Five Fall Into Adventure (6 page)

‘Hey!’ he said. ‘Don’t go off like that. You just tell me what’s wrong with you this morning.’

He caught hold of Jo and swung her round to face him. He looked closely at her and saw that she now had two bruises on her face - one going yellow, that he had given her when he had sent her flying two or three days before - and a new one, dark purple.

‘Where did you get that bruise?’ he said, touching it lightly.

‘That was my dad,’ said Jo. ‘He’s gone off and left me - taken the caravan and all! I wanted to go, too; but he wouldn’t let me into the caravan. And when I hammered at the door, he came out and pushed me down the steps. That’s when I got this bruise - and I’ve got another on my leg, too.’

Dick and Julian listened in horror. What kind of a life was this that Jo had to live? The boys sat down on the beach, and Dick pulled Jo down between them.

‘But surely your father is coming back?’ said Julian. ‘Is the caravan your only home?’

‘Yes,’ said Jo. ‘I’ve never had another home. We’ve always lived in a caravan. Mum did, too, when she was alive. Things were better then. But this is the first time Dad’s gone off without me.’

‘But - how are you going to live’ asked Dick.

‘Dad said Jake would give me money to buy food,’ said Jo. ‘But only if I do what he tells me. I don’t like Jake. He’s mean.’

‘Who’s Jake?’ asked Julian, most astonished at all this.

‘Jake’s a gipsy fellow. He knows my father,’ said Jo. ‘He’s always turning up for a day or two, and going away again. If I wait about here, he’ll come and give me five pence or so, I expect.’

‘What will he tell you to do?’ said Dick, puzzled. ‘It all seems very queer and horrible to me. You’re only a kid.’

‘Oh, he may tell me to go poaching with him or - or - well, there’s things we do that folks like you don’t,’ said Jo, suddenly realizing that Dick and Julian would not at all approve of some of the things she did. ‘I hope he gives me some money today, though I haven’t got any at all, and I’m hungry.’

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Dick and Julian looked at one another. To think that in these days there should be a forlorn waif like Jo, going in fear of others, and often hungry and lonely.

Dick put his hand in the shopping basket and pulled out a packet of chocolate and some biscuits. ‘Here you are,’ he said. ‘Tuck into these - and if you’d like to go to the kitchen door some time today and ask Joan, our cook, for a meal, she’ll give you one. I’ll tell her about you.’

‘Folks don’t like me at kitchen doors,’ said Jo, cramming biscuits into her mouth.

‘They’re afraid I’ll steal something.’ She glanced up at Dick. ‘And I do,’ she said.

‘You shouldn’t do that,’ said Dick.

‘Well, wouldn’t you, if you were so hungry you couldn’t even bear to look at a baker’s cart?’ said Jo.

‘No - I don’t think so. At least, I hope not,’ said Dick, wondering what he really would feel like if he were starving. ‘Where’s this Jake fellow?’

‘I don’t know. Somewhere about,’ said Jo. ‘He’ll find me when he wants me. I’ve got to stay on the beach, Dad said. So I couldn’t come to your house, anyway. I dursent leave here.’

The boys got up to go, worried about this little ragamuffin. But what could they do?

Nothing, except feed her and give her money. Dick had slipped five pence into her hand, and she had pocketed it without a word, her eyes gleaming.

George was still not home by lunch-time; and now Julian for the first time began to feel anxious. He slipped out to the beach to see if the boat was still at sea. It was just pulling in - and with a sinking heart Julian saw that it was not George and Timmy who were in it, but two boys.

He went to look for George’s boat - and there it was, high up on the boat-beach with many others. George had not been out in it at all!

He ran back to Kirrin Cottage and told the others. They were at once as anxious as he was. What could have become of George?

‘We’ll wait till tea-time,’ said Julian. ‘Then if she’s not back we’ll really have to do something about it - tell the police, I should think. But she has sometimes gone off for the day before, so we’ll just wait a bit longer.’

Tea-time came - but no George, and no Timmy. Then they heard someone pattering up the garden path - was it Timmy? They leaned out of the window to see.

‘It’s Jo,’ said Dick, in disappointment, ‘She’s got a note or something. Whatever does she want?’

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Julian opened the front door. Jo silently gave him a plain envelope. Julian tore it open, not knowing what in the least to expect. Jo turned to go - but Julian put out his hand and caught hold of her firmly, whilst he read the note in complete amazement.

‘Dick!’ he called. ‘Hold on to Jo. Don’t let her go. Better take her indoors. This is serious.’

Jo wasn’t going to be taken indoors. She squealed, and wriggled like an eel. Then she began to kick Dick viciously with her bare feet.

‘Let me go! I’m not doing any harm. I only brought you that note!’

‘Stop squealing and being silly,’ said Dick. ‘I don’t want to hurt you, you know that. But you must come indoors.’

But Jo wouldn’t stop wriggling and pulling and kicking. She looked scared out of her life.

It was as much as Dick and Julian could do to get the little wriggler into the dining-room and shut the door. Anne followed, looking very frightened. Whatever was happening?

‘Listen to this,’ said Julian, when the door was shut. ‘It’s unbelievable!’ He held out the typewritten note for the others to see as he read it out loud.

‘We want the second notebook, the one with figures in, and we mean to have it. Find it and put it under the last stone on the crazy paving path at the bottom of the garden. Put it there tonight.

‘We have got the girl and the dog. We will set them free when we have what we want from you. If you tell the police, neither the girl nor the dog will come back. The house will be watched to see that nobody leaves it to warn the police. The telephone wires are cut.

‘When it is dark, put the lights on in the front room and all three of you sit there with the maid Joan, so that we can keep a watch on you. Let the big boy leave the house at eleven o'clock, shining a torch and put the note-book where we said. He must then go back to the lighted room. You will hear a hoot like an owl when we have collected it. The girl and the dog will then be returned.’

This amazing and terrifying note made Anne burst into tears and cling to Julian’s arm.

‘Julian! Julian! George can’t have come back from her walk with Timmy last night! She must have been caught then - and Timmy, too. Oh, why didn’t we start hunting for her then?’

Julian looked very grim and white. He was thinking hard. ‘Yes - someone was lying in wait, I’ve no doubt - and she and Timmy were kidnapped. Then the kidnapper - or one of them - came back to the house and shut the front door to make it seem as if George was back. And someone has probably been hanging round all day to find out whether we’re worried about George, or just think she’s gone off for the day!’

‘Who gave you the note?’ said Dick, sharply, to the scared Jo.

She trembled.

‘A man,’ she said.

‘What sort of a man?’ asked Julian.

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‘I don’t know,’ said Jo.

‘Yes, you do,’ said Dick. ‘You must tell, Jo.’

Jo looked sullen. Dick shook her, and she tried to get away. But he held her far too tightly. ‘Go on - tell us what the fellow was like,’ he said.

‘He was tall and had a long beard and a long nose and brown eyes,’ rattled off Jo suddenly. ‘And he was dressed in fisherman’s clothes, and - he spoke foreign.’

The two boys looked sternly at her. ‘I believe you’re making all that up, Jo,’ said Julian.

‘I’m not,’ said Jo sulkily. ‘I’d never seen him before, so there.’

‘Jo,’ said Anne, taking Jo’s brown little paw in hers, ‘tell us truly anything you know.

We're so very worried about George.’ Tears sprang out of her eyes as she spoke, and she gave a little wail.

‘Serve that George-girl right if she’s got taken away,’ said Jo fiercely. ‘She was rude to me - she’s crool and unkind. Serve her right, I say. I wouldn’t tell you anything - not even if I knew something to tell.’

‘You do know something,’ said Dick. ‘You’re a bad little girl, Jo. I shan’t have anything more to do with you. I felt sorry and unhappy about you, but now I don’t.’

Jo looked sullen again, but her eyes were bright with tears. She turned away. ‘Let me go,’ she said. ‘I tell you, that fellow gave me fifteen pence to bring this note to you, and that’s all I know. And I’m glad George is in trouble. People like her deserve it, see!’

‘Let her go,’ said Julian wearily. ‘She’s like a savage little cat - all claws and spite. I thought there might be some good in her, but there isn’t.’

‘I thought so, too,’ said Dick, letting go Jo’s arm. ‘I quite liked her. Well, go, Jo. We don’t want you any more.’

Jo rushed to the door, wrenched it open, and fled down the hall and out of the house.

There was a silence after she had gone.

‘Julian,’ whispered Anne. ‘What are we going to do?’

Julian said nothing. He got up and went into the hall. He picked up the telephone receiver and put his ear to it, listening for the faint crackling that would tell him he was connected to the exchange. After a moment he put it back again.

‘No connection,’ he said. ‘The wires have been cut, as the note said. And no doubt there’s somebody on watch to see we don’t slip out to give warning. This is all crazy. It can’t be true.’

‘But it is,’ said Dick. ‘Horribly true. Julian, do you know what notebook they want? I’ve no idea!’

‘Nor have I,’ said Julian. ‘And it’s impossible to go and hunt for it, because the safe has been mended and locked - and the police have the key.’

‘Well, that’s that, then,’ said Dick. ‘What are we going to do? Shall I slip out and warn the police?’

Julian considered. ‘No,’ he said at last. ‘I think these people mean business. It would be terrible if anything happened to George. Also, you might be caught and spirited away yourself. There are people watching the house, don’t forget.’

‘But Julian - we can’t just sit here and do nothing!’ said Dick.

‘I know. This will have to be thought about carefully.’ said Julian. ‘If only we knew where George had been taken to! We could rescue her then. But I can’t see how we can find out.’

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‘If one of us went and hid down the bottom of the garden and waited to see whoever came to take up the notebook - we could follow the fellow and maybe he’d lead us to where George is hidden,’ suggested Dick.

‘You forget that we’ve all got to sit in the lighted front room, so it would easily be spotted if one of us were missing,’ said Julian. ‘Even Joan has to sit there. This is all very stupid and melodramatic.’

‘Does anyone come to the house this evening? Any of the tradesmen, for instance?’

asked Anne, again in a whisper. She felt as if people must be all round the house, listening and watching!

‘No. Else we could give them a note,’ said Julian. Then he gave the table a rap that made the others jump. ‘Wait a bit! Yes, of course - the paper-boy comes! Ours is almost the last house he delivers at. But perhaps it would be risky to give him a note. Can’t we think of something better?’

‘Listen,’ said Dick, his eyes shining. ‘I’ve got it! I know the paper-boy. He’s all right. We’ll have the front door open and yank him in as soon as he appears. And I’ll go out immediately, with his cap on, and his satchel of papers, whistling - jump on his bike and ride away. And none of the watchers will know I’m not the boy! I’ll come back when it’s dark, sneak round the garden at the bottom and hide to watch who comes for the hidden notebook - and I’ll follow him!’

‘Good idea, Dick!’ said Julian, turning it quickly over in his mind. ‘Yes - it’s possible. It would be better to watch and see who comes rather than tell the police - because if these kidnappers mean business, George would certainly be in trouble once they knew we’d been able to get in touch with the police.’

‘Won’t the newspaper boy think it’s queer?’ asked Anne.

‘Not very. He’s a bit simple,’ said Dick. ‘He believes anything he’s told. We’ll make up something to satisfy him and give him such a good time that he’ll want to keep visiting us!’

‘About this notebook,’ said Julian. ‘We’d better get some kind of book out of one of the drawers and wrap it up with a note inside to say we hope it’s the one. The fellow who comes to collect it will have to have some kind of parcel to take off with him to give to the kidnappers. It isn’t likely he’d undo it and look at it - or even know if it was the right one or not.’

‘Go and hunt out a book, Anne,’ said Dick. ‘I’ll be looking out for the newspaper boy.

He’s not due till half-past seven, but I don’t dare to risk missing him - and he may be early, you never know.’

Anne shot off to the study, thankful to have something to do. Her hands were trembling as she pulled out drawer after drawer to look for a big notebook that would do to wrap up in a parcel.

Julian went with Dick to the front door, to help him to deal with the unsuspecting newspaper boy. They stood there, patiently waiting, hearing the clock strike six o’clock, then half-past, then seven.

‘Here he comes!’ said Dick, suddenly. ‘Now - get ready to yank him in! Hallo, Sid!’

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Sid, the paper-boy, was most amazed to find himself yanked quickly through the front door by Julian. He was even more amazed to find his very lurid check cap snatched off his head, and his bag of papers torn from his shoulder.

‘ ’Ere!’ he said feebly. ‘What you doing?’

‘It’s all right, Sid,’ said Julian, holding him firmly. ‘Just a joke. We’ve got a little treat in store for you.’