“Wait till someone escapes and then give him a message,” said Dick. “And that’s just what happened, isn’t it, Julian? That round-headed man I saw was the escaped prisoner, and he was sent to tell Dirty Dick and Maggie where the stolen goods were hidden - so that they could get them before anyone else did!”

“Yes. I’m sure that’s it,” said Julian, “His friend, the escaped prisoner, probably wouldn’t understand the message at all - but Dirty Dick and Maggie would, because they knew all about the robbery. And now Maggie will certainly try to find out where the stuff is.”

“Well, we must find it first!” said George, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “We’re here first, anyway. And tomorrow, as early as possible we’ll begin to snoop round. What was the next clue in the message, Dick? After Two-Trees and Gloomy Water.”

“Saucy Jane,” said Dick.

“Sounds a silly sort of clue,” said Anne. “Do you suppose Maggie and Jane are both in the secret?”

’Saucy Jane sounds more like a boat to me,’ said Dick.

’Of course!’ said George. “A boat! Why not? There’s a lake here, and I imagine that people don’t build a house beside a lake unless they want to go boating and bathing and fishing. I bet we shall find a boat called Saucy Jane tomorrow - and the stolen goods will be inside it.”

“Too easy!” said Dick. “And not a very clever place either. Anyone could come across goods hidden in a boat. No - Saucy Jane is a clue, but we shan’t find the stolen goods in her. And remember, there’s that bit of paper as well. It must have something to do with the hiding-place too, I should think.”

“Where is it?” asked Julian. “That wretched policeman! He tore it up. Have you still got the pieces, Dick?”

“Of course,” said Dick. He fished in his pocket and brought them out. “Four little pieces! Anyone got some gummed paper?”

Nobody had - but George produced a small roll of Elastoplast. Strips were cut and stuck behind the four portions of paper, Now it was whole again. They all examined it carefully.

“Look - four lines drawn, meeting in the centre,” said Julian. “At the outer end of each line there’s a word, so faintly written I can hardly read one of them. What’s this one? “Tock Hill.” And this next one is “Steeple”. Whatever are the others?”

They made them out at last. “ “Chimney,” ” said Anne. “That’s the third.”

“And “Tall Stone” is the fourth,” said George. “Whatever do they all mean? We shall never, never find out!”

“We’ll sleep on it,” said Julian, cheerfully. “It’s wonderful what good ideas come in the night. It will be a very interesting little problem to solve tomorrow!”

Chapter Thirteen

A night in the cellar

The piece of paper was carefully folded and this time Julian took it for safe keeping. “I can’t imagine what it means, but it’s clearly important,” he said. “We may quite suddenly come on something - or think of something - that will give us a clue to what the words and the lines mean on the paper.”