Chapter 8 A LAZY EVENING
　　The five children and Mrs. Andrews stared in surprise at Mr. Andrews, when he shouted at them.
　　He repeated some of his words again.
　　'Go on! You tell me all you know. And then I'll tell you!'
　　Julian decided¹ to tell, very shortly, what had happened at the old railway yard, and whatWooden-Leg Sam had said. He made the tale sound rather bald and dull. Mr. Andrews listenedto it with the greatest interest, never once taking his eyes off Julian.
　　Then he sat back and drank a whole cup of strong tea in one gulp². The children waited for him tospeak, wondering what he had to say.
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　　'Now,' he said, making his voice sound important and impressive, 'you listen to me. Don't any ofyou ever go down to that yard again. It's a bad place.'
　　'Why?' asked Julian. 'What do you mean - a bad place?'
　　'Things have happened there - years and years ago,' said Mr. Andrews. 'Bad things. Accidents. Itwas all shut up after that and the tunnel wasn't used any more. See? Nobody was allowed to gothere, and nobody did, because they were scared. They knew it was a bad place, where badthings happen.'
　　Anne felt frightened. 'But Mr. Andrews - you don't mean there really are spook-trains, do you?'
　　she asked, her face rather pale.
　　Mr. Andrews pursed up his lips and nodded very solemnly indeed. 'That's just what I do mean.
　　Spook-trains come and go. Nobody knows why. But it's bad luck to be there when they come.
　　They might take you away, see?'
　　Julian laughed. 'Oh - not as bad as that, sir, surely! Anyway, you're frightening Anne, so let'schange the subject. I don't believe in spook-trains.'
　　But Mr. Andrews didn't seem to want to stop talking about the trains. 'Wooden-Leg Sam wasright to hide himself when they come along,' he said. 'I don't know how he manages to stay on ina bad place like that. Never knowing when a train is going to come creeping out of that tunnel inthe darkness.'
　　Julian was not going to have Anne frightened any more. He got up from the table and turned toMrs. Andrews.
　　'Thank you very much for a lovely day and lovely food!' he said. 'We must go now. Come along,Anne.'
　　'Wait a minute,' said Mr. Andrews. 'I just want to warn you all very solemnly that you mustn't godown to that railway yard. You hear me, Jock? You might never come back. Old Wooden-LegSam's mad, and well he may be, with spook-trains coming along in the dead of night. It's a badand dangerous place. You're not to go near it!'
　　'Well - thank you for the warning, sir,' said Julian, politely, suddenly disliking the small manwith the big nose very much indeed. 'We'll be going. Goodbye, Mrs. Andrews. Good-bye, Jock.

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