“Hallo, Jock! So you were able to come,” said Dick. “I say, was that you in the lorry this morning, going by the green pool?”

“Yes. Did you see me? I saw you and waved like mad,” said Jock. “I wanted to stop the lorry and get down and speak to you, but the driver’s an awful bad-tempered sort of fellow. He wouldn’t hear of stopping. Said my stepfather would be wild with him if he did. Did you see him — my stepfather, I mean? He was in his car behind.”

“Were you off to market or something?” asked Julian.

“I expect that’s where the lorry was going,” said Jock. “It was empty, so I suppose my stepfather was going to pick up something there. I came back in the car. The lorry was supposed to come later.”

“How did you like Cecil Dearlove?” asked Dick, grinning in the darkness.

“Awful! Worse than his name,” groaned Jock. “Wanted me to play soldiers all the time! The frightful thing is I’ve got to have him at the farm for the day to-morrow. Another day gone west. What shall I do with him?”

“Roll him in the pig-sty,” suggested Dick. “Or put him with Biddy’s puppies and let him sleep there. Tell him to play soldiers with them.”

Jock chuckled. “I wish I could. The worst of it is Mum is awfully pleased that my stepfather’s got this Cecil boy for me to be friends with. Don’t let’s talk about it. Are you ready to start off?”

“Yes,” said Julian, and began to scramble quietly out of his bag. “We didn’t tell the girls. Anne doesn’t want to come, and I don’t want George to leave Anne by herself. Now, let’s be very, very quiet till we’re out of hearing.”

Dick got out of his bag too. The boys had not undressed that night, except for their coats, so all they had to do was to slip these on, and then crawl out of the tent.

“Which is the way — over there?” whispered Jock. Julian took his arm and guided him. He hoped he wouldn’t lose his way in the starlit darkness. The moorland looked so different at night!

“If we make for that hill you can dimly see over there against the starlit sky, we should be going in the right direction,” said Julian. So on they went, keeping towards the dark hill that rose up to the west.

It seemed very much further to the railway yard at night than in the daytime. The three boys stumbled along, sometimes almost falling as their feet caught in tufts of heather. They were glad when they found some sort of path they could keep on.

“This is about where we met the shepherd,” said Dick, in a low voice. He didn’t know why he spoke so quietly. He just felt as if he must. “We can’t be very far off now.”

They went on for some way, and then Julian pulled Dick by the arm. “Look,” he said. “Down there. I believe that’s the old yard. You can see the lines gleaming faintly here and there.”