Chapter Sixteen

AILY CHANGES HER MIND

Aily leapt out of Julian’s arms as quickly and surely as a cat, when she heard that it might be Morgan coming. She looked round the room like a hunted thing, and then darted to the bunk-beds. With an amazing leap, she was up on one of the top ones in a trice, and pulled a rug over her. She lay absolutely still. The lamb looked up in surprise and bleated.
Then it too leapt up the bunks, as sure-footed as a goat, and cuddled down with its little mistress. Only Dave the dog was left below, whining miserably. “Gosh!” said Dick, amazed at these incredibly sudden happenings. “Look at that! Did you ever see such leaping! Shut up barking, Tim. We want to hear if Morgan is coming. Ju - where shall we hide Aily’s dog? He mustn’t be seen - or heard either!”
Julian lifted the dog up to the top bunk and put him with the other two there. “That’s about the only place where he’ll keep quiet!” he said. “Aily - lie quite still till we tell you everything is safe.”
There was no reply from the bunk - not a word or a bark or a bleat. Then Timmy began to bark loudly again, and ran to the door.
“I’m going to lock the door,” said Julian. “I’m not having Morgan and his dogs in here, hunting for Aily! My guess is that he knows she’s escaped from her mother’s - or maybe she ran off when he scolded her - and thinks she went to her father, the old shepherd! He’s got to get hold of her, to stop her from spreading what she knows!”
“Well - for goodness sake don’t let those dogs in here!” said George, desperately. “I can hear them barking away in the distance.”
“Quick - let’s sit round the table with the cards, and pretend to be playing a game!” said Dick, snatching the cards from a shelf. “Then if Morgan looks in, he’ll think everything is normal - and won’t guess we’ve got Aily here. I bet he’ll be sly enough to try and peep in without us seeing him - hoping to spot Aily if we’ve got her!”
They sat round the table, and Dick dealt out the cards. Anne’s hands were trembling, and George felt a bit weak at the knees. Anne kept dropping her cards, and Dick laughed at her.
“Butterfingers! Cheer up - Morgan won’t eat you! Now - if I suddlenly say ‘What ho!’ you’ll know I can see Morgan peeping in at the window, and you must laugh and play like anything. See?”
Dick was the one facing the window, and he kept a sharp eye on it as they played snap. There was no sound of dogs barking now, though Tim sat by the door, his ears cocked, as if he could hear something.
“Snap!” said Julian, and gathered up the cards. They went on playing.
“Snap! I say, don’t grab like that - you’ve almost broken my nail!”
“Snap! I said it first!”
“What ho!” said Dick, and that put everyone on their guard at once. They went on playing, but without giving much attention to the game now. What could Dick see?
Dick could see quite a lot. He could see a shadowy face some way from the window, looking in - yes, it was Morgan all right.
“What ho!” said Dick again, to warn the others that there was still danger. “WHAT HO!”
Morgan’s face had now come quite near to the window. He evidently thought that no one saw him, and that they were all too engrossed in their game to notice anything else. His eyes swept the room from corner to corner. Then his face disappeared.
“He’s gone from the window,” said Dick, in a low voice. “But go on playing. He may come to the door.”
KNOCK! KNOCK!
“Yes - there he is,” said Dick. “Ju - you take charge now.”
“Who’s there?” yelled Julian.
“Morgan. Let me in,” said Morgan’s deep, growling voice.
“No - we’ve got our dog here, and we don’t want him set on again,” said Julian, determined not to let Morgan in at any cost.
Morgan turned the handle - but the door was locked. He growled again.
“Sorry! But we can’t unlock it!” shouted Julian. “Our dog might rush out and bite you. He’s growling like anything already!”
“Bark, Tim,” said George, in a low voice, and Timmy obligingly barked the place down!
Morgan gave up. “If you see Aily, send her home,” he said. “She’s gone again, and her Mam’s worried. I’ve been looking for her this cold night.”
“Right! ” called Julian. “If she comes we’ll give her a bed here.”
“No. You send her home,” shouted Morgan. “And pay heed to what I told you down at the barn there, or it will be the worse for all of us!”
“For all of us! I like that!” said Dick, in disgust. “It will certainly be the worse for him and his friends when the secret’s out! Awful fellow! Has he gone, Tim?”
Timmy came away from the door and lay down peacefully. He gave a little bark as if to say “All clear!”
When dogs began to bark right away in the distance Tim took no notice. “That means they’re going down the hill with Morgan, back to the farm,” said George, thankfully. “We can get Aily down now, and give her something to eat.”
She went to the bunk. “Aily!” she called. “Morgan is gone. Gone right away! Come down and have a meal. We will give the lamb some milk and your dog some meat and biscuits!”
Aily’s head peered cautiously over the side of the little bunk-bed. With a leap she was down on the floor, as lightly as the lamb itself, which followed at once, landing squarely on its four tiny hooves. The little dog had to be lifted out - he was much too scared to jump!
To everyone’s amusement, Aily ran straight to Julian, and held up her arms to be taken into his. She felt safe with this big kind boy. He sat down with her on his knees and she cuddled up to him like a kitten.
George put some bread and butter and cheese on the table in front of her, and Anne put down a dish of milk for the lamb, which lapped it greedily but most untidily. The dog tried to get the milk too, but soon went to the dish of cut-up meat and biscuits put down by Anne.
“There - the Aily-family is fed,” she said. “My word - what an excitement all this is! Julian, don’t let Aily gobble like that - she’ll be sick. I never did see anyone eat so quickly. She can’t have had anything since the bit of cheese we gave her this afternoon!”
Aily snuggled back into Julian’s arms contentedly, when she had eaten every scrap of her meal. She looked up at him, wanting to please him.
“Aily tell how to get into big big house,” she said suddenly, taking everyone completely by surprise. Julian looked down at her. He had the dog on his knee now too, though he would not allow the lamb to climb on as well.
“Aily tell me?” he said gravely. “Good little Aily bach!”
Aily began to try and tell him. “Big hole,” she began. “Down, down, down...”
“Where’s this big hole?” asked Julian.
“High up,” said Aily. “Down it goes down...”
“But where is it?” asked Julian again.
Aily went off into a long jabber of Welsh and the children listened helplessly. How maddening to have Aily willing to tell them her secret - and then not to be able to follow what she said.
“Good little Aily,” said Julian, when she came to a stop at last. “Where is this big big hole?”
Aily gazed at him in reproach. “Aily tell you, tell you, tell you!” she said.
“Yes, I know - but I don’t understand Welsh,” said Julian, gently, despairing of trying to make the child understand. “Where is this big hole - that’s all I want to know.”
Aily stared at him. Then she smiled. “Aily show,” she said, and slipped off his knee. “Aily show! Come! ”
“Good gracious! Not now,” said Julian. “Not in all this snow and darkness. No, Aily - tomorrow - in the morning - not now!”
Aily took a look out of the window into the darkness. She nodded. “Not now. In the morning, yes? Aily show in morning.”
“Well, thank goodness that’s settled!” said Julian. “I’d dearly love to see this big big hole whatever it is, now, straightaway - but we’d only get lost on these hills in the dark. We’ll look forward to it tomorrow!”
“Good!” said Dick, yawning. “I must say that I think that’s best too. What a bit of luck that Aily’s so grateful to you, Ju! I believe she’d do anything in the world for you now.”
“I believe she would too, funny little creature,” said Julian, looking at Aily as she curled up on the rug near the stove, with her lamb and dog beside her. “How could Morgan scare such a harmless little thing? He’s a brute!”
“Jolly good thing he didn’t see her when he looked in,” said George. “He’d probably have broken the door down! One blow of his fist and it would have cracked from top to bottom!”
Everyone laughed. “Well - good thing it didn’t come to that!” said Julian. “Now then, let’s get to bed. We may have quite an exciting day tomorrow!”
“I hope we manage to get to that poor old woman in her tower,” said Anne. “That’s the most important thing to do. Aily, you can sleep in that topmost bunk, where you hid. I’ll give you some rugs, and a blanket and a pillow.”
It wasn’t long before the hut was quiet and peaceful, with all five children in their bunks, and Timmy with George. The lamb and the little dog were with Aily, Julian looked out from his bunk and smiled. What a collection of people and animals in the hut tonight! Well - he was quite glad there were two dogs!
No one woke in the night except George. She felt Timmy stir and sat up, resting on her elbow. But he didn’t bark. He gave her a small lick, and sat with her, listening.
The queer rumbling noise was coming again - and then the “shuddering”, though not so strongly as before. George felt the wooden edge of her bunk - it vibrated as if machinery was in the room below, shaking everything a little.
She leaned out of her bunk and looked out of the window. Her eyes widened as she saw what Dick had seen the other night - the “shimmering” in the sky. She could think of no other name for that strange quivering that rose and rose and finally ended very high up indeed, seeming to lose itself in the stars, that were now shining brightly.
George didn’t wake the others. As soon as the queer happenings stopped, she lay down again. Perhaps tomorrow they would know what caused such strange things - yes, tomorrow would be very exciting!