Chapter Three

THE END OF THE JOURNEY

“Well - we’d better turn round and go back down the hill,” said Dick, as the driver came back to the car.
“No, wait, I’ll just hop out and see if there are any lights anywhere,” said Julian, and jumped out of the car. “I could go up the drive a little way and see if I can spot the house itself. It can’t be very far. After all, we spotted it just now as we came up the winding road.”
He went to the gates, and looked at them in the light from the car’s headlamps. “They’re padlocked,” he called. “But I think I can climb over. There’s certainly a light somewhere beyond - though how far, I don’t know.”
But before he could climb over the gate there came the sound of running footsteps behind it - and then a loud and savage howl came on the night air, and some animal hurled itself against the other side of the gate.
The driver got back hurriedly into the car and slammed the door. Julian also ran to the car, finding his legs could go quickly if he wanted them to, for all their feebleness!
Timmy began to bark fiercely, and tried to leap through the closed car-window. The howling and barking behind the gates went on and on, and the dog there, which must have been a very big one, continually hurled itself against the gates, shaking them from top to bottom.
“Better turn round and go,” said the driver, scared.
“Whew! I’m glad I’m this side of those gates. What a din! That dog of yours is almost as bad, too!”
Timmy was certainly furious. Why wasn’t he allowed to get out and tell the other dog what he thought of him? George tried to pacify him, but he wouldn’t stop barking. The driver began to turn the car round, cautiously backing a little and then going forward, and backing again. The road was fairly wide, but there was a very steep slope to the right of the car. Old Towers was certainly built on a mountainside!
“The people there must be jolly scared of burglars to have a dog like that,” said Dick. “Yet it’s such a lonely place you wouldn’t think many people would come near it. What’s up, driver?”
“There’s something wrong,” said the driver, who now had the car facing back down the road again. “The car seems very heavy to drive, all of a sudden. As if I’d got my brakes on.”
“Perhaps you have,” said Julian.
“Well, I haven’t,” said the driver, shortly. “That is, only just a little, to make sure the car doesn’t shoot off down the hill - you can see it’s pretty steep here, and there’s almost a cliff, your side. Don’t want to drive down there in the dark! What can be the matter with the car? It will only crawl.”
“I thought it came up the hill terribly slowly, too,” said Dick. “I know the road was steep and winding - but didn’t it seem to you as if the car was making heavy work of it?”
“Well, yes, it did,” admitted the driver. “But I just thought the hill must be steeper than I imagined. What is the matter with the car? I’ve got no brake on at all, and I’m pushing the accelerator down hard - and still she crawls! As if she’d got a ton weight to pull!”
It really was a puzzle. Julian felt worried. He didn’t want them to have to spend the night in the car, lost in a cold countryside - especially as now it was beginning to snow lightly! The moon had disappeared behind heavy clouds, and everything looked very dark indeed.
They reached the bottom of the hill at last, and came on to the level road again. The driver heaved a sigh of relief - and then gave a sudden exclamation.
“What’s happened? The car’s all right again! She’s going like a bird! Whew - that’s a load off my mind! I thought she was going to pack up, and leave us to spend the night here.”
The car sped along well now, and everyone was most relieved. “Must have been something wrong with her works somewhere,” said the driver. “But I’m blessed if I know what it was! Now - look out for a house or a signpost.”
They actually came to a sign-post not long after that, and George yelled out at once. “Stop! Here’s a signpost. STOP!”
The car slid to a stop beside it, and everyone looked at it and gave a shout of delight. “Magga Glen! Hurrah!”
“Up to the left,” said the driver, and swung his car into the lane. It was rather rough, and obviously only a farm-road - but there, right up the hill they were now climbing, was a house, with lights shining in the windows. That must be old Mrs. Jones’ farmhouse.
“Thank goodness!” said Julian. “This must be it. I’m glad we got here before the snow set in properly. It’s quite difficult to see through the windscreen now.”
Yes - it was the farmhouse. Dogs set up a terrific barking as the car drew near, and Timmy at once answered, almost deafening everyone in the car!
The driver drew up at the farmhouse door, and looked out cautiously to make sure that none of the barking dogs was leaping about round the car. The front door opened, and framed in the light stood a little old woman, as upright as any of the children!
“Come you in, come you in!” she called. “Out of this cold and snow! Our Morgan will help with the luggage. Come you in, now! ”
The four children, suddenly feeling very tired, got out of the car. Anne almost stumbled, because once again her legs felt as if they didn’t belong to her, ancl Julian caught her arm. They went in wearily, only Timmy seeming to have any energy! A tall man hurried out to help the driver with the luggage, saluting them as he passed.
The old lady took them into a big warm living-room and made them sit down. “What a journey for you!” she said. “You look worn out and poorly. It’s late you are, too, and I’d a good tea laid for you. But now it’s supper you’ll be wanting, poor children!”
Julian caught sight of a loaded table not far from the fire, set to one side. Although he was tired, the sight of the good food there made him suddenly feel hungry. He smiled at the kind old woman. Her hair gleamed like silver, and her fine old face was wrinkled all over - but her eyes were as sharp and bright as a blackbird’s.
“I’m sorry we’re so late,” he said. “We lost our way. This is my sister Anne - this is our cousin George - and this is my brother Dick.”
“And this is Timmy,” said George, and Timmy at once offered his paw to the old woman.
“Well, now, it’s a wonder to see a dog with such good manners,” she said. “We’ve seven - but not one of them would shake hands - no, not if the Queen herself came here, God bless her!”
The barking of the dogs had now died down. Not one of them was to be seen in the house, and the children thought they must be outside in kennels somewhere.
Timmy trotted about round the room, sniffing into every corner with much interest. Finally he went to the table, put his paws up and had a good look at the food there. Then he went to George and whined.
“He says he likes the look of the food there,” George said to the old woman. “I must say I agree with him! It looks good!”
“You go and wash and get yourselves a bit tidy, while I make some hot tea,” said Mrs. Jones. “You look cold and hungry. Go through that door, look - and up the little flight of stairs. The rooms up there are all yours - no one will disturb you.”
The Five went out of the door and found themselves in a little stone passage, lighted by a candle. A narrow flight of stone steps led upwards to a small landing on which another candle burned. The steps were very steep, and the children stumbled up them, their legs stiff after their long drive.
Two bedrooms opened off the little landing, opposite to one another. They seemed exactly alike, and were furnished in the same way too. There were wash-stances with basins, and in each basin was a jug of hot water, wrapped around with a towel. Wood-fires burned in the little stone fireplaces, their flames lighting the rooms almost more than the single candles there.
“You’ll have this room, girls, and Dick and I will have the other,” said Julian. “Gosh - wood-fires in our bedrooms! What a treat!”
“I shall go to bed early, and lie and watch the flames,” said Anne. “I’m glad the rooms aren’t cold. I know I should cough if they were.”
“We haven’t coughed quite so much today,” said Dick, and immediately, of course, had a very bad fit of coughing! The old woman downstairs heard him, and called up at once.
“You hurry up, now, and come down into the warm!”
They were soon downstairs, sitting in the warm living-room. Nobody was there except old Mrs. Jones, pouring out tea.
“Isn’t anyone else coming in to tea?” asked George, looking all round. “Surely all this food isn’t just for us?”
“Oh yes it is,” said the old woman, cutting some ham in long thin slices. “This is your own room - the room I let out to families for themselves. We’ve got our big kitchen yonder for ourselves. You can do what you like here - make as much noise as it pleases you - no one will hear you - our stone walls are so thick!”
After she had served them, she went out of the room, nodding and smiling. The children looked at one another.
“I like her very much,” said Anne. “How old she must be, if she is Jenkins’ aunt! But her eyes are so bright and young!”
“I feel better already,” said Dick, tucking into the ham. “George, give Timmy something, He keeps poking me with his paw, and I really can’t spare him any of my ham.”
“He can have some of mine,” said George. “I thought I was hungry - but I’m not, after all. I suddenly feel tired.”
Julian looked at her. She did look tired, and her eyes were ringed with black shadows. “Finish your meal, old thing,” said Julian, “and go up to bed. You can unpack tomorrow. You’re tired out with the long drive! Anne doesn’t look nearly so tired as you do!”
Old Mrs. Jones came in again, and approved highly of Julian’s idea that they should all go up to bed when they had finished. “Get up tomorrow when you like,” she said. “And just come into my kitchen and tell me when you’re down. You can do just what you like here!”
But all they wanted to do at that moment was to get into bed and go to sleep by the light of the crackling wood-fires! What a relief it was to slip in between the rather rough sheets and shut their eyes! All except Timmy. He kept guard by the door for a long long time before he crept on to George’s bed. Good old Timmy!