Back indoors he made up the fire but could not settle down to anything. He felt annoyed that he had to stay in and not be with his uncle - after all, he had found the map - and upset that he had seen nothing all day of the Mortons. At his aunt's directions he blacked out the house and then fetched some paper with the intention of writing to his father. He was just biting the end of his pen when Mrs. Ingles looked up from her book and said, "Someone's coming, Tom. I can hear running in the lane. Slip out and see who it is."

Tom closed the door carefully behind him and stood in the dark listening. His aunt was right. The fog was playing strange tricks with the sound - sometimes the footsteps seemed far away, and then, suddenly, at the gate, they stopped and a breathless voice called, "Tom! Tom! Are you there? I can't find the gate. Where is it?"

David! He ran across the yard in the direction of the voice.

"Here I am. Wait a sec. I'll find you."

Then he saw the dim glow of a torch as David groped down by the hedge,

"Gosh! I'm glad to see you," Tom said. "What's happened to you all day, and what's wrong now? Better come in."

But David was so breathless that he could hardly speak, and he actually put a hand on Tom's shoulder as he led him back across the yard. At the door he gasped, "Is your uncle in, Tom? I want him badly."

"No, he's not, but you must come in. I've got something exciting to tell you too."

The light dazzled David and at first he did not see Mrs. Ingles in the chair by the fire, but when the latter saw the boy she forgot her ankle and stood up.

"Lawks!" she said. "What's wrong with the boy? Sit down, lad, and get your breath back. You're white as a sheet."

"Where's Mr. Ingles!" David said. "I must find him. The twins are lost."

"Now take it easy, boy," she said, sitting down suddenly. "Those two can't be lost. Just tell me slowly what has happened. Alf isn't here just now - he's gone down to Onnybrook. Take it easy."

David suddenly felt sick. He was tired and hungry and out of breath, and not a little frightened about the twins. He remembered his mother's face just now when she had sent him out for help, and he thought of what his father would say when he heard the full story.