Chapter 19 WHAT AN ADVENTURE!
　　And now, what had happened to Anne? She had stumbled on and on for a long time, shouting toMr. Luffy. And outside his tent Mr. Luffy sat, reading peacefully. But, as the evening came, andthen darkness, he became very worried indeed about the five children.
　　He wondered what to do. It was hopeless for one man to search the moors². Half a dozen or morewere needed for that! He decided³ to get his car and go over to Olly's Farm to get the men fromthere. So off he went.
　　But when he got there he found no one at home except Mrs. Andrews and the little maid. Mrs.
　　Andrews looked bewildered and worried.
　　'What is the matter?' said Mr. Luffy gently, as she came running out to the car, looking troubled.
　　'Oh, it's you, Mr. Luffy,' she said, when he told her who he was. 'I didn't know who you were.
　　Mr. Luffy, something strange is happening. All the men have gone - and all the lorries, too. Myhusband has taken the car and nobody will tell me anything. I'm so worried.'
　　Mr. Luffy decided not to add to her worries by telling her the children were missing. He justpretended he had come to collect some milk. 'Don't worry,' he said comfortingly to Mrs.
　　Andrews. 'You'll find things are all right in the morning, I expect. I'll come and see you then.
　　Now I must be off on an urgent matter.'
　　He went bumping along the road in his car, puzzled. He had known there was something funnyabout Olly's Farm, and he had puzzled his brains a good deal over Olly's Yard and the spook-trains. He hoped the children hadn't got mixed up in anything dangerous.
　　'I'd better go down and report to the police that they're missing,' he thought. 'After all, I'm moreor less responsible for them. It's very worrying indeed.'
　　He told what he knew at the police station, and the sergeant⁴, an intelligent man, at once musteredsix men and a police car.
　　98
　　'Have to find those kids,' he said. 'And we'll have to look into this Olly's Farm business, sir, andthese here spook-trains, whatever they may be. We've known there was something funny goingon, but we couldn't put our finger on it. But we'll find the children first.'
　　They went quickly up to the moors and the six men began to fan out to search, with Mr. Luffy atthe head. And the first thing they found was Anne!
　　She was still stumbling along, crying for Mr. Luffy, but in a very small, weak voice now. Whenshe heard his voice calling her in the darkness she wept for joy.

分享到：