Five Go to Mystery Moor (16 page)

„Al right," said the big policeman, putting away his note-book. „Have a snack and we"ll go afterwards."

Well, of course, George, Anne and Henry all wanted to go too, as soon as they heard about the proposed jaunt over the moors!

„What! Leave us out of that!" said George, indignantly. „What a hope! Anne wants to come too."

„So does Henry," said Anne, looking at George, „even though she didn"t help to find the packages of notes."

„Of course Henry must come," said George at once, and Henry beamed. George had been very struck indeed with Henry"s courage in coming with Wil iam to rescue her and Anne, and very pleased that she hadn"t boasted about it! But Henry knew that Wil iam was the one mostly to praise, and she had been unexpectedly modest about the whole affair.

It was quite a large party that set off after everyone had made a very good breakfast.

Mrs Johnson had set to work cooking huge platefuls of bacon and egg, exclaiming every now and again when she thought of all that had happened up on the moors.

„Those gypsies! And fancy that plane coming like that - dropping money all over the place! And the gypsies tying up Anne and George in that hil . I never heard anything like it in my life!"

Captain Johnson went with the party too. He could hardly believe the extraordinary tale that the four had to tell, five, with old Timmy! Timmy now had a beautiful patch on his head, and was feeling extremely important. Wait til Liz saw that!

Ten people set out, including Timmy, for Wil iam had been included in the party too. He tried to guess where Julian had hidden the notes, but he couldn"t, of course. Julian firmly refused to tel anyone. He wanted it to be a real surprise.

They came to the quarry at last, having walked all the way up the old railway line. Julian stood on the edge of the quarry and pointed out the gypsy camp.

„Look, they"re leaving," he said. „I bet they were afraid we"d spread the news of their behaviour, after the girls escaped."

Sure enough, the caravans were moving slowly away.

„Wilkins, as soon as you get back, give word to have every gypsy watched if he leaves the caravans," said the sergeant. „One of them is sure to have arranged a meeting-place to give the gang the packets dropped from the plane, and if we watch those caravans, and every gypsy in them, we"ll soon be able to put our hands on the gang that spends the forged notes."

„I bet it"s Sniffer"s father," said Dick. „He"s the ringleader, anyway."

They watched the caravans move away one by one. Anne wondered about Sniffer. So did George. What had she promised him last night, if he would help them? A bicycle, and to live in a house so that he could ride it to school! Well, it wasn"t likely she would ever see the dirty little boy again, but if she did she would certainly have to keep her word!

„Now, where"s this wonderful hiding-place?" asked the sergeant, as Julian turned from watching the caravans. He had tried to make out Sniffer and Liz, but the vans were too far away.

„Follow me!" said Julian, with a sudden grin and led the way back up the lines to where they broke off. The gorse-bush was there, and the old engine lay on its side as before, almost hidden.

„Whatever"s that?" said the sergeant, surprised.

„It"s the old Puffing Bil y that used to pul the trucks of sand from the quarry," said Dick.

„Apparently there was a quarrel long ago between the owners of the quarry and the gypsies, and the gypsies pul ed up the lines and the engine ran off and fel over. There it"s been ever since, as far as I can see!"

Julian went round to the funnel-end, and bent back the prickly gorse-branch that hid it.

The sergeant looked on in surprise. Dick scraped the sand out of the top of the funnel and then pul ed out one of the packages. He had been afraid they would not be there.

„Here you are!" he said, and tossed the packet to the sergeant. „There are plenty more. I"l come to the one we opened in a minute - yes - here it is."

The sergeant and Wilkins were amazed to see the packages hauled up from such a peculiar hiding-place. No wonder the gypsies hadn"t found them. Nobody would ever have looked down the funnel of the old engine, even if they had spotted it, half-buried as it was.

The sergeant looked at the hundred-dol ar notes in the opened parcel and whistled. „My word, this is it! We"ve seen these before, beautiful forgeries they are! If the gang had got rid of this lot, a great many people would have suffered. The money is worth nothing! How many packets did you say there were?"

„Dozens!" said Dick, and pul ed more of them out of the funnel. „Gosh, I can"t reach the ones at the bottom."

„Never mind," said the sergeant. „Put some sand in to hide them and I"l send a man to poke the rest out with a stick. The gypsies have gone and they are the only people likely to hunt for them. This is a wonderful scoop! You kids have certainly put us on to something."

„I"m glad," said Julian. „I say, we"d better col ect al the things we left here yesterday, hadn"t we? We went off in rather a hurry, you see, Sergeant, and left our things in the quarry."

He and George went into the quarry to collect the things they had left there. Timmy went with them. He suddenly growled, and George stopped, her hand on his col ar.

„What"s up, Tim? Ju, there must be somebody here! Is it one of the gypsies, do you think?"

Then Timmy stopped growling and wagged his tail. He dragged away from George"s hand and ran over to one of the little caves in the sandy walls. He looked most peculiar with the patch on his head.

Out of the cave came Liz! As soon as she saw Timmy she began to turn head-over-heels as fast as she could. Timmy stared in wonder - what a dog! How could she turn somersaults like that?

„Sniffer!" called George. „Come on out. I know you"re there!"

A pale, worried face looked out of the cave. Then Sniffer"s thin, wiry little body followed, and soon he was standing in the quarry, looking scared.

„I got away from them," he said, nodding his head towards where the gypsy camp had been. He went up to George, and gave a sniff.

„You said I could have a bike," he said.

„I know," said George. „You shall have one, Sniffer. If you hadn"t left us patrins in that hil , we"d never have escaped!"

„And you said I could live in a house and ride my bike to school," said Sniffer urgently. „I can"t go back to my father, he"d half-kil me now. He saw those patrins I left in the hil and he chased me al over the moor for miles. But he didn"t catch me. I hid."

„We"ll do the best we can for you," promised Julian, sorry for this little waif. Sniffer sniffed.

„Where"s that hanky?" demanded George. He pulled it out of his pocket, stil clean and folded. He beamed at her.

„You"re quite hopeless," said George. „Listen, if you want to go to school, you"l have to stop that awful sniff and use your hanky. See?"

Sniffer nodded, but put the hanky careful y back into his pocket. Then the sergeant came into the quarry and Sniffer fled at the sight of him!

„Funny little thing," said Julian. „Well, I should imagine that his father wil be sent to prison for his share in this affair, so Sniffer wil be able to get his wish and leave the caravan life to live in a house. We might be able to get him into a good home."

„And I shall keep my word, and take some money out of my savings-bank and buy him a bicycle," said George. „He deserves it! Oh, do look at Liz - simply adoring Timmy and his patch. Don"t look so important, Tim - it"s only a patch on your cut!"

„Sniffer!" called Julian. „Come back. You needn"t be afraid of this policeman. He is a friend of ours. He"l help us to choose a bicycle for you."

The sergeant looked extremely surprised at this remark, but at any rate it brought Sniffer back at once!

„Well, we"ll go back now," said the sergeant. „We"ve got what we want, and Wilkins has already started back to get somebody on to watching the gypsies. Once we find out who they have to report to about this forged money we shall feel happy."

„I hope Wilkins went along down the railway," said Julian. „It"s so easy to get lost on this moor."

„Yes. He had the sense to do that, after hearing how you got lost!" said the sergeant. „It"s wonderful up here, isn"t it, so peaceful and quiet and calm."

„Yes, you"d never think that mysteries could happen up here, would you?" said Dick. „Old ones, and new ones! Well, I"m glad we happened to be mixed up in the newest one. It was quite an adventure!"

They all went back to the stables, to find that it was now almost dinner-time and that everyone had a very large appetite to match the very large dinner that Mrs Johnson had got ready. The girls went upstairs to wash. George went into Henry"s room.

„Henry," she said, „thanks most awfully. You"re as good as a boy any day!"

„Thanks, George," said Henry, surprised. „You"re better than a boy!"

Dick was passing the door and heard all this. He laughed, and stuck his head in at the door.

„I say do let me share in these compliments!" he said. „Just tell me I"m as good as a girl, wil you?"

But all he got was a well-aimed hair-brush and a shoe, and he fled away, laughing.

Anne gazed out of her bedroom window over the moor. It looked so peaceful and serene under the April sun. No mystery about it now!

„Al the same, it"s a good name for you," said Anne. „You"re full of mystery and adventure, and your last adventure waited for us to come and share it. I really think I"d cal this adventure “Five Go To Mystery Moor”."

It"s a good name, Anne. We"ll cal it that too!