13

the face in the tree

when the morning came, dapple awoke the children by giving a mighty sneeze. they woke with ajump, wondering what it was. dapple gave another sneeze, and they knew!

‘it’s dapple! have you got a cold, dapple?’ asked lucy-ann anxiously. then she rememberedthe happenings of the night, and looked round.

everyone said the same thing at once.

‘where are the dogs?’

they had disappeared. not one was there. the children looked at one another, puzzled. wherehad they gone, and why?

‘we couldn’t all have dreamed them,’ said dinah, answering everyone’s unspoken thought.

‘they really were here. ten of them. most peculiar.’

‘yes, it is peculiar,’ said jack. ‘personally, i think they must belong to somebody. they didn’tstrike me as being a pack of wild dogs.’

‘nor me,’ said philip. ‘but who could they belong to? there’s not a house for miles! and whyshould anyone in this desolate mountain country keep ten man-hunting dogs?’

‘oooh – are they man-hunters?’ said lucy-ann, startled.

‘well, the police use them for that,’ said philip. ‘don’t they, jack? they hunt criminals withthem. those alsatians can smell them out and capture them. but there can’t be any police here,with hunting-dogs! i mean – bill would have had it reported to him, if they were. he’s high up inthe police organization himself, and there’s not a thing he doesn’t know about what’s going on inthe police world.’

‘where do the dogs come from then?’ asked dinah. ‘would they be kept as guards for anything– to frighten anyone off, or give the alarm, for instance?’

‘yes – but what is there to guard here, among these mountains?’ said jack. ‘nothing at all, asfar as i can see!’

‘give it up!’ said philip, sliding out of his sleeping-bag. ‘i’m going for a splash in the stream.

coming?’

‘yes. then we’ll open a tin or two,’ said dinah. ‘i wish we’d thought of giving that ham-boneto the dogs, jack. the ham’s gone bad now – but they wouldn’t have minded.’

‘we’ll give it to them next time we see them,’ said jack. ‘i’ve no doubt they’ll be along again!’

they all splashed in the stream, snowy and dapple too. kiki sat apart, making sarcasticremarks, for she was not fond of water.

‘pooh! gah!’ she shouted, trying to remember all the rude words she knew. ‘gooh! pah!’

‘that’s right. mix your words up, kiki,’ said jack. ‘what about “piffle” and “bunk”? you usedto know those too.’

‘pifflebunk,’ said kiki, and thought that was a good word. ‘pifflebunk, bifflebunk, pop goes thepifflebunk.’

the children laughed. kiki laughed too and then began to give an imitation of dapple braying.

this was much too lifelike and dapple started up, looking all round for the other donkeys.

‘ee-ore, ee-ore, ee-ore,’ went on kiki, till jack threw a towel at her to make her stop. it fell overher head and she screamed in rage. dapple and snowy stared solemnly at her, puzzled andsurprised.

they had a meal. lucy-ann volunteered to go down to the stream again and wash the dishes,whilst the others looked at the map, trying to find out exactly where they were. she went off to thestream, humming.

she knelt down by the water, scouring a dish, when a sound made her look up. she had heardsomething in the tree above, just by the water.

there was a big, leafy tree there, growing almost out of the stream. lucy-ann, thinking theremust be a bird in the tree, peered up into the branches.

she got a terrible shock. looking down at her was a face – and it was black.

the little girl sat there, petrified, the dish in her hand, unable to move or speak. the branchesmoved and she saw that the face was topped by black, thick hair, and had bright eyes and acheerful expression.

‘it’s a black man!’ she thought to herself. ‘but here! up this tree! what shall i do?’

the black face looked down on the little girl, and then the man’s lips parted in a smile. thehead nodded amiably. then a black finger came up from among the leaves, and was put to the lips.

‘don’t you make a sound, l’il gal,’ said the man, in a hoarse whisper. he sounded like anamerican! ‘don’t you say i’m here. i’m just a poor man, lost and alone.’

lucy-ann couldn’t believe her ears. she felt that she simply must call the others. but theydidn’t hear her, and as soon as she had shouted, the man frowned fiercely and shook his head.

‘l’il gal, you gotta git away from here. it’s a no-good mountain, full of bad men. they’ll gityou if you don’t git away. there’s bad things here, l’il gal.’

‘what are you doing here?’ asked lucy-ann, in a scared voice. ‘how do you know all this?’

‘i’ve been in that there bad mountain, l’il gal. i’ve gotten away. but this poor fellah’s gotten noplace to go – and he’s surely scared by those big dogs. i’m staying right here in this nice big tree.

you git away, fil gal, git far away!’

lucy-ann felt odd, standing there talking to a black stranger up a tree. she suddenly turned andran back to the others. she ran fast, and arrived absolutely out of breath.

‘what’s the matter, what’s the matter?’ cried jack, seeing from lucy-ann’s face that she hadhad a shock. lucy-ann could only gasp out one or two words. she pointed back to the stream.

‘black man!’ she gasped. ‘black!’

‘black! that’s what david said!’ cried philip. ‘get your breath, lucy-ann! tell us what yousaw. quick!’

lucy-ann panted out what she had seen and heard. the others listened in astonishment. a blackman hiding in a tree – from the dogs! a man who said the mountain was bad – an american –whatever did it mean?

‘come on – we’ll ask him what he knows!’ cried jack. ‘there’s something going on here. we’dbetter find out and then we can tell bill when he comes. quick!’

they all ran back to the stream and peered up the tree. but there was nobody there. the manhad gone.

‘blow!’ said jack, in disappointment. ‘he must have seen you scuttle back to us, lucy-ann, totell us you had seen him – and he’s scared, and now he’s gone.’

‘it’s a wonder the dogs didn’t find him last night – and before that, when david saw him up thisvery same tree,’ said jack.

‘well, he’s been rather clever, i think,’ said philip, looking at the stream. ‘you know, dogscan’t follow scent through water. they lose it. and i reckon that chap was clever enough to wadeup or down the stream to that tree, and hop up it from the water. the dogs couldn’t possibly followhis scent through the stream. they would lose it wherever he entered the water. still, he must havefelt pretty scared when he saw the dogs milling around near here!’

‘were they hunting for him, do you think?’ asked lucy-ann fearfully. ‘he must have beenawfully afraid. i should be terrified if i thought a pack of alsatian dogs was after me.’

the children hunted for the strange man, but he was nowhere to be seen. they wondered whathe ate. there was not much to eat on the mountains except bilberries, wild raspberries and grass.

‘do you think he really meant there were men inside this mountain?’ asked dinah, when theyhad tired themselves out looking for the american.

‘it seems incredible – but if you remember those noises of rumbling we heard yesterday – andthe way the earth shook beneath us – it seems as if there might be men working underground,’ saidjack.

‘what – as miners or something?’ asked dinah.

‘i don’t know. possibly. though goodness knows what could be mined inside this mountain, orhow they would get the machinery there. there would have to be a road – and then everyonewould know.’

‘it’s very mysterious,’ said dinah.

lucy-ann sighed. ‘it’s another adventure, that’s what it is. it’s fatal to go off together like this.

we go to look for birds, or butterflies or something – and we always stumble into somethingpeculiar. i’m getting tired of it.’

‘poor lucy-ann!’ said philip. ‘we certainly do happen on strange things. i think it’s veryexciting. i love adventures.’

‘yes, but i don’t,’ said lucy-ann. ‘i don’t like that kind of thing at all.’

‘i do,’ said dinah at once. ‘i’ve enjoyed every single one of our adventures. and this one seemsmore mysterious than any other. what is going on inside this mountain? how i’d love to know! ifonly we could see that chap again, we could ask him to tell us all about it.’

‘oh, listen – i do believe that rumbling’s going to start again,’ said lucy-ann suddenly. ‘seehow frightened snowy is! yes – there it comes.’

they sat and listened. jack put his ear to the ground. at once the rumblings became magnified,and sounded more puzzling than ever. was something exploding down there, far in the heart of themountain?

then the earth quivered as it had done before and lucy-ann clutched at jack. it was horrible tofeel the firm solid earth quivering like a jelly.

it soon stopped. dinah glanced up at the steep mountain, rearing up just behind them,wondering what its secret was. she suddenly stiffened, and caught hold of philip’s arm.

‘look!’ she said, and pointed upwards.

they all looked. out of the side of the mountain was drifting a small cloud of smoke. one puffcame. then another. but it was not ordinary smoke. it was a curious crimson colour, and it did notdrift away like mist on the wind, but hung like a solid little cloud, close to the mountain, for sometime. then it suddenly became lighter in colour and disappeared.

‘well – whatever was that?’ said jack, in amazement. ‘i never in my life saw smoke like thatbefore. there must be a vent or something in the side of the mountain there, that lets out smoke orgases.’

‘what’s a vent?’ asked lucy-ann, her eyes looking as if they would drop out of her head.

‘oh – a sort of chimney,’ said jack. ‘somewhere with a draught that will take up smoke orgases to the outer air. whatever’s going on in the mountain produces that smoke, which has to begot rid of. i wonder what else is being produced inside there!’

nobody could imagine. they couldn’t seem to fit together all the curious facts they knew – thepack of man-hunting dogs – the poor runaway – the noises, the earth’s shaking, the crimsonsmoke. it didn’t make any sense at all.

‘if only bill would come!’ said philip. ‘he might be able to fit this jigsaw together.’

‘or if we could get hold of that chap lucy-ann saw,’ said philip. ‘he could tell us a lot.’

‘we may see him again,’ said dinah. ‘we’ll watch out for him.’

they did see him again, that very evening – but alas, he didn’t answer any of their questions!