chapter 18 dick gets an idea!

in the greatest surprise and excitement the five children rushed to the kitchen door to follow mr.

penruthlan. yan had scrambled out from beneath the table, determined not to miss anything. but atthe door the farmer turned round.

'not the girls,' he said. 'nor you, yan.'

'i'll keep the girls here with me,' said mrs. penruthlan, who had forgotten her dismay and angercompletely in this new excitement. 'yan, come here.'

but yan had slipped out with the others. nothing in the world would keep him from missing this newexcitement! timmy had gone too, of course, as excited as the rest.

'what goings-on in the early hours of the morning!' said mrs. penruthlan, sitting down suddenlyagain. 'to think that mr. penruthlan never told me he was working to find those smugglers! we 91knew it was going on, around this coast, and to think he was keeping a watch, and never told me!'

julian and dick had quite forgotten that they felt tired. they hurried over the farm-yard with mr.

penruthlan, yan a little way behind, and timmy leaping round like a mad thing. they came to themachine-shed and went in.

'we piled ...' began julian, and then suddenly stopped. mr. penruthlan's powerful torch was shiningon the corner where the trapdoor was fixed.

it was open! unbelievably open! the sacks and boxes that the children had dragged over it were nowscattered to one side.

'look at that!' said julian, amazed. 'who's opened it? sir, the smugglers have got out, with theirsmuggled goods, and they've gone. we're beaten!'

mr. penruthlan made a very angry noise, and flung the trapdoor shut with a resounding bang. he wasabout to say something more when there came the sound of voices not far off. it was the barniesreturning from their search for the children.

they saw the light in the shed and peered in. when they saw julian and dick they cried out indelight. 'where were you? we've searched everywhere for you!'

julian and dick were so disappointed at finding their high hopes dashed that they could hardlyrespond to the barnies' delighted greetings. they felt suddenly very tired again, and mr.

penruthlan seemed all at once in a very bad temper. he answered the barnies gruffly, said thateverything was all right now, and any talking could be done tomorrow. as for him, he was going tobed!

the barnies dispersed at once, still talking. mr. penruthlan silently led the way back to the farmhousewith julian and dick trailing behind. yan had gone like a shadow. as he was not at the farm-housewhen they walked wearily into the kitchen, julian guessed that he had scampered back up the hills toold grandad.

'five past three in the morning,' said mr. penruthlan, looking at the clock. 'i'll sleep down here for anhour or two, wife, then i'll be up to milk the cows. send these children to bed. i'm too weary to talk.

good-night.'

and with that he put his hand to his mouth and quite solemnly took out his false teeth, putting theminto a glass of water on the mantelpiece.

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'oooh - ock,' he said to his wife, and stripped off his wet coat. mrs. penruthlan hustled julian and therest upstairs. they were almost dropping with exhaustion now. the girls managed to undress, but thetwo boys flopped on their beds and were asleep in half a second. they didn't stir when the cockscrew, or when the cows lowed, or even when the wagons of the barnies came trundling out into theyard to be packed with their things. they were going off to play in another village barn that night.

julian awoke at last. it took him a few moments to realize why he was still fully dressed. he lay andthought for a while, and a feeling of dejection came over him when he remembered how all theexcitement of the day before had ended in complete failure.

if only they knew who had opened that trapdoor! who could it be?

and then something clicked in his mind, and he knew. of course! why hadn't he thought of itbefore? why hadn't he remembered to tell mr. penruthlan about the guv'nor standing in the shadows,and his whispered message: 'here! i'm here!'

he must have been waiting for the smugglers to come to him, of course, he probably used localfishermen to row through the rocks to the motor-boat that had slunk over to the cornish coast, andthose fishermen used the wreckers' way so that no one knew what they were doing.

the barnies often came to play at tremannon barn, nothing could be easier than for the guv'nor toarrange for the smuggling to take place then, for the wreckers' way actually had an entrance in theshed near the big barn! if a stormy night came, all the better! no one would be about. he could go upon the hills and wait for the signal from the tower which would tell him that at last the boat wascoming.

yes, and he would arrange with the signaller too, to flash out the news that he, the guv'nor, was attremannon again, and waiting! who was the signaller? probably another of the fishermen,descendants of the old wreckers, and glad of a bit of excitement, and extra money.

everything fell into place, all the odd bits and pieces of happenings fitted together like a jig-sawpuzzle. julian saw the clear picture.

who would ever have thought of the owner of the barnies being involved in smuggling?

smugglers were clever, but the guv'nor was cleverer than most!

julian heard the noise outside, and got up to see what it was. when he saw the barnies piling theirfurniture on the wagons, he rushed downstairs, yelling to wake dick as he went. he must tell mr.

penruthlan about the guv'nor! he must get him arrested! he had probably got the 93smuggled goods somewhere in one of the boxes on the wagons. what an easy way of getting it awayunseen! the guv'nor was cunning, there was no doubt about that.

with dick at his heels, puzzled and surprised, julian went to find mr. penruthlan. there he was,watching the barnies getting ready to go, looking very dour and grim. julian ran up to him.

'sir! i've remembered something, something important! can i speak to you?'

they went into a near-by field, and there julian poured out all he had surmised about the guv'nor.

'he was waiting in the dark last night for the smugglers,' said julian. 'i'm sure he was. he must haveheard us and thought we were the men. and it must have been he who opened the trapdoor, sir. whenthey didn't come, he must have gone to the trapdoor and found it shut, with things piled on it. and heopened it, and waited there till the men came and handed him the goods. and now he's got themhidden somewhere in those wagons!'

'why didn't you tell me this last night?' said mr. penruthlan. 'we may be too late now! i'll have to getthe police here to search those wagons, but if i try to stop the barnies going now, the guv'nor willsuspect something and go off at once!'

julian was relieved to see that mr. penruthlan had his teeth in again and could speak properly!

the farmer pulled at his black beard and frowned. 'i've searched many times through the barnies'

properties to find the smuggled goods,' he said. 'each time they've been here i've gone througheverything in the dead of night.'

'do you know what it is they're smuggling?' asked julian. the farmer nodded.

'yes. dangerous drugs. drugs that are sold at enormously high prices in the black market. the parcelwouldn't need to be very big. i've suspected one or other of the barnies of being the receivers beforethis, and i've searched and searched. no good.'

'if it's a small parcel it could be hidden easily,' said dick, thoughtfully. 'but it's a dangerous thing tohide. the guv'nor wouldn't have it on him, would he?'

'oh no, he would be afraid of being searched,' said mr. penruthlan. 'well, i reckon i must let them gothis time, and i must warn the police. if they like to search the wagons on the road, they're welcome. ican't get the police here in time to stop the wagons going off. we've got no telephone at the farm.'

mr. binks came up at that moment, carrying clopper's front and back legs. he grinned at the boys.

'you led us a fine dance last night!' he said. 'what happened?'

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'yes,' said sid, coming up with clopper's ridiculous head under his arm as usual. 'clopper was rightworried about you!'

'gosh, you didn't carry old clopper's head all over the hills last night, did you!' said dick, astonished.

'no. i left it with the guv'nor,' said sid. 'he took charge of his precious clopper while i wentgallivanting over the hills and far away, looking for a pack of tiresome kids!'

dick stared at the horse's head, with its comical rolling eyes. he stared at it very hard indeed.

and then he did a most peculiar thing!

he snatched the head away from the surprised sid, and tore across the farm-yard with it! julianlooked after him in amazement.

sid gave an angry yell. 'now then! what do you think you're doing? bring that horse back at once!'

but dick didn't. he tore round a corner and disappeared. sid went after him, and so did somebodyelse!

the guv'nor raced across the yard at top speed, looking furious! he shouted, he yelled, he shook hisfist. but when he and sid got to the corner, dick had disappeared!

'what's got into him?' said mr. penruthlan, amazed. 'what does he want to rush off with clopper'shead for? the boy must be mad.'

julian suddenly saw light. he knew why dick had snatched clopper's head. he knew!

'mr. penruthlan, why does the guv'nor always have someone in charge of clopper's head?' he said.

'maybe he hides something precious there, something he doesn't want anyone to find!

quick, let's go and see!'