Chapter sixteen:

Look out

The children soon settled down round the fire with the board game; Monopoly, and the great big tin of toffee. It had not yet been cut into pieces, except the pieces the children had already eaten, and it was one long, thick slab. Jack cut into it with a sharp knife and separated it into large pieces. The children had purposely lit the fire beside the girls’ tent that night, so then, as they were snuggled up in the bush, there would be a little bit of warmth coming from the fire.

The children had a cosy night round the fire. They didn’t stay up very long, for they were all tired after their walk up and down the hill. Everyone said goodnight to Dinah, who wrapped a rug around herself and crept cautiously into the bush. All but Dinah retired to bed. She had a bar of chocolate or two in her pocket and planned to nibble them so that they would last her the whole two hours.

She shivered slightly in the cold night, and pulled the rug around herself tighter. Kiki watched her for a while from her usual perch, and then, bored, put her head in her wing and fell asleep. Suddenly, there came a noise. Dinah stiffened. Then, a small hedgehog crawled by, hardly relieving Dinah, who let out the loudest scream you ever heard! The others rushed out their tents, immediately, expecting to see a party of large, burly men standing over the tents, but no, all they saw was a harmless little hedgehog scuttle under a bush, a little way ahead.

Everyone laughed, as they saw Dinah’s scared face peering out the bush. None of them had been asleep and had been slightly puzzled at Dinah’s early exclamation. They crept back into their tents and Dinah sat back in her place. Nothing much happened on Dinah’s watch, except a few bats flew by, making the girl jump tremendously.

A few owls hooted in the silence, and Dinah wondered if that could possibly be the enemies secret signal to each other, but shook her head and dismissed the idea when two large owls flew by. She very nearly fell asleep and hurriedly began nibbling her second bar of chocolate, to try and keep herself awake. She was relieved when ten o’clock came and she could gently wake Philip, whisper a few words to him and then crawl safely into the tent.

Philip crawled out his and into the watch place, where Dina had sat for the last two hours. He looked around the camp, which was clearly lit by the flare of the camp fire, throwing flames about wildly. Dormy the mouse was restless and crawled out of Philip’s sleeve, wondering where they were. Philip tickled him and gave him a tomato. His bad leg was healing nicely now, and soon Philip would let him go free. Dormy nibbled at the tomato softly, making a funny grating sound in the quietness of the night.

Philip watched and watched, but nothing came of it. There wasn’t a noise, nor a movement. It was Lucy-Ann’s turn next. The others lay asleep, snuggled up in the warmth of their sleeping bags. Poor Lucy-Ann shivered softly. She was very nervous about her watch, and hoped, unlike the others, that she would not see or hear a thing. But very soon, she did hear something. It sounded like the owls, at first, hooting comfortingly to their babies, but then, as it came closer, Lucy-Ann realised, it was not the nest of owls she imagined, it was a group of men, talking in low voices. Lucy-Ann’s little heart began to beat faster and faster, and at last, she crawled out of her place and shook the boys tent gently.

“Who’s there?” came Jack’s voice. Kiki came sailing out the tent and landed neatly on Lucy-Ann’s shoulder. “It’s me, Lucy-Ann” said the girl desperately, “Jack, the enemies are here, and I’m too scared,” she said, crawling into the boys’ tent.

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Chapter fifteen:

Deeper into the adventure

The children were soon on their way back to camp, the boys carrying two large baskets of food. They were extremely heavy and they began to wish they had asked an adult to come and help them carry them up.

“So, how about that, then?” Jack said once they were out of ear shot of the inn. “Ferton and Kennedy were the ones who got kidnapped, not the kidnappers… When they went past I was sure I saw Mr Ferton’s face, and I assumed that he was the kidnapper, not being kidnapped himself!”

“So, if he’s not the enemy, who is?” asked Lucy-Ann feeling a tremble of fear. “And why did they want us away from Lowfell Hill if they are not the enemies?”

“I don’t know,” said Philip, thoughtfully, “but we’re jolly well going to find out.”

“This is getting stranger and stranger,” Dinah said, “we’re in the middle of another adventure, again, aren’t we?” The others nodded and began talking things over and over.

The children were soon walking steadily up the hill, stopping continually for the boys to have a rest. It got to tea time and the girls suggested having tea next time they rested. So the girls began preparing a meal of meat paste sandwiches, ripe plums, fruit cake and biscuits. “Lucy-Ann, you run over to the stream and fill this jug with water. I don’t know about everyone else, but I just couldn’t drink ginger beer in this heat,” Dinah ordered.

Lucy-Ann did as she was told and ran over to the stream that had now swung round in the direction the children were walking. The others were sat under the trees in the shade. Lucy-Ann dipped her hand into the water as it rushed by and they pulled the jug through the water catching the beautiful crystal clear liquid. It soon filled the jug and she began to run back over to the others. On her way, her foot caught in a hole, in the ground and she tripped over, the jug was tossed up in the air, emptying the contents, and thudded on the ground. Poor Lucy-Ann began to cry bitterly and the others ran over to her. “Poor old Lucy-Ann,” Jack comforted his little sister, examining her hands and knees. She had scraped them a little bit but there was no blood.

“Come and bathe your hands and knees in the stream, Lucy-Ann, and the boys will block up the hole you fell through. No doubt it’s an old un-used rabbit hole,” Dinah said, helping Lucy-Ann up. She led her to the stream where Dinah wet her handkerchief and dabbed Lucy-Ann’s sore hands and knees.

The boys began looking for the hole. They soon found it a little way from the stream, quite big. It was big enough for a small dog to fit down. It was already stuffed with bits of heather and bracken. The boys pulled it all out and peered down the hole. “Why, it looks like this is the beginning a small passage.” Jack exclaimed. “Though it hasn’t been used for a while, for lots of dirt had gathered round the edges making the hole smaller.”

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