Dickie and Mary looked down modestly at their shoes until their silence was the most obvious answer.

"I'll walk back with you," Tom went on. "Threshing won't start again for ten minutes. Tell me all the news."

So they told him the full story of their idea for getting all the Lone Pine Club members together under one roof and introducing two new members as well.

"And there's Jenny, Tom," Peter said. "What about her? Do you think her father will let her come?"

"I'm not going if Jenny can't come," Tom said stoutly, "Let's telephone her to-night like you said. And if your mother sends a letter to Mr Harman, he'll let her go... Now I must cut back... Pick me up on your way down to Onnybrook tonight, will you, David. Cheerio!"

As soon as he was out of sight they heard the clear lament of the peewit's cry, which Peter answered.

Dickie, who was in front kicking a pebble down the roadway, turned and said, "Are you grateful to us now, you two selfish beasts?"

"Perhaps we will be to-night about six, when Father gets home." David laughed.

"Nearly six hours still to go, and I shan't know because I must get home before dark," Peter sighed. "How can you let me know, David?"

"Telephone you, too, you chump. After we've spoken to Rye and Barton Beach... Buck up, you two midgets. I want my dinner... Afterwards we might go up and have a look at the camp, and maybe light a fire."

"That's all very well," Peter said, "but I wish I knew what was happening at Clun - if they've got there yet. It all seems too good to be real..."

"I like it," Dickie said as he opened the gate of Witchend. "It's a holiday in a holiday."

2. Penny Makes a Friend

On the same evening that the Lone Piners met at Witchend the moon was silvering the huddled roofs of the town of Rye. There was no wind and the great wooden signboard of the Gay Dolphin inn, which stands at the end of Traders' Street, hung straight and still over the archway leading into the yard. Mrs Warrender, the owner of the hotel, was sitting in her dining-room with her son Jonathan and her niece Penelope when the telephone rang.

"I'll go," Jon said, "but it's probably for you, Mother."

The telephone was in the dark little hall outside the dining-room, and as Jon left the door open the other two could hear every word he said. At first Penny paid no attention, then, as she heard Jon's astonished voice say, "Not David Morton?... David Morton from Witchend?... Gosh, David! How are you? What's wrong?" she jumped from her chair and ran into the hall.

"Give it to me, Jon," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Give it to me. Let me speak to David."