Five Go Down to the Sea (8 page)

„Anyway, I"l be up at five o"clock tomorrow morning. I"l have plenty of time!"

„You"d better go to bed early tonight then!" said George.

„We all wil ," said Mrs Penruthlan. „We"ll be up early and abed late tomorrow, and we"ll need some sleep 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 out in the storm the night before! Julian and Dick were tired too, but they were quite determined to go up to the shepherd"s hil and find the place where they could watch and see if that light real y did flash out!

They had a high tea as usual, at which Mr Penruthlan was present. He ate solidly and solemnly, not saying 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 a good one."

It real y was wonderful the way she understood her husband"s speech. It was also very queer to hear her speak to her husband as if he was someone to whom she had to be polite, and call Mister! Anne wondered if she cal ed him Mr Penruthlan when they were alone together. She looked at him earnestly. 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." It might have been a foreign language for all Anne could understand! She looked startled and didn"t know 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 wife scoldingly. „Haven"t I told you you should wear your teeth when you want to make conversation? I understand you al right, but others don"t. It must sound just a mumble to them!"

Mr Penruthlan frowned and muttered something. The children al stared at him, dumbfounded to hear that he had no teeth. Goodness gracious - HOW did he manage to eat all he did, then? He seemed to chew and munch and crunch, and yet he had no teeth!

„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 with her. She talked brightly about the Barnies.

„That horse Clapper! You wait til you see him prance on to the stage, and fall off it. You"l see Mr Penruthlan almost fall out of his seat he laughs so much. He"s fair set on that horse.

He"s seen it a dozen times, and it tickles him to death."

„I think it"s jol y funny myself," said Julian. „I"ve always thought I"d like to put on an act like that at our end-of-term concert at school. Dick and I could do it al right. I wish Sid and Mr Binks would let us try."

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 up everything 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 lived here always, Mrs Penruthlan! I"m sure he keeps tel ing your dogs how lucky they are!"

After the washing-up, in which everyone but Mr Penruthlan helped, they went to sit down for a while, and read. But the farmer kept giving such enormous yawns that he set everyone else yawning too, 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 stil yawning loudly in his room. 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 in the 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 any ship that went too near those coves tonight! They"d be on the rocks, and dashed to pieces in half an hour! 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 real y very early. On a bright sunny evening the hil s would stil be full of daylight, but this stormy evening is very dark. Let"s light our candles and read."

The wind became even stronger, and grew almost to a gale. It made a howling noise round the old farm-house, and sounded angry and in pain. Not a very nice night to go out on the hil s!

„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 their torches til 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 and bolted! 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 had their 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 to make sure they were right. They were relieved when they came to the great flock of sheep, and knew they 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 old sheepskins.

The boys went quietly along. Now, they must make for the spot from which the old tower could be seen, 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 the tower 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 direction or 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 tower should be. But they saw nothing at al . 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 spoke timidly.

„It"s me, Yan!"

„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 yards to the right, then higher up the hil . Then Yan stopped.

The boys saw the distant light at once. There was no doubt about it at all! It flashed continual y, 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.

My word, 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 sil y! Al the same, it"s a bit of a mystery, isn"t it, Dick? Could any ship out at sea be deceived and come near to the shore, and be wrecked? It"s a wicked night, just the night for great waves 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"t be. I can"t bear thinking of it, anyway. Surely, surely there aren"t wreckers here now!"

„If there are, they wil be creeping down the hidden Wreckers" Way, wherever it is," said Julian. „And watching for the ship to crash to pieces. Then they wil collect sacks upon sacks of booty and creep away back."

Dick felt a chil of horror. „Shut up, Ju!" he said, sharply. „Don"t talk like that. Now, what are we going to do about that light."

„I"l tel you," said Julian, firmly, „We"re going to find that tower and see what"s going on.

That"s what we"re going to do! And as soon as ever we can too, maybe tomorrow!"

Julian and Dick watched the light for a little longer, and then turned to go back to the farm. The wind was so strong and so cold that even on that summer"s night they found themselves shivering.

„I"m glad you found us, Yan," said Dick, putting an arm round the small, shivering boy.

„Thanks for your help. We"re going to explore that old tower. Would you like to show us the way to it?"

Yan shivered all the more, from fright as much as cold. „No. I"m frit," he said. „I"m frit of that tower now."

„What does he mean, frit?" said Dick. „Short for frightened, I suppose! Al right, Yan. You needn"t come. It is pretty peculiar, I must admit. Now, go back to your hut."

Yan shot off in the dark like a scared rabbit. The boys made their way home, not very cautiously, for they felt sure they were the only people out that night. But when they came to the farm-yard they saw something that made them stop suddenly.

„There"s a light in the big barn!" whispered Dick. „It"s gone, no, there it is again. It"s somebody with a torch, flashing it on and off. Who is it?"

„One of the Barnies, perhaps," whispered back Julian. „Let"s go and see. We know the Barnies are sleeping in the near-by sheds tonight."

They tiptoed to the barn and looked through a crack. They saw nothing at first. Then a torch flashed, shedding its light on some of the properties of the Barnies, stacked in a corner, scenery, dresses, coats, and other things.

„Somebody"s going through the pockets!" said Julian, indignantly. „Look at that! A thief!"

„Who is it?" said Dick. „One of the Barnies pick-pocketing?"

For a moment or two the torch lighted up the back of the intruder"s hand in the barn, and the boys stifled an exclamation. They knew that hand! It was covered with black hairs almost as thick as fur!

„Mr Penruthlan!" whispered Dick. „Yes, I see it"s him now. Look at his enormous shadow.

What"s he doing? He must be mad, walking about at night on the hil s, stealing into the barn, going through pockets. Look what he"s doing now! Looking in the drawers of that chest the Barnies are going to use in one of their scenes. Yes, he"s mad!"

Julian felt most uncomfortable. He didn"t like spying on his host like this. What a strange man he was! He told untruths, he crept about at night, he went through people"s pockets.

Yes, he must be mad! Did Mrs Penruthlan know? She couldn"t know, or she would be unhappy, and she real y seemed the most cheerful, gay little person in the world!

„Come on," said Julian, in Dick"s ear. „He"s going through everything! Though what he expects to find in the Barnies" stage clothes and properties, I don"t know. He"s got a kink!

Come on, I real y don"t want to spot him taking something, stealing it. It would be so awkward if we had to say we saw him stealing."

They left the barn and went back to the farmhouse, creeping in once more at the back door. They looked at the front door. It was shut, but no longer locked or bolted.

The boys went upstairs, puzzled. What a strange night! The howling wind, the flashing light, the furtive man in the barn, they didn"t know what to make of it at all!

„Let"s wake the girls and tell them," said Julian. „I feel as if I can"t wait til the morning."

George was awake and so was Timmy. Timmy had heard them going out, and had lain awake waiting for them to come back. He had stirred and had awakened George. She was quite prepared to hear a whisper at the door!

„Anne! George! We"ve got some news!" whispered Julian. Timmy gave a little welcoming whine and leapt off the bed. Soon Anne was awake, too, and the girls were listening in amazement at the boys" news.

They were almost as surprised to hear about Mr Penruthlan in the barn as to hear about the light actual y flashing in the tower.

„So it was true what old Grandad said, then?" whispered Anne. „He had seen the light again. I do think it"s weird, al this. Julian, you don"t think we"ll hear of a wreck tomorrow, do you? I couldn"t bear it!"

„Nor could I," said George, listening to the wind howling outside. „Fancy being wrecked on a night like this, and being dashed on the rocks by those pounding waves. I feel as if we ought to rush off to the caves here and now and see if we can do any rescuing!"

„We wouldn"t be much use," said Dick. „I doubt if we could even get near the cove on a night like this. The waves would run right up to the road that leads down to it."

They talked and talked about everything. Then George yawned. „We"d better stop," she said. „We"ll never wake up tomorrow morning. We can"t go and explore that tower tomorrow, Julian. The Barnies wil be here, and we"ve promised Mrs Penruthlan to help her."

„It"l have to be next day, then," said Julian. „But I"m determined to go. Yan said he wouldn"t show us the way. He said he was too “frit”!"

„I feel pretty frit myself," said George, settling down. „I should have jumped out of my skin if I"d seen that light tonight."

The boys stole back to their room. Soon they were in bed and asleep. The wind stil howled round the house, but they didn"t hear it. They were tired out with their long walk over the hil s.

Next day was so busy that it was quite dificult to find time to remember the night"s happenings! They were reminded of it by one thing, though!