chapter 19 good old tim!

henry had been fast asleep and snoring. she awoke with a tremendous jump when she felt timmy'spaw on her arm and heard his sharp little bark.

'oooh! what is it?' she said, sitting up straight in bed and fumbling for her torch. she was quitepanic-stricken. she switched on the torch with trembling fingers and then saw timmy, his big browneyes looking at her beseechingly.

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'why, timmy!' said henry, in amazement, 'timmy! whatever are you doing here? have the otherscome back? no, they couldn't have, not in the middle of the night! why have you come then,timmy?'

'woof,' said timmy, trying to make her understand that he was bringing a message. henry put out herhand to pat his head, and suddenly caught sight of the paper tied to his collar at the back.

'what's this on your collar?' she said, and reached out for it. 'why, it's paper. tied on, too. it must bea message!'

she untied the piece of paper and unrolled it. she read it.

'we are prisoners. follow timmy and he will bring you to us and you can save us.

georgina.'

henry was astounded. she looked at timmy and he looked back, wagging his tail. he pawed at herarm impatiently. henry read the note again. then she pinched herself to make sure she was notdreaming.

'we are prisoners. follow timmy and he will bring you to us and you can save us.

georgina.'

'oooh, no, i'm awake all right,' she said. 'timmy, is this note true? are they prisoners? and who does'we' mean? george and anne, or the whole four? oh, timmy, i do wish you could speak!'

timmy wished the same! he pawed energetically at henry. she suddenly saw the cut on his head andwas horrified.

'you're hurt, timmy! oh, you poor, poor thing. who did that to you? you ought to have that woundseen to!'

timmy certainly had a very outsize headache, but he couldn't bother to think about that. he gave alittle whine and ran to the door and back.

'yes, i know you want me to follow you, but i've got to think,' said henry. 'if captain johnson washere i'd go and fetch him. but he's away for the night, timmy. and i'm sure mrs. johnson wouldhave the fright of her life if i fetched her. i simply don't know what to do.'

'woof,' said timmy, scornfully.

'it's all very well to say 'woof' like that,' said henry, 'but i'm not as brave as you are. i pretend i am,timmy, but i'm not really. i'm afraid of following you! i'm afraid of going to find the others.

i might be caught too. and there's a terrible mist, timmy, you know.'

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henry slid out of bed, and timmy looked suddenly hopeful. was this silly girl going to make up hermind at last?

'timmy, there's no grown-up here tonight except mrs. johnson, and i really can't wake her,' saidhenry. 'she's had such a very hard, busy day. i'm going to dress, and then get william. he's onlyeleven, i know, but he's very sensible, and he's a boy. he'll know what to do. i only pretend to be aboy.'

she dressed quickly in her riding things and then set off to william's room. he slept by himselfacross the landing. henry walked in and switched on her torch.

william awoke at once. 'who's there?' he demanded, sitting up at once. 'what do you want?'

'it's me. henry,' said henry. 'william, a most extraordinary thing has happened. timmy has arrived inmy room with a note on his collar. read it!'

william took the note and read it. he was most astonished. 'look,' he said, 'george has signed herselfgeorgina. she wouldn't do that unless things were very urgent. she never, never lets herself be calledanything but george. we'll have to follow tim and go, at once, too'

'but i can't walk miles in a mist over the moor,' said henry, in a panic.

'we don't need to. we'll saddle our horses and go on those,' said william, beginning to dress, andsounding very sensible indeed. 'timmy will lead the way. you go and get the horses out. do buck up,henry. the others may be in danger. you're acting like a henrietta!'

that made henry cross. she went out of the room at once and down into the yard. what a pitycaptain johnson happened to be away just that night. he would have decided everything at once.

courage came to her when she got the horses. they were surprised but quite willing to go for anighttime ride, even in this thick mist! william came up in a very short time with timmy behind him.

timmy was delighted to have william with him. he liked him, but he was not very fond of henry.

he ran forward, just in front of the horses, and they followed behind. both henry and william hadexcellent torches, and kept them shining downwards, so that they should not miss timmy.

he did go out of sight once or twice, but came back immediately, when he heard the horses stopping.

over the moor they rode. they didn't follow the railway, of course. timmy didn't need to. he knewthe way perfectly!

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once he stopped and sniffed the air. what had he smelt? henry and william had no idea, but timmywas puzzled by what he had smelt on the misty air.

surely he had smelt the smell of the two boys, julian and dick? it had come on the air for a momentor two, and timmy was half-inclined to follow it and see if the smell was right. then he rememberedgeorge and anne and went on through the swirling mist.

the boys were actually not very far away when timmy smelt them. they were still in the middle ofthe bush, trying to keep warm, and sleep. if only they had known that timmy was near, with henryand william! but they didn't.

timmy led the way. soon they came to the quarry, but did not see it because of the mist. they wentround it, led by timmy, and rode towards the gypsy camp. timmy slowed down, and they tookwarning.

'he's getting near wherever he wants to take us,' whispered william. 'had we better dismount and tiethe horses up, do you think? their hooves may give a warning that we are near.'

'yes. yes, william,' said henry, thinking that the boy was really very sensible. they dismountedquietly and tied the horses to a nearby birch tree.

they were quite near the hill in front of which was the gypsy camp. the mist was not so thick here,and the two suddenly caught sight of a dark, shadowy caravan, outlined against a campfire, leftburning nearby.

'we'll have to be very quiet,' whispered william. 'timmy's brought us to the gypsy camp on themoor. i had an idea that he would. the others must be held prisoner somewhere near - be as quiet asyou can.'

timmy watched them dismount. he hung his head, panting, his tail down. his head was hurting himvery much, and he felt decidedly queer and giddy. but he must get to george, he must!

he led the way to the opening in the hill. william and henry were most astonished. they followedtimmy through the maze of passages, wondering how he knew the way so surely. but timmy didn'tfalter. he only needed to go somewhere once, and after that he never forgot the way!

he was going very slowly now, and his legs felt queer and shaky. he wanted to lie down and put hisaching head on his paws. but no, he must find george. he must find george.

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george and anne were lying in the little cave, asleep. they were uncomfortable, and the cave washot, so they were restless, waking up every few minutes. but both were asleep when timmy walkedslowly into the cave, and flopped down beside george.

george awoke when she heard william and henry come into the cave. she thought it might besniffer's father coming back, and she hastily put the ropes round her waist so that she would look asif she were still tied up. then she heard timmy panting, and switched on her torch eagerly.

it showed her timmy, and henry and william! henry was full of amazement when she saw georgeand anne with ropes round their waists. she gaped at them.

'oh timmy darling, you fetched help!' said george, putting her arms round his neck. 'oh henry, i'mso glad you've come. but didn't you bring captain johnson too?'

'no. he's away,' said henry. 'but william's here. we rode, and timmy guided us. whatever'shappened, george?'

anne awoke just then, and couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the visitors! there was a hastydiscussion, and then william spoke firmly.

'if you want to escape, you'd better come now, while the gypsy camp is asleep. timmy can guide usout of this rabbit-warren of a hill. we'd never be able to find our way out alone. come on!'

'come on, tim,' said george, shaking him gently. but poor old timmy was feeling very peculiar.

he couldn't see things properly. george's voice sounded blurred to him. his head felt as heavy aslead, and somehow his legs wouldn't carry him. the blow on his head was taking real effect now, andthe hurried journey over the moor and back was making it worse.

'he's ill!' said george, in a panic. 'he can't get up! oh timmy, what's the matter?'

'it's that cut on his head,' said william. 'it's pretty bad, and he's worn out with coming to fetch us andrunning all the way back again. he can't possibly guide us back, george. we'll have to do the best wecan by ourselves.'

'oh, poor, poor timmy!' said anne, horrified at seeing the dog stretched out quite limp, on the floorof the cave. 'george, can you carry him?'

'i think so,' said george, and she lugged him up in her arms. 'he's awfully heavy, but i think i can justmanage him. perhaps the fresh air will revive him when we get outside.'

'but george, we don't know our way out of here,' said anne, fearfully. 'if timmy can't lead us, we'relost! we'd end up by wandering miles and miles inside this hill and never getting out!'

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'well, we'll simply have to make a shot at it,' said william. 'come on, i'll lead the way. we reallymust go!'

he went out of the cave and down a passage; the others followed. george carrying the limp timmy.

but very soon william came to a fork and stopped.

'oh dear - do we go to the left or the right?' he wondered.

nobody knew. george shone her torch here and there, trying to remember. the beam of light pickedup something on the ground nearby.

it was two sticks, one short and one long, in the shape of a cross! george gave an exclamation.

'look - a patrin! left by sniffer to show us the way out. we have to take the passage that the longstick points to! oh, i hope that sniffer has left patrins at every corner and every fork!'

they took the right-hand way and went on, their torches making long beams in the darkness, and atevery place where they might go wrong, they saw a patrin, a message left by sniffer to show them theright way to go.

'another cross, we go this way,' said anne.

'here's a patrin again, we take this fork!' said george. and so it went on until they came safely to theentrance of the hill. how thankful they were to see the mist. at least it meant that they were in theopen air!

'now to get to the horses,' said william. 'they will each have to carry two of us at once, i'm afraid.'

and then, just as they were making their way to where they had left the horses, the gypsies' dogsbegan to bark the place down!

'they've heard us!' said william, desperately. 'buck up! we'll be stopped if we don't get off at once!'

then a voice shouted loudly. 'i can see you over there, with your torches! stop at once! do you hearme? stop!'