“I think so,” said George, and she lugged him up in her arms. “He’s awfully heavy, but I think I can just manage him. Perhaps the fresh air will revive him when we get outside.”

“But George, we don’t know our way out of here,”

said Anne, fearfully. “If Timmy can’t lead us, we’re lost! We’d end up by wandering miles and miles inside this hill and never getting out!”

“Well, we’ll simply have to make a shot at it,” said William. “Come on, I’ll lead the way. We really MUST go!”

He went out of the cave and down a passage; the others followed. George carrying the limp Timmy. But very soon William came to a fork and stopped.

“Oh dear - do we go to the left or the right?” he wondered.

Nobody knew. George shone her torch here and there, trying to remember. The beam of light picked up something on the ground nearby.

It was two sticks, one short and one long, in the shape of a cross! George gave an exclamation.

“Look - a patrin! Left by Sniffer to show us the way out. We have to take the passage that the long stick points to! Oh, I hope that Sniffer has left patrins at every corner and every fork!”

They took the right-hand way and went on, their torches making long beams in the darkness, and at every place where they might go wrong, they saw a patrin, a message left by Sniffer to show them the right way to go.

“Another cross, we go this way,” said Anne.

“Here’s a patrin again, we take this fork!” said George. And so it went on until they came safely to the entrance of the hill. How thankful they were to see the mist. At least it meant that they were in the open air!

“Now to get to the horses,” said William. “They will each have to carry two of us at once, I’m afraid.”

And then, just as they were making their way to where they had left the horses, the gypsies’ dogs began to bark the place down!

“They’ve heard us!” said William, desperately. “Buck up! We’ll be stopped if we don’t get off at once!”

Then a voice shouted loudly. “I can see you over there, with your torches! Stop at once! Do you hear me? STOP!”

Chapter Twenty

Excitement in the morning

The dawn was coming now. The mist was no longer full of darkness, but was white, and thinning rapidly. The four children hurried to the horses, which were stamping impatiently by the trees. George couldn’t go very fast because of Timmy. He really was very heavy.

Suddenly he began to struggle. The fresh, cool air had revived him and he wanted to be set down. George put him down thankfully, and he began to bark defiantly at the gypsies who were now coming out of their caravans, their dogs with them.