chapter 13 a noise in the night

it was timmy who first knew there was somebody not far off. he pricked up his ears and listened.

george saw him.

'what is it, tim?' she said. 'nobody is coming here, surely?'

timmy gave a tiny growl, as if he were not quite sure of himself. then he leapt up, his tail wagging,and tore out of the quarry!

'where's he gone to?' said george astonished. 'gosh, here he is, back again!'

so he was, and with him was a funny little hearthrug of a dog - yes, liz! she was not quite sure ofher welcome and crawled up to the children on her tummy, looking more like a hearthrug than ever!

timmy leapt round her in delight. she might have been his very best friend, he was so delighted!

george patted the funny little dog and julian looked thoughtful.

'i hope this doesn't mean that we are anywhere near the gypsy camp,' he said. 'it's quite likely that thelines might end somewhere near them. i've rather lost my sense of direction.'

'oh goodness, i do hope we're not near their camp!' said anne, in dismay. 'those old-time gypsiesmust have camped pretty near to the bartles' quarry before they attacked them, so perhaps the presentcamp is near too.'

'well, what's it matter if it is?' said dick. 'who's afraid of them? i'm not!'

they all sat still, thinking hard, liz licking anne's hand. and in the silence they heard an all-too-familiar sound.

sniff! sniff!

'sniffer!' called george. 'come on out, wherever you are hiding. i can hear you!'

a pair of legs stuck out from a great clump of heather at the edge of the quarry, and then the whole ofsniffer's wiry little body slithered out and down into the sand. he sat there, grinning at them, half-afraid to come any nearer in case they were cross with him.

'what are you doing here?' said dick. 'not spying on us, i hope?'

'no,' said sniffer. 'our camp isn't very far away. liz heard you, i think, and ran off. i followed her.'

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'oh blow. we hoped we weren't near anyone else,' said george. 'does anyone at your camp knowwe're here.'

'not yet,' said sniffer. 'but they'll find out. they always do. i won't tell, though, if you don't want meto.'

dick tossed him a biscuit. 'well, keep your mouth shut if you can,' he said. 'we're not interfering withanyone and we don't want anyone interfering with us. see?'

sniffer nodded. he suddenly put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the red and white hanky thatgeorge had given him. it was still clean and beautifully folded.

'not dirty yet!' he said to george.

'well, it ought to be,' said george. 'it's for your sniffs. now don't use your coat-sleeve.'

sniffer simply could not understand why he should use a beautiful clean hanky when he had a dirtycoat-sleeve. he put the hanky carefully back into his pocket.

liz ran to him and fawned on him. sniffer fondled the peculiar little creature, and then timmy wentover and played with them both. the four finished their tea, threw sniffer one last biscuit, and got upto put their things away safely. now that sniffer was about, and the gypsy camp near, they didn't feelit was terribly safe to leave anything unguarded or unhidden.

'scoot off, now, sniffer,' said julian. 'and no spying on us, mind! timmy will know immediately youarrive anywhere near, and come hunting for you. if you want to see us, give a whistle when you getnear. no creeping or slipping into the quarry. understand?'

'yes,' said sniffer, standing up. he took the hanky from his pocket again, waved it at george, anddisappeared with liz at his heels.

'i'm just going to see exactly how near to the gypsy camp we are,' julian said. he walked to theentrance of the quarry and up on to the moor. he looked in the direction that sniffer had gone.

yes, there was the hill in the shelter of which the gypsies had their caravans. it wasn't more than aquarter of a mile away. blow! still, it was far enough for the gypsies not to discover them, unless bychance.

'or unless sniffer gives the game away,' thought julian. 'well, we'll spend the night here, anyway,and we can move off somewhere else tomorrow if we feel like it.'

they felt rather energetic that evening and played a ball game in the quarry, in which timmy joinedwholeheartedly. but as he always got the ball before anyone else did they had to tie him 59up in order to get a game themselves. timmy was very cross. he turned his back on them and sulked.

'he looks like you now, george,' said dick, grinning, and got the ball bang on the side of his headfrom an angry george!

nobody wanted much supper. julian took a little aluminium jug to the spring and filled it once foreveryone. it really was lovely water from that bubbling spring!

'i wonder how henry's getting on,' said anne. 'spoilt to bits by her great-aunts. i expect. didn't shelook odd in proper clothes, gloves and all!'

'yes, she ought to have been a boy,' said dick. 'like you, george,' he added hastily. 'both of you arereal sports, plucky as anything.'

'how do you know henry's plucky?' said george, scornfully. 'only by her silly tales! i bet they're allmade-up and exaggerated.'

julian changed the subject. 'shall we want rugs tonight, do you think?' he said.

'rather! it may be warm now, and the sand is hot with the sun, but it won't be quite so nice when it'sgone down,' said anne. 'anyway we can always creep into one of those cosy little caves if we feelchilly. they're as warm as toast. i went into one, so i know.'

they settled down quite early to sleep. the boys took one side of the quarry, the girls the other.

tim, as usual, was on george's feet, much to anne's discomfort.

'he's on mine too,' she complained to george. 'he's so long, he stretches over my feet as well.

move him, george.'

so george moved him, but as soon as anne was asleep he stretched out again and lay on both girls'

legs. he slept with one ear open.

he heard a scurrying hedgehog. he heard all the rabbits out for a night-time game. he heard the frogsin a far-off pool croaking in the night. his sharp ear even heard the tinkle of the little spring outsidethe pit.

nobody moved in the quarry. there was a small moon but it gave very little light. the stars thatstudded the sky seemed to give more light than the moon.

timmy's one open ear suddenly pricked itself right up. then the other ear stood up too. timmy wasstill asleep but his ears were both listening very hard!

a low, humming sound came slowly over the night. it came nearer and nearer. timmy awokeproperly and sat up, listening, his eyes wide open now.

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the sound was now very loud indeed. dick awoke and listened. what was that noise? an aeroplane?

it must be jolly low! surely it wasn't about to land on the moor in the dark!

he woke julian and they both got up and went out of the quarry. 'it's an aeroplane all right,' saiddick, in a low voice. 'what's it doing? it doesn't seem to be going to land. it's gone round in a lowcircle two or three times.'

'is it in trouble, do you think?' asked julian. 'here it comes again.'

'look, what's that light over there?' suddenly said dick, pointing to the east. 'see, that sort of glow.

it's not very far from the gypsies' camp.'

'i don't know,' said julian, puzzled. 'it's not a fire, is it? we can't see any flames and it doesn't seem toflicker like a fire would.'

'i think it may be some sort of guide to that plane,' said dick. 'it seems to be circling round and aboutover the glow. let's watch it.'

they watched it. yes, it did seem to be circling round the glow, whatever it was, and then, quitesuddenly it rose in the air, circled round once more and made off to the east.

'there it goes,' said dick, straining his eyes. 'i can't tell what kind it is, except that it's very small.'

'what can it have been doing?' said julian, puzzled. 'i thought the glow might have been to guide it inlanding, though where it could land here in safety i simply don't know. but it didn't land at all, it justcircled and made off.'

'where would it have come from?' said dick. 'from the coast, i suppose, from over the sea, do youthink?'

'i simply don't know,' said julian. 'it beats me! and why should the gypsies have anything to do withit? gypsies and planes don't seem to mix, somehow.'

'well, we don't know that they do have anything to do with the plane, except that we saw that glow,'

said dick. 'and that's going now, look.'

even as they watched, the bright glow died completely away. now the moor lay in darkness again.

'funny,' said julian, scratching his head. 'i can't make it out. it's true that the gypsies may be up tosomething, the way they come out here secretly, apparently for no purpose at all, and also they don'twant us snooping round, that's clear.'

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'i think we'd better try and find out what that glow is,' said dick. 'we could have a bit of a snooptomorrow. or perhaps sniffer could tell us.'

'he might,' said julian. 'we'll try him. come on, let's get back into the quarry. it's cold out here!'

the quarry struck quite warm to them as they went down into it. the girls were sound asleep still.

timmy, who had been with them, did not wake them. he had been as puzzled as julian and dickover the low-flying plane, but he had not barked at all. julian had been glad about that.

timmy's bark might have carried right over to the gypsy camp and warned it that someone wascamping near.

they got back under their rug, keeping close to one another for warmth. but they soon lost theirshivers, and dick threw off his share of the rug. in a few minutes they were asleep.

timmy awoke first and stretched himself out in the warm morning sunshine. anne sat up with a littlescream. 'oh timmy, don't! you nearly squashed me to bits. do that to george if you must stretchyourself all over somebody!'

the boys awoke then, and went to the spring to splash their faces and bring back a jugful of water todrink. anne got the breakfast, and over it the boys told the girls of the aeroplane in the night.

'how queer!' said anne. 'and that glow too. it must have been a guide of some sort to the plane.

let's go and see where it was. it must have been a fire of some kind!'

'right,' said dick. 'i vote we go this morning, but we'll take tim with us in case we meet thosegypsies!'