“I don’t know,” said Julian. “We’ll ask the inn-woman when she comes.”

They asked her, and she shook her head. “No. He’s not caught yet. But he will be. All the roads from the moor are guarded and everyone is on the watch. He was a robber who broke into houses and attacked anyone who tried to prevent him. A dangerous fellow.”

“Julian - is it all right to go hiking on the moors if there’s an escaped prisoner about?” said Anne. “I shan’t feel very comfortable.”

“We’ve got Timmy,” said Julian. “He would be strong enough to protect us from three prisoners if necessary! You needn’t worry.”

“Woof,” agreed Timmy, at once, and thumped his tail on the floor.

At last everyone had finished breakfast. Even starving Anne couldn’t manage the last bit of toast. She sighed happily, “I feel myself again,” she announced. “I can’t say I feel very much like walking - but I know it would be good for me after that enormous meal.”

“Good or not, we’re going on our way,” said Julian, getting up. “I’ll buy some sandwiches first.”

The inn-woman was delighted with their hearty praises. She gave them some packets of sandwiches and waved good-bye. “You come again whenever you can,” she said. “I’ll always have something nice for you.”

The four went down the street and took a lane at the bottom. It wound about for a short way and then came into a valley. A stream ran down the middle of the valley. The children could hear it gurgling from where they stood.

“Lovely!” said Anne. “Are we going along by the stream? I’d like to.”

Julian looked at his map. “Yes - we could,” he said. “I’ve marked the path to follow, and the stream joins it some way on. So if you like we could go along by it, though it will be very rough walking.”

They made their way to the stream. “Now Dick,” said Julian, when they had left the path. “What about telling us all those peculiar things that happened in the night? There’s nobody about to hear - not a soul in sight. Let’s hear everything. We’ll soon tell you whether it was a dream or not.”

“Right,” said Dick, “Well, here’s the tale. It does sound pretty queer. Listen...”

Chapter Nine

Dick surprises the others

Dick began his tale - but it really was very difficult to hear it because they couldn’t walk four abreast, as there was no path to follow.

In the end Julian stopped and pointed to a thick clump of heather. “Let’s go and sit there and hear Dick’s story properly. I keep missing bits. No one can hear us if we sit here.”

They sat down and Dick started again. He told about the old woman who was afraid her son would be angry if she let them stay the night. He told about his bed in the straw.

“And now here comes the bit I think must have been a dream,” he said. “I woke up to hear a scratching noise on the wooden walls of the barn...”