chapter 20 excitement in the morning

the dawn was coming now. the mist was no longer full of darkness, but was white, and thinningrapidly. the four children hurried to the horses, which were stamping impatiently by the trees.

george couldn't go very fast because of timmy. he really was very heavy.

suddenly he began to struggle. the fresh, cool air had revived him and he wanted to be set down.

george put him down thankfully, and he began to bark defiantly at the gypsies who were nowcoming out of their caravans, their dogs with them.

the four children mounted hurriedly and the horses were surprised at the double weight. williamswung his horse's head round and set off with george sitting behind him. henry took anne.

timmy, feeling much better, ran after them, his legs no longer feeling so shaky.

the gypsies ran too, shaking their fists and shouting. sniffer's father was amazed beyond measure.

why, there were the two girls he had tied up - and that dog he had sent off to trick the other two boyson the moor.

then who were these on horse-back, and how had they found their way to the hill? how had theprisoners been able to find their way out of the hill, too? that was a real puzzle to sniffer's father.

the gypsies tore after the horses, but the dogs contented themselves with excited barks. not one ofthem dared to go after timmy. they were afraid of him.

the horses went off as fast as they dared in the mist, timmy running in front. he seemed very muchbetter, though george was afraid it was only the excitement that now kept him going. she glancedback at the gypsies. they would never catch up now, thank goodness!

somewhere behind the mist the sun was shining. soon it would disperse the strange fog that hadcome up so suddenly from the sea. she glanced down at her watch. good gracious, could it really bealmost six o'clock in the morning. it was tomorrow now!

she wondered what had happened to julian and dick.

she thought of sniffer gratefully, and all those patrins he had left in the hill. they would never havegot out but for those. she thought of henry and william, and gave william a sudden tight hug roundthe waist for coming out in the middle of the night and rescuing them!

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'where are julian and dick, do you suppose?' she said to william. 'do you think they are still lost onthe moor? ought we to shout, and look for them?'

'no,' called back william over his shoulder. 'we're going straight back to the stables. they can lookafter themselves!'

dick and julian had certainly tried to look after themselves, that cold, misty night, but not verysuccessfully. by the time that their torch showed them that it was a quarter to five by their watches,they had had enough of the bush they were in. if only they had known it, henry and william, withtimmy, were just then riding over the moor, not a great distance from where they were!

they got out of the bush, damp and stiff. they stretched themselves and looked into the dark night,still full of mist.

'let's walk,' said julian. 'i can't bear keeping still in this mist. i've got my compass. if we walk duewest we should surely come to the edge of the moor, not far from milling green.'

they set off stumbling in the now dim light of the torch, whose battery was getting low. 'it will giveout soon,' groaned dick, giving it a shake. 'blow the thing! it hardly gives us any light now, and wesimply must keep looking at the compass.'

julian tripped against something hard and almost fell. he snatched the torch from dick. 'quick, letme have it!'

he shone it on what had tripped him and gave a delighted exclamation. 'look, it's a rail! we're on therailway line again. what a bit of luck!'

'i should think so!' said dick, relieved. 'this torch is just about finished. now, for goodness'

sake don't let's lose this railway line. stop at once if you can't feel it with your foot.'

'to think we were so jolly near the line after all, and didn't know it!' groaned julian. 'we could havebeen back at the stables ages ago. i do hope the girls got back safely and didn't alarm anyone aboutus. they'd know we would come back as soon as it was daylight, anyhow, if we could follow thelines!'

they stumbled in at the stables' entrance about six o'clock, tired out. nobody was yet up, it seemed.

they found the garden door open, left ajar by william and henry, and went up to the girls' room,hoping to find them in bed.

but the beds were empty of course. they went to henry's room, to ask her if she had heard anythingof the girls, but her bed, though slept in, was empty too!

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they went across the landing to william's room. 'he's gone as well!' said dick, in great astonishment.

'where are they all?'

'let's wake captain johnson,' said julian, who had no idea that the captain was away for the night.

so they awakened a very startled mrs. johnson, and almost scared the life out of her, for she thoughtthey were far away, camping on the moor!

she was even more startled when she heard their tale and realized that george and anne weremissing. 'where are the girls, then!' she said, flinging on a dressing-gown. 'this is serious, julian.

they might be completely lost on the moor, or those gypsies might have got them! i must telephonemy husband, and the police too. oh dear, oh dear, why did i ever let you go camping out!'

she was in the middle of telephoning, with julian and dick beside her, looking very anxious indeed,when the sound of horses' hooves came in the yard below.

'now goodness me! who's that?' said mrs. johnson. 'horses! who's riding them at this time of themorning!'

they all went to the window and looked down into the yard. dick gave a yell that almost made mrs.

johnson fall out of the window!

'anne! george! look, there they are, and timmy too. and gosh, there's henry, and william!

what is all this!'

anne heard the yell and looked up. tired as she was, she gave a cheerful wave and a grin.

george gave a shout.

'oh julian! oh dick, you're back then! we did hope you would be. after you left us we went back upthe lines the wrong way and arrived at the quarry again!'

'and the gypsies took us prisoners,' yelled anne.

'but - but - how do henry and william come into this?' said poor mrs. johnson, thinking she mustreally still be asleep. 'and what's the matter with timmy?'

timmy had suddenly flopped on the ground. the excitement was over, they were home, now hecould put his poor aching head on his paws and sleep!

george was off her horse immediately. 'timmy! darling timmy! brave timmy! help me, william.

i'll take him upstairs to my room and see to that cut.'

by this time all the other children were awake and there was such a pandemonium going on that mrs.

johnson couldn't make herself heard.

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children in dressing-gowns and without, children shouting and yelling, children pouring into the yardand asking questions; william trying to quiet the two horses which were getting very excited at allthis sudden clamour; and all the cocks round about crowing their heads off! what an excitement!

the sun suddenly shone out brilliantly, and the last wisps of mist disappeared. 'hurrah! that mist hasgone!' shouted george. 'the sun's out. cheer up, timmy. we'll all be all right now!'

timmy was half-carried, half-dragged up the stairs by william and george. george and mrs.

johnson examined his cut head carefully, and bathed it.

'it really should have been stiched up,' said mrs. johnson, 'but it seems to be healing already.

how wicked to hit a dog like that!'

soon there was the sound of horse's hooves again in the yard, and captain johnson arrived, lookingvery anxious. at almost the same moment a car slid in at the gates, a police car, with two policemenwho had been sent to inquire about the missing girls! mrs. johnson had forgotten to telephone againto say they had arrived.

'oh dear, i'm so sorry to have bothered you,' said mrs. johnson to the police sergeant. 'the girls havejust arrived back, but i still don't know what has really happened. still, they're safe, so please don'tbother any more.'

'wait!' said julian, who was in the room, too. 'i think we shall need the police! something verypeculiar has been happening up on the moor.'

'really, sir? what's that?' said the sergeant, taking out a note-book.

'we were camping there,' said julian. 'and a plane came over, very low, guided by a lamp set in asandpit by the gypsies.'

'a lamp set by the gypsies!' said the sergeant, surprised. 'but why should they need to guide a plane?

i suppose it landed?'

'no. it didn't,' said julian. 'it came again the next night, and did exactly the same thing, swooping lowand circling. but this time it dropped packages, sir!'

'oh, it did, did it?' said the sergeant, more interested. 'for the gypsies to pick up, by any chance?'

'yes, sir,' said julian. 'but the plane's aim wasn't very good, and the packets fell all round us andalmost hit us. we ran for shelter, because we didn't know if there were any explosives or not!'

'did you pick up any of the packages?' asked the sergeant. julian nodded.

'yes, we did, and i opened one.'

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'what was in it?'

'paper money, dollars!' said julian. 'in one packet alone there were scores of notes and each note wasfor a hundred dollars, about forty pounds a time! thousands of pounds-worth thrown all around us!'

the sergeant looked at his companion. 'ha! now we know! this explains a lot that has been puzzlingus, doesn't it, wilkins?'

wilkins, the other policeman, nodded grimly. 'it certainly does. so that's what happens! that's howthe gang get the dollars over here, from that printing-press in north france. just a nice little run in aplane!'

'but why do they throw the packets down for the gypsies to collect?' asked julian. 'is it so that theycan give them to someone else? why don't they bring them openly into the country? surely anyonecan bring dollars here?'

'not forged ones, my lad,' said the sergeant. 'these will all be forged, you mark my words. the ganghave got a headquarters near london, and as soon as those packets are handed over to them by one ofthe gypsies, they will set to work passing them off as real ones, paying hotel bills with them, buyingall kinds of goods and paying for them in notes that aren't worth a penny!'

'whew!' said julian. 'i never thought of them being forged!'

'oh yes. we've known of this gang for some time, but all we knew was that they had a printing-pressto print the notes in north france, and that somehow the rest of the gang here, near london, receivedthem and passed them off as real ones,' said the sergeant. 'but we didn't know how they were broughthere, nor who took them to the gang near london.'

'but now we know all right!' said wilkins. 'my word, this is a pretty scoop, sergeant. good kidsthese, finding out what we've been months trying to discover!'

'where are these packages?' said the sergeant. 'did you hide them? did the gypsies get them?'

'no, we hid them,' said julian. 'but i guess the gypsies will be hunting all over the place for themtoday, so we'd better get on the moors quick, sergeant.'

'where did you hide them?' said the sergeant. 'in a safe place, i hope!'

'oh very!' said julian. 'i'll call my brother, sergeant. he'll come with us. hey, dick! come on in here,and you'll hear a very interesting bit of news!'