He really got along very quickly and it was soon obvious that he was not nearly as old as he had pretended to be at Keep View. Indeed it was soon obvious that he was not what he had pretended to be at all! They reached the road at last and turned in the direction of Clun, and after only a few minutes they heard a car coming along behind them.

"Stand each side of the road and put your hands out," Mr Cantor ordered. "We've got to stop him."

The car pulled up at their signal and Mr Cantor stepped forward.

"Sorry," he said, "but thanks for stopping. Take us into Clun as quickly as you can, please."

The man in the driving seat looked surprised at the tone of voice and was about to protest when Mr Cantor put a hand in his waistcoat pocket and produced something which the children could not see. But they did hear him say "Police" and "Hurry" before they were bundled into the back seat and Mr Cantor got in next to the driver.

"Gosh!" Dickie whispered. "He's a detective. A real one. I've never met one before!..."

"I think after all he's turned out to be nice," Mary murmured. "I like dashing along like this, Dickie. It's fun! Here's the bridge already... Look! He's stopping outside the policeman's house, so it must be true I suppose."

Then they found themselves on the pavement and Mr Cantor spoke in his old voice.

"I am deeply indebted to you, Richard and Mary, for a most interesting and instructive afternoon. I shall see you all soon doubtless, but now I must fulfil the promise I made to the policeman this morning. Good day and thank you for your courtesy," he added to the mystified car driver.

The twins watched the door of the policeman's house close behind Mr Cantor and then looked at each other in triumph.

"It was all worth it," Dickie said. "Just think of their faces when we tell 'em... Think of Jon's face when he knows that Mr Cantor was a detective all the time."

"Think how they'll look when we tell them how we found out!"

"Think how mad they'll be when they know it was Mackie and us who found the place where they hide the sheep... Oh, Mary! What a smashing day it's been."

"'Tisn't over yet, Dickie... Let's go up to the ruins... It's getting dark so it must be time to meet the others. Come on... You'll have to walk now, Mackie. I can't carry you any further."

They trudged up the hill in the dusk while the cruel, cold wind sang through the ruins of the Keep. Macbeth bounded ahead with a joyful bark and they heard a welcoming call which sounded like Jenny's. Two minutes later they found the three girls, crouched down behind a great buttress, but warm and out of the wind.