Jock was really
enjoying himself at the camp. He had a picnic lunch with the
others, and ate as much as they did, looking very happy. Mr Luffy
joined them, and Jock beamed at him, feeling that he was a real
friend.
’Where’s George?’
asked Mr Luffy.
’Gone off by
herself,’ said Julian.
’Have you quarrelled,
by any chance?’ said Mr Luffy.
’A bit,’ said Julian.
‘We have to let George get over it by herself, Mr Luffy. She’s like
that.’
’Where’s she gone?’
said Mr Luffy, helping himself to a tomato. ‘Why isn’t she back to
dinner?’
’She’s taken hers
with her,’ said Anne. ‘I feel a bit worried about her, somehow. I
hope she’s all right.’
Mr Luffy looked
alarmed. ‘I feel a bit worried myself,’ he said. ‘Still, she’s got
Timmy with her.’
’We’re going off on a
bit of exploring,’ said Julian, when they had all finished eating.
‘What are you going to do, Mr Luffy?’
’I think I’ll come
with you,’ said Mr Luffy, unexpectedly. The children’s hearts sank.
They couldn’t possibly go exploring for spook-trains in the tunnel
if Mr Luffy was with them.
’Well - I don’t think
it will be very interesting for you, sir,’ said Julian, rather
feebly. However, Mr Luffy took the hint and’realised he wasn’t
wanted that afternoon.
’Right,’ he said. ‘In
that case I’ll stay here and mess about.’
The children sighed
with relief. Anne cleared up, with Jock helping her, and then they
called good-bye to Mr Luffy and set off, taking their tea with
them.
Jock was full of
excitement. He was so pleased to be with the others, and he kept
thinking of sleeping in the camp that night - what am it would be!
Good old Mr Luffy, taking his side like that. He bounded after the
others joyfully as they went off to the old railway yard.
Wooden-Leg Sam was
pottering about there as usual. They waved to him, but he didn’t
wave back. Instead he shook his fist at them and tried to bawl in
his husky voice: ‘You clear out! Trespassing, that’s what you are.
Don’t you come down here or I’ll chase you!’
’Well, we won’t go
down then,’ said Dick, with a grin. ‘Poor old man - thinking of
chasing us with that wooden leg of his. We won’t give him the
chance. We’ll just walk along here, climb down the lines and walk
up them to the tunnel.’
Which is what they
did, much to the rage of poor Sam. He yelled till his voice gave
out, but they took no notice, and walked quickly up the lines. The
mouth of the tunnel looked very round and black as they came
near.
’Now we’ll jolly well
walk right through this tunnel and see where that spook-train is
that came out of it the other night,’ said Julian. ‘It didn’t come
out the other end, so it must be somewhere in the middle of the
tunnel.’
’If it’s a real
spook-train, it might completely disappear,’ said Anne, not liking
the look of the dark tunnel at all. The others laughed.
’It won’t have
disappeared,’ said Dick. ‘We shall come across it somewhere, and
we’ll examine it thoroughly and try and find out exactly what it
is, and why it comes and goes in such a mysterious manner.’
They walked into the
black tunnel, and switched on their torches, which made little
gleaming paths in front of them. They walked up the middle of one
pair of lines, Julian in front keeping a sharp look-out for
anything in the shape of a train!
The lines ran on and
on. The children’s voices sounded weird and echoing in the long
tunnel. Anne kept close to Dick, and half wished she hadn’t come.
Then she remembered that George had called her a coward, and she
put up her head, determined not to show that she was scared.
Jock talked almost
without stopping. Tve never done anything like this in my life. I
call this a proper adventure, hunting for spook-trains in a dark
tunnel. It makes me feel nice and shivery all over. I do hope we
find the train. It simply must be here somewhere!’
They walked on and on
and on. But there was no sign of any train. They came to where the
tunnel forked into the second one, that used to run to Roker’s
Vale. Julian flashed his torch on the enormous brick wall that
stretched across the second tunnel.
’Yes, it’s well and
truly bricked up,’ he said. ‘So that only leaves this tunnel to
explore. Come on.’
They went on again,
little knowing that George and Timmy were behind that brick wall,
hidden in a truck of the spook-train itself! They walked on and on
down the lines, and found nothing interesting at all.
They saw a little
round circle of bright light some way in front of them. ‘See that?’
said Julian. ‘That must be the end of this tunnel - the opening
that goes into Kilty’s Yard. Well, if the train isn’t between here
and Kilty’s Yard, it’s gone!’
In silence they
walked down the rest of the tunnel, and came out into the open air.
Workshops were built all over Kilty’s Yard. The entrance to the
tunnel was weed-grown and neglected. Weeds grew even across the
lines there.
’Well, no train has
been out of this tunnel here for years,’ said Julian, looking at
the thick weeds. ‘The wheels would have chopped the weeds to
bits.’
’It’s extraordinary,’
said Dick, puzzled. ‘We’ve been right through the tunnel and
there’s no train there at all, yet we know it goes in and out of
it. What’s happened to it?’
’It is a
spook-train,’ said Jock, his face red with excitement. ‘Must be. It
only exists at night, and then comes out on its lines, like it used
to do years ago.’
’I don’t like
thinking that,’ said Anne, troubled. ‘It’s a horrid thought.’
’What are we going to
do now?’ Julian asked. ‘We seem to have come to a blank. No train,
nothing to see, empty tunnel. What a dull end to an
adventure.’
’Let’s walk back all
the way again,’ said Jock - he wanted to squeeze as much out of
this adventure as he could. ‘I know we shan’t see the train this
time any more than we did the last time, but you never know!’
’I’m not coming
through that tunnel again,’ said Anne. ‘I want to be out in the
sun. I’ll walk over the top of the tunnel, along the path there
that Julian took the other night and you three can walk back, and
meet me at the other end.’
’Right,’ said Julian
and the three boys disappeared into the dark tunnel. Anne ran up
the path that led alongside the top of it. How good it was to be in
the open air again! That horrid tunnel! She ran along cheerfully,
glad to be out in the sun.
She got to the other
end of the tunnel quite quickly, and sat down on the path above the
yard to wait for the others. She looked for Wooden-Leg Sam. He was
nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he was in his little hut.
She hadn’t been there
for more than two minutes when something surprising happened. A car
came bumping slowly down the rough track to the yard! Anne sat up
and watched. A man got out - and Anne’s eyes almost fell out of her
head. Why, it was - surely it was Mr Andrews, Jock’s
stepfather!
He went over to Sam’s
hut and threw open the door. Anne could hear the sound of voices.
Then she heard another noise - the sound of a heavy lorry coming.
She saw it come cautiously down the steep, rough track. It ran into
an old tumbledown shed and stayed there. Then three men came out
and Anne stared at them. Where had she seen them before?
’Of course! They’re
the farm labourers at Jock’s farm!’ she thought. ‘But what are they
doing here? How very strange!’
Mr Andrews joined the
men and, to Anne’s dismay, they began to walk up the lines to the
tunnel! Her heart almost stopped. Goodness, Julian, Dick and Jock
were still in that tunnel, walking through it. They would bump
right into Mr Andrews and his men - and then what would happen? Mr
Andrews had warned them against going there, and had ordered Jock
not to go.
Anne stared at the
four men walking into the far-off mouth of the tunnel. What could
she do? How could she warn the boys? She couldn’t! She would just
have to stay there and wait for them to come out - probably chased
by a furious Mr Andrews and the other men. Oh dear, dear - if they
were caught they would probably all get an awful telling off! What
could she do?
’I can only wait,’
thought poor Anne. ‘There’s nothing else to do. Oh, do come,
Julian, Dick and Jock. I daren’t do anything but wait for
you.’
She waited and
waited. It was now long past tea-time. Julian had the tea, so there
was nothing for Anne to eat. Nobody came out of the tunnel. Not a
sound was heard. Anne at last decided to go down and ask Wooden-Leg
Sam a few questions. So, rather afraid, the girl set off down to
the yard.
Sam was in his hut,
drinking cocoa, and looking very sour. Something had evidently gone
wrong. When he saw Anne’s shadow across the doorway he got up at
once, shaking his fist.
’What, you children
again! You went into that tunnel this afternoon, and so I went up
and telephoned Mr Andrews to come and catch you all, poking your
noses in all the time? How did you get out of that tunnel? Are the
others with you? Didn’t Mr Andrews catch you, eh?’
Anne listened to all
this in horror. So old Sam had actually managed to telephone Mr
Andrews, and tell tales on them - so that Jock’s stepfather and his
men had come to catch them. This was worse than ever.
’You come in here,’
said Sam suddenly, and he darted his big arm at her. ‘Come on. I
don’t know where the others are, but I’ll get one of you!’
Anne gave a scream
and ran away at top speed. Wooden-Leg Sam went after her for a few
yards and then gave it up. He bent down and picked up a handful of
cinders. A shower of them fell all round Anne, and made her run
faster than ever.
She tore up the path
to the heather, and was soon on the moors again, panting and
sobbing. ‘Oh, Julian! Oh, Dick! What’s happened to you? Oh, where’s
George? If only she would come home, she’d be brave enough to look
for them, but I’m not. I must tell Mr Luffy. He’ll know what to
do!’ She ran on and on, her feet catching continually in the tufts
of thick heather. She kept falling over and scrambling up again.
She now had only one idea in her mind - to find Mr Luffy and tell
him every single thing! Yes, she would tell him about the
spook-trains and all. There was something strange and important
about the whole thing now, and she wanted a grown-up’s help.
She staggered on and
on. ‘Mr Luffy! Oh, Mr Luffy, where are you? MR LUFFY!’
But no Mr Luffy
answered her. She came round the gorse bushes she thought were the
ones sheltering the camp - but, alas, the camp was not there. Anne
had lost her way!
’I’m lost,’ said
Anne, the tears running down her cheeks. ‘But I mustn’t get scared.
I must try to find the right path now. Oh, dear, I’m quite lost! Mr
LUFFY!’
Poor Anne. She
stumbled on blindly, hoping to come to the camp, calling every now
and again. ‘Mr Luffy. Can you hear me? MR LUFFFFFFFY!’