chapter 15 a startling night

no gypsies came near them that day, not even sniffer. the evening was as lovely as the day hadbeen, and almost as warm.

'it's extraordinary!' said dick, looking up into the sky. 'what weather for april! the bluebells will berushing out soon if the sun goes on being as hot as this!'

they lay on the sand in the quarry and watched the evening star shine in the sky. it looked very bigand bright and round.

timmy scrabbled round in the sand. 'his paw is much better,' said george. 'though i notice that hestill sometimes holds it up.'

'only when he wants you to say 'poor timmy, does it hurt!' ' said dick. 'he's a baby, likes to befussed!'

they talked for a while and then anne yawned. 'it's early, i know - but i believe i'm going to sleep.'

there was soon a trek to the spring, and everyone sluiced themselves in the cool water. there wasonly one towel between them, but that did very well. then they settled down in their sandy beds. thesand was beautifully warm and they did not bother about putting down the rubber sheets. there couldnot possibly be any dampness in that quarry after it had been baked so much by the hot sun!

'i hope we wake when that plane comes, if it does come,' said julian to dick, as they lay without anycovering in their soft, sandy bed. 'my goodness, isn't it hot! no wonder timmy's panting over there!'

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they went to sleep at last, but dick awoke suddenly, feeling much too hot. phew! what a night!

he lay looking up at the brilliant stars, and then shut his eyes again. but it was no use, he couldn't goto sleep.

he sat up cautiously, so as not to awake julian. i think i'll just go and have a squint to see if that biglamp is lighted again, down in that pit by the gypsy camp, he thought.

he went to the edge of the quarry and climbed up. he looked towards the gypsy camp and gave asudden exclamation. yes! he thought. it's glowing again! i can't see the lamp, of course, but its lightis so jolly powerful that i can easily see the glow it makes. it must be very bright, looked down onfrom the sky. i wonder if the plane is due to come now that the lamp is lighted.

he listened, and yes, he could distinctly hear a low humming noise from the east. it must be the planecoming again? would it land this time, and if so, who was in it?

he ran to wake julian and the girls. timmy was alert at once, wagging his tail excitedly. he wasalways ready for anything, even in the middle of the night! anne and george got up too, verythrilled.

'is the lamp really alight again? and i can hear the plane too now! oh, i say! this is exciting!

george, timmy won't bark and give us away, will he?'

'no. i've told him to be quiet,' said george. 'he won't make a sound. listen, the plane is comingnearer!'

the noise was now loud enough for them to search the starry sky for the plane. julian gave dick anudge. 'look, you can just see it, straight over where the gypsy camp is!'

dick managed to pick it out. 'it's very small,' he said. 'smaller even than i thought it was last night.

look, it's coming down!'

but it wasn't. it merely swept low, and then went round in a circle, as it had done the night before. itrose a little again and then came in low once more, almost over the boys' heads.

then something extraordinary happened. something fell not far from julian, something that bouncedand then came to rest! it made a thud as it fell, and all four jumped. timmy gave a startled whine.

thud! something else fell. thud, thud, thud! anne gave a squeal. 'are they trying to bomb us orsomething. julian, what are they doing?'

thud! thud! julian ducked at the last two thuds, they sounded so near. he took hold of anne andpulled her down into the quarry, calling to dick and george.

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'get down here, quickly! force yourselves into the caves somewhere! we shall get hit!'

they ran across the quarry as the plane swooped round in a circle once more and then again begandropping the things that went 'thud! thud!'. some even fell into the quarry this time.

timmy got the shock of his life when one bounced in front of his nose and rolled away. he yelpedand tore after george.

soon they were all safely squeezed into the little caves that lined the sides of the quarry. the planeswept round once more, up and then round, and the thud-thudding began again. the four could hearthat some of the thuds were actually in the quarry again and they were thankful they were wellsheltered.

'well, nothing is exploding,' said dick, thankfully. 'but what on earth is the plane dropping? andwhy? this is a most peculiar adventure to have.'

'it's probably a dream,' said julian, and laughed. 'no, not even a dream could be so mad. here we are,snuggling into sandy caves in a quarry on mystery moor, while a plane drops something all round usin the middle of the night! quite mad.'

'i believe the plane's going away now,' said dick. 'it's circled round but hasn't dropped anything.

now it's climbing, it's going away! the engine doesn't sound nearly so loud. goodness, when wewere standing out there at the edge of the quarry, i almost thought the plane would take my head off;it was so low!'

'i thought that too,' said anne, very glad that there was to be no more swooping down and droppingdozens of unknown things. 'is it safe to go out?'

'oh yes,' said julian, scrambling out of the sand. 'come on. we shall easily hear if the plane comesback again. i want to see what it has dropped!'

in great excitement they ran to get the parcels. the stars gave so much light on that clear night thatthe four did not even need a torch.

julian picked up something first. it was a firm, flattish parcel, done up well, sewn into a canvascovering. he examined it.

'no name. nothing,' he said. 'this is most exciting. let's have three guesses what's inside.'

'bacon for breakfast, i hope!' said anne at once.

'idiot,' said julian, getting out a knife to slit the string threads that sewed up the canvas. 'i guess it'ssmuggled goods of some sort. that's what that plane was doing, i should think, flying over fromfrance, and dropping smuggled goods in a pre-arranged place, and i suppose the gypsies 69pick them up, and take them away, well hidden in their caravans, to deliver them somewhere.

very clever!'

'oh julian, is that the explanation?' said anne. 'what would be in the parcels then, cigarettes?'

'no,' said julian. 'the parcels wouldn't be so heavy if they only contained cigarettes. there, i've slitthe threads at last!'

the others crowded round to see. george took her torch out of her pocket so that they could seereally well. she flashed it on.

julian ripped off the canvas covering. next came some strong brown paper. he ripped that off too.

then came strong cardboard, tied round with string. that was undone as well, and the cardboard fellto the ground.

'now, what have we got?' said julian, excited. 'thin sheets of paper, dozens and dozens of thempacked together. shine your torch nearer, george.'

there was a silence as all the four craned over julian's hands.

'whew! i say! gosh, do you see what they are?' said julian, in awe. 'american money, dollar notes.

but look what they are, one hundred-dollar notes! and my word there are scores and scores of themin this one packet.'

the four stared in amazement as julian riffled through the packet of notes. however much wouldthey be worth?

'julian, how much is a hundred-dollar note worth in our money?' asked george.

'about forty pounds i think,' said julian. 'yes, just about that. gosh, and there are scores in this onepacket, and we know they dropped dozens of the packets too. whatever is it all about?'

'well, there must be thousands and thousands of dollars lying around us, here in the quarry andoutside it,' said george. 'i say! surely this isn't a dream?'

'well, i must say it's a very extravagant kind of dream, if so,' said dick. 'a dream worth thousands ofpounds isn't very usual. ju, hadn't we better get busy picking up these parcels?'

'yes. we certainly had,' said julian. 'i'm beginning to see it all now. the smugglers come over in aplane from france, say, having previously arranged to drop these packets in a lonely spot on thismoor. the gypsies are in the plot to the extent that they light the guiding lamp and pick up theparcels.'

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'i see, and then they quietly pack them into their caravans, slip off the moor, and deliver them tosomebody else, who pays them well for their trouble,' said dick. 'very smart!'

'that's about it,' said julian. 'but i can't for the life of me see why dollar notes have to be smuggledhere. they can be brought freely enough into the country - why smuggle them?'

'stolen ones, perhaps?' said george. 'oh well, its quite beyond me. what a thing to do! no wonderthe gypsies didn't want us around.'

'better buck up and collect all these parcels and clear off back to the stables with them,' said julian,picking up one near him. 'the gypsies will be after them, there's no doubt about that! we must begone before they come.'

the four of them went about looking for the parcels. they found about sixty of them, and they madequite a heavy load.

'we'll put them somewhere safe, i think,' said julian. 'what about stuffing them into one of the sand-caves? i don't very well see how we can carry them like this.'

'we could put them in the rugs and tie up the ends and carry them like that,' said george. 'it would bemad to leave them hidden somewhere in this quarry. it's the first place the gypsies would search.'

'all right. we'll follow your idea,' said julian. 'i think we've about collected all the packets there are.

get the rugs.'

george's idea proved to be a good one, half the parcels were rolled into one rug, and tied up, and halfinto the other.

'good thing the rugs are nice and big,' said dick tying his up strongly. 'now i can just about managemine nicely on my back. you all right, ju?'

'yes, come along, you girls,' said julian. 'follow behind us. we'll go down the railway line.

leave everything else here. we can easily get it another time. we must leave before the gypsiescome.'

timmy began to bark suddenly. 'that must mean the gypsies are coming,' said dick. 'come on,quick! yes i can hear their voices - for goodness' sake, hurry!'