chapter 12 julian looks round

the woman brought them some food. it was only bread and butter and jam, with some hot coffee todrink. the four children were not really hungry, but they were very thirsty, and they drank the coffeeeagerly.

george opened the window and called softly down to timmy. 'tim! here's something for you!'

timmy was down there all right, watching and waiting. he knew where george was. he had howledand whined for some time, but now he was quiet.

george was quite determined to get him indoors if she could. she gave him all her bread and jam,dropping it down bit by bit, and listening to him wolfing it up. anyway, old timmy would know shewas thinking of him!

'listen,' said julian, coming in from the passage outside, where he had stood listening for a while. 'ithink it would be a good idea if we put out this light, and settled down on the mattresses.

but i shall make up a lump on mine to look like me, so that if anyone comes they'll think i'm there onthe mattress. but i shan't be.'

'where will you be, then?' asked anne. 'don't leave us!'

'i shall be hiding outside in that cupboard,' said julian. 'i've a sort of feeling that our pleasant host,mr. perton, will come along presently to lock us in - and i've no intention of being locked in! i thinkhe'll flash a torch into the room, see that we're all four safely asleep on the mattresses, and thenquietly lock the door. well - i shall be able to unlock it when i come back from the cupboard outside- and we shan't be prisoners at all!'

'oh - that really is a good idea,' said anne, cuddling herself up in a blanket. 'you'd better go and getinto the cupboard now, julian, before we're locked up for the night!'

julian blew out the lamp. he tiptoed to the door and opened it. he left it ajar. he went into thepassage and fumbled his way to where he knew the cupboard should be. ah - there it was. he pulledat the handle and the door opened silently. he slipped inside and left the door open just a crack, sothat he would be able to see if anyone came along the wide passage.

he waited there about twenty minutes. the cupboard smelt musty, and it was very boring standingthere doing absolutely nothing.

51

then, through the crack in the door, he suddenly noticed that a light was coming. ah - somebody wasabout!

he peered through the crack. he saw mr. perton coming quietly along the corridor with a little oil-lamp held in his hand. he went to the door of the children's bedroom and pushed it a little.

julian watched him, hardly daring to breathe.

would he notice that the figure on one of the mattresses was only a lump made of a blanket rolled upand covered by another blanket? julian fervently hoped that he wouldn't. all his plans would bespoilt if so.

mr. perton held the lamp high in his hand and looked cautiously into the room. he saw four huddled-up shapes lying on the mattresses - four children - he thought.

they were obviously asleep. softly, mr. perton closed the door, and just as softly locked it.

julian watched anxiously to see if he pocketed the key or not. no - he hadn't! he had left it in thelock. oh good!

the man went away again, treading softly. he did not go downstairs, but disappeared into a roomsome way down on the right. julian heard the door shut with a click. then he heard another click.

the man evidently believed in locking himself in. perhaps he didn't trust his other comrade, whereverhe was - or hunchy or the woman.

julian waited a while and then crept out of the cupboard. he stole up to mr. perton's room and lookedthrough the keyhole to see if the room was in darkness or not. it was! was mr. perton snoring? notthat julian could hear.

however julian was not going to wait till he heard mr. perton snore. he was going to find dick -and he was pretty certain that the first place to look was in that attic upstairs!

'i bet mr. perton was up there with dick and heard me throwing stones at the window,' thoughtjulian. 'then he slipped down and opened that window to trap us into getting in there - and we fellneatly into the trap! he must have been waiting inside the room for us. i don't like mr. perton- too full of bright ideas!'

he was half-way up the flight of stairs that led to the attics now - going very carefully and slowly,afraid of making the stairs creak loudly. they did creak - and at every creak poor julian stopped andlistened to see if anyone had heard!

there was a long passage at the top turning at both ends into the side-wings. julian stood still anddebated - now which way ought he to go? - where exactly was that lighted window? it was 52somewhere along this long passage, he was certain. well, he'd go along the doors and see if a lightshone out through the keyhole, or under the door anywhere.

door after door was ajar. julian peeped round each, making out bare dark attics, or box-rooms withrubbish in. then he came to a door that was closed. he peered through the keyhole. no light camefrom inside the room.

julian knocked gently. a voice came at once - dick's voice. 'who's there?'

'sh! it's me - julian,' whispered julian. 'are you all right, dick?'

there came the creak of a bed, then the pattering of feet across a bare floor. dick's voice camethrough the door, muffled and cautious.

'julian! how did you get here? this is marvellous! can you unlock the door and let me out?'

julian had already felt for a key - but there was none. mr. perton had taken that key, at any rate!

'no. the key's gone,' he said. 'dick, what did they do to you?'

'nothing much. they dragged me off to the car and shoved me in,' said dick, through the door.

'the man called rooky wasn't there. the others waited for him for some time, then drove off.

they thought he might have gone off to see someone they meant to visit. so i haven't seen him.

he's coming tomorrow morning. what a shock for him when he finds i'm not richard!'

'richard's here too,' whispered julian. 'i wish he wasn't - because if rooky happens to see him he'll bekidnapped, i'm sure! the only hope is that rooky will only see you - and as the other men think we'reall one family, they may let us all go. did you come straight here in the car, dick?'

'yes,' said dick. 'the gates opened like magic when we got here, but i couldn't see anybody. i wasshoved up here and locked in. one of the men came to tell me all the things rooky was going to do tome when he saw me - and then he suddenly went downstairs and hasn't come back again.'

'oh - i bet that was when we chucked stones up at your window,' said julian at once. 'didn't you hearthem?'

'yes - so that was the crack i heard! the man with me went across to the window at once - and hemust have seen you. now, what about you, ju? how on earth did you get here? are you all reallyhere? i suppose that was timmy i heard howling outside.'

julian quickly told him all his tale from the time he and george had met the howling richard to themoment he had slipped up the stairs to find dick.

53

there was a silence when he had finished his tale. then dick's voice came through the crack.

'not much good making any plans, julian. if things go all right, we'll be out of here by the morning,when rooky finds i'm not the boy he wants. if things go wrong at least we're all together, and we canmake plans then. i wonder what his mother will think when richard doesn't get home tonight.'

'probably think he's gone off to the aunt's,' said julian. 'i should think he's a very unreliable person.

blow him! it was all because of him we got into this fix.'

'i expect the men will have some cock-and-bull story tomorrow morning, about why they got hold ofyou, when they find you're not richard,' went on julian. 'they'll probably say you threw stones attheir car or something, and they took you in hand - or found you hurt and brought you here to helpyou! anyway, whatever they say, we won't make much fuss about it. we'll go quietly - and then we'llget things moving! i don't know what's going on here, but it's something queer. the police ought tolook into it, i'm certain.'

'listen - that's timmy again,' said dick. 'howling like anything for george, i suppose. you'd bettergo, julian, in case he wakes up one of the men and they come out and find you here.

good-night. i'm awfully glad you're near! thanks awfully for coming to find me.'

'good-night,' said julian, and went back along the corridor, walking over the patches of moonlight,looking fearfully into the dark shadows in case mr. perton or somebody else was waiting for him!

but nobody was about. timmy's howling died down. there was a deep silence in the house.

julian went down the stairs to the floor on which the bedroom was where the others lay asleep.

he paused outside it. should he do any further exploring? it really was such a chance!

he decided that he would. mr. perton was fast asleep, he hoped. he thought probably hunchy andthe woman had gone to bed too. he wondered where the other man was, who had brought dick toowl's dene. he hadn't seen him at all. perhaps he had gone out in that black bentley they had seengoing out of the gate.

julian went down to the ground floor. a brilliant thought had just occurred to him. couldn't he undothe front door and get the others down, and send them out, free? he himself couldn't escape, becauseit would mean leaving dick alone.

54

then he gave up the idea. 'no,' he thought. 'for one thing george and anne would refuse to gowithout me - and even if they agreed to get out of the front door, and go down the drive to the gates,how would they undo them? they're worked by some machinery from the house.'

so his brilliant idea came to nothing. he decided to look into all the rooms on the ground floor.

he looked into the kitchen first. the fire was almost out. the moonlight came through the cracks ofthe curtains and lighted up the dark silent room. hunchy and the woman had evidently retiredsomewhere.

there was nothing of interest in the kitchen. julian went into the room opposite. it was a dining-room, with a long polished table, candlesticks on the walls and mantelpiece, and the remains of awood fire. nothing of interest there either.

the boy went into another room. was it a workroom, or what? there was a radiogram there, and abig desk. there was a stand with a curious instrument of some kind that had a stout wheel-likehandle. julian suddenly wondered if it would open the gates! yes - that was what it was for. he saw alabel attached to it. left gate. right gate. both gates.

'that's what it is - the machinery for opening either or both of the gates. if only i could get dick outof that room i'd get us all out of this place in no time!' said julian. he twisted the handle -what would happen?