chapter 9 the light in the tower

by the end of the day the big barn was quite transformed! it had been cleared of all straw, sacks ofcorn, bags of fertilizer and odd machines that had been stored in it. it looked enormous now, and thebarnies were very pleased with it.

'we've been here plenty of times,' they told the children. 'it's the best barn in the district. we don't getthe best audience, though, because it's rather a lonely spot here, and there are only two villages nearenough to send people to see us. still, we have a good time, and mrs. penruthlan gives us amarvellous supper afterwards!'

'i bet she does!' said dick, grinning. 'i bet that's why you come to this lonely spot, too, to taste mrs.

penruthlan's cooking. i don't blame you. i'd come a good few miles myself!'

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a stage had been set up, made of long boards, supported on barrels. a back-cloth had been unrolledand hung over the wooden wall of the barn at the back of the stage. it showed a country scene, andhad been painted by the company themselves, bit by bit.

'that's my bit,' said sid, showing dick a horse standing in one of the fields painted on the back-cloth.

'i had to put old clopper in! see him?'

the barnies had plenty of home-made scenery, which they were used to changing several timesduring their performance. this was all home-made too, and they were very proud of it, especiallysome that represented a castle with a tower.

the tower reminded the boys of the one yan had said he had seen flashing a light the night before.

they looked at one another secretly, and julian nodded slightly. they would certainly watch to seethat light themselves. then they would know for certain whether grandad and yan were telling thetruth.

julian wondered if they would have to look out for mr. penruthlan again that night. jenny the horsewas quite better now, if she had ever been ill, and was out in the fields again. so mr.

penruthlan had no excuse for creeping about the countryside at night again!

neither of the boys could imagine what had taken him out the night before, on such a wild night too!

was he meeting somebody? he hadn't had time to go up to see the shepherd about anything, andthere wouldn't have been much point in that anyway. he had seen grandad in the morning already.

mrs. penruthlan came to see the barn now that it was almost ready for the show the next night.

she looked red and excited. this was a grand time for her, the barnies in her barn, the villagers allcoming up the next night, a grand supper to be held afterwards. what an excitement!

she was very busy in her kitchen, cooking, cooking, cooking! her enormous larder was already fullof the most appetizing looking pies, tarts, hams, brawns and cheeses. the children took turns atlooking into it and sniffing in delight. mrs. penruthlan laughed at them and shooed them out.

'you'll have to help me tomorrow,' she said. 'shelling peas, scraping potatoes, stringing beans,picking currants and raspberries, and you'll find hundreds of wild strawberries in the copse, too,which can go to add a flavour to the fruit salad.'

'we shall love to help,' said anne. 'all this is grand fun! but surely you aren't going to do all thesupper single-handed, mrs. penruthlan?'

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'oh, one or two of the villagers will stay behind to help me serve it,' said the plump little farmer'swife, who looked as happy as could be in the midst of so much hard work. 'anyway, i'll be up at fiveo'clock tomorrow morning. i'll have plenty of time!'

'you'd better go to bed early tonight then!' said george.

'we all will,' said mrs. penruthlan. 'we'll be up early and abed late tomorrow, and we'll need somesleep tonight. it's no trouble to get mr. penruthlan to bed early. he's always ready to go!'

the children felt sure he would be ready to go early that night because he had spent so much time outin the storm the night before! julian and dick were tired too, but they were quite determined to go upto the shepherd's hill and find the place where they could watch and see if that light really did flashout!

they had a high tea as usual, at which mr. penruthlan was present. he ate solidly and solemnly, notsaying a word except something that sounded like 'ooahah, ooh.'

'well, i'm glad you like the pie, mr. penruthlan,' said his wife. 'though i says it as shouldn't, it's agood one.'

it really was wonderful the way she understood her husband's speech. it was also very queer to hearher speak to her husband as if he was someone to whom she had to be polite, and call mister! annewondered if she called him mr. penruthlan when they were alone together. she looked at himearnestly. what a dark giant he was - and how he ate!

he looked up and saw anne watching him. he nodded at her and said 'ah! oooh, ock, ukker.' itmight have been a foreign language for all anne could understand! she looked startled and didn'tknow what to say.

'now, mr. penruthlan, don't you tease the child!' said his wife. 'she doesn't know what to answer.

do you, anne?'

'well - i - er - i didn't really catch what he said,' said anne, going scarlet.

'there now, mr. penruthlan - see how badly you talk without your teeth in!' said the farmer's wifescoldingly. 'haven't i told you you should wear your teeth when you want to make conversation? iunderstand you all right, but others don't. it must sound just a mumble to them!'

mr. penruthlan frowned and muttered something. the children all stared at him, dumbfounded tohear that he had no teeth. goodness gracious - how did he manage to eat all he did, then? heseemed to chew and munch and crunch, and yet he had no teeth!

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'so that's why he speaks so queerly,' thought dick, amused. 'but fancy eating as much as he does,with no teeth in his head! goodness, what would he eat if he had got all his teeth.'

mrs. penruthlan changed the conversation because it was clear that her husband was annoyed withher. she talked brightly about the barnies.

'that horse clapper! you wait till you see him prance on to the stage, and fall off it. you'll see mr.

penruthlan almost fall out of his seat he laughs so much. he's fair set on that horse. he's seen it adozen times, and it tickles him to death.'

'i think it's jolly funny myself,' said julian. 'i've always thought i'd like to put on an act like that at ourend-of-term concert at school. dick and i could do it all right. i wish sid and mr. binks would let ustry.'

the meal was finished at last. most of the dishes were empty, and mrs. penruthlan looked pleased.

'there now - you've done really well,' she said. 'that's what i do like to see, people finishing upeverything put before them.'

'it's easy when it's food you put before us,' said george. 'isn't it, timmy? i bet timmy wishes he livedhere always, mrs. penruthlan! i'm sure he keeps telling your dogs how lucky they are!'

after the washing-up, in which everyone but mr. penruthlan helped, they went to sit down for awhile, and read. but the farmer kept giving such enormous yawns that he set everyone else yawningtoo, and mrs. penruthlan began to laugh.

'come on, to bed, all of you!' she said. 'i've never heard so many yawns in my life! poor mr.

penruthlan. he's tired out with sitting up with jenny the horse half the night.'

the children exchanged glances. they knew better!

everyone went up to bed, and the children laughed to hear mr. penruthlan still yawning loudly in hisroom. julian looked out of his window. it was a dark, blustery night, with sudden spurts of sharp rain.

the wind howled and julian almost thought he could hear the great waves crashing on the rocks inthe nearest caves! how enormous they would be in this wind!

'a good night for wreckers, if there were any nowadays!' he said to dick. 'not much chance for anyship that went too near those coves tonight! they'd be on the rocks, and dashed to pieces in half anhour! the beach would be strewn with thousands of pieces of wreckage the next day.'

'we'd better wait a bit before we go,' said dick. 'it's really very early. on a bright sunny evening thehills would still be full of daylight, but this stormy evening is very dark. let's light our candles andread.'

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the wind became even stronger, and grew almost to a gale. it made a howling noise round the oldfarm-house, and sounded angry and in pain. not a very nice night to go out on the hills!

'we'll go now, i think,' said julian, at last. 'it's quite dark, and getting late. come on.'

they hadn't undressed, so they went down the stairs at once, and out of the back door as before,closing it silently behind them. they made their way through the farm-yard, not daring to shine theirtorches till they were well away from the house.

they had had a quick look at the front door, when they had stood in the hall. it was locked andbolted! mr. penruthlan was not out tonight, that was certain.

they walked steadily through the gale, gasping when it caught them full in the face. they each hadtheir warm jerseys on, for it was quite cold, and the wind blew all the time.

across the fields. over one stile after another. across more fields. the boys stopped once or twice tomake sure they were right. they were relieved when they came to the great flock of sheep, and knewthey must be near the shepherd's hut.

'there's the hut,' whispered julian, at last. 'you can just see its dark outline. we must go quietly now.'

they stole by the hut. not a sound came from inside, and no candle-light showed through the cracks.

old grandad must be fast asleep! julian pictured yan curled up with him on their bed of oldsheepskins.

the boys went quietly along. now, they must make for the spot from which the old tower could beseen, and it must be the exact spot, for the tower could be seen from nowhere else.

they couldn't find it, or, if they had found it, and were standing on it, they were unable to see thetower far off in the darkness.

'if it didn't happen to be flashing a light, we wouldn't know if we were looking in the right directionor not!' said julian. 'we'd never see it in the dark. why didn't we think of that?

somehow i thought we'd see the tower whether it was lighted up or not. we're asses.'

they wandered about a little, continually looking in the direction where they thought the towershould be. but they saw nothing at all. what a waste of a long walk!

then julian suddenly gave an exclamation. 'who's that? i saw you there! who is it?'

dick jumped. what was this now? then someone sidled up against them both, and a voice spoketimidly.

'it's me, yan!'

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'good gracious! you turn up everywhere!' said julian. 'i suppose you were watching out for us.'

'iss. come with me,' said yan, and tugged at julian's arm. the two boys went with him, a few yardsto the right, then higher up the hill. then yan stopped.

the boys saw the distant light at once. there was no doubt about it at all! it flashed continually,rather like a small lighthouse light. each time it flashed they could see the faint outline of the tower.

'it seems to be some kind of signal,' said julian. 'flash - flash-flash-flash - flash-flash - flash. myword, how weird. who's doing it, and why? surely there are no wreckers nowadays!'

'grandad says it's his old dad,' said yan, in an awed voice. julian laughed.

'don't be silly! all the same, it's a bit of a mystery, isn't it, dick? could any ship out at sea bedeceived and come near to the shore, and be wrecked? it's a wicked night, just the night for greatwaves to pound a ship to pieces if it came near this coast.'

'yes. well, we shall hear tomorrow if there has been a wreck,' said dick soberly. 'i hope there won'tbe. i can't bear thinking of it, anyway. surely, surely there aren't wreckers here now!'

'if there are, they will be creeping down the hidden wreckers' way, wherever it is,' said julian.

'and watching for the ship to crash to pieces. then they will collect sacks upon sacks of booty andcreep away back.'

dick felt a chill of horror. 'shut up, ju!' he said, sharply. 'don't talk like that. now, what are we goingto do about that light.'

'i'll tell you,' said julian, firmly, 'we're going to find that tower and see what's going on. that's whatwe're going to do! and as soon as ever we can too, maybe tomorrow!'