chapter 21 the end of the mystery

mrs. johnson was amazed to hear that the police wanted julian and dick to go out on the moorsagain.

'but they're tired out!' she said. 'they need something to eat. can't it wait?'

'i'm afraid not,' said the sergeant. 'you needn't worry, mrs. johnson. these boys are tough!'

'well actually i don't think that the gypsies can possibly find the packets,' said julian. 'so it wouldn'tmatter if we had a bite to eat. i'm ravenous!'

'all right,' said the big policeman, putting away his note-book. 'have a snack and we'll go afterwards.'

well, of course, george, anne and henry all wanted to go too, as soon as they heard about theproposed jaunt over the moors!

'what! leave us out of that!' said george, indignantly. 'what a hope! anne wants to come too.'

'so does henry,' said anne, looking at george, 'even though she didn't help to find the packages ofnotes.'

'of course henry must come,' said george at once, and henry beamed. george had been very struckindeed with henry's courage in coming with william to rescue her and anne, and very pleased thatshe hadn't boasted about it! but henry knew that william was the one mostly to praise, and she hadbeen unexpectedly modest about the whole affair.

it was quite a large party that set off after everyone had made a very good breakfast. mrs.

johnson had set to work cooking huge platefuls of bacon and egg, exclaiming every now and againwhen she thought of all that had happened up on the moors.

'those gypsies! and fancy that plane coming like that - dropping money all over the place! and thegypsies tying up anne and george in that hill. i never heard anything like it in my life!'

captain johnson went with the party too. he could hardly believe the extraordinary tale that the fourhad to tell, five, with old timmy! timmy now had a beautiful patch on his head, and was feelingextremely important. wait till liz saw that!

ten people set out, including timmy, for william had been included in the party too. he tried toguess where julian had hidden the notes, but he couldn't, of course. julian firmly refused to tellanyone. he wanted it to be a real surprise.

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they came to the quarry at last, having walked all the way up the old railway line. julian stood on theedge of the quarry and pointed out the gypsy camp.

'look, they're leaving,' he said. 'i bet they were afraid we'd spread the news of their behaviour, afterthe girls escaped.'

sure enough, the caravans were moving slowly away.

'wilkins, as soon as you get back, give word to have every gypsy watched if he leaves the caravans,'

said the sergeant. 'one of them is sure to have arranged a meeting-place to give the gang the packetsdropped from the plane, and if we watch those caravans, and every gypsy in them, we'll soon be ableto put our hands on the gang that spends the forged notes.'

'i bet it's sniffer's father,' said dick. 'he's the ringleader, anyway.'

they watched the caravans move away one by one. anne wondered about sniffer. so did george.

what had she promised him last night, if he would help them? a bicycle, and to live in a house sothat he could ride it to school! well, it wasn't likely she would ever see the dirty little boy again, butif she did she would certainly have to keep her word!

'now, where's this wonderful hiding-place?' asked the sergeant, as julian turned from watching thecaravans. he had tried to make out sniffer and liz, but the vans were too far away.

'follow me!' said julian, with a sudden grin and led the way back up the lines to where they brokeoff. the gorse-bush was there, and the old engine lay on its side as before, almost hidden.

'whatever's that?' said the sergeant, surprised.

'it's the old puffing billy that used to pull the trucks of sand from the quarry,' said dick.

'apparently there was a quarrel long ago between the owners of the quarry and the gypsies, and thegypsies pulled up the lines and the engine ran off and fell over. there it's been ever since, as far as ican see!'

julian went round to the funnel-end, and bent back the prickly gorse-branch that hid it. the sergeantlooked on in surprise. dick scraped the sand out of the top of the funnel and then pulled out one ofthe packages. he had been afraid they would not be there.

'here you are!' he said, and tossed the packet to the sergeant. 'there are plenty more. i'll come to theone we opened in a minute - yes - here it is.'

the sergeant and wilkins were amazed to see the packages hauled up from such a peculiar hiding-place. no wonder the gypsies hadn't found them. nobody would ever have looked down the funnel ofthe old engine, even if they had spotted it, half-buried as it was.

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the sergeant looked at the hundred-dollar notes in the opened parcel and whistled. 'my word, this isit! we've seen these before, beautiful forgeries they are! if the gang had got rid of this lot, a greatmany people would have suffered. the money is worth nothing! how many packets did you say therewere?'

'dozens!' said dick, and pulled more of them out of the funnel. 'gosh, i can't reach the ones at thebottom.'

'never mind,' said the sergeant. 'put some sand in to hide them and i'll send a man to poke the rest outwith a stick. the gypsies have gone and they are the only people likely to hunt for them.

this is a wonderful scoop! you kids have certainly put us on to something.'

'i'm glad,' said julian. 'i say, we'd better collect all the things we left here yesterday, hadn't we?

we went off in rather a hurry, you see, sergeant, and left our things in the quarry.'

he and george went into the quarry to collect the things they had left there. timmy went with them.

he suddenly growled, and george stopped, her hand on his collar.

'what's up, tim? ju, there must be somebody here! is it one of the gypsies, do you think?'

then timmy stopped growling and wagged his tail. he dragged away from george's hand and ranover to one of the little caves in the sandy walls. he looked most peculiar with the patch on his head.

out of the cave came liz! as soon as she saw timmy she began to turn head-over-heels as fast as shecould. timmy stared in wonder - what a dog! how could she turn somersaults like that?

'sniffer!' called george. 'come on out. i know you're there!'

a pale, worried face looked out of the cave. then sniffer's thin, wiry little body followed, and soonhe was standing in the quarry, looking scared.

'i got away from them,' he said, nodding his head towards where the gypsy camp had been. he wentup to george, and gave a sniff.

'you said i could have a bike,' he said.

'i know,' said george. 'you shall have one, sniffer. if you hadn't left us patrins in that hill, we'd neverhave escaped!'

'and you said i could live in a house and ride my bike to school,' said sniffer urgently. 'i can't goback to my father, he'd half-kill me now. he saw those patrins i left in the hill and he chased me allover the moor for miles. but he didn't catch me. i hid.'

'we'll do the best we can for you,' promised julian, sorry for this little waif. sniffer sniffed.

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'where's that hanky?' demanded george. he pulled it out of his pocket, still clean and folded. hebeamed at her.

'you're quite hopeless,' said george. 'listen, if you want to go to school, you'll have to stop thatawful sniff and use your hanky. see?'

sniffer nodded, but put the hanky carefully back into his pocket. then the sergeant came into thequarry and sniffer fled at the sight of him!

'funny little thing,' said julian. 'well, i should imagine that his father will be sent to prison for hisshare in this affair, so sniffer will be able to get his wish and leave the caravan life to live in a house.

we might be able to get him into a good home.'

'and i shall keep my word, and take some money out of my savings-bank and buy him a bicycle,'

said george. 'he deserves it! oh, do look at liz - simply adoring timmy and his patch. don't look soimportant, tim - it's only a patch on your cut!'

'sniffer!' called julian. 'come back. you needn't be afraid of this policeman. he is a friend of ours.

he'll help us to choose a bicycle for you.'

the sergeant looked extremely surprised at this remark, but at any rate it brought sniffer back atonce!

'well, we'll go back now,' said the sergeant. 'we've got what we want, and wilkins has alreadystarted back to get somebody on to watching the gypsies. once we find out who they have to report toabout this forged money we shall feel happy.'

'i hope wilkins went along down the railway,' said julian. 'it's so easy to get lost on this moor.'

'yes. he had the sense to do that, after hearing how you got lost!' said the sergeant. 'it's wonderful uphere, isn't it, so peaceful and quiet and calm.'

'yes, you'd never think that mysteries could happen up here, would you?' said dick. 'old ones, andnew ones! well, i'm glad we happened to be mixed up in the newest one. it was quite an adventure!'

they all went back to the stables, to find that it was now almost dinner-time and that everyone had avery large appetite to match the very large dinner that mrs. johnson had got ready. the girls wentupstairs to wash. george went into henry's room.

'henry,' she said, 'thanks most awfully. you're as good as a boy any day!'

'thanks, george,' said henry, surprised. 'you're better than a boy!'

dick was passing the door and heard all this. he laughed, and stuck his head in at the door.

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'i say do let me share in these compliments!' he said. 'just tell me i'm as good as a girl, will you?'

but all he got was a well-aimed hair-brush and a shoe, and he fled away, laughing.

anne gazed out of her bedroom window over the moor. it looked so peaceful and serene under theapril sun. no mystery about it now!

'all the same, it's a good name for you,' said anne. 'you're full of mystery and adventure, and yourlast adventure waited for us to come and share it. i really think i'd call this adventure 'five go tomystery moor'.'

it's a good name, anne. we'll call it that too!

the end