Mrs. Morton raised a red face from the fire. "Very well," she said. "There's not much more I can do here, and I'm going back to Witchend presently and shall send Agnes down. Or perhaps it would be better if you asked her to come here and relieve me when you go. Take care of the twins, David. Remember they can't swim properly, although they're very enthusiastic. We packed some bathing things somewhere but you'll have to search till you find them... No, I don't know where Tom is, and if I were you I shouldn't look for him now. He's busy helping his uncle, and they're behind this morning."

"If you do see him, Mother, and if there is a chance of him coming presently, will you tell him we've gone to Hatchholt and ask him to come too?"

Mrs. Morton promised to deliver the message and pushed them out of the kitchen. They rode up the lane to Witchend. There was no sign of the twins or Macbeth, but a doleful humming led them to Agnes sitting in the sun at the back door, shredding beans.

"There now!" she said when she had heard their story. "Fancy that! Poor Mrs. Ingles, and with young Tom there, too. And your Mother wants me to go down presently and see if I can give a hand. Of course I will, but what about your dinner?"

Patiently they explained again that they would be at Hatchholt as soon as they had found the twins, and would not be back until evening.

"Well, now," Agnes mused. "Where did they say they would be going? There was something I was to tell Master David when he came back. Young limbs they are... just like two peas and all."

At last she admitted that she had allowed them to go out and to take sandwiches with them.

"But, Agnes, did they say where they were going? Did they give you any idea at all?"

Then she remembered. "Of course they did, Master David. Up to the wood they said. Where will you be off to, I asked them, and both together they said up by the wood, and I was to tell you and you'd understand."

Peter and David understood. Both of them imagined the twins having a fine old time at the Lone Pine on their own, and wondered whether the camp would ever look the same again.

"I tell you the best thing to do, David," said Peter. "I'll ride up on Sally and bring them back - that will be the quickest way. If I can't find them I'll leave a note and tell them to go and ask Tom to bring them over. I'm sure Mr. Ingles will let him come if Mary asks. I'll draw a map to show them the best way to come... But we'll take their bathing things to save time. Lend me your note-book and pencil, David, and I'll be off."