Anne called them to
dinner. ‘Come along!’ she cried. Tve got it all ready. Tell Mr
Luffy there’s plenty for him, too.’
Mr Luffy came along
willingly. He thought Anne was a marvellous camp-housekeeper. He
looked approvingly at the spread set out on a white cloth on the
ground.
’Hm! Salad.
Hard-boiled eggs. Slices of ham. And what’s this - apple-pie! My
goodness! Don’t tell me you cooked that here, Anne.’
Anne laughed. ‘No.
All this came from the farm, of course. Except the lime juice and
water.’
George ate with the
others, but said hardly a word. She was brooding over her wrongs,
and Mr Luffy looked at her several times, puzzled.
’Are you quite well,
George?’ he said, suddenly. George went red.
’Yes, thank you,’ she
said, and tried to be more herself, though she couldn’t raise a
smile at all. Mr Luffy watched her, and was relieved to see that
she ate as much as the others. Probably had some sort of row, he
guessed correctly. Well, it would blow over! He knew better than to
interfere.
They finished lunch
and drank all the lime juice. It was a hot day and they were very
thirsty indeed. Timmy emptied all his dish of water and went and
gazed longingly into the canvas bucket of washing- water. But he
was too well-behaved to drink it, now that he knew he mustn’t. Anne
laughed, and poured some more water into his dish.
’Well,’ said Mr
Luffy, beginning to fill his old brown pipe, ‘if anyone wants to
come into town with me this afternoon, I’ll be starting in fifteen
minutes.’
Til come!’ said Anne,
at once. ‘It won’t take George and me long to wash-up these things.
Will you come too, George?’
’No,’ said George,
and the boys heaved a sigh of relief. They had guessed she wouldn’t
want to come with them - but, if she’d know what they were going to
try and find out, she would have come all right!
Tm going for a walk
with Timmy,’ said George, when all the washing-up had been
done.
’All right,’ said
Anne, who secretly thought that George would be much better left on
her own to work off her ill-feelings that afternoon. ‘See you
later.’
George and Timmy set
off. The others went with Mr Luffy to where his car was parked
beside the great rock. They got in.
’Hi! The trailer’s
fastened to it,’ called Julian. ‘Wait a bit. Let me get out and
undo it. We don’t want to take an empty trailer bumping along
behind us for miles.’
’Dear me. I always
forget to undo the trailer,’ said Mr Luffy, vexed. ‘The times I
take it along without meaning to!’
The children winked
at one another. Dear old Luffy! He was always doing things like
that. No wonder his wife fussed round him like an old hen with one
foolish chicken when he was at home.
They went off in the
car, jolting over the rough road till they came to the smooth
highway. They stopped in the centre of the town. Mr Luffy said he
would meet them for tea at five o’clock at the hotel opposite the
parking-place.
The three of them set
off together, leaving Mr Luffy to go to the library and browse
there. It seemed funny to be without George. Anne didn’t much like
it, and said so.
’Well, we don’t like
going off without George either,’ said Julian. ‘But honestly, she
can’t behave like that and get away with it. I thought she’d grown
out of that sort of thing.’
’Well, you know how
she adores an adventure,’ said Anne. ‘Oh dear - if I hadn’t felt so
scared you’d have taken me along, and George would have gone too.
It’s quite true what she said about me being a coward.’
’You’re not,’ said
Dick. ‘You can’t help being scared of things sometimes - after all,
you’re the youngest of us - but being scared doesn’t make you a
coward. I’ve known you to be as brave as any of us when you’ve been
scared stiff!’
’Where are we going?’
asked Anne. The boys told her, and her eyes sparkled.
’Oh - are we going to
find out where the spook-train comes from? It might come from one
of two valleys then, judging from the map.’
’Yes. The tunnels
aren’t really very long ones,’ said Julian. ‘Not more than a mile,
I should think. We thought we’d make some inquiries at the station
and see if there’s anyone who knows anything about the old railway
yard and the tunnel beyond. We shan’t say a word about the
spook-train of course.’
They walked into the
station. They went up to a railway plan and studied it. It didn’t
tell them much. Julian turned to a young porter who was wheeling
some luggage along.
’I say! Could you
help us? We’re camping up on the moorlands, and we’re quite near a
deserted railway yard with lines that run into an old tunnel. Why
isn’t the yard used any more?’
’Don’t know,’ said
the boy. ‘You should ask old Tucky there - see him? He knows all
the tunnels under the moors like the back of his hand. Worked in
them all when he was a boy.’
’Thanks,’ said Dick,
pleased. They went over to where an old whiskered porter was
sitting in the sun, enjoying a rest till the next train came
in.
’Excuse me,’ said
Julian politely. ‘I’ve been told that you know all about the
moorland tunnels like the back of your hand. They must be very,
very interesting.’
’My father and my
grandfather built those tunnels,’ said the old porter, looking up
at the children out of small faded eyes that watered in the strong
sunlight. ‘And I’ve been guard on all the trains that ran through
them.’
He mumbled a long
string of names, going through all the list of tunnels in his mind.
The children waited patiently till he had finished.
There’s a tunnel near
where we’re camping on the moorlands,’ said Julian, getting a word
in at last. ‘We’re not far from Olly’s Farm. We came across an old
deserted railway yard, with lines that led into a tunnel. Do you
know it?’
’Oh yes, that’s an
old tunnel,’ said Tucky, nodding his grey head, on which his
porter’s cap sat all crooked. ‘Hasn’t been used for many a long
year. Nor the yard either. Wasn’t enough traffic there, far as I
remember. They shut up the yard. Tunnel isn’t used any more.’
The boys exchanged
glances. So it wasn’t used any more! Well, they knew better.
’The tunnel joins
another, doesn’t it?’ said Julian.
The porter, pleased
at their interest in the old tunnels he knew so well, got up and
went into an office behind. He came out with a dirty, much-used
map, which he spread out on his knee. His black finger-nail pointed
to a mark on the map.
That’s the yard, see?
It was called O’lly’s Yard, after the farm. There’re the lines to
the tunnel. Here’s the tunnel. It runs right through to Kilty Vale
- there it is. And here’s where it used to join the tunnel to
Roker’s Vale. But that was bricked up years ago. Something happened
there - the roof fell in, I think it was - and the company decided
not to use the tunnel to Roker’s Vale at all.’
The children listened
with the utmost interest. Julian reasoned things out in his mind.
If that spook-train came from anywhere then it must come from Kilty
Vale, because that was the only place the lines went to now, since
the way to Roker’s Vale had been bricked up where the tunnels
joined.
’I suppose no trains
run through the tunnel from Kilty Vale to Olly’s Yard now, then?’
he said.
Tucky snorted.
‘Didn’t I tell you it hasn’t been used for years? The yard at Kilty
Vale’s been turned into something else, though the lines are still
there. There’s been no engine through that tunnel since I was a
young man.’
This was all very,
very interesting. Julian thanked old Tucky so profusely that he
wanted to tell the children everything all over again. He even gave
them the old map.
’Oh, thanks,’ said
Julian, delighted to have it. He looked at the others. ‘This’ll be
jolly useful!’ he said, and they nodded.
They left the pleased
old man and went out into the town. They found a little park and
sat down on a seat.
They were longing to
discuss all that Tucky had told them.
’It’s jolly strange,’
said Dick. ‘No trains run there now - the tunnel’s not been used
for ages - and Olly’s Yard must have been derelict for
years.’
’And yet, there
appear to be trains that come and go!’ said Julian.
’Then, they must be
spook-trains,’ said Anne, her eyes wide and puzzled. ‘Julian, they
must be, mustn’t they?’
’Looks like it,’ said
Julian. ‘It’s most mysterious. I can’t understand it.’
’Ju,’ said Dick,
suddenly. ‘I know what we’ll do! We’ll wait one night again till we
see the spook-train come out of the tunnel to the yard. Then one of
us can sprint off to the other end of the tunnel - it’s only about
a mile long - and wait for it to come out the other side! Then
we’ll find out why a train still runs from Kilty Vale to Olly’s
Yard through that old tunnel.’
’Jolly good idea,’
said Julian, thrilled. ‘What about tonight? If Jock comes, he can
go, too. If he doesn’t, just you and I will go. Nat George.’
They all felt
excited. Anne wondered if she would be brave enough to go too, but
she knew that when the night came she wouldn’t feel half as brave
as she did now! No, she wouldn’t go. There was really no need for
her to join in this adventure at present. It hadn’t even turned out
to be a proper one yet - it was only an unsolved mystery!
George hadn’t come
back from her walk when they reached the camp. They waited for her,
and at last she appeared with Timmy, looking tired out.
’Sorry I was an ass
this morning,’ she said at once. ‘I’ve walked my temper off! Don’t
know what came over me.’
’That’s all right,’
said Julian amiably. ‘Forget it.’
They were all very
glad that George had recovered her temper, for she was a very
prickly person indeed when she was angry. She was rather subdued
and said nothing at all about spook-trains or tunnels. So they said
nothing either.
The night was fine
and clear. Stars shone out brilliantly again in the sky. The
children said good night to Mr Luffy at ten o’clock and got into
their sleeping-bags. Julian and Dick did not mean to go exploring
till midnight, so they lay and talked quietly.
About eleven o’clock
they heard somebody moving cautiously outside. They wondered if it
was Jock, but he did not call out to them. Who could it be?
Then Julian saw a
familiar head outlined against the starlit sky. It was George. But
what in the world was she doing? He couldn’t make it out at all.
Whatever it was, she wasn’t making any noise over it, and she
obviously thought the boys were asleep. Julian gave a nice little
snore or two just to let her go on thinking so.
At last she
disappeared. Julian waited a few minutes and then put his head
cautiously out of the tent opening. He felt about, and his fingers
brushed against some string. He grinned to himself and got back
into the tent.
’I’ve found out what
George was doing,” he whispered. ‘She’s put string across the
entrance of our tent, and I bet it runs to her tent and she’s tied
it to her big toe or something, so that if we go out without her
she’ll feel the pull of the string when we go through it and wake
up and follow us!’
’Good old George,’
chuckled Dick. ‘Well, she’ll be unlucky. We’ll squeeze out under
the sides of the tent!’
Which was what they
did do at about a minute past twelve! They didn’t disturb George’s
string at all.
They were out on the
heather and away down the slope while George was sleeping soundly
in her tent beside Anne, waiting for the pull on her toe which
didn’t come. Poor George!
The boys arrived at
the deserted railway yard and looked to see if Wooden-Leg Sam’s
candle was alight. It was. So the spook-train hadn’t come along
that night, yet.
They were just
scrambling down to the yard when they heard the train coming. There
was the same rumbling noise as before, muffled by the tunnel - and
then out of the tunnel, again with no lamps, came the spook-train,
clanking on its way to the yard!
’Quick, Dick! You
sprint off to the tunnel opening and watch for the train to go back
in again. And I’ll find my way across the moor to the other end of
the tunnel. There was a path marked on that old map, and I’ll
follow that!’ Julian’s words tumbled over each other in his
excitement. Til jolly well watch for the spook-train to complete
its journey, and see if it vanishes into thin air or what!’
And off he went to
find the path that led over the moors to the other end of the
tunnel. He meant to see what happened at the other end if he had to
run all the way!