"Never mind that now. Just help me get this 'chute folded, old chap. My ankle is hurting me, and I'm hungry and cold, and I'd like to get going, but I can't walk without help." He turned to Jacob. "If you'd just help me up and let me lean on you to take the weight off the foot, I think I could manage if it's not too far." "Not very far," Jacob said.

The fog was still as thick, but Jacob led the way down to the big clearing again, past the rock under which they had sheltered, and then into the wood. Progress was slow because the stranger could only hobble a few steps at a time and the twins noticed how he winced when his twisted foot touched the ground.

So they staggered down to Appledore, and in the garden Jacob said to the children, "You go to the front door and I let you in. I take the officer this way at the back. It is quicker."

Dickie said firmly, "No, thank you. We'll come with you if it's quicker. I'm hungry and Mary's sleepy - an' if she's too sleepy to eat her supper I can manage hers too. Don't leave us out here in the cold. We'll come with you."

"You will do what I say..." Jacob began, but the officer interrupted him:

"Come along, and don't argue. I can't manage much more of this hobbling. Let's try the front door."

Grumbling and muttering, Jacob went round to the front and banged on the knocker - once, twice quickly, and once again. Then the door opened and everybody seemed to talk at once. The twins, from behind, saw Mrs. Thurston dressed in a red frock and the usual cigarette was smouldering between her lips. She stepped back in surprise. Then Jacob started to explain, the stranger began to thank her for her hospitality, and Dickie spoke louder than anyone, so that they all turned to listen to him.

"And please hurry up and let us in, 'cos we're tired and hungry, and we've had the biggest adventure. We've been lost on the mountain and the old devil was in his chair, and the fog came, and we heard the plane, and then this officer hooting like an owl..."

"And what do you think, Mrs. Thurston?" added Mary, now more or less awake. "Did you know Jacob tries to hoot like an owl too?"

"Come in quickly, and don't talk so much," said Mrs. Thurston sharply. "It must be nearly black-out time. You children are a nuisance. First you come and then you run away, and now Jacob tells me he found you wandering about in the wood."