Penny drew her breath in sharply and felt Mary's shoulders trembling against her arm. So they had not got as far as "earthen vessels"! She almost laughed aloud in triumph! How bucked the others would be when they heard this. She could not help wondering, though, how Miss Ballinger was going to persuade David and Jon to come over without the message she had refused to write. She was certain that the boys would find some way of rescuing them, but it was not likely that they would tell their enemies that they were coming. She supposed this must be another trick.

Miss Ballinger was speaking again. "The torch. Thank you... Now, will you children see reason and tell me what you know," and she flashed the beam round the room and then cried out sharply: "Come out of hiding. Where are you all?" and then, just as the beam moved towards them across the floor, Mary whispered:

"Go on, Mackie boy! After her! Seek her, boy!"

Macbeth needed no second invitation, but shot from his mistress's restraining hand like a little black bullet towards his enemy. At the same time Dickie crawled from under the table, and with an exultant cry of what sounded like "Up the Lone Piners," charged towards the door.

Then a lot happened at the same time. Miss Ballinger shouted and kicked out to protect herself from Macbeth. The kick, by an unlucky chance, caught Mackie just as he was launching himself to the attack and bowled him over. He yelped with surprise and pain and then again with annoyance as Dickie, hot on his heels, fell over him. Miss Ballinger, in her fury, dropped the torch, which rolled, still alight, towards Penny, who was just emerging from under the table. As boy and dog on the floor began to sort themselves out, Miss Ballinger muttered something very unladylike and slipped back into the hall, slamming and locking the door again before Dickie could get to his feet.

Penny grabbed the torch and shone it on Dickie who, scarlet in the face with rage and humiliation, was beating his fists on the thin panels of the door.

Mary said: "I don't think we've been very clever, Penny, do you? We weren't very cunning that time. What do we do now?"

Penny laughed. "Come in the camp again... Actually, we've been quite clever. We've got the torch, and by what she said they don't know as much about the clues as we do, although they stole that bit of paper... Come on, Dickie. We mustn't waste this battery."

Dickie had his ear to the panel of the door and suddenly turned and shouted: "She's come back! I can hear her outside. I think it's her. She's going to open the door again."

As the line of orange light showed again, Dickie squeezed behind the door so that he could not be seen by anyone opening it from the other side.