chapter 10 hunt for a spook-train

that day passed pleasantly enough. the children, timmy, and mr. luffy all went off to a poolhigh up on the moorlands. it was called the green pool' because of its cucumber-green colour.

mr. luffy explained that some curious chemicals found there caused the water to look green.

'i hope we shan't come out looking green, too,' said dick, getting into his bathing trunks. 'areyou going to bathe, mr. luffy?'

mr. luffy was. the children expected him to be a very poor swimmer and to splash about at theedge and do very little - but to their surprise he was magnificent in the water, and could swimfaster even than julian.

they had great fun, and when they were tired they came out to bask in the sun. the highroad ranalongside the green pool, and the children watched a herd of sheep being driven along, then a caror two came by, and finally a big army lorry. a boy sat beside the driver, and to the children'ssurprise he waved wildly at them.

'who was that?' said julian astonished. 'surely he doesn't know us?'

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george's sharp eye had seen who it was. 'it was jock! sitting beside the driver. and, look, herecomes his stepfather's fine new car. jock's preferred to go with the lorry-driver instead of hisstepfather! i don't blame him, either!'

the bright new car came by, driven by mr. andrews. he didn't glance at the children by thewayside, but drove steadily on after the lorry.

'going to market, i suppose,' said dick, lying back again. 'wonder what they're taking?'

'so do i,' said mr. luffy. 'he must sell his farm produce at very high prices to be able to buy thatfine car and all the machinery and gear you've told me about. clever fellow, mr. andrews!'

'he doesn't look at all clever,' said anne. 'he looks rather a weak, feeble sort of man, really, mr.

luffy. i can't even imagine him being clever enough to beat anyone down, or get the better ofthem.'

'very interesting,' said mr. luffy. 'well, what about another dip before we have our dinner?'

it was a very nice day, and mr. luffy was very good company. he could make fine jokes verysolemnly indeed, and only the fact that his ear waggled violently showed the others that he too,was enjoying the joke. his right ear seemed to love to join in the joke, even if mr. luffy's facewas as solemn as timmy's.

they arrived home at the camp about tea-time and anne got a fine tea ready. they took it downto eat in front of mr. luffy's tent. as the evening came on julian and dick felt excitement risingin them. in the daytime neither of them really believed a word about the 'spook-trains', but as thesun sank and long shadows crept down the hills they felt pleasantly thrilled. would they reallysee anything exciting that night?

it was a very dark night at first, because clouds lay across the sky and hid even the stars. theboys said good night to the girls and snuggled down into their sleeping-bags. they watched thesky through the tent opening.

gradually the big clouds thinned out. a few stars appeared. the clouds thinned still more andfled away in rags. soon the whole sky was bright with pin-points of light, and a hundredthousand stars looked down on the moorlands.

'we shall have a bit of starlight to see by,' whispered julian. 'that's good. i don't want to stumbleabout over the heather and break my ankle in rabbit-holes in the pitch darkness. nor do i want touse my torch on the way to the yard in case it's seen.'

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'it's going to be fun!' dick whispered back. 'i hope jock comes. it will be maddening if hedoesn't.'

he did come. there was a scrambling over the heather and once again a shadow appeared at thetent opening.

'julian! dick! i've come. are you ready?'

it was jock's voice, of course. dick's thumb pressed the switch of his torch and for a moment itslight fell on jock's red, excited face, and then was switched off again.

'hallo, jock! so you were able to come,' said dick. 'i say, was that you in the lorry this morning,going by the green pool?'

'yes. did you see me? i saw you and waved like mad,' said jock. 'i wanted to stop the lorry andget down and speak to you, but the driver's an awful bad-tempered sort of fellow. he wouldn'thear of stopping. said my stepfather would be wild with him if he did. did you see him - mystepfather, i mean? he was in his car behind.'

'were you off to market or something?' asked julian.

'i expect that's where the lorry was going,' said jock. 'it was empty, so i suppose my stepfatherwas going to pick up something there. i came back in the car. the lorry was supposed to comelater.'

'how did you like cecil dearlove?' asked dick, grinning in the darkness.

'awful! worse than his name,' groaned jock. 'wanted me to play soldiers all the time! thefrightful thing is i've got to have him at the farm for the day tomorrow. another day wasted.

what shall i do with him?'

'roll him in the pig-sty,' suggested dick. 'or put him with biddy's puppies and let him sleepthere. tell him to play soldiers with them.'

jock chuckled. 'i wish i could. the worst of it is mum is awfully pleased that my stepfather's gotthis cecil boy for me to be friends with. don't let's talk about it. are you ready to start off?'

'yes,' said julian, and began to scramble quietly out of his bag. 'we didn't tell the girls. annedoesn't want to come, and i don't want george to leave anne by herself. now, let's be very, veryquiet till we're out of hearing.'

dick got out of his bag too. the boys had not undressed that night, except for their coats, so allthey had to do was to slip these on, and then crawl out of the tent.

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'which is the way - over there?' whispered jock. julian took his arm and guided him. he hopedhe wouldn't lose his way in the starlit darkness. the moorland look so different at night!

'if we make for that hill you can dimly see over there against the starlit sky, we should be goingin the right direction,' said julian. so on they went, keeping towards the dark hill that rose up tothe west.

it seemed very much farther to the railway yard at night than in the daytime. the three boysstumbled along, sometimes almost falling as their feet caught in tufts of heather. they were gladwhen they found some sort of path they could keep on.

'this is about where we met the shepherd,' said dick, in a low voice. he didn't know why hespoke so quietly. he just felt as if he must. 'i'm sure we can't be very far off now.'

they went on for some way, and then julian pulled dick by the arm. 'look,' he said. 'downthere, i believe that's the old yard. you can see the line gleaming faintly here and there.'

they stood on the heathery slope above the old yard, straining their eyes. soon they could makeout dim shapes. yes, it was the railway yard all right.

jock clutched julian's sleeve. 'look - there's a light down there! do you see it?'

the boys looked - and, sure enough, down in the yard towards the other side of it, was a smallyellow light. they stared at it.

'oh - i think i know what it is,' said dick, at last. 'it's the light in the watchman's little hut - oldwooden-leg sam's candle. don't you think so, ju?'

'yes. you're right,' said julian. 'i tell you what we'll do - we'll creep right down into the yard, andgo over to the hut. we'll peep inside and see if old sam is there. then we'll hide somewhereabout and wait for the spook-train to come!'

they crept down the slope. their eyes had got used to the starlight by now, and they werebeginning to see fairly well. they got right down to the yard, where their feet made a noise onsome cinders there.

they stopped. 'someone will hear us if we make a row like this,' whispered julian.

'who will?' whispered back dick. 'there's no one here except old sam in his hut!'

'how do you know there isn't?' said julian. 'good heavens, jock, don't make such a row withyour feet!'

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they stood there, debating what was the best thing to do. 'we'd better walk right round the edgeof the yard,' said julian at last. 'as far as i remember, the grass has grown there. we'll walk onthat.'

so they made their way to the edge of the yard. sure enough, there was grass there, and theywalked on it without a sound. they went slowly and softly to where the light shone dimly insam's little hut.

the window was high and small. it was just about at the level of their heads, and the three boyscautiously eased themselves along to it and looked in.

wooden-leg sam was there. he sat sprawled in a chair, smoking a pipe. he was reading anewspaper, squinting painfully as he did so. he obviously had not had his broken glassesmended yet. on a chair beside him was his wooden leg. he had unstrapped it, and there it lay.

'he's not expecting the spook-train tonight, or he wouldn't have taken off his wooden leg,'

whispered dick.

the candlelight flickered and shadows jumped about the tiny hut. it was a poor, ill-furnishedlittle place, dirty and untidy. a cup without saucer or handle stood on the table, and a tin kettleboiled on a rusty stove.

sam put down his paper and rubbed his eyes. he muttered something. the boys could not hear it,but they felt certain it was something about his broken glasses.

'are there many lines in this yard?' whispered jock, tired of looking in at old sam. 'where dothey go to?'

'about half a mile or so up there is a tunnel,' said julian, pointing past jock. 'the lines come fromthere and run here, where they break up in many pairs – for shunting and so on, in the old days, isuppose, when this place was used.'

'let's go up the lines to the tunnel,' said jock. 'come on. there's nothing to be seen here. let'swalk up to the tunnel.'

'all right,' said julian. 'we may as well. i don't expect we'll see much up there either! i thinkthese spook-trains are all a tall story of old sam's!'

they left the little hut with its forlorn candlelight, and made their way round the yard again.

then they followed the single-track line away from the yard and up towards the tunnel. it didn'tseem to matter walking on cinders now, and making a noise. they walked along, talking in lowvoices.

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and then things began to happen! a far-off muffled noise came rumbling out of the tunnel,which was now so near that the boys could see its black mouth. julian heard it first. he stood stilland clutched dick.

'i say! listen! can you hear that?'

the others listened. 'yes,' said dick. 'but it's only a train going through one of the undergroundtunnels - the noise is echoing out through this one.'

'it isn't. that noise is made by a train coming through this tunnel'' said julian. the noise grewlouder and louder. a clanking made itself heard too. the boys stepped off the lines and crouchedtogether by the side, waiting, hardly daring to breathe.

could it be the spook-train? they watched for the light of an engine-lamp to appear like a fieryeye in the tunnel. but none came. it was darker than night in there! but the noise came nearerand nearer and nearer. could there be the, noise of a train without a train? julian's heart began tobeat twice as fast, and dick and jock found themselves clutching one another without knowingit.

the noise grew thunderous, and then out from the tunnel came something long and black, with adull glow in front that passed quickly and was gone. the noise deafened the boys, and then theclanking and rumbling grew less as the train, or whatever it was, passed by. the ground trembledand then was still.

'well, there you are,' said julian, in a rather trembly voice. 'the spook-train - without a light or asignal! where's it gone? to the yard, do you think?'

'shall we go and see?' asked dick. 'i didn't see anyone in the cab, even in the glow of what musthave been the fire there - but there must be someone driving it! i say, what a weird thing, isn't it?

it sounded real enough, anyway.'

'we'll go to the yard,' said jock, who, of the three, seemed the least affected. 'come on.'

they made their way very slowly - and then dick gave a sharp cry. 'blow! i've twisted my ankle.

half a minute!'

he sank down to the ground in great pain. it was only a sharp twist, not a sprain, but for a fewminutes dick could, do nothing but groan. the others dared not leave him. julian knelt by him,offering to rub the ankle, but dick wouldn't let him touch it. jock stood by anxiously.

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it took about twenty minutes for dick's ankle to be strong enough for him to stand on again.

with the help of the others he got to his feet and tested his ankle. 'it's all right, i think. i can walkon it - slowly. now we'll go to the yard and see what's happening!'

but even as they started to walk slowly back, they heard a noise coming up the lines from thefar-away yard, 'rumble, rumble, rumble, jangle, clank!'

'it's coming back again!' said julian. 'stand still. watch! it'll be going back into the tunnel!'

they stood still and watched and listened. again the noise came nearer and grew thunderous.

they saw the glow of what might be the fire in the cab, and then it passed. the train disappearedinto the blackness of the tunnel mouth and they heard the echo of its rumblings for some time.

'well, there you are! there is a spook-train!' said julian, trying to laugh, though he felt a gooddeal shaken. 'it came and it went - where from or where to, nobody knows! but we've heard itand seen it, in the darkness of the night. and jolly creepy it was, too!'