Alan nodded. "Yes. We were coming up a track below the level of the hill parallel with the dyke. Of course we couldn't see you or any of your policemen because they were the other side of the hill, but the flames frightened the horses and as we'd made up our minds to get into the house somehow we all turned and came down the hill as fast as we could, and tried to calm the horses down in the dyke. How did you get the gates open, by the way? Did you knock or ring?"

Mr Cantor smiled specially at Dickie.

"Dickie doesn't realize it, but I shot the lock out. I couldn't wait... And now, thank you to Mrs Denton for her hospitality, and thank you to my new friends for helping me to do my job."

All the Lone Piners were yawning now and were too weary to realize the full significance of what they had heard. It was just as Agnes pushed back her chair that there came a thunder of knocks on the outside door. When David glanced up in surprise he saw Mr Cantor look hurriedly at the watch on his wrist. Then he caught David's eye and winked as the door opened to admit the large policeman from Clun.

"Sorry I am to break up this handsome party, but I'm to ask if there are in this house twins of the name of Morton?"

"And what would you be wanting with those poor innocents?" demanded Agnes.

"Innocents?" said the policeman, "That's as may be. I've come to take 'em away."

Dickie gave a whoop of joy.

"Mary, we're going to prison... This policeman has come to arrest us."

Mary shook her head sleepily.

"Say that again, twin. It sounded stupid to me... It sounded as if you said someone had come to arrest us."

"So I did. So he has. There he is."

"Don't be silly, twin. There's only one policeman in the world I'd let arrest me and that's my lovely Mr Cantor. He's the king of all policemen."

Here the Clun policeman guffawed loudly and then pretended to have a bad cough as his superior officer looked at him coldly.

"What shall I be doing about the car, then, sir?" he said.

"No need to do anything. We'll be out in a few minutes, thank you." He turned to the twins. "He has come to fetch you though. You've helped the police, so they've sent a big car to fetch you... I'll do my best to arrest you another time, Dickie."

At this the party began to break up and there was great confusion while everybody began to thank everybody else before trooping out into the dark where the two cars were waiting in the yard.