Secret Seven #1 ch8

CHAPTER EIGHT Another Meeting The meeting that afternoon was very interesting and full of excitement. Everyone had something to report. They came punctually to the old shed, giving the password without a pause. ‘Week-days!’ ‘Week-days!’ ‘Week-days!’ One after another the Seven passed in, and soon they were sitting round the shed. They all looked very important. Scamper sat by Peter and Janet, his long ears drooping down like a judge’s wig, making him look very wise. ‘Pam and George—you report first,’ said Peter. So they reported, telling how they had found out that the old house had been sold to a Mr. J. Holikoff some time back, although he had never lived in it. ‘Did you get his address?’ asked Peter. ‘It might be important.’ ‘Yes,’ said George, and produced his notebook. He read the address. ‘Good. We might have to get in touch with him if we find that he ought to know something queer is going on in his empty house,’ said Peter. Pam and George felt very proud of themselves. Then the two girls reported. They told how they had discovered that the tracks came from the direction of the town of Templeton, and had gone down to the gates of the old house, where it was plain that they had stopped, as Jack had noticed the night before, when he heard the car. Then they told how the tracks had gone into the field, circled round and come out again—and had clearly gone up the lane and back the way they came.

‘Good work,’ said Peter. Janet took out her notebook and went rather red in the face. ‘I’ve just got this to report, too,’ she said, showing the page of the notebook on which she had tried to draw the tyre pattern. ‘I don’t expect it’s a bit of use, really—it’s the pattern on the tyres of the van or trailer or lorry, or whatever it was that was pulled behind the car. And I measured the width, too.’ [Illustration] Everyone looked at the scribbled pattern. It didn’t look anything much, but Peter seemed pleased. ‘Even if it’s no use, it was a good idea to do it,’ he said. ‘Just suppose it _was_ some use—and the snow melted—your drawing would be the only pattern we had to track down the tyres.’ ‘Yes,’ said Colin, warmly. ‘I think that was good, Janet.’ Janet glowed with pride. She put away her notebook. ‘Now you three boys report,’ she said, though she herself had already heard part of it from Peter whilst they were waiting for the others to come that afternoon. Peter made the report for the three of them. Everyone listened in silence, looking very thrilled. ‘So, you see,’ finished Peter, ‘_some_body went to the old house last night, got in through the kitchen door, because the footsteps went right to there—and _I_ think they left a prisoner behind!’ Pam gasped. ‘A prisoner! What do you mean?’ ‘Well, isn’t it clear that there was a prisoner in that big window-less van—a prisoner who was not to be seen or heard—someone who was dragged round to the kitchen and forced inside—and hidden somewhere in that house? Somebody who was hurt and who squealed loudly enough for even the old deaf caretaker to hear?’ said Peter.

Everyone looked upset and uncomfortable. ‘I don’t like it,’ said Colin. Nobody liked it. It was horrid to think of a poor, squealing prisoner locked up somewhere in that old, empty house. ‘What about his food?’ said Colin, at last. ‘Yes—and water to drink,’ said Janet. ‘And _why_ is he locked up there?’ ‘Kidnapped, perhaps,’ said Jack. ‘You know—this is really very serious, if we’re right.’ There was a silence. ‘Ought we to tell our parents?’ asked Pam. ‘Or the police?’ said Jack. ‘Well—not till we know a little bit more,’ said Peter. ‘There might be some quite simple explanation of all this—a car losing its way or something.’ [Illustration] ‘I’ve just thought of something!’ said Jack. ‘That van—could it have been some sort of ambulance, do you think? You know, the van that ill people are taken to hospitals in? Maybe it was, and the car took the wrong turning, and stopped when it found it had gone wrong. And the ill person cried out with pain, or something.’ ‘But the caretaker said he heard squealing too, inside the house,’ said Peter. ‘Still, that might have been some noises in his head, of course, like those he says he sometimes has. Well—it’s an idea, Jack—it _might_ have been an ambulance, pulled by a car, though I can’t say I’ve ever seen one like the one you describe.’ ‘Anyway, we’d better not tell anyone till we’ve _proved_ there’s something queer going on,’ said Colin.

‘We should feel most frightfully silly if we reported all this to the police and then they found it was just something perfectly ordinary!’ ‘Right. We’ll keep the whole thing secret,’ said Peter. ‘But, of course, we’ve got to do something about it ourselves. We can’t leave it.’ ‘Of _course_ we’ve got to do something,’ said George. ‘But what?’ ‘We’ll think,’ said Peter. So they all thought again. What would be the best move to make next? ‘I’ve thought of something,’ said Jack at last. ‘It’s a bit frightening, though. We couldn’t let the girls into it.’ ‘Whatever is it?’ said all three girls at once. ‘Well—it seems to me that if there _is_ a prisoner locked up in one of the rooms of the old house, he will have to be fed and given water,’ said Jack. ‘And whoever does that would have to visit him at night. See? So what about us taking it in turn at night to go and watch outside the old house to see who goes in—then we might even follow them and see where they go, and who they’ve got there!’ ‘It seems a very good idea,’ said Peter. ‘But we’d have to watch two at a time. I wouldn’t want to go and hide somewhere there all by myself!’ ‘_I_ think that probably someone will be along to-night,’ said George. ‘Why shouldn’t all four of us boys go and wait in hiding?’ ‘It would be difficult for four of us to hide and not be seen,’ said Colin.

‘Well—let’s drape ourselves in white sheets or something and go and join the snowmen in the field!’ said Peter, jokingly. To his surprise the other three boys pounced on his idea eagerly. ‘Oh, _yes_, Peter—that’s fine! Nobody would ever guess we weren’t snowmen if we had something white round us!’ said Colin. ‘We get a good view of the lane, and could see and hear anyone coming along,’ said George. ‘Two could follow anyone into the house and two remain on guard outside, as snowmen, to give warning in case the other two got into trouble,’ said Jack. ‘I’d love to stand there with the snowmen! We’d have to wrap up jolly warmly, though.’ ‘Can’t we girls come too?’ asked Pam. ‘I don’t want to!’ said Barbara. ‘Well, you _can’t_ come, anyhow,’ said Peter. ‘That’s absolutely certain. Boys only are in the performance to-night!’ ‘It will be super!’ said Jack, his eyes gleaming with excitement. ‘What about Scamper? Shall we take him?’ ‘We’d better, I think,’ said Peter. ‘He’ll be absolutely quiet if I tell him.’ ‘I’ll make him a little white coat,’ said Janet. ‘Then he won’t be seen either. He’ll look like a big lump of snow or something!’ They all began to feel very excited. ‘What time shall we go?’ said Colin. ‘Well, it was about half-past nine, wasn’t it, when the men arrived last night,’ said Jack. ‘We’ll make it the same time then. Meet here at about nine to-night. My goodness—this _is_ a bit of excitement, isn’t it?’