Chapters (15)
JONATHAN (JON) WARRENDER. A few months older than David. Lives with his widowed mother at the Gay Dolphin Hotel in Rye, Sussex, where he first met the Mortons and shared an exciting adventure with them, and his red-headed cousin-
PENELOPE (PENNY) WARRENDER. A year younger than Jon. Her parents live abroad and in the holidays she too lives at the Dolphin.
TOM INGLES. A Londoner who now lives with his uncle and aunt and works on their farm near Witchend. Age 16 and now becoming reconciled to country life. Quick witted, brave and liked by everyone who knows him - and very particularly by
JENNY HARMAN. Age 15. She lives with her father and step-mother in a village called Barton Beach a few miles from Witchend. She is an only girl, an enthusiastic member of the Club and a loyal friend.
The latest member, who is not featured in this story, is a Londoner called HARRIET SPARROW who is a special favourite of the twins. MACBETH, the Morton's black Scottie, may also be considered a "founder member"!
1. Peter's Dream
This story begins two nights after Christmas in Petronella Sterling's little bedroom high under the roof of Hatchholt, a sturdy little house which takes its name from a nearby reservoir in the windy heights of the Long Mynd in the county of Shropshire.
Peter, as her friends call her, was dreaming - a strangely vivid dream, which was almost more real than reality. She was searching for someone or something very important. She had a feeling of great urgency in this dream. There was something which had to be done and which she was sure nobody could do better than herself, but she struggled in vain to remember what it was.
Then, like the veil of gauze that is raised sometimes before the last scene of a pantomime, Peter began to see the dream country through which she was running. First, she realized that everything around her was cold and grey, but the light was so weird that she could not tell whether it was day or night. Soon, then, she realized that she was stumbling downhill through heather that scratched her legs, towards a little clump of pine trees in a hollow. She turned her head and, with a sudden shock, saw that she was not alone. A few yards to her left a girl of about her own age was running with her, and as Peter looked at her with curiosity, the girl turned towards her and gave her a friendly smile.