And yet Tom hesitated. He hated going back without getting nearer to the house. It would only take a few minutes, and he might be able to dodge across the patch of moonlight when the driver and his mate went to the other side of the van. It was true that he ran a big risk of being seen from one of the windows, but his luck had held so far and was hardly likely to break now.

Then his mind was made up for him.

Somewhere at the side of the house a door opened. A man stepped out, put his hands to his mouth and shouted, "Come on in, you two... Boss wants you right away... Buck up!"

The two men dropped what they were doing and strolled over towards the open back door, and Tom, on sudden impulse, left the shelter of the tunnel and started for the van. Somehow he felt an impulse to examine this first, and with the guards called off this was his big chance.

But suddenly his scalp tickled with terror as the silence was broken by the deep baying of a great dog. He looked back over his shoulder and saw an enormous animal like a wolf bounding across the moonlit patch towards him.

"What a fool I've been!" poor Tom panted as he tried to spurt. The only thing he could possibly do now was to jump for the van and hope that the back would be open.

."But it must be open," he prayed.

The dog was gaining on him fast, and he thought he heard men's voices shouting as well as he made a last great effort and scrambled up the tailboard of the van. At first glance it looked as if the big double doors were closed, but suddenly one of them pushed outwards a little and a strong hand grabbed him and pulled him in. Before he could cry out he was flung on the floor of the van and another hand was put over his mouth. The door closed with a bang as the great dog, snapping and snarling, hurled himself against it.

Tom began to struggle. A man shouted outside, and then another voice that he knew breathed in his ear:

"Gosh, Jon - it's Tom!... But we're for it now, for they've heard the dog. Here they all come... Lie flat on the floor and let's hope for the best!"

12. The Girls to the Rescue

High on the hill above Clun, Penny, Peter, Jenny and the twins crouched in the sheltered corner of H.Q.3.

"It's no use staying here, I tell you," Jenny was saying. "We'll all die of the cold if we're here much longer, and there's no sense in it. Let's go home now and get something to eat and tell Agnes not to worry... Of course, something dreadful may have happened to them, but I don't think it could really, because Tom's with them."