Peter was so thrilled that she nearly kissed him. Just in time she realized that he might not appreciate it, so she held out her hands instead.

"Tom! I never guessed it might be you and I'm so glad to see you."

"It was your blue shirt made me think it might be you, Peter. Dunno what made me turn round and look, I'm sure, but I was fed up shoving that bike along. Where are the others, anyway, and where am I?"

"But I thought it was tomorrow you were coming. That's what we said, didn't we?"

"Yes, you did. But Uncle's been a sport and given me today off, and golly, Peter! it's a gruelling ride all right in this heat. So I decided to come today, and I sent a telegram to Seven Gates saying I was on the way. I got along fairly well, and knew I was well on the trail when I came to a pub called the 'Hope Anchor' down the other side there. The woman there had seen the twins all right...

"Not today, Tom? She hasn't seen them today, has she?" she interrupted so urgently that Tom looked up in surprise.

"No," he said wonderingly. "Why?"

"I'll tell you in a minute. Go on. Tell me how you got here and then I'll tell you our adventure... We've lost the twins again, Tom."

"Honest? Gosh! That's grim. What can we do?... Oh, all right, but I haven't got much to tell. I just got fed up and lost myself twice and had to push the old bike up that mountain. The path was all stones and I got a whopping puncture that made things worse, but I guess I knew Dickie's Devil's Chair when I saw it up there. I didn't know which way to go then, or where I was, but this seemed as good a way as any... I say, Peter... I've come across a jolly rum place along here. I left the bike there when I saw you, so you'd better come along, too... Now buck up and tell me 'bout yourself and those twins."

As they hurried along the ridge, Peter told Tom as quickly as she could of their adventures.

"And you didn't see a sign of them anywhere, Tom? Or anybody to ask?... I didn't really suppose that you would, and as I haven't seen them I think the best thing we can do is to get down into the Dingle when we've got your bike and join up with the others... I say, Tom! What's that?"

"That's what I want to know. That's the place I told you about. It's a rum show, isn't it?"