"Oh, isn't there something to worry about?" Dickie snorted. ' 'That's all you know, Peter. First of all it will soon be supper time, and next you've never been lost in a fog and Mary and me have. And let me tell you it's jolly beastly."

The light had nearly gone now and although the fog was not thick it looked as if it might soon be very unpleasant. For a minute or two they wondered whether it would be worth while trying to find their way back to Bury Fields, but Jon and Tom were against that.

"We can't be far away from a road," the latter argued, "and this track must lead somewhere. If we go back it will mean Alan will have to turn out and guide us and he's got enough worries."

"Let's go on and chance it," Jon said. "This must lead somewhere. Tracks lead to roads and I think nearly all the roads round here must lead to Clun in the end. Don't you worry, twins. We'll be all right."

"We're not worried, thank you, Jon - we've had an adventure like this before."

So they went on in the gathering gloom for another ten minutes without passing anything they could remember.

Suddenly Tom, who was in front with a very subdued Jenny, turned round and shouted, "The track goes downhill now and I can see some trees in front. I think maybe we're getting somewhere."

But all that they found was a small cluster of pine trees in a hollow. Their track led them into it and then joined another rough road.

"Now we must be nearer something," Jon said, "for this road has been used lately and looks quite important for this sort of country. Trouble is, which way shall we go - to the right downhill, or up to the left?"

"If only I hadn't been such a fool about the map," David muttered.

"When you've quite finished," Mary broke in, "somebody had better come over here and see if they can see what I see."

Dickie was at her side before she had finished speaking.

"No need for anyone to worry any more," he said. "We're saved. Mary's saved us. This adventure is over."

But Dickie was wrong. The adventure had hardly begun.

They all crowded round Mary and looked where she was pointing. While they had been standing at the junction of the two tracks she had turned to the right and taken a few steps down the hill. Now, in the deepening twilight they could just see below them an ugly, squat house which appeared to be surrounded by high stone walls.

"I don't believe it," Penny said. "It can't just be there. I mean why didn't we see it as we came along that other path? We ought to have done. This is a mirage."