chapter 8 what's the best thing to do?

stumbling through the dark wood, julian and george hurried as best they could. timmy hurried too,knowing that something was worrying both his friends. richard followed behind, half-crying again.

he really had been very much afraid.

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they came at last to the little dell where they had planned to spend the night. it was quite dark.

julian called loudly:

'dick! anne! where are you?'

george had made her way to where she had hidden her bicycle. she fumbled for the lamp andswitched it on. she took it off and flashed it round the dell. there was dick's bicycle, with thepuncture repair outfit on the ground beside it - but no dick, and no anne! what had happened?

'anne!' yelled julian, in alarm. 'dick! come here! we're back!'

and then a small trembling voice came down from the tree-top overhead.

'oh julian! oh julian! i'm here.'

'it's anne!' yelled julian, his heart leaping in relief. 'anne - where are you?'

'up in this tree,' called back anne, in a stronger voice. 'oh ju - i've been so frightened, i didn't dareclimb down in case i fell. dick . . .'

'where is dick?' demanded julian.

a sob came down to him. 'two horrible men came - and they've taken him away. they thought hewas richard!'

anne's voice became a wail. julian felt that he must get her down the tree so that she could be withthem and be comforted. he spoke to george.

'shine that lamp up here. i'm going up to fetch anne.'

george silently shone the light of the lamp on the tree. julian went up like a cat. he came to annewho was still clinging tightly to a branch.

'anne, i'll help you down. come on, now - you can't fall. i'm just below you. i'll guide your feet tothe right branches.'

anne was only too glad to be helped down. she was cold and miserable, and she longed to be withthe others. slowly she came down, with julian's help, and he lifted her to the ground.

she clung to him, and he put his arm round his young sister. 'it's all right, anne. i'm with you now.

and here's george too - and old timmy.'

'who's that? said anne, suddenly seeing richard in the shadows.

'only richard. he's behaved badly,' said julian, grimly. 'it's all because of him and his idioticbehaviour that this has happened. now - tell us slowly and carefully about dick and the two men,anne.'

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anne told him, not missing out anything at all. timmy stood near her, licking her hand all the time.

that was very comforting indeed! timmy always knew when anyone was in trouble. anne felt verymuch better when she had julian's arm round her, and timmy's tongue licking her!

'it's quite clear what's happened,' said julian, when anne had finished her alarming tale. 'this manrooky recognized richard, and he and the other two came after him, seeing a chance to kidnap him,and so get even with his father. rooky was the only one who knew richard, and he wasn't the manwho caught dick. the others got him - and they didn't know he wasn't richard -and of course, hearing that his name was dick they jumped to the conclusion that he was richard- because dick is short for richard.'

'but dick told them he wasn't richard kent,' said anne, earnestly.

'of course - but they thought he wasn't telling the truth,' said julian. 'and they've taken him off.

what did you say was the name of the place they were going to?'

'it sounded like owl's dene,' said anne. 'can we go there, julian - if you told the men dick was dickand not richard, they'd let him go, wouldn't they?'

'oh yes,' said julian. 'in any case, as soon as that fellow rooky sets eyes on him he'll know there's amistake been made. i think we can get old dick away all right.'

a voice came out of the shadows nearby. 'what about me? will you take me home first? i don't wantto run into rooky again.'

'i'm certainly not going to waste time taking you home,' said julian, coldly. 'if it hadn't been for youand your tomfoolery we wouldn't have run into this trouble. you'll have to come with us. i'm going tofind dick first.'

'but i can't come with you - i'm afraid of rooky!' wailed richard.

'well, stay here then,' said julian, determined to teach richard a lesson.

that was even worse. richard howled loudly. 'don't leave me here! don't!'

'now look here - if you come with us, you can always be dropped at a house somewhere, or at apolice-station - and get yourself taken home somehow,' said julian, exasperated. 'you're old enoughto look after yourself. i'm fed up with you.'

anne was sorry for richard, although he had brought all this trouble on them. she knew howdreadful it was to feel really frightened. she put out a hand and touched him kindly.

'richard! don't be a baby. julian will see that you're all right. he's just feeling cross with you now,but he'll soon get over it.'

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'don't you be too sure about that!' said julian to anne, pretending to be sterner than he really felt.

'what richard wants is a jolly good hiding. he's untruthful and deceitful and an absolute baby!'

'give me another chance,' almost wept poor richard, who had never in his life been spoken to likethis before. he tried to hate julian for saying such things to him - but oddly enough he couldn't. heonly respected and admired him all the more.

julian said no more to richard. he really thought the boy was too feeble for words. it was a nuisancethat they had him with them. he would be no help at all - simply a tiresome nuisance.

'what are we going to do, julian?' asked george, who had been very silent. she was fond of dick,and was very worried about him. where was owl's dene? how could they possibly find it in thenight? and what about those awful men? how would they treat julian if he demanded dick back atonce? julian was fearless and straightforward - but the men wouldn't like him any the better for that.

'well now - what are we going to do?' repeated julian, and he fell silent.

'it's no good going back to that farm, and asking for help, is it?' said george, after a pause.

'not a bit of good,' said julian, at once. 'that old man wouldn't help anyone! and there's no telephonelaid on, as we saw. no - that farm's no good. what a pity!'

'where's the map?' said george, a sudden idea coming into her head. 'would owl's dene be namedon it, do you think?'

'not if it's a house,' said julian. 'only places are named there. you'd want a frightfully big map toshow every house.'

'well, anyway - let's look at the map and see if it shows any more farms or villages,' said george,who felt as if she must do something, even if it was only looking at a map. julian produced the mapand unfolded it. he and the girls bent over it, by the light of the bicycle lamp, and richard peeredover their shoulders. even timmy tried to look, forcing his head under their arms.

'get away, tim,' said julian. 'look, here's where we are - middlecombe woods - see? my word, weare in a lonely spot! there's not a village for miles!'

certainly no village was marked. the countryside was shown, hilly and wooded, with a stream hereand there, and third-class roads now and again - but no village, no church, no bridge even wasmarked anywhere.

anne gave a sudden exclamation and pointed to the contour of a hill on the map. 'look - see whatthat hill's called?'

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'owl's hill,' read out julian. 'yes - i see what you're getting at, anne. if a house was built on that hillit might be called owl's dene, because of the name of the hill. what's more - a building is markedthere! it hasn't a name, of course. it might be a farm-house, an old ruin - or a big house of some kind.'

'i think it's very likely that's where owl's dene is,' said george. 'i bet it's that very house. let's takeour bikes and go.'

a huge sigh from richard attracted their attention. 'now what's the matter with you?' said julian.

'nothing. i'm hungry, that's all,' said richard.

the others suddenly realized that they too were hungry. in fact, terribly hungry! it was a long, longtime since tea.

julian remembered the food he and george had brought from the farm. should they have it now -or should they eat some on their way to owl's hill?

'better eat as we go,' said julian. 'every minute we waste means a minute of worry for dick.'

'i wonder what they'd do with him, if rooky sees him and says he's not me, not the boy they want,'

said richard, suddenly.

'set him free, i should think,' said george. 'ruffians like that would probably turn him loose in adeserted countryside and not care tuppence if he found his way home or not. we've absolutely got tofind out what's happened - whether he's at owl's dene, or been set free, or what.'

'i can't come with you,' suddenly wailed richard.

'why?' demanded julian.

'because i haven't got my bike,' said richard, dolefully. 'i chucked it away, you remember - andgoodness knows where it is. i'd never find it again.'

'he can have dick's,' said anne. 'there it is, over there - with the puncture mended too.'

'oh yes,' said richard, relieved. 'for one frightful moment i thought i'd have to be left behind.'

julian secretly wished he could be left behind. richard was more trouble than he was worth!

'yes - you can take dick's bike,' he said. 'but no idiotic behaviour with it, mind - no riding withouthandlebars, or any errand boy tricks like that. it's dick's bike, not yours.'

richard said nothing. julian was always ticking him off. he supposed he deserved it - but it wasn't atall pleasant. he pulled at dick's bike, and found the lamp was missing. dick, of course, had taken itoff. he hunted round for it and found it on the ground. dick had let it fall, and the 36switch had turned itself off when the lamp hit the ground. when richard pressed the switch down thelamp lighted again. good!

'now, come on,' said julian, fetching his bicycle too. 'i'll hand out food to eat as we go. we must tryto find our way to owl's hill as quick as ever we can!'