chapter 12 george loses her temper

jock made a face at cecil and got up. he went slowly off round the haystack, and the otherslistened in silence for whacks and yells. but none came.

'he frightened me,' said cecil, sitting down by the others.

'poor icle ting,' said dick at once.

'darling baby,' said george.

'mother's pet,' said julian. cecil glared at them all. he got up again, very red.

'if i didn't know my manners, i'd smack your faces,' he said, and marched off hurriedly, beforehis own could be smacked.

the four sat in silence. they were sorry for jock. george was angry and sulky because she knewthe others had gone off without her the night before. anne was worried.

they all sat there for about ten minutes. then round the haystack came jock's mother, lookingdistressed. she carried a big basket of food.

the children all stood up politely. 'good morning, mrs. andrews,' said julian.

'i'm sorry i can't ask you to stop today,' said mrs. andrews. 'but jock has really behaved veryfoolishly. i wouldn't let mr. andrews give him a hiding because it would only make jock hatehis stepfather, and that would never do. so i've sent him up to bed for the day. you won't be ableto see him, i'm afraid. here is some food for you to take. oh, dear - i'm really very sorry aboutall this. i can't think what came over jock to behave in such a way. it's not a bit like him.'

cecil's face appeared round the haystack, looking rather smug. julian grinned to himself.

60

'would you like us to take cecil for a nice long walk over the moors?' he said. 'we can climbhills and jump over streams and scramble through the heather. it would make such a nice day forhim.'

cecil's face immediately disappeared.

'well,' said mrs. andrews, 'that really would be very kind of you. now that jock's been sentupstairs for the day there's no one for cecil to play with. but i'm afraid he's a bit of a mother'sboy, you know. you'll have to go carefully with him. cecil! cecil! where are you? come andmake friends with these children.'

but cecil had gone. there was no answer at all. he didn't want to make friends with 'thesechildren'. he knew better than that! mrs. andrews went in search of him, but he had completelydisappeared.

the four children were not at all surprised. julian, dick and anne grinned at one another. georgestood with her back to them, still sulky.

mrs. andrews came back again, out of breath. 'i can't find him,' she said. 'never mind. i'll findsomething for him to do when he appears again.'

'yes. perhaps you've got some beads for him to thread? or a nice easy jigsaw puzzle to do?' saidjulian, very politely. the others giggled. a smile appeared on mrs. andrews's face.

'bad boy!' she said. 'oh dear - poor jock. well it's his own fault. now good-bye, i must get onwith my work.'

she ran off to the dairy. the children looked round the haystack. mr. andrews was getting intohis car. he would soon be gone. they waited a few minutes till they heard the car set off downthe rough cart-track.

that's jock's bedroom - where the pear-tree is,' said julian. 'let's just have a word with himbefore we go. it's a shame.'

they went across the farmyard and stood under the pear-tree - all except george, who stayedbehind the haystack with the food, frowning. julian called up to the window above: 'jock!'

a head came out, the face still painted terrifyingly in streaks and circles. 'hallo! he didn't whackme. mum wouldn't let him. all the same, i'd rather he had - it's awful being stuck up here thissunny day. where's dear cecil?'

'i don't know. probably in the darkest corner of one of the barns,' said julian. 'jock, if things aredifficult in the daytime, come up at night. we've got to see you somehow.'

61

'right,' said jock. 'how do i look? like a real red indian?'

'you look frightful,' grinned julian. 'i wonder old timmy knew you.'

'where's george?' asked jock.

'sulking behind the haystack,' said dick. 'we shall have an awful day with her now. you let thecat properly out of the bag, you idjit!'

'yes. i'm a ninny and an idjit,' said jock, and anne giggled. 'look - there's cecil. you might tellhim to beware of the bull, will you?'

'is there a bull?' said anne, looking alarmed.

'no. but that's no reason why he shouldn't beware of one,' grinned jock. 'so long! have a niceday!'

the three left him, and strolled over to cecil, who had just appeared out of a dark little shed. hemade a face at them, and stood ready to run to the dairy where mrs. andrews was busy.

julian suddenly clutched dick and pointed behind cecil. the bull! beware of the bull!' he yelledsuddenly.

dick entered into the joke. the bull's loose! look out! beware of the bull!' he shouted.

anne gave a shriek. it all sounded so real that, although she knew it was a joke, she felt half-scared. the bull!' she cried.

cecil turned green. his legs shook. 'w-w-w-where is it?' he stammered.

'look out behind you!' yelled julian, pointing. poor cecil, convinced that a large bull was aboutto pounce on him from behind, gave an anguished cry and tore on tottering legs to the dairy. hethrew himself against mrs. andrews.

'save me, save me! the bull's chasing me.'

'but there's no bull here,' said mrs. andrews, in surprise. 'really, cecil! was it a pig after you, orsomething?'

helpless with laughter, the three children made their way back to george. they tried to tell herabout the make-believe bull, but she turned away and wouldn't listen. julian shrugged hisshoulders. best to leave george to herself when she was in one of her rages! she didn't lose hertemper as often as she used to, but when she did she was very trying indeed.

they went back to the camp with the basket of food. timmy followed soberly. he knewsomething was wrong with george and he was unhappy. his tail was down, and he lookedmiserable. george wouldn't even pat him.

62

when they got back to the camp, george flared up.

'how dare you go off without me when i told you i meant to come? fancy taking jock and notletting me go! i think you're absolute beasts. i never really thought you'd do a thing like that, youand dick.'

'don't be silly, george,' said julian. 'i told you we didn't mean to let you and anne go. i'll tellyou all that happened - and it's pretty thrilling!'

'what? tell me quickly!' begged anne, but george obstinately turned away her head as if shewas not interested.

julian began to relate all the curious happenings of the night. anne listened breathlessly. georgewas listening too, though she pretended not to. she was very angry and very hurt.

'well, there you are,' said julian, when he had finished. 'if that's what people mean by spook-trains, there was one puffing in and out of that tunnel all right! i felt pretty scared, i can tell you.

sorry you weren't there too, george - but i didn't want to leave anne alone.'

george was not accepting any apologies. she still looked furious.

'i suppose timmy went with you,' she said. 'i think that was horrid of him - to go without wakingme, when he knew i'd like to be with you on the adventure.'

'oh, don't be so silly,' said dick, in disgust. 'fancy being angry with old tim, too! you're makinghim miserable. and anyway, he didn't come with us. he just came to meet us when we got back,and then went off to keep jock company on his way back to the farm.'

'oh,' said george, and she reached out her hand to pat timmy, who was filled with delight. 'atleast timmy was loyal to me then. that's something.'

there was a silence. nobody ever knew quite how to treat george when she was in one of hermoods. it was really best to leave her to herself, but they couldn't very well go off and leave thecamp just because george was there, cross and sulky.

anne took hold of george's arm. she was miserable when george behaved like this. 'george,'

she began, 'there's no need to be cross with me, too. i haven't done anything!'

'if you weren't such a little coward, too afraid to go with us, i'd have been able to go too,' saidgeorge unkindly, dragging her arm away.

julian was disgusted. he saw anne's hurt face and was angry with george.

'shut up, george,' he said. 'you're being horrid, saying catty things like that! i'm astonished atyou.'

63

george was ashamed of herself, but she was too proud to say so. she glared at julian.

'and i'm astonished at you,' she said. 'after all the adventures we've had together, you try to keepme out of this one. but you will let me come next time, won't you, julian?'

'what! after your frightful behaviour today?' said julian, who could be just as obstinate asgeorge when he wanted to. 'certainly not. this is my adventure and dick's - and perhaps jock's.

not yours or anne's.'

he got up and stalked down the hill with dick. george sat pulling bits of heather off the stems,looking mutinous and angry. anne blinked back tears. she hated this sort of thing. she got up toget dinner ready. perhaps after a good meal they would all feel better.

mr. luffy was sitting outside his tent, reading. he had already seen the children that morning. helooked up, smiling.

'hallo! come to talk to me?'

'yes,' said julian, an idea uncurling itself in his mind. 'could i have a look at that map of yours,mr. luffy? the big one you've got showing every mile of these moorlands?'

'of course. it's in the tent somewhere,' said mr. luffy.

the boys found it and opened it. dick at once guessed why julian wanted it. mr. luffy went onreading.

'it shows the railways that run under the moorlands too, doesn't it?' said julian. mr. luffynodded.

'yes. there are quite a few lines. i suppose it was easier to tunnel under the moors from valley tovalley rather than make a permanent way over the top of them. in any case, a railway over themoors would probably be completely snowed up in the wintertime.'

the boys bent their heads over the big map; it showed the railways as dotted lines when theywent underground, but by long black lines when they appeared in the open air, in the variousvalleys.

they found exactly where they were. then julian's finger ran down the map a little and came towhere a small line showed itself at the end of a dotted line.

he looked at dick, who nodded. yes - that showed where the tunnel was, out of which the'spook-train' had come, and the lines to the deserted yard. julian's finger went back from the yardto the tunnel, where the dotted lines began. his finger traced the dotted lines a little way till theybecame whole lines again. that was where the train came out into another valley!

64

then his finger showed where the tunnel that led from the yard appeared to join up with anotherone, that also ran for some distance before coming out into yet another valley. the boys lookedat one another in silence.

mr. luffy suddenly spotted a day-flying moth and got up to follow it. the boys took the chanceof talking to one another.

'the spook-train either runs through its own tunnel to the valley beyond - or it turns off into thisfork and runs along to the other valley,' said julian, in a low voice. 'i tell you what we'll do, dick.

we'll get mr. luffy to run us down to the nearest town to buy something - and we'll slip along tothe station there and see if we can't make a few inquiries about these two tunnels. we may findout something.'

'good idea,' said dick, as mr. luffy came back. 'i say, sir, are you very busy today? could youpossibly run us down to the nearest town after dinner?'

'certainly, certainly,' said mr. luffy, amiably. the boys looked at one another in delight. nowthey might find out something! but they wouldn't take george with them. no - they wouldpunish her for her bad temper by leaving her behind!