chapter 7 mr. andrews comes home

they all sat down to dinner. there was a big meat-pie, a cold ham, salad, potatoes in theirjackets, and homemade pickles. it really was difficult to know what to choose.

'have some of both,' said mrs. andrews, cutting the meat-pie. 'begin with the pie and go on withthe ham. that's the best of living on a farm, you know - you do get plenty to eat.'

after the first course there were plums and thick cream, or jam tarts and the same cream.

everyone tucked in hungrily.

'i've never had such a lovely dinner in my life,' said anne, at last. 'i wish i could eat some morebut i can't. it was super, mrs. andrews.'

'smashing,' said dick. that was his favourite word these holidays. 'absolutely smashing.'

'woof,' said timmy, agreeing. he had had a fine plateful of meaty bones, biscuits and gravy, andhe had licked up every crumb and every drop. now he felt he would like to have a snooze in thesun and not do a thing for the rest of the day.

the children felt rather like that, too. mrs. andrews handed them a chocolate each and sent themout of doors. 'you go and have a rest now,' she said. 'talk to jock. he doesn't get enoughcompany of his own age in the holidays. you can stay on to tea, if you like.'

'oh, thanks,' said everyone, although they all felt that they wouldn't even be able to manage abiscuit. but it was so pleasant at the farm that they felt they would like to stay as long as theycould.

'may we borrow one of biddy's puppies to have with us?' asked anne.

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'if biddy doesn't mind,' said mrs. andrews, beginning to clear away. 'and if timmy doesn't eat itup!'

'timmy wouldn't dream of it!' said george at once. 'you go and get the puppy, anne. we'll finda nice place in the sun.'

anne went off to get the puppy. biddy didn't seem to mind a bit. anne cuddled the fat little thingagainst her, and went off to the others, feeling very happy. the boys had found a fine placeagainst a haystack, and sat leaning against it, the sun shining down warmly on them.

'those men of yours seem to take a jolly good lunch-hour off,' said julian, not seeing any ofthem about.

jock gave a snort. 'they're bone lazy. i'd sack the lot if i were my stepfather. mum's told himhow badly the men work, but he doesn't say a word to them. i've given up bothering. i don't paytheir wages - if i did, i'd sack the whole lot!'

'let's ask jock about the spook-trains,' said george, fondling timmy's ears. 'it would be fun totalk about them.'

'spook-trains? whatever are they?' asked jock, his eyes wide with surprise. 'never heard ofthem!'

'haven't you really?' asked dick. 'well, you don't live very far from them, jock!'

'tell me about them,' said jock. 'spook-trains - no, i've never heard of one of those.'

'well, i'll tell you what we know,' said julian. 'actually we thought you'd be able to tell us muchmore about them than we know ourselves.'

he began to tell jock about their visit to the deserted railway yard, and wooden-leg sam, andhis peculiar behaviour. jock listened, enthralled.

'coo! i wish i'd been with you. let's all go there together, shall we?' he said. 'this was quite anadventure you had, wasn't it? you know, i've never had a single adventure in all my life, noteven a little one. have you?'

the four children looked at one another, and timmy looked at george. adventures! what didn'tthey know about them? they had had so many.

'yes. we've had heaps of adventures - real ones - smashing ones,' said dick. 'we've been downin dungeons, we've been lost in caves, we've found secret passages, we've looked for treasure -well, i can't tell you what we've done! it would take too long.'

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'no, it wouldn't,' said jock eagerly. 'you tell me. go on. did you all have the adventures? littleanne, here, too?'

'yes, all of us,' said george. 'and timmy as well. he rescued us heaps of times from danger.

didn't you, tim?

'woof, woof,' said timmy, and thumped his tail against the hay.

they began to tell jock about their many adventures. he was a very, very good listener. his eyesalmost fell out of his head, and he went brick-red whenever they came to an exciting part.

'my word!' he said at last. 'i've never heard such things in my life before. aren't you lucky? youjust go about having adventures all the time, don't you? i say - do you think you'll have one here,these hols?'

julian laughed. 'no. whatever kind of adventure would there be on these lonely moorlands?

why, you yourself have lived here for three years, and haven't even had a tiny adventure.'

jock sighed. that's true. i haven't.' then his eyes brightened again. 'but see here - what aboutthose spook-trains you've been asking me about? perhaps you'll have an adventure with those?'

'oh, no, i don't want to,' said anne, in a horrified voice. 'an adventure with spook-trains wouldbe simply horrid.'

'i'd like to go down to that old railway yard with you and see wooden-leg sam,' said jocklongingly. 'why, that would be a real adventure to me, you know - just talking to a funny oldman like that, and wondering if he was suddenly going to throw cinders at us. take me with younext time you go.'

'well - i don't know that we meant to go again,' said julian. 'there's really nothing much in hisstory except imagination - the old watchman's gone peculiar in the head through being alonethere so much, guarding a yard where nothing and nobody ever comes. he's just rememberingthe trains that used to go in and out before the line was given up.'

'but the shepherd said the same as sam,' said jock. 'i say - what about going down there onenight and watching for a spook-train!'

'no!' said anne, in horror.

'you needn't come,' said jock. 'just us three boys.'

'and me,' said george at once. 'i'm as good as any boy, and i'm not going to be left out. timmy'scoming, too.'

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'oh, please don't make these awful plans,' begged poor anne. 'you'll make an adventure come, ifyou go on like this.'

nobody took the least notice of her. julian looked at jock's excited face. 'well,' he said, 'if we dogo there again, we'll tell you. and if we think we'll go watching for spook-trains, we'll take youwith us.'

jock looked as if he could hug julian. 'that would be terrific,' he said. 'thanks a lot. spook-trains! i say, just suppose we really did see one! who'd be driving it? where would it comefrom?'

'out of the tunnel, wooden-leg sam says,' said dick. 'but i don't see how we'd spot it, except bythe noise it made, because apparently the spook-trains only arrive in the dark of the night. neverin the daytime. we wouldn't see much, even if we were there.'

it was such an exciting subject to jock that he persisted in talking about it all the afternoon. annegot tired of listening, and went to sleep with biddy's puppy in her arms. timmy curled up bygeorge and went to sleep too. he wanted to go for a walk, but he could see that there was nohope with all this talking going on.

it was tea-time before any of them had expected it. the bell rang, and jock looked mostsurprised.

'tea! would you believe it? well, i have had an exciting afternoon talking about all this. andlook here, if you don't make up your minds to go spook-train hunting i'll jolly well go off bymyself. if only i could have an adventure like the kind you've had, i'd be happy.'

they went in to tea, after waking anne up with difficulty. she took the puppy back to biddy,who received it gladly and licked it all over.

julian was surprised to find that he was quite hungry again. 'well,' he said, as he sat down at thetable, 'i didn't imagine i'd feel hungry again for a week - but i do. what a marvellous tea, mrs.

andrews. isn't jock lucky to have meals like this always!'

there were home-made scones with new honey. there were slices of bread thickly spread withbutter, and new-made cream cheese to go with it. there was sticky brown gingerbread, hot fromthe oven, and a big solid fruit cake that looked almost like a plum pudding when it was cut, itwas so black.

'oh dear! i wish now i hadn't had so much dinner,' sighed anne. 'i don't feel hungry enough toeat a bit of everything and i would so like to!'

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mrs. andrews laughed. 'you eat what you can, and i'll give you some to take away, too,' shesaid. 'you can have some cream cheese, and the scones and honey - and some of the bread imade this morning. and maybe you'd like a slab of the gingerbread. i made plenty.'

'oh, thanks,' said julian. 'we'll be all right tomorrow with all that. you're a marvellous cook,mrs. andrews. i wish i lived on your farm.'

there was the sound of a car coming slowly up the rough track to the farmhouse, and mrs.

andrews looked up. 'that's mr. andrews come back,' she said. 'my husband, you know, jock'sstepfather.'

julian thought she looked a little worried. perhaps mr. andrews didn't like children and wouldn'tbe pleased to see them sitting round his table when he came home tired.

'would you like us to go, mrs. andrews?' he asked politely. 'perhaps mr. andrews would like abit of peace for his meal when he comes in - and we're rather a crowd, aren't we?'

jock's mother shook her head. 'no, you can stay. i'll get him a meal in the other room if he'd likeit.'

mr. andrews came in. he wasn't in the least like anne or the others had imagined him to be. hewas a short, dark little man, with a weak face and a nose much too big for it. he looked harassedand bad-tempered, and stopped short when he saw the five children.

'hallo, dear,' said mrs. andrews. 'jock's got his friends here today. would you like a bit of tea inyour room? i can easily put a tray there.'

'well,' said mr. andrews, smiling a watery kind of smile, 'perhaps it would be best. i've had aworrying kind of day, and not much to eat.'

'i'll get you a tray of ham and pickles and bread,' said his wife. 'it won't take a minute. you goand wash.'

mr. andrews went out. anne was surprised that he seemed so small and looked rather stupid.

she had imagined someone big and burly, strong and clever, who was always going about doinggrand deals and making a lot of money. well, he must be cleverer than he looked, to makeenough money to give mrs. andrews all she needed for her farm.

mrs. andrews bustled about with this and that, laying a tray with a snow-white cloth, and platesof food. mr. andrews could be heard in the bathroom, splashing as he washed. then he camedownstairs and put his head in at the door. 'my meal ready?' he asked. 'well, jock - had a goodday?'

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'yes, thanks,' said jock, as his stepfather took the tray from his mother and turned to go. 'wewent all round the farm this morning - and we talked and talked this afternoon. and oh, i say - doyou know anything about spook-trains, sir?'

mr. andrews was just going out of the door. he turned in surprise. 'spook-trains? what are youtalking about?'

'well, julian says there's an old deserted railway yard a good way from here, and spook-trainsare supposed to come out of the tunnel there in the dark of night,' said jock. 'have you heard ofthem?'

mr. andrews stood stock still, his eyes on his stepson. he looked dismayed and shocked. thenhe came back into the room and kicked the door shut behind him.

'i'll have my tea here after all,' he said. 'well, to think you've heard of those spook-trains! i'vebeen careful not to mention them to your mother or to you, jock, for fear of scaring you!'

'gee!' said dick. 'are they really true then? they can't be.'

'you tell me all you know, and how you know about it,' said mr. andrews, sitting down at thetable with his tray. 'go on. don't miss out a thing. i want to hear everything.'

julian hesitated. 'oh - there's nothing really to tell, sir - just a lot of nonsense.'

'you tell it me!' almost shouted mr. andrews. 'then i'll tell you a few things. and i tell you, youwon't go near that old railway yard again - no, that you won't!'