chapter 17 prisoners together

the two girls and timmy made their way carefully, hoping to come across the lines that led to thequarry. they were lucky. they went across the gap in the lines where once long ago the gypsies hadwrenched out the rails, and came to where they began again, and led to the edge of the quarry.

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'here they are!' said george, thankfully. 'now we're all right. we've only just got to follow these andwe'll be in the quarry. i hope it will be warmer than here. brrrr! this mist is terribly cold andclammy.'

'it came up so suddenly,' said anne, shining her torch downwards. 'i couldn't believe my eyes when ilooked round and saw it creeping up on us. i...'

she stopped suddenly. timmy had given a low growl. 'what's up, tim?' whispered george. he stoodquite still, his hackles up and his tail motionless. he looked steadfastly into the mist.

'oh dear. what can be the matter now?' whispered anne. 'i can't hear a thing, can you?'

they listened. no, there was nothing to hear at all. they went on into the quarry, thinking thattimmy might have heard a rabbit or hedgehog, and growled at it as he sometimes did.

timmy heard a sound and ran to the side, lost in the mist at once. he suddenly yelped loudly, thenthere was a heavy thud, and no more sound from timmy!

'timmy! what's happened! timmy, come here!' shouted george, at the top of her voice. but notimmy came. the girls heard the sound of something heavy being dragged away, and george ranafter the sound.

'timmy! oh timmy, what's happened!' she cried. 'where are you? are you hurt?'

the mist swirled round, and she tried to beat against it with her fists, angry that she could not see.

'tim! tim!'

then a pair of hands took her arms from behind and a voice said, 'now you come with me! you werewarned not to snoop about on the moor!'

george struggled violently, less concerned for herself than for timmy.

'where's my dog?' she cried. 'what have you done to him?'

'i knocked him on the head,' said the voice, which sounded very like sniffer's father. 'he's all right,but he won't feel himself for a bit! you can have him back if you're sensible.'

george wasn't sensible. she kicked and fought and wriggled and struggled. it was no use. she washeld in a grip like iron. she heard anne scream once and knew that she had been caught too.

when george was too tired to struggle any more, she was led firmly out of the quarry with anne.

'where's my dog?' she sobbed. 'what have you done with him?'

'he's all right,' said the man behind her. 'but if you make any more fuss i'll give him another blow onthe head. now will you be quiet.'

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george was quiet at once. she was taken with anne across the moor for what seemed like miles, butwas really only the fairly short distance between the quarry and the gypsies' camp.

'are you bringing my dog?' asked george, unable to contain her fears about timmy.

'yes. somebody's got him,' said her captor. 'you shall have him back safe and sound, if you do whatyou're told!'

george had to be content with that. what a night! the boys gone, timmy hurt, she and annecaptured, and this horrible, wreathing mist all the time!

the mist cleared a little as they came near to the gypsy camp. the hill behind seemed to keep it off.

george and anne saw the light of a fire, and of a few lanterns here and there. more men weregathered together, waiting. anne thought she could see sniffer and liz in the background but shecouldn't be sure.

'if only i could get hold of sniffer,' she thought. 'he would soon find out if timmy is really hurt.

oh sniffer, do come nearer if it's you!'

their captors took them to the little fire, and made both girls sit down. one of the men thereexclaimed in surprise.

'but these are not those two boys! this is a boy and a girl, not as tall as the others were!'

'we're two girls,' said anne, thinking that the men might treat george less roughly if they knew shewas not a boy. 'i'm a girl and so is she.'

she got a scowl from george, but took no notice. this was not the time to pretend anything.

these men were ruthless, and very angry. they thought their plans had gone wrong, all because oftwo boys. perhaps when they found they had got two girls, they would let them go.

the men began to question them. 'where are the boys then?'

'we've no idea! lost in the mist,' said anne. 'we all went out to go back home, and got separated, sogeorge, i mean georgina, and i went back to the quarry.'

'did you hear the plane?'

'of course!'

'did you see or hear it dropping anything?'

'we didn't see anything drop, we heard it,' said anne. george stared at her furiously. why was annegiving all this away? perhaps she thought that timmy would be given back to them if they provedhelpful? george immediately changed her mind about feeling cross with anne. if only timmy wereall right!

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'did you pick up what the plane dropped?' the man rapped out the question so sharply that annehumped. what should she say?

'oh yes,' she heard herself saying. 'we picked up a few queer parcels. what was in them, do youknow?'

'never you mind,' said the man. 'what did you do with the parcels?'

george stared at anne, wondering what she was going to say. surely, surely she wouldn't give thatsecret away?

'i didn't do anything with them,' said anne, in an innocent voice. 'the boys said they would hidethem. so they went off into the mist with them, but they didn't come back. so george and i went tothe quarry again. that's when you caught us.'

the men talked among themselves in low voices. then sniffer's father turned to the girls again.

'where did the boys hide these packets?'

'how do i know?' said anne. 'i didn't go with them. i didn't see what they did with them.'

'do you think they will still have got them with them?' asked the man.

'why don't you go and find the boys and ask them?' said anne. 'i haven't seen or heard of the boyssince they left us and went into the mist. i don't know what became of them or the parcels!'

'they're probably lost somewhere on the moors,' said the old, grey-haired gypsy. 'with the packets!

we'll look for the boys tomorrow. they won't get home in this! we'll fetch them back here.'

'they wouldn't come,' said george. 'as soon as they saw you, they'd run. you'd never catch them.

any way they'd get back home as soon as the mist cleared.'

'take these girls away,' said the old gypsy, sounding tired of them. 'put them in the far cave, and tiethem up.'

'where's my dog?' shouted george, suddenly. 'you bring me my dog!'

'you haven't been very helpful,' said the old gypsy. 'we'll question you again tomorrow, and if youare more helpful, you shall have your dog.'

two men took the girls away from the fire and over to the hill. a large opening led into the queer hill.

one of the men had a lantern and led the way, the other man walking behind.

a passage led straight into the hill. there was sand underfoot, and it seemed to anne as if even thewalls were made of sand. how strange!

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the hill was honeycombed with passages. they criss-crossed and forked like burrows in a rabbit-warren. anne wondered however the men could find their way!

they came at last to a cave that must have been right in the heart of the hill, a cave with a sandyfloor, and a post that was driven deeply into the ground.

ropes were fastened firmly to it. the two girls looked at them in dismay. surely they were not goingto be tied up like prisoners!

but they were! the ropes were fastened firmly round their waists and knotted at the back. the knotswere gypsy knots, firm, tight and complicated. it would take the girls hours to unpick those, evensupposing they could manage to reach right round to their backs!

'there you are,' said the men, grinning at the two angry girls. 'may be in the morning you willremember where those packets were put?'

'you go and get my dog,' ordered george. but they only laughed loudly and went out of the cave.

it was stuffy and hot in there. george was worried to death about timmy, but anne was almost tootired to think.

she fell asleep, sitting up uncomfortably with the ropes round her waist, and the knots digging intoher back. george sat brooding. timmy - where was he? was he badly hurt? george was verymiserable indeed.

she didn't go to sleep. she sat there, worrying, wide awake. she made an attempt to get at the knotsbehind her, but it was no use, she couldn't.

suddenly she thought she heard a noise. was that someone creeping up the passage to the cave?

she felt frightened. oh, if only timmy were here!

sniff! sniff!

'gracious goodness, it must be sniffer!' thought george, and at that moment she almost loved thedirty little gypsy boy!

'sniffer!' she called quietly, and put on her torch. sniffer's head appeared and then his body. he wascrawling quietly up the passage on all fours.

he came right into the cave, and stared at her and the sleeping anne. 'i've sometimes been tied uphere too,' he said.

'sniffer, how is timmy?' asked george, anxiously. 'tell me, quickly!'

'he's all right,' said sniffer. 'he's just got a bad cut on his head. i bathed it for him. he's tied up too,and he's mad about it!'

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'sniffer, listen, go and get timmy and bring him to me,' said george, breathlessly. 'and bring me aknife too, to cut these ropes. will you? can you?'

'oooh, i dunno,' said sniffer, looking frightened. 'my father would half kill me!'

'sniffer, is there anything you want, anything you've always wanted?' said george. 'i'll give it to youif you do this for me. i promise you!'

'i want a bike,' said sniffer, surprisingly. 'and i want to live in a house, and ride my bike to school.'

'i'll see that you have what you want, sniffer,' said george, wildly. 'only, do, do go and get timmy,and a knife! you got here without being seen, you can surely get back again safely with timmy.

think of that bike!'

sniffer thought of it. then he nodded and disappeared down the passage as silently as he had come.

george waited and waited. would he bring dear old timmy to her, or would he be caught?