chapter 8 a lazy evening

the five children and mrs. andrews stared in surprise at mr. andrews, when he shouted at them.

he repeated some of his words again.

'go on! you tell me all you know. and then i'll tell you!'

julian decided to tell, very shortly, what had happened at the old railway yard, and whatwooden-leg sam had said. he made the tale sound rather bald and dull. mr. andrews listenedto it with the greatest interest, never once taking his eyes off julian.

then he sat back and drank a whole cup of strong tea in one gulp. the children waited for him tospeak, wondering what he had to say.

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'now,' he said, making his voice sound important and impressive, 'you listen to me. don't any ofyou ever go down to that yard again. it's a bad place.'

'why?' asked julian. 'what do you mean - a bad place?'

'things have happened there - years and years ago,' said mr. andrews. 'bad things. accidents. itwas all shut up after that and the tunnel wasn't used any more. see? nobody was allowed to gothere, and nobody did, because they were scared. they knew it was a bad place, where badthings happen.'

anne felt frightened. 'but mr. andrews - you don't mean there really are spook-trains, do you?'

she asked, her face rather pale.

mr. andrews pursed up his lips and nodded very solemnly indeed. 'that's just what i do mean.

spook-trains come and go. nobody knows why. but it's bad luck to be there when they come.

they might take you away, see?'

julian laughed. 'oh - not as bad as that, sir, surely! anyway, you're frightening anne, so let'schange the subject. i don't believe in spook-trains.'

but mr. andrews didn't seem to want to stop talking about the trains. 'wooden-leg sam wasright to hide himself when they come along,' he said. 'i don't know how he manages to stay on ina bad place like that. never knowing when a train is going to come creeping out of that tunnel inthe darkness.'

julian was not going to have anne frightened any more. he got up from the table and turned tomrs. andrews.

'thank you very much for a lovely day and lovely food!' he said. 'we must go now. come along,anne.'

'wait a minute,' said mr. andrews. 'i just want to warn you all very solemnly that you mustn't godown to that railway yard. you hear me, jock? you might never come back. old wooden-legsam's mad, and well he may be, with spook-trains coming along in the dead of night. it's a badand dangerous place. you're not to go near it!'

'well - thank you for the warning, sir,' said julian, politely, suddenly disliking the small manwith the big nose very much indeed. 'we'll be going. goodbye, mrs. andrews. good-bye, jock.

come along tomorrow and have a picnic with us, will you?'

'oh, thanks! yes, i will,' said jock. 'but wait a minute - aren't you going to take any food withyou?'

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'yes, of course they are,' said mrs. andrews, getting up from her chair. she had been listening tothe conversation with a look of puzzled wonder on her face. she went out into the scullery,where there was a big, cold larder. julian followed her. he carried the two baskets.

'i'll give you plenty,' said mrs. andrews, putting loaves, butter, and cream cheese into thebaskets. 'i know what appetites you youngsters get. now don't you be too scared at what myhusband's just been saying - i saw that little anne was frightened. i've never heard of the spook-trains, and i've been here for three years. i don't reckon there's much in the tale, you know, for allmy husband's so set on warning you not to go down to the yard.'

julian said nothing. he thought that mr. andrews had behaved rather oddly about the wholestory. was he one of the kind of people who believed in all sorts of silly things and got scaredhimself? he looked weak enough! julian found himself wondering how a nice woman like mrs.

andrews could have married such a poor specimen of a man. still, he was a generous fellow,judging by all jock had said, and perhaps jock's mother felt grateful to him for giving her thefarm and the money to run it with. that must be it.

julian thanked mrs. andrews, and insisted on paying her, though she would have given him thefood for nothing. she came into the kitchen with him and he saw that the others had already goneoutside. only mr. andrews was left, eating ham and pickles.

'good-bye, sir,' said julian politely.

'good-bye. and you remember what i've told you, boy,' said mr andrews. 'bad luck comes topeople who see the spook-trains - yes, terrible bad luck. you keep away from them.'

julian gave a polite smile and went out. it was evening now and the sun was setting behind themoorland hills, though it still had a long way to go before it disappeared. he caught up with theothers. jock was with them.

'i'm just coming half-way with you,' said jock. 'i say! my stepfather was pretty scary about thosetrains, wasn't he?'

'i felt pretty scary too, when he was warning us about them,' said anne. 'i shan't go down to thatyard again, ever. will you, george?'

'if the boys did, i would,' said george, who didn't look very much as if she wanted to, all thesame.

'are you going to the yard again?' asked jock, eagerly. 'i'm not scared. not a bit. it would be anadventure to go and watch for a spook-train.'

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'we might go,' said julian. 'we'll take you with us, if we do. but the girls aren't to come.'

'well, i like that!' said george angrily. 'as if you could leave me behind! when have i beenscared of anything? i'm as brave as any of you.'

'yes. i know. you can come as soon as we find out it's all a silly story,' said julian.

'i shall come whenever you go,' flashed back george. 'don't you dare to leave me out. i'll neverspeak to you again if you do.'

jock looked most surprised at this sudden flare-up of temper from george. he didn't know howfierce she could be!

'i don't see why george shouldn't come,' he said. 'i bet she'd be every bit as good as a boy. ithought she was one when i first saw her.'

george gave him one of her sweetest smiles. he couldn't have said anything she liked better! butjulian would not change his mind.

'i mean what i say. the girls won't come if we do go, so that's that. for one thing, anne certainlywouldn't want to come, and if george came without her she'd be left all alone up at the camp.

she wouldn't like that.'

'she could have mr. luffy's company,' said george, looking sulky again.

'idiot! as if we'd want to tell mr. luffy we were going off exploring deserted railway yardswatched over by a mad, one-legged fellow who swears there are spook-trains!' said julian. 'he'dstop us going. you know what grown-ups are like. or he'd come with us, which would be worse.'

'yes. he'd see moths all the time, not spook-trains,' said dick, with a grin.

'i'd better go back now,' said jock. 'it's been a grand day. i'll come up tomorrow and picnic withyou. good-bye.'

they called good-bye to jock, and went on their way to the camp. it was quite nice to see itagain, waiting for them, the two tents flapping a little in the breeze. anne pushed her waythrough the tent-flap, anxious to see that everything was untouched.

inside the tent it was very hot. anne decided to put the food they had brought under the bottomof the big gorse bush. it would be cooler there. she was soon busy about her little jobs. the boyswent down to see if mr. luffy was back, but he wasn't.

'anne! we're going to bathe in the stream!' they called. 'we feel hot and dirty. are you coming?

george is coming too.'

'no, i won't come,' anne called back. 'i've got lots of things to do.'

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the boys grinned at one another. anne did so enjoy 'playing house'. so they left her to it, andwent to the stream, from which yells and howls and shrieks soon came. the water was colderthan they expected, and nobody liked to lie down in it - but everyone was well and trulysplashed, and the icy-cold drops falling on their hot bodies made them squeal and yell. timmydidn't in the least mind the iciness of the water. he rolled over and over in it, enjoying himself.

'look at him, showing off!' said dick. 'aha, timmy, if i could bathe in a fur coat like you, iwouldn't mind the cold water either.'

'woof,' said timmy, and climbed up the shallow bank. he shook himself violently and thousandsof icy-cold silvery drops flew from him and landed on the three shivering children. they yelledand chased him away.

it was a pleasant, lazy evening. mr. luffy didn't appear at all. anne got a light meal of bread andcream cheese and a piece of gingerbread. nobody felt like facing another big meal that day. theylay in the heather and talked comfortably.

'this is the kind of holiday i like,' said dick.

'so do i,' said anne. 'except for the spook-trains. that's spoilt it a bit for me.'

'don't be silly, anne,' said george. 'if they are not real it's just a silly story, and if they are real,well, it might be an adventure.'

there was a little silence. 'are we going down to the yard again?' asked dick lazily.

'yes, i think so,' said julian. 'i'm not going to be scared off it by weird warnings from paandrews.'

'then i vote we go one night and wait to see if a spook-train does come along,' said dick.

'i shall come too,' said george.

'no, you won't,' said julian. 'you'll stay with anne.'

george said nothing, but everyone could feel mutiny in the air.

'do we tell mr. luffy, or don't we?' said dick.

'you know we've said we wouldn't,' said julian. he yawned. 'i'm getting sleepy. and the sun hasgone, so it will soon be dark. i wonder where old luffy is?'

'do you think i'd better wait up and see if he wants something to eat?' said anne, anxiously.

'no. not unless you want to keep awake till midnight!' said julian. 'he'll have got some fooddown in his tent. he'll be all right. i'm going to turn in. coming, dick?'

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the boys were soon in their sleeping-bags. the girls lay in the heather for a little while longer,listening to the lonely-sounding cry of the curlews going home in the dusk. then they, too, wentinto their own tent.

once safely in their sleeping-bags, the two boys felt suddenly wide awake. they began to talk inlow voices.

'shall we take jock down to see the yard in the daytime? or shall we go one night and watch forthe train from nowhere?' said julian.

'i vote we go and watch at night,' said dick. 'we'll never see a spook-train in the daytime.

wooden-leg sam is an interesting old chap, especially when he chucks cinders about - but idon't know that i like him enough to go and visit him again!'

'well - if jock badly wants to go and have a snoop round tomorrow morning when he comes,we'd better take him,' said julian. 'we can always go one night, too, if we want to.'

'right. we'll wait and see what jock says,' said dick. they talked a little longer and then feltsleepy. dick was just dropping off when he heard something coming wriggling through theheather. a head was stuck through the opening of the tent.

'if you dare to come in, i'll smack your silly face,' said dick, thinking it was timmy. 'i knowwhat you want, you perfect pest - you want to flop down on my tummy. you just turn yourselfround and go away! do you hear?'

the head in the opening moved a little but didn't go away. dick raised himself up on one elbow.

'put one paw inside my tent and you'll be sent rolling down the hill!' he said. 'i love you verymuch in the daytime, but i'm not fond of you at night - not when i'm in a sleeping-bag anyway.

scoot!'

the head made a peculiar apologetic sound. then it spoke. 'er - you're awake, i see. are all ofyou all right - the girls too? i'm only just back.'

'gosh! it's mr. luffy,' said dick, filled with horror. 'i say, sir - i'm most awfully sorry - i thoughtyou were timmy, come to flop himself down on top of me, like he often does. so sorry, sir.'

'don't mention it!' said the shadowy head with a chuckle. 'glad you're all right. see youtomorrow!'