Five Go Back to Kirrin Island

©2006 Enid Blyton Yahoo Group

Every once in a while, regular members of the Enid Blyton Yahoo Group join forces and write a Round Robin. If you've never heard of a Round Robin, well, in this case it's a brand new story written by a group of fans, with each member writing a chapter and making it up as they go along. Nobody knows where the story will lead; there's no plot to follow, and the direction of the next chapter is decided by the end of the last one. It's a lot of fun, and the result is either a wonderful new story—or a complete mess!

What follows is the Famous Five in a brand new exciting adventure. There are over 20 members uniting to write this story, so this section will grow one chapter at a time over the next few months...

Chapter 11: Cracking the code
by Bikram Bhakta Joshi (March 20, 2006)

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"What's going on?" said Sooty, his mouth gaping open in awe. "More of the words are coming off—popping out like popcorn."

There was a giggle from behind him, and, lo and behold, there stood Julian with a broad smile.

"Ju—what is happening?" cried bewildered Dick, "For goodness' sake—Ju... JU!"

With that deafening shout, Julian scrambled up with a start. As he was sleeping on the edge of the bed, he next found himself drop thump on the floor. Dick was standing beside him, glaring fiercely at him.

"Wh-what? What happened?" Julian gaped at Dick, rubbing his eyes and getting up from the floor, shaken. "You brute! Why did you shout so loud—right in my ear? Almost deafening me!"

Dick was rubbing his jaw, and looking pretty furious, "Fancy asking me that! What if I ask why you were twisting and writhing around so uncannily—with eyes closed? You looked as if taken over by a poltergeist. Gosh—that was eerie! You were mumbling all nonsense about letting you go and were thrashing your arms around. That last slap jabbed me square on my jaws. I didn't know you could have such a wild nightmare." Dick looked in the mirror if his jaws were intact.

Julian blinked sheepishly at his brother. "Golly! So that was a dream? It was so real. Er—sorry, Dick. That must have been when I thrashed around when I got captured by Mr Stick—well, in the dream, I mean."

"Mr Stick? Who's that?" Dick raised his brow. "You mean that rogue of a fellow—father of err..."

"Edgar," said Julian, sitting back on the bed, feeling much awake now. "That was not all. There were whole lot of other rogues—Pottersham, Mr. Roland, Red Tower, and then there were Dirty Dick, Rooky and Mr. Curton too."

"What?" said amused Dick, with a chuckle. "Was that some sort of flashback of our previous adventures? All those baddies parading in your dream like that?"

"That was strange," mused Julian, and he related briefly what he remembered of the strange dream he just had—much to Dick's amusement.

Just then there was a knock at the door. "Ju—Dick! What's going on? We heard a shout and quite a commotion." George and Anne were on the doorway.

So Julian had to repeat his entire queer dream once more to the amused girls.

"Golly—Fancy Uncle Quentin and Mr Lenoir getting captured and taken to the Owl's Dene—together! They wouldn't realize that they were kept captive—they would be happily discussing some science stuffs," giggled Anne.

"And you been taken prisoner too, Ju," said George, with a smile. "But before that managing to leave a message. Jolly smart of you! But I feel creepy just to think of Kirrin Cottage being blown away. I know it's a dream thing—but even then it feels bad enough to hear our dear old cottage blown away just like that replica tower on our Island."

"They won't dare to in real, will they?" asked Anne anxiously.

"Of course not," smiled back Dick. "All villains are cowards at heart, you see."

"Woof!" said Timmy with a fierce tone.

"Timmy says he won't let any harm come to the Cottage," said George with a laugh, fondling his hair. "You are the best dog in the world—and I know you won't let anything happen to us and the Cottage." Timmy whined and gave a wet lick to her mistress.

"I think the incidents like Pottersham's jail-break and the tower getting blown away—they have played havoc onto your imagination—causing you to have such bad dream," said Dick, thoughtfully. "Or are you jabbed by sea-urchins? I saw a couple of those spiny things while going around Penny's bio-tour on the Island. They make you have nightmares, you see." Dick winked at Sooty. He gaped back—he almost believed him.

"Haha! That was funny!" Julian poked good-humoredly at his brother. He knew Dick was just pulling his legs. "There were no sea-urchins in those quadrats and they don't cause nightmares. But it has made me think seriously of something—I mean the dream," he continued, with a thoughtful look. "There sure is something going on at Arden Hall. A lot of things definitely point there—for instance those weird looking floating people; and then those lights shining out. Was that meant to be a signal or some casual flash of a torch-light? Then there was this plane flying over the moor the next day—do you remember that?"

"Yes—then later Timmy finds a wallet with a train timetable, a bus timetable, times of low and high tides, and a business card with an emblem of yellow shield with a red snake wrapped around it, and RED 0709 written boldly on the back of it. He had picked up the wallet somewhere in Arden Hall, hadn't he?" said Dick, frowning hard and trying to remember the details.

"And then we find the similar emblem on the letterhead on which Uncle's notes were copied," chipped in Anne. "Back there in the tunnel-cave—where Uncle had his experiments."

"There is something that we have overlooked somewhere—I think we should take a good look at these things once more," said Julian. "But it can wait until tomorrow—or is it today? Gosh, it is past midnight! No wonder I'm feeling so sleepy!"

So they went to sleep once more—Dick with much reluctance—in case Julian chose to have one more of those 'dangerous' dreams. He made up his mind that he would sleep in a couch that night. Better take precautions, he thought.

They were quite wary with their previous day—what with the long and tiring night-walk through the undersea tunnel, then the early morning nature tour with Penny, followed by a swimming and frolicking around with Sooty—they really had a hectic time. No wonder they were so tired. Now with the disturbed sleep due to Julian's weird nightmare, they were finding hard to keep their lids open even for another second. So a minute later, all were sleeping like logs! Anne never noticed a beetle walking calmly up her left hand, right around her face and then vanishing down her neck. The indignant beetle left Anne with much disgust that all its trotting around had come to nothing. What kind of a girl is this? Feeling nothing of its 'creepy-crawly' walk! It sighed and walked away forlornly, thinking of trying its luck somewhere else.

In the morning, George woke first with a groan. Timmy had crept up on George's middle—thinking that it made a good sleeping-couch. So George had to shove him off. But Timmy was not to be put off. He jumped back—once more right on the middle of her tummy—making George gasp for breath. "Oh—Tim! Why do you always forget that you are a big dog? Hey—Anne, it's morning already! Wake up sleepyhead—it's a glorious morning! I'm going for an early morning bathe! Who wants to join me?" Of course, everyone wanted to join. Who wanted to laze in the bed and miss a marvelous bathe in such a wonderful morning!

It was not long before James, who was out in the sea for an early catch of fish, watched with amusement four children (Sooty was too sleepy to join them) and a dog rush down, plunge headlong into the sea and then splash crazily at each other, with the seemingly mad dog chasing the receding golden ripples. They looked at a couple of police motor-boats chugging towards the island. Must be the police team going to the blast site, the children thought. They later learnt from the hawkers at the beach that there were to be no day-trippers allowed to the island until they finished the investigation.

"Hello James!" called out George, waving at the fisher-boy who was a little way out in the sea in his boat. "Having a good catch?"

"Yes, pretty good this morning!" said James pulling in his boat and preparing to unload his haul. "But I couldn't go out early enough today—so it ain't that good as yesterday. That stepfather of mine that I'd been talking about—remember? He turned up and was asking all kinds of nonsense, delaying me no end."

"What sort of questions?" queried Julian, coming out of the rippling water and wrapping himself in a towel.

"Oh—about Kirrin Island and about the ruin there. And funny that he wanted to know about the time that tide comes in and goes out at the Island. Utter nonsense! What has he to do with the tide going in or out? What does he think of me? Some sea-traffic? Pah!" said James distastefully. "I hate that bolo of a man! I really do!!"

"How dare he?" George hissed. "Why is everyone after my island? You didn't tell him anything, did you?"

"Of course not—why should I possibly!" James replied.

"It seems like your stepfather is one big nosey-parker!" called back Dick, after they were all finished swimming and bathing, and were ready to get back. "He doesn't sound good to me. I'm afraid I don't fancy this stepfather of yours at all!"

"Neither do I!" said James to himself, in a doleful tone.

After returning from a thorough bathe, they were soon enjoying a smashing breakfast of poached eggs, sardine sandwiches, browned toast and frothy fresh milk straight from Kirrin Farm. Joan, their cook, was lavishly praised for the scrumptious breakfast, much to her pleasure.

"You are the best cook I've ever seen. Much better than the royal cook of England," said Dick, winking at the others.

"You cook much better than Sarah—our cook at Smuggler's Top," said Sooty, helping himself with another sandwich. "She's such a chatterbox that she goes on chattering while the toast becomes as black as... as... "

"Soot," everyone said in unison, much to Joan's amusement.

"Beasts," Sooty said with a mock anger. "You know—Joan, you deserve the highest honor of England for cooking."

"Now, now, don't butter me so much," said Joan with a laugh. "Fancy you saying that. Penny says the same thing when I go to Kirrin Farm and help Mrs Sanders prepare lunch in the kitchen."

"Are you talking of Penny King? Have you met her?" asked Anne.

"Met her? Of course—I'd met her long before this time! Why—I'd known her since her childhood. Such a nice girl! Always smiling, and what marvelous manners! She's an exact copy of her mother, Charlotte," replied Joan, with a dreamy look in her eyes. "Ah, Charlotte. She used to be such a fine lady in her time. Charlotte Wallace King—the mistress of Arden Hall."

George almost choked over her piece of poached egg. "What—Penny King is the daughter of Captain Charles Wallace? Whewwww!"

"Funny that Mrs Sanders never mentioned that," wondered Dick. "But she did mention about her son being friendly with the Captain's nephew."

Anne remembered noticing the old woman's fleeting change in expression when she was asked about the owner of Arden Hall, while they'd been at Kirrin Farm. She wondered if she knew something that she didn't want to disclose. And why did she hide the fact that Penny was the daughter of the Captain?

"Maybe Penny prevented her from disclosing her true identity," said Joan, casually. Then with a faraway look in her eyes, she told them a most interesting story.

"In fact," she said, "Charlotte's grandfather was from Persia—now known as Iran. He was a trader and used to trade merchandise in India. In the course of time, he settled back in India. He grew his family and flourished in name, prosperity and wealth. Charlotte was his dearest grand-daughter. In fact, Charlotte used to have a different name. Nadia Rajah she was called. Actually she'd inherited her maiden name of 'Rajah', which translated to 'King', from her grandfather only—who was given that title by some Maharajah of India. It so happened that Charles Wallace, a young handsome English gentleman, was deputed as an Army Cadet in Goa—a western coastal town of India—where Charlotte lived with her parents. He met her there and fell in love. After meeting Charles, she changed her religion to Christianity and thereon called herself Charlotte King. They got married and lived happily. Charles got promoted and was stationed in Goa as a Captain. They had a lovely son. Later, after an early retirement of the Captain—due to some illness I guess—they left India and moved here to Kirrin Village to have a quiet life. But unluckily their son died in his infancy." There was a horrified silence. Joan nodded sadly, then continued: "Many a year later, the grief-stricken parents were blessed with a lovely daughter—Penny. Unfortunately, the father and daughter never got along well. When Penny was still a young girl, a grave disaster fell upon them. One unfortunate night, they had a big burglary. They were looted of the immense valuables that they'd brought back from India. It was said that Charlotte had brought quite a horde of her inherited jewelries, ornaments, and gold coins—worth a fortune. They were stripped of the treasure when the burglary took place. However, with the help of the servants, two of the burglars were captured. In the tussle, both the brutes got killed. But when they were searched, they could find not a single coin with them."

"Was there another burglar there?" interrupted Sooty, who was listening to all this with jaws nearly dropping out.

"Yes—there was a third burglar all right," said Joan. "It was suspected that the third burglar—who got away—had the treasure. But that was not possible, because one person can't surely move all the loots so miraculously. Later this burglar was captured for some other crime and he was questioned about the whereabouts of the treasure, but he never opened his mouth. He always repeated the same thing that he'd never taken anything out of Arden Hall. He later died in jail. In this way, the Wallace Treasure got vanished into thin air. Without the money, the Wallaces were in a mighty fix. So they left Arden Hall to dilapidate and went to India, where Charlotte still had her relatives and continued to live there. There still are many a Persians dwelling in Goa—now as proper citizens."

All the children were listening in fascination. Fancy losing all those fortune! Poor Penny—she had been an heir to such a fortune.

Joan continued. "As I said earlier, Penny never got along with her father, so she never adopted her father's name—Wallace. She rather preferred her mother's maiden name of King. She's such a sweet child, but she could be obstinate at certain points."

"Well—what a story!" said Anne with a dazed look. "How did you know all these things?"

Joan began to clear up the table. "You know Dorcas—my cousin? She once used to work for the Wallaces. So I used to visit Arden Hall quite often. I was a young woman at that time and Charlotte was such a fine lady. She was almost of my age—maybe a year or two older."

"I guess Penny's come here for her research out of nostalgia. Maybe she remembers spending her childhood here," said George, finishing her sandwich, and then dropping a big piece of toast for Timmy—eagerly awaiting for the tidbits. "Here—pass the salt, Sooty."

"It must be heart-wrenching for her to see her hereditary building falling to pieces," said Dick, thinking of Arden Hall in ruins.

George scratched her curly hair. "I wonder where the treasure has vanished. Is it possible that the burglar managed to bury the treasure somewhere in the grounds of Arden Hall?"

"Impossible!" said Joan firmly. "How is it possible—under the noses of the households of the Hall? Besides, for many a year there was a thorough search for the lost treasure—even after the Wallaces moved away from here. But no-one found anything—not even one wee little bit of coin."

"Suppose the treasure is lying somewhere there in Arden Hall after all!" said Julian with a glint. "It's a possibility—because the third burglar did say that he never took out anything. That means, he may have hidden it somewhere so well that even after years of search, it was never found." After a thought, he added, "Is it possible that Penny is in pursuit of the treasure trove? Quite likely! After all, she's the heir to the treasure and she knows that it's not found yet! She's maybe using her research work as a cover-up to her actual motive, or maybe she's doing a dual job of—"

Just then they were interrupted by a loud call. "Sooty! SOOTY!"

Sooty scrambled to his feet and hurried out. Uncle Quentin, along with Sooty's father, Mr Lenoir, were going out to town for a meeting with a Civil Engineer to discuss the things about what could be done to rebuild Kirrin Castle, without spoiling its originality. Sooty was supposed to go too.

In fact, Mr Lenoir was not Sooty's real father. He was his step-father. Marybelle was not his real sister either—only a half-sister, but she thought a whole lot of her dark, jolly half-brother. It was like a pair of beauty and a beast when they were together—Marybelle was fair and delicate looking while Sooty was quite the opposite, as his nickname suggested.

"Can't I stay with the others?" pleaded Sooty meekly to his step-father. "I would be bored in the meeting. What will I be doing?"

"No, I want you to be introduced to your new tutor—who would be coming back to Smuggler's Top with us when we return. You need some thorough teaching. I'm not satisfied with your results, Pierre," said Mr Lenoir firmly. Sooty's real name was Pierre—but people seldom called him that.

Sooty nodded gloomily. He was always nervous in front of his frowning, fierce father. However, after a thought, Mr Lenoir had a change of mind and let Sooty stay back—much to his joy. "We could be late coming back, so it would be better to postpone the meeting with your tutor for some other day. I'll call him up and settle for another time."

It was not long before the five children, and an equally eager dog, were huddled in the room. They had to try unfolding some puzzles—as they'd planned earlier. Julian produced the wallet that Timmy had found somewhere in the grounds of Arden Hall, as well as the bundle of copied notes of Uncle Quentin which they had found during their underground journey to Kirrin Island.

"Here is the visiting card," said Julian, taking out the card from the wallet. "And the timetable! What do you make out of these? And here is the sheaf of Uncle's copied notes."

Dick began to flip through the notes. Just then he gave a long whistle. "Hey, what is this? We never noticed these before. Julian, you must have collected them when you hurriedly gathered the notes." He was waving a couple of papers.

Dick unfolded the first piece of paper which turned out to be a neatly drawn map with several diagrams and sketches, while the second one contained a list of coded names. What excited him most was that on top of the list, written in rough hand-writing, was:

RED 0709

"Golly—the same as written on the back of the visiting card," said Dick. "Pass me the card, Ju. Yes, it is RED 0709 alright. This is strange!"

"Wait—there are more!" exclaimed Julian. "Next in the list are REY R3LL0d, PER NVWdVHC and TER 3705."

"Whatever do they mean?" said George with a frown. "It's all Greek to me!"

"It seems these are codes of some sort. I thought earlier that 0709 could have been a time of the day—or a bus time or something," said Dick, nodding his head. "It doesn't fit somehow now, as we see all these codes. For instance, 3705 can't possibly be a bus timing."

"Wait—here are a whole lot of scribbles on the back of the paper," said Sooty, who was peering at the back of the paper that Dick was holding. Dick flipped around the paper.

"What horrible hand-writing. I can hardly make it out. Here, Ju—can you make out any?" Dick handed out the paper to Julian—who after spending quite some time squinting over it was at loss too.

"Here, let me try," said George, with an interested look on her face. "I am pretty good at deciphering hand-writing."

She squinted and groaned, trying to make out the bad writing—and due to the creases caused by the multiple folding, it made the job all the more difficult.

"This is surely L and then F. Before that it looks like A. Is this P or R, Anne? Have a look," Anne peered over the writing.

"Umm, that is R because of the small faded stroke from the middle of P. Then it's C—no, it's E, followed by D. The next word is clear enough—it's BOLO," said Anne triumphantly.

"A-L-F-R-E-D and B-O-L-O... Why, it's Alfred Bolo!" cried George in excitement. "It's a name of someone. Do you think it's the owner of the wallet? Most likely, because I can see this name repeated in several places. If it's his wallet, it explains the bus or train timetable that we found in it. It must have been the route that he'd traveled while coming to Kirrin Station."

"Wait—where have I heard that word? Bolo!" said Dick, trying to remember. "I'm sure I've heard it quite recently. Bolo, bolo—oh YES—now I remember. Earlier this morning, James mentioned that name, didn't he? He said he hated that bolo of a man!"

"Oh yes—and he was referring to his stepfather," said Julian, slapping Dick on the back. "You've got it, old boy! Bolo must be the surname of his stepfather. Didn't he tell us that he'd changed his name from Alf to James because his stepfather's name also happened to be Alf? And Alf is short for Alfred, isn't it? It makes sense now. That means this 'bolo' man of Alfred is the stepfather of James and he is certainly up to no good. I thought he sounded fishy when James told us about him this morning."

"Why—this is a list of people's names! Gosh—can you guess whose name is listed next? It's Jeffrey Pottersham!" said George excitedly, making Timmy bark loudly. He knew that George was excited over something, so he followed suit. He began to tear round the room in top speed.

"Shut up, Timmy!" said Dick crossly. "You don't want Uncle to come up! He hasn't gone yet—I can still hear his voice." Timmy obediently sat beside his mistress, panting and with his tongue hanging out.

George identified further names—Peter Sole, Harper Chapman, Samuel Hardy. There were a couple more she couldn't identify.

Julian took the paper and began to go through it. "They must be the band of baddies that blew up the tower—most probably! Most likely is that it is led by Pottersham himself. It pretty much seems like we happened to get hold of an important document."

"Wait," said Sooty who was looking intently at the visiting card with RED 0709 written on the back. He was turning it round and round. "I think I've got it! Didn't you say there was a man called Alfred Bolo? I bet RED 0709 is the code name for this guy. Look—turn the card upside down and try to read. Do you get it? When you read 0709 upside down—it becomes b—O—L—O."

Julian gave a thump to the boy. "You hit upon the nail, Sooty! And of course RED is an abbreviated form of Alfred—by retaining the last three letters of the name. And we thought that it was to do something with RED TOWER."

"Let's look for other codes too. Hmm, REY R3LL0d. When you read R3LL0d upside down, you get P, then O... What could the next two mean, Dick?" Anne scratched her head.

"They look pretty much like T when L is seen upside down, isn't it? It is POTTER—Pottersham? Yes, must be it—because REY is the last three letters of Jeffrey. Pretty nifty!"

"It's easy now," said Sooty triumphantly. "PER NVWdVHC means Harper Chapman, and TER 3705 is Peter Sole. All in the list, isn't it?"

"It means they use these codes for their identification amongst each other." said Dick. "And what we thought as a visiting or a membership card must have been the identity card of Alfred Bolo—with their emblem and all."

"Pretty good job!" said Julian pleased with the findings. "Now that we know about Pottersham and James' stepfather being in league, and as they are up to no good obviously, we must be extra careful from now on—because it's rather obvious that they are here on the loose, and are planning for some big bang."

"And do you remember the message on the table where we'd found Uncle's copied notes—probably written by Pottersham—which says some meeting is at 7:30 in the usual place," recalled Julian. "That must have been Pottersham's message to Alfred or some other gang-member. It indicates that Potty and the gang are under some warpath to bring harm to Uncle Quentin or his works. Jo was right when she warned us."

George gazed out of the window. "I somehow feel that there is something more than meets our eyes. Potty may be out here to harm father's works. But why are all the other guys helping him? Potty can't hire all those baddies—he's a jail-breaker—he can't possibly afford them. It may be that Alfred and the gang are here in some other crook job—maybe in search of something or smuggling—the way he was asking James all those questions. Potty may have teamed up with them for his own benefit. Besides, Potty knows quite a lot about old castles and monuments, doesn't he? If you remember, he has written a book on famous ruins. He must have knowledge about Kirrin Castle too—as well as about its dungeons and tunnels. So Alfred thought he can make use of Potty's knowledge for whatever he's up to. A kind of mutual co-operation!"

"I guess you are right!" said Julian. "To enforce your speculation, here is the other paper which seems to be some sort of map. And it is very much clear that it's the map of Kirrin Island—see, it is written and underlined on the upper left corner. There is even some sort of plan of the Castle—sketched complete with the place where there are towers and even the well. It is shown by a circle. Have a look!" He spread the map on the floor and everyone clustered around it.

"Yes—it is similar to the one we'd found in the box in the wreck, isn't it? Only that it doesn't look that old—why, it's a copied map," scrutinized Anne.

George examined closely, and pointed along a line on the map. "This must represent a tunnel—is this the tunnel joining quarry and island?"

"I don't think so. Oh shoo, Tim—you are fanning my face with your tail," Julian said, pushing Timmy away. "Here see—the tunnel ends not at the castle, but somewhere on the cliffy coast of the island. Besides, the tunnel starts not from the quarry site—it's some building that it starts from."

"Goodness—and the building is Arden Hall. It is written clearly here," exclaimed George. "That means there is another tunnel which runs from Arden Hall to my Island. I didn't know that."

"Nobody knew that. Wait—the tunnel bifurcates when it reaches near the Castle and one line goes to the Castle site," said Julian running his finger along another line. "Which means this tunnel joins the one that we are familiar with—the one joining quarry and island. That's interesting!"

"There are some diagrams too," Julian observed. "It looks like they are the sketches of a tunnel opening—one is shown almost submerged and another just a little submerged with water. And there it is written below the diagrams—high tide and low tide."

"What is this high tide and low tide business? It baffles me!" puzzled Dick. "There is this timetable indicating high and low tides that we find in the wallet—and here we stumble upon diagrams showing some darned hole, what it would look like with high and low tides. Does this mean that there is some opening on the cliff that we don't know of, which gets submerged in high tide and opens up in low tide? Pretty much makes sense!"

"Why don't we go and have a look? What if we find it before those crooks?" said George, scrambling up as if ready to go at that very minute.

"Not so fast, George," Julian was thinking something. "First let me think. If Pottersham is to meet someone at 7:30 in their usual place—as that message reads—we can sneak in and eavesdrop on what they are up to. But the thing is that where that usual place is and whether the time is morning or evening—just plain beats me! And on which day? If the message was written just after the blowing up of the tower, it means the meeting already took place yesterday."

"I'm quite confident that the meeting place is Arden Hall. It can't be a mere coincidence that so many things are pointing to Arden Hall. Why don't we check it out?" said Sooty with much vigor. "Besides I want to explore that place. I haven't been there."

"I guess that's what we should do first," agreed Dick. "Even if it's not for other reasons, we should be re-exploring it in order to find the entrance to the Island—as the map indicates! I'm pretty sure we'll stumble into something—count on me for that!"

Anne groaned with the idea. "Why can't we have a peaceful time for once? Why does this happen when we're all together? It seems like we attract adventures."

"Pretty much correct, old thing," said Julian, squeezing her little sister's hands. "You needn't come if you don't want to. You seem to be tired too."

"Oh no, I'm not going to be left out on any case!" said Anne fiercely. "It's better to be with you all than stay back and wonder what is going on! That's worse still."

"Woof—woof!"

"We wouldn't dream of leaving you behind," laughed George. "Dear old Tim—we simply can't do without you."

So it was settled that they would go for an exploration that evening because George's mother wanted them to be at home in the afternoon, since they had a visitor.

They were excited as the evening drew near. So they behaved pretty badly in front of the visitor, much to the indignation of Aunt Fanny, by giggling and fidgeting around. When the visitor left, with a slightly hurt look, they asked Aunt Fanny if they could go for an evening stroll.

She said yes—but to return early. So they readied themselves with torches and ropes, just in case. After a thought, Julian stuffed some cookies and biscuits in his pocket. You never know! If they are lucky enough to stumble upon the secret passage, they were in for some long long walk. Taking some food will never hurt anyone, he thought!

"Don't forget to take extra batteries, Dick." Julian called out. "I've taken the map in case we need it."

At last it was time to go. Uncle Quentin and Mr Lenoir were not back yet when they left Kirrin Cottage. They strolled on with an excited Timmy trotting in front of them, sniffing every nooks and crannies. Where're all the cute little bunnies? Not a smell of one! The place just there didn't seem right for rabbit hunting. He jumped back, startled, when a fat toad jumped out of a bush. He sniffed at it with disgust, shook his head vigorously, then trotted off with his head held high up in the air. I'm not going to lose my time over some nasty stupid toad, hah!

It was a cool evening and some evening bird was singing a dirge like song in a nearby bush somewhere. A frog croaked in a nearby pond and a thrush flew back to its nest. They could see Arden Hall silhouetted in the evening sky. They entered the compound, crossing what once must have been a fine gate. The garden was overgrown with weeds and nettles. It was sad to see such a grand building falling in pieces. They walked up to the porch.

"Now to search for the entrance to the tunnel," said George looking around as if she would find a gaping hole right in front of her. "Where could it possibly be?"

They searched all around the exterior, scraping around in case it would reveal some hidden entrance. Anne even lifted a rusty box to see beneath, much to the amusement of the others. When they were satisfied that they had done full justice to the outside of the building, they rested for a while. Dick had some toffees with him, which he shared with the others. They sucked at them gladly. Even Timmy had his share, which he gulped down, much to the disgust of Anne. "Chocolates and ice-creams are wasted on you! You don't even bother to taste them."

It was getting darker and they began to wish they'd come earlier. As shadows began to lengthen and corners began to darken, the place began to look eerie.

"Let's go in," suggested Anne, not at all liking the place. But it was even worse inside. Pooh—what was that smell? Some dead rat? Anne pursed up her nose.

"See—there is the place where Timmy found the wallet," George pointed to a room from where Timmy had come out with a wallet in the mouth.

They trouped into the room. It was full of cobwebs and its walls were tumbling down. They could see the next room through the opening in the wall. There was an old couch, moth eaten and with a thick layer of dirt over it. Anne almost cried in fright when a piece of cobweb tangled over her face. And there was the smell, stronger than ever. She didn't like it. Just when they were deciding that they couldn't bear the smell any more and were about to get out of the room, Timmy suddenly gave a growl—and his hackles rose up. All five stopped abruptly, frozen to the ground.

"What is it?" whispered George, holding Timmy's collar. "Shhhh—keep quiet, Tim."

There was the distinct sound of footstep approaching the porch. All of them scrambled back to the room. They soon saw someone come inside the house and enter the next room. They didn't like the look of the fellow. He had a beard, and his hair looked like it had not been washed for at least a year, all tangled and dull. By the look of it, he was not a pleasant sight. The children decided not to show themselves in case he turned out to be one of the baddies. So they crouched on the floor and Julian put his finger to his mouth, signaling them to keep quiet. The bearded man settled somewhere in the room and lighted a cigarette. A strong smell of tobacco came floating on the air.

After what seemed like an hour (but actually it was just over five minutes) there came a creaking and groaning noise as if some heavy stone was sliding against a rough surface. The Five and Sooty hardly dared to breathe! What was going on? They couldn't keep themselves from taking a cautious peek into the other room. They were amazed to see a fairly large gap in the floor. A person was climbing out of the hole! Golly!

"Hey—Alf!" said the man, climbing up. "Been long?"

"Justa while 'go," growled the bearded man.

"Alfred Bolo, I bet," Julian whispered to himself. "But who is the one who's just climbed up the hole?"

As if answer to his query, the man lighted a cigarette—and in the brief moment before the match-stick fizzled out, they had a fleeting glance of the person. They couldn't help but notice the dome shaped head and those thin-lipped mouth.

"Pottersham!" gasped George.

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