it, if we go her way.”