chapter 17 an amazing find

in the meantime, what had happened to the three boys walking back through the tunnel? theyhad gone slowly along examining the lines to see if a train could have possibly run along themrecently. few weeds grew in the dark airless tunnel, so they could not tell by those.

but, when they came about half-way, julian noticed an interesting thing. 'look,' he said, flashinghis torch on to the lines before and behind them. 'see that? the lines are black and rusty behindus now, but here this pair of lines is quite bright - as if they had been used a lot.'

he was right. behind them stretched black and rusty lines, sometimes buckled in places - but infront of them, stretching to the mouth of the tunnel leading to olly's yard, the lines were bright,as if train-wheels had run along them.

'that's funny,' said dick. 'looks as if the spook-train ran only from here to olly's yard and back.

but why? and where in the world is it now? it's vanished into thin air!'

julian was as puzzled as dick. where could a train be if it was not in the tunnel? it had obviouslyrun to the middle of the tunnel, and then stopped - but where had it gone now?

'let's go to the mouth of the tunnel and see if the lines are bright all the way,' said julian at last.

'we can't discover much here - unless the train suddenly materialises in front of us!'

they went on down the tunnel, their torches flashing on the lines in front of them. they talkedearnestly as they went. they didn't see four men waiting for them, four men who crouched in alittle niche at the side of the tunnel, waiting there in the dark.

'well,' said julian, 'i think -' and then he stopped, because four dark figures suddenly pounced onthe three boys and held them fast. julian gave a shout and struggled, but the man who had holdof him was far too strong to escape from. their torches were flung to the ground. julian's broke,and the other two torches lay there, their beams shining on the feet of the struggling company.

it didn't take more than twenty seconds to make each boy a captive, his arms behind his back.

julian tried to kick, but his captor twisted his arm so fiercely that he groaned in pain and stoppedhis kicking.

'look here! what's all this about?' demanded dick. 'who are you, and what do you think you'redoing? we're only three boys exploring an old tunnel. what's the harm in that?'

'take them all away,' said a voice that everyone recognised at once.

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'mr. andrews! is it you?' cried julian. 'set us free. you know us - the boys at the camp. andjock's here too. what do you think you're doing?'

mr. andrews didn't answer, but he gave poor jock a box on the right ear that almost sent him tothe ground.

their captors turned them about, and led them roughly up the tunnel, towards the middle.

nobody had a torch so it was all done in the darkness and the three boys stumbled badly, thoughthe men seemed sure-footed enough.

they came to a halt after a time. mr. andrews left them and julian heard him go off somewhereto the left. then there came a curious noise - a bang, a clank, and then a sliding, grating sound.

what could be happening? julian strained his eyes in the darkness, but he could see nothing atall.

he didn't know that mr. andrews was opening the bricked-up wall through which the train hadgone. he didn't know that he and the others were being pushed out of the first tunnel into theother one, through the curious hole in the wall. the three boys were shoved along in thedarkness, not daring to protest.

now they were in the curious place between the two walls which were built right across theplace where the second tunnel forked from the first one. the place where the spook-train stood insilence - the place where george was, still hidden in one of the trucks with timmy! but nobodyknew that, of course; not even mr. andrews guessed that a girl and a dog were listening in atruck nearby!

he put on a torch and flashed it in the faces of the three boys, who, although they were notshowing any fear, felt rather scared all the same. this was so weird and unexpected, and they hadno idea where they were at all.

'you were warned not to go down to that yard,' said the voice of one of the men. 'you were toldit was a bad and dangerous place. so it is. and you've got to suffer for not taking heed of thewarning! you'll be tied up and left here till we've finished our business. maybe that'll be threedays, maybe it'll be three weeks!'

'look here, you can't keep us prisoner for all that time!' said julian, alarmed. 'why, there will besearch parties out for us all over the place! they will be sure to find us.'

'oh, no they won't,' said the voice. 'nobody will find you here. now, peters - tie 'em up!'

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peters tied the three boys up. they had their legs tied, and their arms too, and were set downroughly against a wall. julian protested again.

'what are you doing this for? we're quite harmless. we don't know a thing about your business,whatever it is.'

'we're not taking any chances,' said the voice. it was not mr. andrews's voice, but a firm, strongone, full of determination and a large amount of annoyance.

'what about mum?' said jock suddenly, to his stepfather. 'she'll be worried.'

'well, let her be worried,' said the voice again, answering before mr. andrews could say a word.

'it's your own fault. you were warned.'

the feet of the four men moved away. then there came the same noises again as the boys hadheard before. they were made by the hole in the wall closing up, but the boys didn't know that.

they couldn't imagine what they were. the noises stopped and there was dead silence. therewas also pitch darkness. the three boys strained their ears, and felt sure that the men had gone.

'well! the brutes! whatever are they up to?' said julian in a low voice, trying to loosen the ropesround his hands.

'they've got some secret to hide,' said dick. 'gosh, they've tied my feet so tightly that the rope iscutting into my flesh.'

'what's going to happen?' came jock's scared voice. this adventure didn't seem quite so grand tohim now.

'sh!' said julian suddenly. 'i can hear something!'

they all lay and listened. what was it they could hear?

'it's - it's a dog whining,' said dick, suddenly.

it was. it was timmy in the truck with george. he had heard the voices of the boys he knew, andhe wanted to get to them. but george, not sure yet that the men had gone, still had her hand onhis collar. her heart beat for joy to think she was alone no longer. the three boys - and anne,too, perhaps - were there, in the same strange place as she and timmy were.

the boys listened hard. the whining came again. then, george let go her hold of timmy'scollar, and he leapt headlong out of the truck. his feet pattered eagerly over the ground. he wentstraight to the boys in the darkness, and julian felt a wet tongue licking his face. a warm bodypressed against him, and a little bark told him who it was.

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'timmy! i say, dick - it's timmy!' cried julian, in joy. 'where did he come from? timmy, is itreally you?'

'woof,' said timmy, and licked dick next and then jock.

'where's george then?' wondered dick.

'here," said a voice, and out of the truck scrambled george, switching on her torch as she did so.

she went over to the boys. 'whatever's happened? how did you come here? were you capturedor something?'

'yes,' said julian. 'but, george - where are we? and what are you doing here too? it's like apeculiar dream!'

'i'll cut your ropes first, before i stop to explain anything,' said george, and she took out hersharp knife. in a few moments she had cut the boys' bonds, and they all sat up, rubbing their soreankles and wrists, groaning.

'thanks, george! now i feel fine,' said julian, getting up. 'where are we? gracious, is that anengine there? what's it doing here?'

'that, julian, is the spook-train!' said george, with a laugh. 'yes, it is, really.'

'but we walked all the way down the tunnel and out of the other end, without finding it,' saidjulian puzzled. 'it's most mysterious.'

'listen, ju,' said george. 'you know where that second tunnel is bricked up, don't you? well,there's a way in through the wall - a whole bit of it moves back in a sort of open-sesamemanner! the spook-train can run in through the hole, on the rails. once it's beyond the wall itstops, and the hole is closed up again.'

george switched her torch round to show the astonished boys the wall through which they hadcome. then she swung her torch to the big wall opposite. 'see that?' she said. 'there are twowalls across this second tunnel, with a big space in between - where the spook-train hides!

clever, isn't it?'

'it would be, if i could see any sense in it,' said julian. 'but i can't. why should anyone messabout with a silly spook-train at night?'

'that's what we've got to find out,' said george. 'and now's our chance. look, julian - look at allthe caves stretching out on either side of the tunnel here. they would make wonderful hiding-places!'

'what for?' said dick. 'i can't make head or tail of this!'

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george swung her torch on the three boys and then asked a sudden question: 'i say - where'sanne?'

'anne! she didn't want to come back with us through the tunnel, so she ran over the moorlands tomeet us at the other end, by olly's yard,' said julian. 'she'll be worried stiff, won't she, when wedon't turn up? i only hope she doesn't come wandering up the tunnel to meet us - she'll run intothose men if she does.'

everyone felt worried. anne hated the tunnel and she would be very frightened if peoplepounced on her in the darkness. julian turned to george.

'swing your torch round and let's see these caves. there doesn't seem to be anyone here now. wecould have a snoop round.'

george swung her torch round, and julian saw vast and apparently fathomless caves stretchingout on either side, cut out of the sides of the tunnel. jock saw something else. by the light of thetorch he caught sight of a switch on the wall. perhaps it opened the hole in the wall.

he crossed to it and pulled it down. immediately the place was flooded with a bright light. it wasa light-switch he had found. they all blinked in the sudden glare.

'that's better,' said julian, pleased. 'good for you, jock! now we can see what we're doing.'

he looked at the spook-train standing silently near them on its rails. it certainly looked very oldand forgotten - as if it belonged to the last century, not to this.

'it's quite a museum piece,' said julian, with interest. 'so that's what we heard puffing in and outof the tunnel at night - old spooky!'

'i hid in that truck there,' said george, pointing, and she told them her own adventure. the boyscould hardly believe she had actually puffed into this secret place, hidden on the spook-trainitself!

'come on - now let's look at these caves,' said dick. they went over to the nearest one. it waspacked with crates and boxes of all kinds. julian pulled one open and whistled.

'all black market stuff, i imagine. look here - crates of tea, crates of whisky and brandy, boxesand boxes of stuff - goodness knows what! this is a real black market hiding-place!'

the boys explored a little further. the caves were piled high with valuable stuff, worththousands of pounds.

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'all stolen, i suppose,' said dick. 'but what do they do with it? i mean - how do they dispose ofit? they bring it here in the train, of course, and hide it - but they must have some way of gettingrid of it.'

'would they repack it on the train and run it back to the yard when they had enough lorries totake it away?' said julian.

'no!' said dick. 'of course not. let me see - they steal it, pile it on to lorries at night, take itsomewhere temporarily . . .'

'yes - to my mother's farm!' said jock, in a scared voice. 'all those lorries there in the barn -that's what they're used for! and they come down to olly's yard at night and the stuff is loadedin secret on the old train that comes puffing out to meet them - and then it's taken back here andhidden!'

'wheeeee-ew!' julian whistled. 'you're right, jock! that's just what happens. what a cunningplot - to use a perfectly honest little farm as a hiding-place, to stock the farm with black-marketmen for labourers - no wonder they are such bad workers - and to wait for dark nights to run thestuff down to the yard and load it on the train!'

'your stepfather must make a lot of money at this game,' said dick to jock.

'yes. that's why he can afford to pour money into the farm,' said jock, miserably. 'poor mum.

this will break her heart. all the same, i don't think my stepfather's the chief one in this. there'ssomebody behind him.'

'yes,' said julian, thinking of the mean little mr. andrews, with his big nose and weak chin.

'there probably is. now - i've thought of something else. if this stuff is got rid of in any otherway except down the tunnel it came up, there must somewhere be a way out of these caves!'

'i believe you're right,' said george. 'and if there is - we'll find it! and what's more, we'll escapethat way!'

'come on!' said julian, and he switched off the glaring light. 'your torch will give enough lightnow. we'll try this cave first. keep your eyes open, all of you!'