“I hate that game.” Nellie yawned. “Besides, it’s getting dark. I can’t see what you’re spying.”
“Well, just finish this one. It’s a good one, and you don’t have to see it to know what it is. It begins with F.”
Sighing, Nellie tried to concentrate. “Floor?”
“No.”
“Fruit.”
“There’s no fruit in here!”
“How’d you know if we can’t see nothing?”
“I know. Now guess again.”
Nellie groaned. “I can’t. I’m too hungry to think. I give up.”
“It’s me! Florrie!”
Nellie glared at her. “You can’t spy yourself!”
“Why not? I-” Florrie broke off as a faint creak echoed up from below. “What’s that?”
“Probably rats,” Nellie said gloomily.
Florrie gave a little squeal, then cut it off with a hand over her mouth as another creak was followed by a scraping sound.
Nellie tensed and crept to the edge of the ledge. She could see a thin sliver of light between the doors. “Someone’s out there,” she whispered.
“They can’t be back already,” Florrie whispered back. “They only left a few minutes ago.”
“Shh!” Nellie shifted closer to the edge. Her eyes widened when she saw one of the doors easing open, an inch at a time. Signaling Florrie to be quiet, she pointed at the door.
Florrie slithered forward on her backside until she could see over the edge.
As they watched, the door opened even wider and a figure slipped through. For a moment or two there was complete silence, then a voice called softly, “Nellie? Florrie? Are you in here?”
“Oh, my God. Sadie!” Nellie jumped to her feet, almost sending Florrie over the edge in her excitement. “Up here! We’re up here!”
“Thank heavens,” Sadie said more loudly. A beam of light from a torch hit Nellie in the face, momentarily blinding her. “What the heck are you doing up there? The whole village has been looking for you two.”
“Well, they didn’t look very far-that’s all I can say. Move that torch off my face. I can’t see a bloomin’ thing.” Nellie dangled her legs over the edge while Florrie jumped up and down making little squealing noises.
“You’d better get down here”-Sadie walked over to where the ladder leaned against the wall-“before them musketeers get back. Where were they going, anyhow?”
“They’ve gone to the base. And they’re not the musketeers. They’re just a bunch of silly schoolboys up to no good, that’s all.”
Sadie dragged the ladder over to the ledge. “Are you telling me little kids trapped you both up there?”
Seeing Sadie’s grin, Nellie said hotly, “They’re not so little.” She’d have said a lot more, except just then the ladder slammed against the ledge, sending up a shower of dust that made them both cough.
“Go on,” Nellie said, giving Florrie a little push. “You go first. Make it fast, will you? I don’t want to be here when those hooligans get back.”
“That’s if they come back here.” Sadie stood aside and waited for Florrie to climb down. It took her a long time, since she stopped at each rung to feel the next one below her.
Seething with impatience, Nellie waited for her to get to the bottom. “Well, their bicycles are here and they have to get back to North Horsham somehow. Unless they plan on waiting for the bus tomorrow.”
“So what are they doing on the base?”
“Dunno, they wouldn’t tell us. But they sent a Jeep over the cliff last night and stole another one, so they’re not going to just shortsheet the beds, are they. Whatever it is, it’s bound to cause some kind of damage.”
“We ought to notify the Yanks, then,” Sadie said.
Nellie barely waited for Florrie to get clear of the ladder before she scrambled down it. “I don’t suppose you’ve got anything to eat on you?” she asked hopefully.
“Sorry.” Sadie hauled the ladder back in place. “I didn’t think to bring anything. To be honest, I really didn’t think I’d find you.”
“How did you know where we were?” Florrie asked, brushing dust and bits of hay from her skirt.
“I was up the top of the windmill, looking out that little window, and I saw this Jeep go tearing across the field. I guessed it was the musketeers-at least we thought they was musketeers-so I watched until they went through the gate and up the lane, then I came looking. This barn was the only place they could have hid someone, so here I am.”
“You took a chance, coming out here on your own,” Nellie said, impressed at Sadie’s bravery.
“I’m not alone. At least, I wasn’t.” Sadie brushed her hands together, then wiped them on her skirt. “Polly was with me. I don’t know what happened, but when I got back down she’d disappeared. I went looking for her, and I thought I heard her scream, but then I went to get my bicycle and hers was gone, so she must have gone back home.”
“Probably got scared,” Florrie said, nodding. “I don’t blame her. I was scared to death. I thought we were going to die.”
“We might if we stand around here talking,” Nellie said. “Come on, I’m going home. I’m so hungry I could eat a flipping horse.”
“Wait a minute.” Sadie held up her hand. “By the time we get back to the village and tell the bobbies, we’ll probably be too late to stop those boys.”
“Probably,” Nellie agreed. “Too bad.”
“We could wait here for them to get back and capture them.”
Nellie stared at her. “Are you crazy? I’ve been stuck up on the flipping ledge since last night. I’m filthy, I’m dying of thirst, and I’m starving. I’m going home. Let the bobbies catch the buggers.”
“I think Nellie’s right,” Florrie said nervously. “After all, it’s not our job to catch them.”
Sadie tilted her head to one side and looked at them both in turn. “Don’t you want them to pay for what they did to you?”
“Well, of course we want them to pay,” Nellie said crossly. “But we know their names and we know they live in North Horsham. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find them.”
“You know their surnames?”
Nellie sighed. “No, we don’t, but-”
“North Horsham’s a big town. Do you really think the bobbies are going to waste their time looking for three schoolboys up to mischief?”
“The Yanks will if those chumps do some damage on the base.”
“No, they won’t,” Florrie said. “They’ll let the constables take care of it. They got more important things to worry about right now.”
“She’s right,” Sadie said. “Our best chance of catching them is to wait here in the dark for them to get back. There’s three of them and three of us. We should be able to take them, right?”
Nellie thought about it long and hard. She wanted nothing more than to eat a plate of fish and chips, drink a gallon of tea, and crawl into her nice, soft bed. On the other hand, it didn’t seem right that those bums should get away with all the stuff they put her through. It would feel very, very good to hand them over to the bobbies.
“All right,” she said, plopping onto a pile of hay. “Count me in.”
Sadie nodded. “Florrie?”
It was too dark to see Florrie’s expression, but Nellie could tell she was scared when she said, “Well, I’m not going to walk all the way home in the dark by myself. I suppose I’ll have to stay here with you.”
“Good for you!” Sadie sat down on the hay next to Nellie.
“How are we going to get them back to Sitting Marsh?” Florrie asked, as she joined the other two on the ground. “They’re not going to just walk quietly back with us.”
“I thought about that.” Sadie didn’t sound quite so confident, much to Nellie’s dismay. “I’m hoping that Polly will raise the alarm and bring the bobbies back here.”
Nellie leaned back against the wall. She had to be crazy to agree to this. There were too many things that could g
o wrong. They could end up worse off than they were before.
It was too late now, though. She couldn’t back out even if she wanted to, or the others would think she was a coward. No, she was the one that had got them all into this; she had to stick it out now. She only hoped that Sadie was right, and that Polly would bring help. She had a nasty feeling they were going to need it.
CHAPTER 14
Sadie sat with her arms clasped around her knees, her brow furrowed in concentration. “We’ve got to come up with a plan of attack,” she said. “Just in case Polly doesn’t come back here with the bobbies.” She lifted her head as a thought struck her. “I’m so stupid. If Polly does bring the bobbies back with her, she’ll go to the windmill. I should be up there waiting.”
“And what if she doesn’t?” Nellie demanded. “You’ll be at the windmill and we’ll be here on our own when those morons get back here.”
Sadie thought about it. “All right. Florrie will have to go to the windmill and wait there. You and I will have to tackle the boys.”
“Two against three?” Nellie laughed. “That’s not giving us much of a chance.”
“You said they were only schoolboys.”
“They were bloody big schoolboys.”
“Bigger than me,” Florrie agreed.
“I still say we can do it. After all, we will be surprising them. They think you’re up there on the ledge.”
“What if we let the air out of their tires?” Florrie suggested. “They wouldn’t get very far on their bicycles that way.”
“I say we ride their bicycles back to the village,” Nellie chimed in. “That’s what we should have done in the first place.”
“And lose the chance to grab them ourselves?” Sadie laughed. “Just think how they’re going to feel when they’re captured by women.”
“That’s if we can capture them.” Nellie got up and brushed the straw from her skirt. “I think-”
“Shhh!” Sadie held up her hand. “I hear a Jeep.”
“Oh, ’eck,” Florrie said, her voice quivering with fright. “They’re coming back.”
“Well, it looks as if we’ll have to do this by ourselves.” Sadie got up and brushed her hands together. “Okay, everyone hide. You go over there behind that old tractor, Florrie. You over there, Nellie.” She pointed to a pile of hay in the opposite corner. “When I yell ‘Now!’ everyone jump out at once.”
“And do what?” Florrie asked hoarsely.
“Go for their legs.” Sadie positioned herself behind a bale of hay next to the door and switched off the torch. “Get them on the floor and then sit on them.”
“What if we can’t see their legs?”
“Use your flipping noggin!” Sadie muttered fiercely, just as the noise of the Jeep’s engine cut out. She froze, praying the other two wouldn’t open their mouths now.
For a long, agonizing moment there was nothing but silence, both inside and outside the barn. Then, slowly, the doors slid open and three figures slipped inside.
“Now!” yelled Sadie. She charged out from behind the bale of hay and slammed into a large body.
“Oof!” said a male voice.
Sadie dropped to her knees and shoved her shoulder hard against her opponent’s knees. This time the voice yelled in pain, and went down with a satisfying thump.
Still unable to see clearly, Sadie dumped her backside onto a broad chest. The commotion going on nearby was deafening. Shrieks and screams rent the air, dust flew everywhere, and bodies fell in a tangled mess to the floor.
Then, suddenly, an eerie silence fell over the combatants. The body underneath Sadie didn’t move a muscle.
Florrie’s voice came out of the dark, high-pitched and shaking. “Sadie?”
Surprised that her opponent had given up so easily, Sadie said quickly, “You all right, Florrie?”
“Yes.” A long pause followed, then Florrie spoke again, in a weird voice Sadie hardly recognized. “But this isn’t a boy I’m sitting on.”
“Of course not, you blithering idiot,” another female voice snapped. “It’s me, isn’t it.”
Hardly able to believe her ears, Sadie turned her head in that direction. “Polly?”
“Yes!” Polly’s voice sounded strangled. “Florrie, get off my chest before you suffocate me.”
Florrie squealed apologies, amid a lot of scuffling sounds.
“Then who am I sitting on?” Nellie demanded.
To Sadie’s horror, she heard Lady Elizabeth’s hoarse voice answer, “I’m rather afraid it’s me.”
“Oh, blimey,” Nellie muttered.
Sadie briefly closed her eyes. It hadn’t been a Jeep at all she’d heard. It must have been her ladyship’s motorcycle.
More scuffling followed, with Nellie mumbling over and over, “I’m so terribly sorry, your ladyship. Really I am.”
By now Sadie had a really nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She shifted her weight and closed her eyes when she heard a groan. “Oh, Gawd,” she muttered. “Don’t tell me.”
“That’s George,” Polly said, confirming Sadie’s worst fears.
Scrambling to her feet, Sadie tried to make the best of it. Flicking on her torch, she said cheerfully, “Well, if you had been the boys, we’d have done a really good job of bringing them down.”
“Boys?” Lady Elizabeth sounded bewildered. “What boys?”
“The boys what captured me and Florrie.” Quickly Nellie explained.
With heavy grunting, soft cursing, and general thumping, George climbed to his feet. Seconds later, a second bright beam from a torch in his hand swept around the barn.
“Sorry, guv’nor,” Sadie said cheerfully. “We thought you was the boys coming back. We were going to capture them and march them back to the village.”
“Always supposing they survived your attack,” George said dryly. “What do I have to do to get through your heads that it’s dangerous to take police matters in your own hands? You all could have been really hurt tackling three thugs like that.”
“Well, George,” Lady Elizabeth said, “we have to commend them for trying.” She looked a little like a scarecrow with straw sticking out of her hair and clinging to her cardigan. “The thing is, what do we do now?”
“Well, I reckon we wait until they come back.” George’s voice was doubtful. “If they come back, that is.”
“They’ll come back for their bicycles,” Nellie said. “They’re over there by the wall.”
George grunted. “Let’s hope they bring the Jeep back with them, that’s all.”
“Wonder what they were up to on the base,” Polly said.
“I reckon we’re going to find out in a minute.” Sadie tilted her head to one side to listen. “Isn’t that a Jeep I hear out there?”
“You thought you heard a Jeep just now,” Nellie reminded her.
“That was my motorcycle,” said Lady Elizabeth. “It does sound awfully like a Jeep at times.”
“All right, everybody.” George switched off his torch. “Stay out of sight. Nobody move unless I tell you to. Is that clear?”
Feeling somewhat disgruntled at being done out of capturing the hooligans, Sadie turned off her own torch and went back behind her bale of hay. The roar of the Jeep’s engine grew steadily louder, then cut off, leaving them all in silence.
Once more the doors slid open, and three shadowy figures filled the doorway. “Just grab the bicycles and get out of here,” a gruff voice ordered.
“What about them women up there?” This voice was quite different, soft and whiny.
“Shove the ladder up to the ledge. By the time they get down and walk back to the village we’ll be back home.”
“What if they tell the bobbies?”
The gruff voice laughed. “So what? Them stupid idiots in Sitting Marsh are too bleeding old and doddery to do anything about it.”
“Oh? Sez who?”
Sadie jumped as George’s voice rang out. Once more the light from his torch lit up the b
arn, the beam focused on the wide-eyed faces of the boys transfixed in the doorway.
Then, as if jerked by an invisible rope, the three leapt back, turned tail, and ran off into the darkness, with George in hot pursuit.
“Come on!” Sadie yelled. “Don’t let them get away!” Turning on her torch again, she charged out into the night air and ran as hard as she could after George, accompanied by pounding feet behind her.
She caught up with him at the gate. He leaned over it, panting for breath, the torch limp in his hand. Seconds later Nellie came up behind them, wheezing like an old bicycle pump.
“They got away,” Sadie said, her voice flat with disappointment.
“Went over that gate like they had bloomin’ wings,” George said breathlessly.
Polly appeared from out of the shadows, breathing hard. “What happened?”
“They’re gone,” Nellie told her. “We won’t catch them now.”
“After all that,” Sadie added.
“Well, best get back home.” George straightened up. “Her ladyship was kind enough to give me a lift on her motorcycle. But seeing as you, Nellie, and Florrie have been through such a terrible experience, I think you should ride back with her ladyship to the village. I’ll take one of those bicycles in the barn and the other two women can ride back with me.”
“I left my bicycle at the manor,” Polly protested.
“You can have one of the boys’ bicycles,” Sadie told her as they trudged back across the field to the barn.
“I can’t ride a bicycle with a crossbar,” Polly said, sounding really tired.
“Well, then, you can ride mine and I’ll ride the boy’s one.” Sadie linked her arm through her friend’s. “How’d you lot know we was in the barn, anyhow?”
“When we got to the windmill and no one was there, George remembered as how one of the farmers told him he kept hearing a Jeep near one of his fields. We saw the barn and decided to have a look, just in case.”
“I hope Lady Elizabeth forgives us for knocking her to the ground,” Nellie said mournfully.
Sadie chuckled. “She will. She’s a good sort. I just wish we could have caught them buggers.”
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