Free Five on a Hike Together by Enid Blyton Page A

and it"s been turned down with scorn. Somebody ought to follow up that message - besides Maggie!"
    „Dear Maggie," said Dick. „I wonder who in the wide world she is!"
    „Somebody worth watching if she"s the friend of convicts," said Julian, more soberly. „Look, this is what I thought we"d do - buy some extra food, and go along to Gloomy Water this afternoon, arriving there before dark. We"ll find a good place to shelter in - there must be some good spot in the old ruin - and get heather or bracken for beds. Then tomorrow we can be up bright and early to have a look round."
    „It sounds smashing," said Dick, pleased. „Sort of thing we like. What do you say, Tim?"
    „Woof," said Tim, solemnly, bumping his tail to and fro across Dick"s legs.
    „And if we find there"s absolutely nothing of interest, well, we can come back here with the things we"ve borrowed, and go on with our hike," said Julian. „But we"ll have to sleep the night there because it wil be dark by the time we"ve had a look round."

    They bought some loaves of bread, some butter and potted meat, and a big fruit cake.
    Also some more chocolate and some biscuits. Julian bought a bottle of orangeade as well.
    „There"s sure to be a well," he said. „Or a spring of some sort. We can dilute the orangeade and drink it when we"re thirsty. Now I think we"re ready. Come on!"
    They couldn"t go as fast as usual because they were carrying so many things. Timmy was the only one that ran as fast as ever - but then Timmy carried nothing but himself!
    It was a real y lovely walk over the moorlands. They climbed fairly high and had wonderful views al over the autumn country-side. They saw wild ponies again, in the distance this time, and a little herd of dappled deer, that sped away immediately, Julian was very careful to take the right paths - the ones traced so carefully on the map by the old man in the post-office. „I expect he knew the way well because he was once a postman and had to take letters to Two-Trees!" said Dick, bending over the map. „We"re getting on, Ju - halfway there!"
    The sun began to sink low. The children hurried as much as they could because once the sun had gone darkness would soon come. Fortunately the sky was very clear, so twilight would be later than it had been the night before.
    „It looks as if the moorland near here gives way soon to a little bit of wooded country, according to the map," said Julian. „We"ll look out for clumps of trees."
    After another little stretch of moorland Julian pointed to the right. „Look!" he said. „Trees!
    Quite a lot - a proper little wood."
    „And isn"t that water over there?" said Anne. They stood stil and gazed hard. Was it Gloomy Water? It might be. It looked such a dark blue, They hurried on eagerly. It didn"t look very far now. Timmy ran ahead, his long tail waving in the air.
    They went down a little winding path and joined a cart-track that was very much overgrown - so overgrown that it hardly looked like a track. „This must lead to Two-Trees,"
    said Julian. „I wish the sun wasn"t going down so quickly. We"ll hardly have any time to look round!"
    They entered a wood. The track wound through it. The trees must have been cleared at some time to make a road through the wood. And then, quite suddenly, they came on what had once been the lovely house of Two-Trees.
    It was a desolate ruin, blackened and scorched with fire. The windows had no glass, the roof had gone, except for a few rafters here and there. Two birds flew up with a loud cry as the children went near.
    „Two Maggies!" said Anne, with a laugh. They were black and white magpies, their long tails stretched out behind them. „I wonder if they know the message too."
    The house stood on the edge of the lake. Gloomy Water was indeed a good name for it.
    It lay there, smooth and dark, a curious deep blue. No little waves lapped the edge. It was as stil as if it were frozen.
    „I don"t like it," said Anne. „I don"t like this