FIVE ON A HIKE TOGETHER by Enid Blyton

09 DICK SURPRISES THE OTHERS

Dick began his tale - but it really was very difficult to hear it because they couldn't walk four abreast, as there was no path to follow.

In the end Julian stopped and pointed to a thick clump of heather. "Let's go and sit there and hear Dick's story properly. I keep missing bits. No one can hear us if we sit here."

They sat down and Dick started again. He told about the old woman who was afraid her son would be angry if she let them stay the night. He told about his bed in the straw.

"And now here comes the bit I think must have been a dream," he said. "I woke up to hear a scratching noise on the wooden walls of the barn..."

"Rats or mice?" said George, and Timmy leapt up at once, of course. He was sure she had said the words to him!

"I thought that too," said Dick. "But then I heard a gentle tap-tap-tapping on the window."

"How horrid," said Anne. "I shouldn't have liked that at all."

"Neither did I," said Dick, "But the next thing I heard was my name being called! 'Dick! Dick!' Just like that."

"It must have been a dream then," said Anne. 'There was no one there who knew your name."

Dick went on. "Well, then the voice said - 'Dick! I know you're there, I saw you go in!' And it told me to go to the window,"

"Go on," said Julian. He was puzzled. No one in the world but Anne could have known that Dick was in the barn - and it certainly wasn't Anne out there in the night!

"Well, I went to the window," said Dick, "and I saw, rather dimly, of course, a wild-eyed looking fellow, He couldn't see me in the darkness of the barn. I just mumbled, 'I'm here,' hoping he would think I was whoever he wanted."

"What did he say next?" asked George.

"He said something that sounded stuff and nonsense," said Dick, "He said it twice. It was 'Two-Trees. Gloomy Water. Saucy Jane.' And he said 'Maggie knows.' Just like that!"

There was a silence. Then George laughed. "Two-Trees! Gloomy Water! Saucy Jane - and Maggie knows about it! Well, it must have been a dream, Dick! You know it must. What do you think, Julian?"

"Well - it does sound a bit nonsensical to have someone come in the middle of the night and call Dick by name and give him a strange message that doesn't mean a thing to him!" said Julian. "It sounds more dream-like than real. I'd say it was a dream too."

Dick began to think they were right - and then a sudden thought struck him. He sat up straight. "Wait a bit!" he said "I've remembered something! The man slipped a bit of paper through the broken pane of the window, and I picked it up!"

"Ah - that's different," said Julian. "Now - if you can't find that paper, it's all a dream and you dreamt the paper too - but if you can fmd it, well the whole thing is true. Very peculiar indeed - but true."

Dick searched quickly in his pockets, He felt paper in one of them, and drew it out. It was a dirty, crumpled piece, with a few words on it and a few lines. He held it out to the others in silence, his eyes shining.

"Is this the paper?" asked Julian. "My word - so you didn't dream it after all, then!"

He took the paper. Four heads bent over it to examine it. No, five - because Timmy wanted to see what they were all so interested in, He thrust his hairy head between Julian's and Dick's.

"I can't make any sense of this paper," said Julian, "It's a plan of some kind, I think - but what of, or where, it's impossible to know."

"The fellow said that Maggie had one of these bits of paper too," said Dick, remembering.