chapter 20 a thrilling time

the two boys went back to the gates. dick turned round and looked behind him two or three times. 'ido hope nobody is shadowing us!' he said. 'i keep on feeling somebody's watching us all the time.'

'oh, stuff!' said julian, impatiently. 'look - here are the gates. give me a leg-up and i'll be over in ajiffy.'

dick gave him a shove, and julian climbed over the gates without much difficulty. they were bolted,not locked. he slid the great bolts carefully, and opened one gate a little for dick and timmy.

'timmy can't be left behind!' he said. 'and he certainly couldn't climb this gate!'

they kept to the shadowed side of the drive as they walked up towards the house. the small mooncame out from behind a cloud as they came near. it was an old house, with high chimneys, an uglyhouse with narrow windows that seemed like watching eyes.

dick glanced behind him suddenly and julian saw him. 'got the jitters again?' he said, impatiently.

'dick, don't be an ass. you know perfectly well that if anyone was shadowing us, timmy would hearthem and go for them at once.'

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'yes, i know,' said dick. 'i'm an idiot - but i've just got that feeling tonight - the feeling that someoneelse is there!'

they came right up to the house. 'how shall we get in?' whispered julian. 'the doors are all sure to belocked. we'll have to try the windows.'

they tiptoed silently round the big house. as julian had said, the doors were all locked. the windowswere all fastened too - well and truly fastened. not one was open or could be opened.

'if this is a house belonging to gringo he must be able to hide plenty of things in absolute safety -bolted gates, high walls, locked doors, fastened windows!' said dick. 'no burglar could possibly getin.'

'and neither can we,' said julian, desperately. 'we've been all round the house three times now!

there's no door, no window we can get in. no balcony to climb up to - no ivy to hang on to -nothing!'

'let's go round once more,' said dick. 'we might have missed something.'

so once more they went round - and discovered something curious when they got to the kitchenquarters. the moon came out, and showed them a round black hole in the ground! whatever could itbe?

they tiptoed to it just as the moon went in again. they shone their torches on it briefly.

'it's a coal-hole!' said dick, astonished. 'why didn't we see it before? look, there's the lid just besideit. it's been left open. i suppose the moon was in last time we came by this part of the house. i can'tthink how we didn't notice it.'

julian was uneasy. 'i didn't see it before, certainly. it's queer. could it be a trap, do you think?'

'i don't see how it could be,' said dick. 'come on - let's get down. at least it's a way in.' he shone historch into the hole. 'yes, look - there's a whole lot of coke down there - we can easily jump on to it.

tim, you go first and spy out the land.'

timmy jumped down at once, the coke slithering away from beneath his four paws. 'he's down allright,' said julian. 'i'll go next.'

down he jumped, and the coke slithered away again, making what seemed to be a very loud noise inthe silent night. julian shone his torch around.

they were standing on a very large heap of coke in the middle of a big cellar. at the end was a door.

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'hope it's not locked,' said dick, in a whisper. 'now, tim, keep to heel, for goodness' sake, and don'tmake a sound!'

they went to the door, treading on gritty bits of coke. julian turned the dirty handle - and the dooropened inwards! 'it's not locked!' said julian, thankfully.

they crept through it, timmy treading on their heels, and found themselves in another cellar, set withstone shelves on which were piled tins and boxes and crates. 'enough food here to stand a siege!'

whispered dick. 'where are the cellar-steps? we've got to get out.'

'over there,' said julian. then he stopped and put out his torch. he had heard something.

'did you hear that?' he whispered. 'it sounded like somebody treading on the coke in the coal-cellar!

gosh, i hope nobody is shadowing us. we'll soon be prisoners if so.'

they listened but heard nothing further. up the stone steps they went and undid the door at the top. abig kitchen lay beyond, lighted by the dim moon. a shadow rose suddenly in front of them andtimmy growled. dick's heart almost stopped beating. what in the world was that, crawling silentlyover the floor and disappearing in the shadows? he clutched at julian and made him jump.

'don't do that, ass! that was only the kitchen cat you saw,' whispered julian. 'gosh, you made mejump. wasn't it a good thing that timmy didn't go for the cat? there would have been an awfulyowling!'

'where do you suppose george will be?' asked dick. 'somewhere at the top of the house?'

'i've no idea. we'll just have to look into every room,' said julian. so they looked into every room onthe ground floor, but they were empty. they were huge rooms, ugly and over-furnished.

'come on - up the stairs!' said dick, and up they went. they came to an enormous landing, hung withtapestry curtains at the windows. timmy suddenly gave a small growl and in a trice both boys hadhidden themselves in the folds of the long window- curtains. timmy went with them, feelingsurprised. dick peeped out after a minute.

'i think it was that cat again,' he whispered. 'look, there it is, up on that chest. it's following us,wondering what on earth we're doing, i expect!'

'blow it!' said julian. 'i'm getting the jitters now, being watched by a shadowy cat. i suppose it isreal?'

'timmy thinks so!' said dick. 'come on - there are any amount of bedroom doors on this landing.'

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they tiptoed into the ones whose doors were open, but no one was sleeping in the beds there.

they came to a closed door and listened. someone was snoring inside!

'that's not george,' said dick. 'anyway, she'd be locked in, and the key is in this door.'

they went to the next door, which was also shut. they listened and could hear someone breathingheavily.

'not george,' said dick, and they went on up to the next flight of stairs. there were four more roomsthere, two of them not even furnished. the doors of the other two were ajar, and it was clear thatpeople were sleeping in them, because once more there was loud breathing to be heard.

'there don't seem to be any more rooms,' said dick, in dismay, as they flashed their torches carefullyround the top landing. 'blow! where's george then?'

'look - there's a little wooden door there,' said julian, in dick's ear. 'a door leading into the cisternroom, i should think.'

'she wouldn't be there,' said dick. 'but wait - look, there's a strong bolt on the door! and cisternrooms don't have bolts on their doors, or even locks. this one hasn't a lock, but it has a bolt.'

'sh! not so loud!' said julian. 'yes, that's funny, i must say. how can we get the door open withoutwaking the people in those other two rooms?'

'we'll shut their doors very quietly, and we'll lock them!' said dick, excited. 'i'll go and do it.'

he drew the doors gently to, and then locked first one and then the other, having taken the keys fromthe other side of the doors to do so. except that one made a slight click as he locked it, there was nonoise. nobody stirred in the two rooms, and the boys breathed freely again.

they went to the little wooden door opposite. they pulled gently at the bolt, afraid that it mightsqueak. but it didn't. it was obviously quite new, and ran easily. the door opened outwards with asmall creak. there was pitch darkness inside, and the sound of trickling water from the cistern.

dick flashed his torch on and off quickly. in that second he saw something that made his heart jump!

there was a small mattress on the floor of the little cistern room, and someone was lying on it, rolledso completely in blankets that even the head was covered! julian had seen it too, and he put his armon dick's, afraid that it might not be george, afraid that it might be someone who would give thealarm, perhaps another prisoner.

but timmy knew who it was! timmy ran straight in with a small, loving whimper and flung himselfon the sleeping figure!

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dick shut the cistern room door at once, afraid of the noise being heard. timmy might bark with joyin a moment, or george might shout!

the figure gave a grunt and sat up. the blanket fell away from the head - and there was george'scurly nob, and her startled face.

'sh!' said dick, raising his finger warningly. 'sh!' timmy was licking george from head to foot, wildwith delight, but extraordinarily silent - clever old timmy knew that this was one of the times whenjoy must be dumb!

'oh!' said george, hugging timmy anywhere she could. 'oh, timmy! i missed you so! darling,darling, tim! oh timmy!'

dick stood by the closed door, listening to find out if anyone was stirring in the other rooms. heheard nothing at all. julian went to george.

'are you all right, george?' he asked. 'have you been treated well?'

'not very,' said george. 'but then i didn't behave very well! i did quite a lot of kicking and biting- so they locked me in here!'

'poor old george!' said julian. 'well, we'll hear everything when we've got out of here. so far, we'vebeen jolly lucky. can you come now?'

'yes,' said george and got off the mattress. she was dressed in an odd selection of clothes, and lookedrather peculiar. 'that awful old woman - gringo's mother - found these for me when i was taken tothe caravan,' she said. 'gosh, i've got a lot to tell you!'

'sh!' said dick, at the door. 'not a sound, now! i'm going to open the door!'

he opened it slowly. all was quiet. 'now we'll go down the stairs,' he said. 'not a sound!'

they went down the first flight of stairs and on to the enormous landing. then, just as dick put hisfoot on to the next stair down, he trod on something soft that yowled, spat and scratched. it was thatcat!

dick fell half-way down the stairs, and timmy could not stop himself from chasing the cat up thelanding and up the top stairs to the cistern room. nor could he stop himself from barking!

shouts came from two of the near-by bedrooms and two men appeared in pyjamas. one switched onthe landing light, and then both of them tore down the stairs after the three children. dick pickedhimself up, but he had ricked his ankle and could not even walk!

'run, george - i'll see to dick!' yelled julian. rut george stopped too - and in a trice the two menwere on to them, catching hold of dick and julian, and jerking them into a near-by room.

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'tim! tim!' shouted george. 'help, timmy!'

but before timmy could come pelting down the stairs from the attic george was shoved into theroom too, and the door locked.

'look out for the dog!' shouted one of the men. 'he's dangerous!'

timmy certainly was! he came tearing towards the men, snarling, his eyes blazing, showing all histeeth.

the men darted into the room next to the one into which they had locked the children, and banged thedoor. timmy flung himself against it in rage, snarling and growling in a most terrifying manner. ifonly he could get at those men! if only he could!