chapter 15 discoveries in the wood

the sergeant had come and also a constable. anne felt comforted when she saw the big, solid,responsible- looking men. julian took them into the sitting- room, and began to tell all that hadhappened.

in the middle of it there came the sound of footsteps racing down the stairs, and up the hall.

'we're just off!' shouted joan's voice. 'can't stop to say good-bye, or we shall miss the bus!'

down the garden path rushed joan, carrying a small suitcase of her own, which she had lent berta,because berta's was too grand. in it she had packed the very simplest of berta's clothes, but secretlyshe had thought that she would tell her cousin to dress berta in some of jo's things.

berta ran behind her - a different berta now, dressed in a frock instead of jeans and jersey. she wavedto the others as she went, trying to smile.

'good old berta!' said dick. 'she's got quite a lot in her, that kid.'

'in fact, she's quite a honey!' said julian, trying to make anne smile.

'what's all that?' said the sergeant, in surprise, nodding his head towards the front path, down whichjoan and berta had just rushed.

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julian explained. the sergeant frowned. 'you shouldn't have arranged about that till you'd consultedus,' he said. julian was quite taken aback.

'well, you see,' he said, 'it seemed to me that i must get berta out of the house and hidden away atonce in case the kidnappers realised quickly that they'd got the wrong girl.'

'that's so,' said the sergeant. 'still, you should have consulted us. it seems quite a good idea to put herin that quiet village, with jo to see to her - she's sharp, that jo. i wouldn't put it past her to hoodwinkthe kidnappers any day! but this is a very serious business, you realise, master julian -it can't be dealt with by children.'

'can you get george back?' asked anne, breaking in with the question she had been longing to askever since the police came.

'may be,' said the sergeant. 'now i'll get in touch with your aunt and uncle, master julian, and withmr. elbur wright, and...'

the telephone rang just then and anne answered it. 'it's for you, sergeant,' she said, and he took thereceiver from her.

'ha. hm. just so. yes, yes. right. ha. hm.' the sergeant replaced the receiver and went back tojulian and the others. 'news has just come in that the kidnappers have contacted mr. elbur wright,and told him they've got his daughter berta,' he said.

'oh! and have they demanded that he shall tell them the secret figures he knows?' asked julian.

the sergeant nodded. 'yes. he's almost off his head with shock! he's promised to give them all theywant. very foolish!'

'gosh - you'd better tell him it's not berta they've got, but george,' said dick. 'then he'll sit tight!'

the sergeant frowned. 'now, you leave this to us,' he said, ponderously. 'you'll only hinder us if youinterfere or try meddling on your own. you just sit back and take things easy.'

'what! with george kidnapped and in danger?' exploded dick. 'what are you going to do to get herback?'

'now, now!' said the sergeant, annoyed. 'she is in no danger - she's not the person they want.

they will free her as soon as they realise that.'

'they won't,' said dick. 'they'll get on to her father and make him give up a few secrets!'

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'well, that will give us a little more time to find these men,' said the irritating sergeant, and he stoodup, big and burly in his navy blue uniform. 'let me know at once if you have any other news, andplease do not try to meddle. i assure you that we know the right things to do.'

he went out with the constable. julian groaned. 'he doesn't see that this is urgent. it's so complicatedtoo - the wrong girl kidnapped, the wrong father informed, the right one not at all inclined to give uppowerful secrets - and poor old george not knowing what is happening!'

'well, thank goodness we got berta out of the way,' said dick. 'anne, you look queer - are you allright?'

'yes. i think i'm just shocked - and oh dear, i feel awfully empty!' said anne, pressing her tummy.

'gosh - we forgot all about breakfast!' said dick staring at the clock. 'and it's almost ten o'clock now!

what have we been doing all this time? come on, anne - get us some food, there's a dear.

we shall all feel better then.'

'i'm so sorry for poor old timmy and little sally,' said anne, going into the kitchen. 'timmy, darling,don't look at me like that! i don't know where your beloved george is, or i'd take you to her straightaway! and sally, you will have to put up with me for a little while, because although i do knowwhere berta is, i can't possibly take you there!'

they were soon sitting down to a plain breakfast of boiled eggs, toast and butter. it seemed queeronly to be three. dick tried to make conversation, but the other two were very quiet. timmy sat underthe table with his head on anne's foot, and sally stood beside her, paws on her knee. anne comfortedboth the mournful dogs as best she could!

after breakfast anne went to wash up and make the beds, and the boys went outside to have anotherlook at the place where george's dressing-gown girdle had been found. sally and timmy came withthem.

timmy sniffed around a good bit, and then, nose to ground, went down the garden path to the frontgate, and then pushed it open and went through it. nose to ground he went down the lane and turnedoff into a little path.

'dick - he's following some kind of trail,' said julian. 'i'm certain it's george's. even if somebodycarried her away, timmy is clever enough to know george might be with him - he might just get awhiff of her.'

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'come on then - let's follow timmy,' said dick, and the boys and sally went along the little path, hoton timmy's track. timmy began to run, and dick called to him.

'not so fast, old boy! we're coming too.'

but timmy did not slow down. whatever it was he smelt, the scent was quite strong. the boys ranafter him, beginning to feel excited.

but soon timmy came to a full stop, in a little clearing in the wood. dick and julian panted up towhere he was nosing round. he looked up at them forlornly. evidently the scent came to an endthere.

'car-tracks!' said dick, pointing down to where the dampish grass under a great oak tree had beenrutted with big tyre-marks. 'see? the men brought a car here and hid it, then crept through the woodsto kirrin cottage, and waited for a chance to get berta. they got george instead - but they wouldn'thave got anyone if only george hadn't been ass enough to take sally to the kennel!

the house was well and truly locked and bolted!'

julian was looking at the wheel-tracks. 'these tracks were made by very big tyres,' he said. 'it was acar - and i rather think these are american tyre-marks. i can check that when i get back -i'll go and ask jim, at the local garage - he'll know. i'll just sketch one quickly.'

he took out a notebook and pencil and began to sketch. dick bent down and looked more carefully atthe tracks. 'there is quite a lot of criss-crossing of tracks,' he said. 'i think the men came here andwaited. then, when they got george, they must have pushed her into the car, and turned it to go backthe way they came - see, the tracks lead down that wide path over there.

they made a mess of the turning, though - bumped into this tree, look - there's a mark right across it.'

'where?' said julian at once. 'yes - a bright blue mark - the car was that colour - or the wings were, atany rate. well, that's something we've learnt! a big blue car, probably american. surely the policecould trace that?'

'timmy's still nosing round, the picture of misery,' said dick. 'poor old tim. i expect he knowsgeorge was pushed into a car just there. hallo - he's scraping at something!'

they ran to see what it was. timmy was trying to get at some small object embedded in a car-rut.

evidently, in turning, the car had run over whatever it was.

dick saw something broken in half - something green. he picked up the halves. 'a comb! did georgehave a little green comb like this?'

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'yes. she did,' said julian. 'she must have thrown it down when she got near to the car - to show usshe was taken here - hoping we would find it. and look, what's that?'

it was a handkerchief hanging on a gorse bush. julian ran to it. it had the initial g on it in blue.

'yes, it's george's,' he said. 'she's got six of these, all with different-coloured initials. she must havethrown this out too. quick, dick, look for anything else she might have thrown out of the car, whilethey were trying to turn it. they would probably put her in the back, and she would just have had achance to throw out anything she had in her dressing-gown pocket, to let us know she was here if wecame along this way.'

they searched for a long time. timmy found one more thing, again embedded in a car-rut - a boiledsweet wrapped in cellophane paper.

'look!' said dick, picking it up. 'one of the sweets we all had the other night! george must have hadone in her dressing-gown pocket! if only she had had a pencil and bit of paper - she might have hadtime to write a note too!'

'that's an idea!' said julian. 'we'll hunt even more carefully'

but although they searched every bit of ground and every bush, there was no note to be found. it wastoo much to hope for!

'let's just follow the car-tracks and make sure they reached the road,' said julian. so they followedthem down the wide woodland path.

at the side, a little way along, a piece of paper blew in the wind, hopping an inch or two each timethe breeze flapped it. dick picked it up - and then looked at julian excitedly.

'she did have time to write a note! this is her writing. but there's only one word, look - whateverdoes it mean?'

julian and dick frowned over the piece of paper. yes, it was george's writing - the g was exactlylike the way she always wrote the big g at the beginning of her signature.

'gringo,' read julian. 'just that one word. gringo! what does it mean? it's something she heard themsay, i suppose - and she just had time to write it and throw out the paper. gringo! timmy, what doesgringo mean?'