In the early stories there were just four friends, all boys. This was due more to the absence of any girls of similar age living in the Lane rather than a rejection of girls from the “gang”. The arrival of Dora changed that as she was befriended by the boys and then introduced to their adult friend Alfred and his boat. This story is about a new girl who joins the ranks of the “gang” and in a surprising way.
After a period of heavy rain it was time for the friends to visit their den and clean up any mess from the storms and to it dry out. Nearing their den they hear a lot of noise coming from the direction of the pond where the den of the City gang lay. Peter tells his friends to stay hidden while he investigates. What he finds surprises him, but he is even more surprised when he finds himself suddenly involved in the desperate rescue of a girl, June who is being bullied by the boys of the City gang. The rescue leads to a breathless chase and a narrow escape. Peter does indeed rescue a young maiden but like a medieval knight he finds that he is unexpectedly attracted by the fine qualities of the young maiden he has saved.
As background to this story I suggest you read “The Great Chicken Rescue” and “Derec the Hero” in this series.
Copyright Robert Heming, May, 2020.
With the wet weather finished, for a while at least, the thoughts of the Gang turned once again to their den. The rain had probably done some damage, and although they always attempted to keep it as protected as possible, wind and rain would always get through the weak protection provided by the adjacent trees and bushes of the hedgerow. The secret to keeping the den in some sort of habitable condition was to make sure that, after any heavy rain, anything that was wet be put out to dry before mould began to grow on it and make it stink. It wasn’t necessary to wait for sunshine as hanging or placing things where the wind could dry them was sufficient.
So, a few days after the great chicken and dog rescue, Roddy, Derec and Peter went across to den to assess the damage. Surprisingly they had not been in serious trouble over getting so dirty during the rescue attempt. Albert had done such a good job of smoothing things with parents and by focusing on the boy’s “heroic” actions, that it had deflected attention from dirty or ill-fitting clothes. Of course, Derec had to spend a lot of time secretively drying and then brushing mud from his clothing and getting rid of the secondhand clothes they had got from Corey. But, so far at least they had dodged any detailed enquiry.
They passed the gypsy encampment, but no one was out, much to the disappointment of Roddy who had hoped that Dora might be around so that he could stop and talk. There was no sign of the dog either and although this upset Derec, the others told him not to worry as they were sure Dora would not abandon it or treat it badly. Despite this he hung back and looked and listened carefully for some sound or sight of the animal before giving up and running to catch up with the others.
With nothing to distract them from the task at hand, the three boys turned to right and climbed over the gate into the hay field. Occasionally the farmer would put some cows into this field but at this time of year it was usually left alone to grow a good crop of hay. The boys crossed the field by keeping close to the hedgerow so as not to be visible to anyone who might be watching. But there was an even simpler reason, if they walked straight through the tall grass, they would leave a clear mark of their passing, with a line of battered and crumpled grass that would be visible for days. Besides travelling as inconspicuously as possible was vital now that they knew that the City gang was roaming through their territory It was prudent for them to keep out of sight as much as possible.
The hay field was maturing, and the grass, already several feet high, was beginning to bear seed. The wind was ruffling the tall grass and changing the colour from green to a greenish blue to a silvery colour, as the wind-driven waves wafted across the meadow. Roddy was always fascinated at the sight of a mature hay meadow. Birds flitted though the meadow, dipping and soaring and sometimes disappearing into the grass altogether as they spotted some seeds perhaps, or other food, that was just right for eating. This little enclave of land, caught between road, River and railway, was not just their private world, rarely disturbed by adults, but also a haven for so many animals and birds; a rich little oasis, almost untouched by the bustling world nearby.
That world suddenly exploded on the bucolic scene as a goods train came through the bridge accompanied by a violent eruption of steam and smoke, its exhaust rebounding off the bridge and enveloping the engine in swirling billows of vapour. It was slowing for a red signal and Roddy could hear the beginning of the rhythmic clashing and clanking of the wagons as they progressively ran into the slowing engine. This always fascinated him; the crashing of the colliding buffers running back along the train like a steely percussive wave. He wondered what it was like for the guard in his van at the end of the train when the violent buffering action reached him. Did he stand and brace himself for the final jerking stop, or was he so practiced that he could balance himself by shifting his weight at just the right moment? The railway, despite the noise and roar of the engines charging up and down its tracks, did not really intrude on this little enclave, just the occasional thunder of a passing train and perhaps the casual glances of some of the passengers as they hurried past.
A line of tall trees blocked a clear view of the fields from the adjacent row of houses and they rarely saw anyone in the back gardens except for the occasional view of someone hanging clothes on a line or a person gardening. This meant that the Gang’s little patchwork of fields was safe from most adult eyes. The only fly in their otherwise perfect ointment was the arrival of the gang from the City, and so far, at least they had been able to avoid contact and any consequent confrontations. Roddy and Peter both worried about those intruders and worried about how they could continue to steer clear of those boys. Despite all of their stealthy efforts at avoidance, an encounter seemed almost inevitable at some point and they didn’t know how they would react when it happened.
A warning from Peter pulled everyone’s attention back to the field and their careful circumnavigation of the tall grass. They had reached a place in the hedgerow where they could cut from one field to the next. One by one, they slipped through the gap in the hedge, and crossed into the adjacent field. The gaps were small and tortuous, requiring bending and squirming, while trying avoiding being stung by the nettles that were growing thickly around these narrow passageways. Keeping close to the hedge, they continued their stealthy journey toward their den. Just one more hedge to cross and they would be there. Peter was an excellent scout. He had practiced stealthy walking frequently, often creeping up on the others and surprising them by whispering in their ear and causing them to jump. Yet, all of that practice paid off as he could now walk so silently, avoiding any twigs or dried grass that might give him away. He was the Gang’s perfect scout; silent, watchful and attuned to any danger.
Suddenly, he stopped and signaled with a down-waving hand, for the others to be still. He cupped his ear and listened, and the others followed his lead. Yes, there were the unmistakable sounds of voices coming from a field or two ahead of them. They all knew what that meant. The City gang was at their own den, or close by and they were up to something and making quite a lot of noise. The boys could hear laughter and some jeering shouts. Whatever could be going on? There was only one way to tell and that was to try to creep up on them unobserved. Roddy was glad that he always insisted that they be as quiet as possible when approaching their den.
Peter signaled to them to duck down and wait while he scouted ahead. Silently they knelt and waited while Peter crept cautiously along the hedge until he reached another hedge at right angles. The boy’s den was situated just where the two hedges met and formed a wider and denser patch of trees, hazel and blackberry in which they had made their snuggly-hidden den.
The den belonging to the City gang was situated a few fields away. It was fortunate that they had decided on a place that was not too far from the railway bridge so they could reach it easily and quickly as that meant that it was a good distance from the boy’s den.
Peter moved very carefully as he attempted to get close enough to see what these interlopers were doing. Luckily for him the hedge was not straight but had bulges where some bushes had grown more vigorously than others in the hedge, and this provided some good cover for Peter as he moved forward. All of the noise was coming from the field beyond the next cross-hedge, but Peter was taking no chances and he would quickly dart from one bushy cover to the next, checking carefully for any signs of the other boys.
Finally, he reached the far hedge and, after worming his way through a narrow tunnel of hazel and elder, he was able to glimpse the boys from the other gang. Between him and these boys, who were clustered near the entrance to their den, was a clump of trees that provided good cover. Roddy and he had used these trees as cover just weeks before when they came across the smelly tramp sleeping in the rival gang’s den. But today Peter did not want to take the risk of being seen as he crossed the small open space between his place in the hedge and those trees. Although the other gang members seemed to be focused on something that was going on in the den, they were also turning their heads and glancing around them as if checking that they were not being observed. He could not imagine what they were doing and why it was so fascinating, so he settled in for a long wait and hoped that the others would have the good sense to be patient and wait for him to return rather than try to come across the field to where he was.
There was quite a bit of laughter and some conversation that sounded as if they were daring one of their members to do something. Peter could not hear the conversation in full but he could hear snippets, such as “come on, I dare you”, and “we won’t tell, honest”, but none of the comments conveyed what was going on other than some member of the gang was being egged on to do something that was risky and perhaps embarrassing.
Suddenly there was a lot of talking and the boys standing outside the den entrance moved back and formed a half circle, facing inward toward the hedge, which concealed the den. Peter could see that someone was standing in the centre of the semicircle and then one of the boys was pushed from the semicircle into the centre to join whoever else was there. The jeering and laughing had stopped now and whatever was happening within that tight semicircle was riveting the attention of the onlookers.
Still Peter could not make out what was happening until the semicircle of onlookers shifted slightly and he glimpsed something or somebody white and saw some clothes lying in a heap on the grass. Suddenly it came to him. They had a girl with them, and someone had dared her and one of the boys in the gang to strip off and show their naked bodies to each other and to the other gang members. He had heard about this before from his elder sister, and he vaguely understood that it was a form of sexual exploration in which a girl and a boy of about the same age would be persuaded to briefly show their naked bodies to each other in exchange for something, such as money or even a particularly coveted object such as a penknife. These happenings were usually brief and spontaneous, and everyone was sworn to secrecy. They were soon over and once finished all who participated usually dispersed quickly, carrying with them feelings of shame and embarrassment mixed in with strange stirrings of a new excitement that they had not really felt before. From the stories that his sister had told him he understood that these spontaneous sexual revelations consisted of the dropping of pants and the lifting of a dress, but never complete nakedness. What was going on here was quite different, as it seemed that the people in the centre of the group were stripping off all of their clothes.
Suddenly there was a shout but not from the gang who were startled. “Hey, what’s going on there? What are you children up to?” Peter looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the driver of the goods train that had halted on the line was looking over in his direction and shouting. The boys in the gang had ignored the engine that had come to a stop several minutes ago, yet Peter could see that the driver must have been looking around him and from his higher vantage point he could see the field clearly. Ordinarily, nobody took any notice of the people on the railway, unless they were trespassing near it as they did when they crossed the River. It never even occurred to anyone that the drivers and firemen and guards who were regular passersby, paid any attention to what was going on in the fields. Yet here was an exception and the driver, or fireman must have been leaning out of his cab and looking at what was going on in the fields adjacent to the railway tracks.
At the sound of the shout there was complete pandemonium. The semicircle of ogling boys broke apart in an instant and scattered into hiding in the adjacent trees and bushes, leaving a naked boy and a naked girl exposed. The boy bent down and grabbed his clothes and scuttled into the den entrance that was nearby. The girl looked around in panic and then she too quickly gathered her clothes from the grass and looked for an escape route. At first, she looked at the den entrance and took a step toward it, but something made her change her mind and she turned looking for somewhere to hide. Another man joined the one who was leaning out of the side window of the railway engine, and together they began to shout again.
Peter could not understand what they were saying but from the tone of their voices it seemed that they were having fun at the poor girl’s predicament. From the boys hiding in the bushes, came some sniggers and that and the shouts from the line were clearly causing the girl much consternation. She cast around her for an escape and decided to run for the clump of trees and bushes that lay just a short distance from Peter’s hiding place. Instead of stopping there however, she continued running and came through the trees heading in Peter’s direction. There was a look of complete panic on her face and she just clutched her clothes to her chest as she ran. Clearly, she was going to run right past Peter and so he withdrew further into the bushes.
Just as she drew close to Peter, she stumbled and the shoes that were held precariously in the bundle against her chest, fell out onto the grass. Stopping to retrieve them, she lost the grip on her other clothes and several of them fell to the ground. The girl began to cry, and Peter could see that she was beside herself with panic and fright. He did not want to give himself away to the City gang boys but he felt impelled to help this scared waif who quite possibly had been tricked into something by the members of the enemy gang and then left to take all of the crude comments, sniggers and guffaws that continued to erupt from the den and the hedgerow bushes around it where those boys were still hiding.
“Quick, in here! I can get you into a good hiding place.”
The girl looked toward the hedge from where the voice had come. She was stiff with fright and just stared at Peter and froze in her flight.
“Come on, be quick. They will come after you soon, so you need to hurry.”
“Who are you? What do you want with me? How can I trust you?”
“Shhh!, keep your voice down. I don’t want any of those boys to know that I am here. It’s alright, I saw what they were doing, and I promise that I won’t make you do anything. Come on, hurry, there isn’t much time.”
The girl took a quick glance behind her. She could not see any of her tormentors, but she could still hear the occasional shout from one of the men on the railway engine. She hoped that meant that the boys were still in hiding and more concerned with not being seen than with finding out where she had gone. A shudder ran through her thin body and Peter noticed that she looked just like his friends when they were naked, except between her groin, which was free of the penis and testicle sack that boys had. He briefly wondered what all of the fuss and interest there was in looking at girl’s bodies when they were apparently so similar. With one final glance behind, she darted into the curve of the hedge where Peter was crouched.
“Quick, put your clothes on. We can’t stay here much longer. I will take you to a better hiding place.”
The girl looked at him and a brief brightening flashed over her face. She dressed quickly; knickers, dress over her head and then she bent to pull on her socks.
“No time, just shove your feet into the shoes”
She gave him a sharp glance of inquiry, but her face softened slightly, and she did as she was told. Peter put his fingers to his lips to signal silence, then whispered to her to follow him closely and to be as quiet as possible. Turning, he slipped back through the narrow slot between the trees and hazel bushes, carefully lifting strands of bramble that crossed his path and, bramble in hand, turned to let her through the gap before letting the spiky briars fall back into place. If those boys were careful in their search, they would probably be able to find this tunnel-like path through the hedge, but there was no time to do a proper camouflage job. They needed to get as far from them as possible, and Peter knew that they could not help but leave few tracks in the grass along the field edge.
Once through the hedge, he turned again and whispered that they needed to run, but as softly and silently as possible. Off they went, with Peter loping along in the lead, pointing to the ground whenever he saw a dry stick or branch that needed avoiding. The girl was surprisingly lithe, and she kept pace with Peter, twisting and sidestepping whenever he pointed out some obstruction or pitfall. Already Peter was impressed with this girl and the way that she could run without noise. She didn’t make a lot of heavy breathing noises either, so he thought that she must be quite used to running.
Upon reaching the far side of the field, Peter avoided the narrow gap that he had come through earlier and instead made a hard turn to the left, ran along the hedge for a short while until he reached a larger opening on his right where the ground was rucked and gouged by tyre tracks made by the farmer’s machinery during his annual visits to cut the hay crop. The grass did not grow here except in scattered clumps that had escaped the ravages of the farm vehicles. After the recent heavy rain, the ground was quite soft, water lay in the wheel tracks and the mud was soft and squishy. Once again Peter turned to the girl and indicated that they were to be careful and keep to the grassy edge of the cut in the hedge and away from the mud, where they might leave telltale footprints.
Keeping out of the mud was not easy, but luckily there were some strong branches on a nearby elderberry bush that they could use to keep balance and pull themselves across the gap. Peter got through the gap and made one leap across a large water-filled hole to reach the grass of the adjacent field. He turned to wait for the girl and held out his hand to catch her should she lose her balance. No need! The girl leapt across the gap and landed perfectly, using her arms to balance herself and bending her knees to prevent the force of her landing throwing her backwards. Peter was impressed once again.
He signaled that they were to follow the hedge and double back to the corner of the hedge opposite where they had made that sharp left turn earlier. Off they went again; along the hedge until it met a cross hedge and then a sharp left turn and more running until they came up to the rest of the Gang.
“Quickly, into the den. I’m sure that they will come looking.”
Derec and Roddy looked quizzically at the girl, but Peter indicated that this was not the time for explanations and that they really needed to hurry and so they shut their gaping mouths and followed Peter and the girl toward the entrance to the den. Peter and the girl had barely slowed their pace, and the two boys had to sprint to catch them. At the den entrance, Peter and Roddy, who had sprinted ahead, to make sure that people did not just blunder willy-nilly into the den, carefully pulled back the branches that covered the small gap leading to the leafy tunnel and the den. Derec led and Peter signaled to the girl who was still clutching her socks, to follow. Then, with final glances along the hedge and all around the field, Peter and Roddy checked the ground for any telltale signs or footprints before pulling the camouflage branches across and carefully letting the springy branches of the hedge fall back into place. Then they too dropped to their hands and knees and crawled through the tunnel after the others.
Once inside the den, the boys pulled up the old logs that were used as benches and dragged the old pieces of carpet that substituted for seat cushions, out of their place up under the pieces of corrugated metal that acted as the den roof. Peter always insisted that they put the carpet pieces up there so that they would keep dry when bad weather hit. They smelled rather musty and were a little damp, but remarkably they had survived the soaking rains. Roddy and Derec looked at Peter and the girl waiting for an explanation of what was going on. After Peter had left them, they heard jeering and laughter and then the distant shouting of an adult voice, but none of it made any sense to them and they were completely surprised when Peter returned with this girl. Peter looked at them and smiled at their quizzical looks. Turning to the girl he asked in a gentle voice if she would like to tell her part of the story first, but she waved him ahead, and so, in a low voice, he quickly told his friends the story of what was going on as he had seen it. When finished he told them that he was sure that the City gang would come looking for the girl, so they needed to stay hidden and speak in whispers.
He then indicated that it was the girl’s turn to tell her side of the story. Attention turned to the girl. She intrigued Peter. She was about his height and quite thin, with a small yet pretty face, eyes that seemed hazel colour but in some lights seemed blue, and dark hair that was cut very simply across her forehead and then grew down to just below her ears. She was quite self-assured but not cocky and she had a strong City accent that was in contrast to the way that the Village boys spoke.
It was a long and complex story, but she told it clearly, and the boys listened to her whispered explanation of how she came to be with that other gang of boys and what they were trying to do with her. Peter frequently halted her story with a hand signal for complete silence, and he would then listen carefully for any sound that would indicate a search party in the vicinity. The girl’s name was June and she told them that she lived not far from the boys in the City gang, but not on the same street. She would bump into them sometimes in the local park where most of the children in her neighbourhood played. “We don’t have nice fields to play in like you have”, she offered by way of explanation.
She had been at the park, playing with friends that morning and the boys had come through and stopped to watch the children at play. These boys were rather tough and liked to bully the other children, particularly the girls. They started to do that with June and her friends, but June stood up to them and dared them to make any more trouble. Surprisingly, this put an end to their bullying, and they began to talk to June and her friends and did not seem as tough as they had at first. One of the boys, who seemed to be their leader, even began to flirt with June; just a little she said, but enough to mollify her anger at them. They told her that they were off to their special den that was on the other side of the River and their description made it sound like fun. So, she asked them questions about it and told them that she had never been to the other side of the River and was not even sure that you could do that. The boys looked at one another in a rather boastful way and their leader, a boy named Cliff, a rather handsome and good-looking type, told her that there was a secret way and that if she liked they would show her. June’s curiosity was tweaked, and as they seemed a lot friendlier and less aggressive than they had earlier, she agreed to go with them. Her other friends did not want to go and tried to persuade June to stay with them rather than go off with these boys. June however was more adventurous and less nervous than her friends, so she agreed.
The boys led her along their usual route; through the allotments, where they stole some tomatoes that were growing in one of the plots, then across the railway bridge and underneath the lines to the fields beyond. She told the boys that she did not like the part where she had to go under the bridge as she had never been near the River before and she was not prepared for the smell of the mud and the crashing thunder of trains passing overhead really frightened her and she was glad to emerge into the light and greenness on this side. They took her to the den, but she was not impressed at all with that. First, she was badly stung by nettles she crawled into the den and then she found the stench overwhelming. The rest of the gang was also surprised by the stench as it had not been there when they last visited several weeks ago, and before the big storm.
“It was the worst smell I have ever come across; it was enough to make you sick and I had to leave right away.”
Peter looked knowingly at Roddy and they smiled at each other. They knew that the smell left by that old tramp would get worse with time, and the recent wet weather would have intensified it. Roddy considered jumping in and explaining the origins of the vile smell, but he wanted to hear June’s story first, so he turned to her and nodded to encourage her to continue.
June said that she left the den and the rest of the boys followed her to the field just outside the entrance. They began to argue amongst each other about the cause of the smell and some of the boys went back inside the den and pulled out some carpeting and clothing that was piled on one side of the den. The smell became even worse and it seemed that whatever was the ultimate cause of the smell; it was strongest in the things that they pulled out. The gang leader told the boys to pull the stuff far away from the den and leave it to dry out and to lose its smell.
While this was being done, the gang leader, Cliff, and just a couple of what seemed to be his closest friends, began to talk and joke with June. The joking began to revolve around a story of some boys and girls that they knew who had gone to a quiet corner of the park and had been playing “dare” games with one another and the daring led to some of the boys and girls taking off their clothes. It was just a brief undressing and nothing else happened, the boys said, and everyone thought that it was exciting and fun. Some of the boys thought that this was very funny and suggested that perhaps they should try that sort of game among themselves. Everything that was said was very light and full of jokes. June said she did not feel embarrassed and not at all threatened by the joking conversation.
Then Cliff said that maybe they should try it, as it would be just good fun, and everyone would get a laugh out of it. June was not at all attracted to this idea, but they kept on bringing it up and adding all sorts of incentives such as all of the boys taking their clothes of too, so that nobody would be able to criticize those who did. Then one of the boys suggested that they should all toss in some money for June to do this, as she was the only girl among several boys.
Looking back, she could see that she was being manipulated as Cliff would always play the part of the naysayer and either pour cold water on these suggestions or say that perhaps they should not do it anyway. Because of this, June felt quite trusting toward Cliff and she saw him as being her protector as he slapped down some of the ruder boys whenever they said something that was too extreme. So, the joking discussion went on and June was lulled into accepting that, for some money, she would take off her clothes as the boys also undressed and would briefly stand naked so that they could all look at one another and then they would simply get dressed again.
She said that everything seemed to be going as planned, until some of the boys began to talk about some new games that involved touching. She began to feel nervous about what she had agreed to, but as she was nearly completely undressed, she felt that it would not take too long to complete her part of the bargain, get dressed, and then leave. She admitted that the amount of money that they said they would give her was more than she had ever had at one time, except when her mother sent her shopping, and she really wanted it. It was more than what she could earn by doing chores around the house. The money the boys were offering would have been a great help toward buying some of the pretty things she had seen in shops but could not afford.
During all of this time they had not been paying much attention to what was going on around them and, while she said that she heard the noise of the train, she did not pay attention. So, she was very surprised when she heard the man shout at them. She was completely naked at the time that he yelled, and the boys were almost naked too. They all jumped and that was when she just panicked and grabbed her clothes and ran away. Part of her panic came from the sudden realization that the men on the railway could have recognized her. Near to where she lived there were several men who worked on the railway as shunters, engine drivers and firemen, so it was just possible that one of the men with the train lived near to her and would recognize her. The more that she thought about it the more that she realized that it was possible that she was recognized, and she was now very scared that they would tell her mother and she would then be in a lot of trouble.
“Did they pay you the money that they said they would?” This from Derec, who was always interested in money matters and who guarded his small weekly allowance of pocket money with great tenacity.
The other boys smiled at this and told June to take no notice of him, as he was a notorious miser. She gave a wan smile and a said that she had not been paid and that she had really been looking forward to getting that money, as it would have been enough to buy a pretty necklace that she had been coveting for some time now. Her parents did not give her pocket money and so she had to earn money by doing odd jobs for neighbours and recently there had been a lot of competition from other kids along her street, so she was not earning as much as she had hoped. She sighed and looked down in silence for a few moments and when she raised her head there were big bulbous tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
“I was so stupid. Those boys would never have given me the money. If I had been thinking straight, I would have demanded that they pay over the money first, but I was too silly to do that. I don’t know why I trusted them. I think it was mostly because I had taken a liking to Cliff and I trusted him. It was a stupid idea to go off with them in the first place.”
Bulbous teardrops suddenly detached themselves from her eyes and began to roll down the side of her nose. A steady flood of tears followed them, and her thin body sagged, and she began to sob. At the sound of the sobs Peter panicked and he put his hand on her shoulder and told her to hush as the boys from the City gang could be out looking for her and if they were nearby, they would hear her. June put her hand over her mouth and did her best to stifle the sobs that were wracking her chest. Peter kept his hand on her shoulder and at the same time he cupped his ear and listened carefully for any sounds of a search party.
A voice sounded nearby calling her name causing her to stiffen with fear and cease her sobbing. She looked at Peter with wide, fearful eyes and turned her frightened gaze toward the entrance to the den. Roddy signaled to her to be very quiet and then whispered instructions for everyone to keep their heads down so that there was no chance of showing a white face through the foliage. Peter thought that his fears were overwrought, especially at this time of the year when the hazels and rose hips were in full leaf and the leaf-laden boughs of the nearby oak dipped low over the hedge. Still, this was not the time to start an argument and he in turn made signals for complete silence. Roddy noticed that while he did this, Peter had left his hand on June’s shoulder and that same hand was now gently stroking the shoulder. June did not react directly to Peter’s gentle stroking, but she did begin to visibly calm and soon they were all looking at the ground, with just an occasional sideways glance at each other.
As the shouting came closer, tension rose within the den. From the sounds being made, it seemed that there were several boys in the search party, and they were not trying to be quiet at all. Their progress was marked by the sound of sticks snapping as well as rustling and swishing caused by the passage of their feet through the long grass. A look of contempt crossed Peter’s face and it was all that he could do to suppress an involuntary snort of derision for such terrible field craft. Roddy could not resist a smile and he caught June’s eye and his smile brightened and he tried to put a look of reassurance into it. She seemed to understand what he was doing and responded with a slight lengthening of her lips and a rising of her cheeks that he guessed was an attempt to smile through her fears. He nodded at her. Poor girl, she had been tricked into doing something by a group of bullies and now, not only did they have the power to embarrass her by telling stories, but there was the added fear that she had indeed been recognized by the railway men and that a big row and punishment at the hands of her parents would be the consequence.
The shouts were very near now and suddenly they realized that they were coming from just near their hiding place. The shouts were replaced by a loud conversation.
“She could not have gone that far, surely?”
“Not unless she ran all the way to the Village,” said a second voice.
“Pshawh!!, she wouldn’t do that, she’s never been there before and besides, how would she get back home? We didn’t give her the money we had promised, so how would she get home, walk? She doesn’t have the money to go on the bus and she probably doesn’t know which bus to catch anyway.”
At this, the other boys laughed and snickered, causing Peter to grimace and rub June’s shoulder protectively. Clearly these boys had intended to cheat June out of the money from the very beginning and they had just wanted to take advantage of her and make fun of her. Peter could sense June tense and stiffen under his hand and he knew that she now fully realized how she had been tricked and humiliated and he felt sympathy for her and a growing anger toward these boys who had so falsely gained her trust and treated her as if she were a new friend and then cynically mistreated her. Roddy noticed that Peter’s jaw had stiffened, and he surmised that he too was feeling a deep anger toward Cliff and his friends and their exploitation of June. Clearly, he had developed a strong liking for this girl in just the short time that he had known her, which surprised Roddy, as he had never seen Peter take much interest in girls before.
Despite the provocation caused by overhearing the conversation that was occurring just outside their den, everyone remained silent and more or less followed the instructions to keep their heads bowed, only giving way to surreptitious sideways glances and using facial expressions to communicate with one another. This was a delicate moment and it was bad luck that the boys had chosen to stop so near the den and confer about where June had gone. Roddy was worrying that one of them would notice some tracks near the den entrance or something that was not quite right about the way that the vegetation looked.
He held his breath and carefully looked sideways toward the den entrance to see if the boys were still there. Despite the dense thicket of leaves and brambles, one could still see little patches of the outside world and it was through one of these that he could see a glimpse of feet and legs that were partly covered by socks that had slipped around the owner’s ankles. One pair of legs caught his attention as he could see that the owner was facing the hedge and the entrance to the den. As he could not see a face, he could only guess at what the boy was looking at, but he worried that if he looked too closely, he would be bound to see some sign of the den or of those inside. He focused on the feet looking for any sign that the boy had noticed something and change his stance in order to get a closer look.
Suddenly the feet moved and shuffled closer to the hedge. Roddy tensed, wondering if the owner of the feet had indeed seen something unusual and was moving to get a closer look. The feet shuffled forward some more. The boy must have seen something that excited his attention. Roddy desperately wanted to look up to see if he could glimpse the boy’s face, but he knew that if he did so, he might just cause a flash of white skin that might give them away. No, all he could do was to keep frozen and watch and listen carefully. He hoped that the others would not move or make a noise. There was no chance to warn them as that would require more movement that just might been visible. Just then he sensed that Derec was moving around and his body tensed as he wondered if he should warn Derec with a glance or, by holding of a finger to his lips, indicate that someone was taking an interest in that part of the hedge. But it was just too risky with the boy being so close. Any movement or sound could give their hiding place away and then they would be in trouble.
Roddy began to think about the story of Robinson Crusoe and how he had anticipated someone finding his hideout and had built a secret escape route. He had thought about that for their den but had not raised the subject because he knew that the others would probably ignore him at best, or worse make fun of his preoccupation with Robinson Crusoe and tell him that he was just taking this camouflage issue too far. After this incident with the City gang he wondered if they would listen to him in future and be willing take his ideas more seriously.
Suddenly the watcher called out to his fellow gang members, “Hey, come and look at this!”
Roddy’s heart sank as he felt sure that the boy had spotted something and in just a matter of a few minutes their hiding place would be exposed, and they would be forced to come out through the only entrance that was directly in front of where the boy was standing. If only they had developed that backdoor escape route that he had been thinking about. Now their den would be discovered and very likely wrecked by the angry members of the City gang when they found who had rescued June. There would probably be a fight and, as Derec would not be much use in a fight that meant that he and Peter would have to face some very bad odds. Roddy had been in many fights, but he hated the whole business. It was not so much the pain of being punched or even beaten and humiliated by someone, as it was the emotional storm that always raged through his body and left him shaking for hours afterward. Sometimes the whirl of emotions would be so strong that he would burst into tears and that would be interpreted by onlookers as being caused by fright rather than the true cause, which was frustration and anger at his antagonists. Well, he thought, if they were found out, there would be no choice but to fight.
It was unclear how many boys were gathered outside the den. Perhaps there were at least four, and judging from his earlier spying on the gang, he knew that they were either of about the same age as he and Peter, or a bit older. What really bothered him though was that he knew that they were tougher. For whatever reason; more fighting with other boys perhaps, or just something about their upbringing, he just knew that they were tougher than the Village boys. His parents always frowned on fighting as unseemly behaviour and would always step in and break up a fight before it got out of hand. It was the same, more or less, for the other boys that he knew. They had all heard of boxing and sometimes his friends would talk of some major boxing match that would take place in some exotic location, such as New York, that would be broadcast over the radio at some uncomfortable hour in the middle of the night. Roddy and his friends would listen to the excited conversation of some of the fathers who followed boxing and seemed to know a lot about some of the fighters, but when it came to following through and getting out of the warm cocoon of one’s bed, interest faded fast. All of his friends had a passing and shallow understanding of the technology of boxing; left and right hooks and southpaws and such like, but they had only ever experienced the fights of the cowboys and outlaws of the silver screen. In those staged fights, boxing with all of its faking and sparing and feinting, was reduced to knockout blows to the opponent’s jaw, or comic barroom brawls that involved as much furniture destruction as it did actual fighting with fists. Roddy had heard of boxing clubs and of young boys being taught how to box, but none existed in or near the Village and he did not even know of a friend of a friend, who was involved in boxing.
These City boys were different however, and he guessed that they were much better fighters than he and his friends, and would make much use of technique and experience, whereas he and Peter came from the “emotional flailing fists” branch of fighting. A fight would not end well for them. It occurred to him that they could simply refuse to come out of their den, but that ruse would not work for long as the enemy would just use sticks and branches to bash down the bramble and bushes until the den was completely exposed. Then he had the awful thought that they could set a fire and burn him and his friends out of their hiding place. He had seen this done in films, but the more he thought about it he decided that starting a fire amongst a hedgerow that was still saturated by the recent rains would be difficult.
Through this entire tumble of thoughts and fears, he had kept his eyes on the feet of the boy who was attempting to peer through the dense hedge and decide if the patterns and patches that he could see belonged to humans. The feet would shuffle occasionally as the boy would attempt to move himself closer into the brambles so as to get a better vantage to see into the shadows and darkness of the hedge and with each reshuffle, the tension would rise in Roddy’s chest, pressing against his lungs and stifling his breathing. The feet moved again and, through the slits of his eyelids, he thought that he could see the white face of the boy. He was sure that they were about to be discovered and he tensed his body and waited for the inevitable.
Suddenly there was shouting and, thinking that the game was up, his body stiffened, ready to deal with whatever came next. But the shouting was not from the boy who was trying to peer into the hedge where they were silently hiding. No, this shouting was coming from much further away. The boy whose feet Roddy had been staring at for some time now, shifted his stance and angled his feet to turn to the source of the shouting.
“What’s going on,” someone nearby said.
“They’ve found some footprints over there in the gap in the hedge and they think they may have been made by June.”
Following that there was a lot of shuffling, then a curt shout of “come on!” followed by the sound of feet running away through the tall grass. Whatever it was that had diverted their attention, it could not have been timelier. Roddy let out his breath and raised his head to look at Peter who had cocked his head to listen to the sounds.
“I think that they have found the place where we cut through the hedge. I was pretty certain that they would try to follow June, so I made a small diversion along the back of the hedge and then we cut through the gap where the farmer drives his tractors. It was very muddy there and we were sure to leave some footprints, but I thought that it would be better to leave prints there than at our usual crossing place, which was too close to the den for comfort. I didn’t think that they would see any footprints; I just didn’t want them to see any prints that would lead them toward the den. That was a bit of luck for us.”
He looked toward June who was sitting there with an ashen face. During the entire time that they boys from the other gang had been talking outside, June had sat quietly, listening to the conversation and shaking with fear that their hiding place would be discovered. Peter had felt her shuddering next to him, but he did not realize that its cause was a deep fear of having to deal with those boys again. June was deeply ashamed at what had happened to her and the way in which Cliff, whom she had liked and trusted, had so easily and contemptuously taken advantage of her. Once she was able to get away from this place, and back to her home, she would have to deal with the probability of encountering Cliff and his sycophantic minions as she went around her neighbourhood. She didn’t even want to think about how she would handle those encounters and the mere thought of that first, accidental meeting filled her with dread, and she shuddered at the thought.
Peter saw June’s shoulders twitch and he realized that something was bothering her very much. He looked across at the others and saw that they remained very still and tense. Signaling to them, he pointed and gestured that he was going to scout around to see if the coast was all clear. Carefully he crawled very slowly and as silently as possible through the green tunnel that was the entrance to the den, stopping frequently to listen and to peer through the gaps in the greenery. As he proceeded along the tunnel, the vegetation thinned sufficiently for him to see more of the field outside. He was concerned that perhaps one of the boys had stayed behind and would be there to surprise him when he emerged. He could not see anyone however, despite stopping frequently and carefully scanning what he could see of the field. It was still possible that one of the boys had stayed hidden close to the hedge and out of Peter’s sight, but he could neither see nor hear anyone.
Emerging from the subdued green-lighted tunnel into the brighter light of the field, he turned his head left and right, carefully scanning the hedgerow for any signs of the enemy. All seemed to be clear, so he then turned his attention to the rest of the field. Keeping his body well inside the cover of the hedge and careful not to project too much of his head outside its thick vegetation , he looked around him. A white face against a green hedge was easily seen and he took care to keep his head pointed down and let his eyes maneuver and do the work.
All seemed to be clear. Then a movement on the other side of the field caught his attention. Some of the boys from the City gang were circling around the muddy gap in the hedge that he and June had traversed just a short time ago. They were walking in circles with their eyes on the ground and Peter guessed that they were looking for some clues in the foot impressions to tell them where June had gone. He wondered why they were so intent on finding June rather than just going back to their den or even to their homes and forgetting about the incident and about her? After all, it was unlikely that the railway driver and firemen would have recognized them. If they had they would have called their names and made some comment about telling their parents about what mischief they were up to. June was unlikely to mention it to her family or to her friends. Peter was sure that she would not want a word of this breathed to anyone. It was a puzzle. Did Cliff really like June and was that why he had the gang out looking for her? No, that seemed unlikely as Cliff had only just met June that day when he persuaded her to come with his gang to see the den. Peter just could not see why they were so keen to find her.
A sudden babble of voices caught his attention and, looking again at the gap in the hedge he saw that boys were looking intently at a patch of ground near their feet. Peter could make out Cliff who stood in the middle of the group and was clearly the leader. They would look at the ground and then turn and look toward the other side of the field, opposite to where Peter was hidden, and in the direction of the Lane. One of the boys was pointing at the ground and then at the further hedge and turning to Cliff as if he was explaining something. The discussion went back and forth between the boys until Cliff took control and started to point at particular people as if he had come to a decision and was issuing orders. The boys began to pat their pockets and then pull something out which they gave to Cliff who examined it carefully before handing it to the two boys who he had been pointing at. More discussion followed and there was much pointing and gesturing, both in the direction of the Lane and back toward their den and the railway line. It was clear that some sort of plan was being laid out and Cliff was telling people what to do. Unlike his own gang, which had no particular leader, these boys were much more organized, and Cliff seemed to be a very strong leader as the others all looked at him when he spoke. In contrast, Peter’s friends would spend what seemed ages discussing what to do and then not doing it because someone like Derec did not want to go along with the rest of them. This example of strong leadership that was being played out in front of Peter’s eyes appealed to him. It certainly looked more efficient and more grown up than the haphazard way in which they seemed to approach everything.
Just then Peter felt something bump against his leg. He turned to see that June had crawled through the tunnel and was behind him and straining her neck to look past him at the scene in the field. He signaled to her to be absolutely silent and pointed urgently at the vociferous group on the opposite side of the field. June nodded and pushed herself past his legs so that she could get a better view of what was going on. The leafy, brambly tunnel was far too narrow to allow more than one person at a time to traverse it, but June was quite slim and there was just enough room for her to squash herself close to Peter and insert her head alongside his waist. Peter could feel the soft skin of her knees brushing against his legs and her shoulder pushing against his backside. This was a new feeling for him. He and his brother often wrestled together and would roll around on the floor locked in a straining embrace as each tried to force the other over onto their back so that they could declare victory by straddling the others chest. The feel and smell of that sort of closeness were familiar to Peter, but this felt and smelled quite different. June did not wear any scent, as some of the Village girls did, but there was an aroma about her that he had not noticed before. It was nothing like the pungent smell of his brother’s body, which was reminiscent of dirt and oil from his bike, mixed with some sweat and the odour of clothes that should have been changed several days ago. No, this was a delicate and pleasant smell and Peter inhaled it deeply and focused on the soft limbs that were being pressed against him. He turned and whispered to her about what appeared to be happening.
“Cliff really wants to find you and he seems to be sending some boys to try to track you back toward the Lane and the Village. I don’t know why they have decided that, but they were looking at something on the ground for quite a while and talking about it. I suppose that it was a footprint or footprints in the mud, but I didn’t think that we left any that were pointing in the direction of the Lane.”
June was silent for a moment before whispering.
“That was me, I was behind you and was thinking about them searching for me, so I ran a short way in the mud to leave some false tracks, before turning on some drier and harder grass, back to the course that you were taking.”
Peter was startled by this information. He thought that he was the expert tracker and spy, and here was this girl who did not even live close to the country and probably had never seen or read anything about tracking and stalking, doing something that had not even crossed his mind. He tried to look back at her face but could only catch a glimpse and her look was serious and not at all teasing. Peter began to look at June in a different light. This was a girl who knew what she was up to. Whatever her reasons for stripping off her clothes in front of the other gang, they had probably been thought through quite carefully and her actions were not just some spur of the moment whim. Peter found that he was quite confused about this girl he had just rescued.
Both of them turned back to the scene at the other side of the field. Two of the boys had split off from the others and were trotting toward the gap in the far hedge that would lead them to the Lane and on to the Village. The others, led by Cliff, were making their way back through the muddy gap in the hedge that June and Peter had used in their escape.
They watched until the field was completely clear and then they softly called to the others that all was clear, and they could come out of hiding. Soon they were all standing next to the den entrance, brushing dirt and twigs from their clothes and especially their knees that had taken the brunt of the punishment in crawling and stooping. It was also good to stretch and relieve their cramped bodies after being confined to a crouching position for so long. Peter told the others what he had seen. It looked like Cliff, the leader of the other gang, was doing all that he could to find June and the false trail that June had left, made them believe that she was making her way to the Village, perhaps to catch a bus back into the City and to make her way home that way. It made sense as she had run directly away from the railway and the den and so that escape route, via the path beneath the railway and then across the allotments was closed to her.
“There isn’t another way for her to get back to her own home as long as the rest of the gang are hanging around their den and keeping a watch on the pathway to the railway bridge.”
“So, how are we to get June home then?” this from Derec who was hanging around at the edge of the group. “We can’t go into the village and help her onto the bus as we shall probably run into the boys that Cliff has sent to intercept her. I don’t see a way to get her back home safely.”
Peter glumly acknowledged the difficulty that they faced. June also looked worried, as she knew that she could not stay out until evening, by which time the other boys would probably have given up searching and gone home.
“I need to get home,” she pleaded, “my mother will be full of questions if I get home late and knowing her, she will winkle the truth out of me and then there will be all hell to play. There must be something that we can do, surely!”
But there were no ideas coming from the boys, who all just stood around looking at the ground and contemplating the problem. Peter was feeling the worst of all as he was the one who had “rescued” June and having played the part of the chivalrous knight, he now stood there flat-footed, without a single idea in his head. What made him feel even worse was that he had just realized that he wanted to see June again, but unless he was able to help get her safely home, that was unlikely to happen easily. It was Roddy who suddenly flashed a smile and broke the silence.
“We can go across the bridge over the railway and follow the line on the other side to the railway bridge that crosses the River. Then June needs only to cross that bridge and go through the allotments and back to her home.”
Peter nodded.
“As long as we stay hidden until we are on the far side of the line it should work. But we have to be careful as we will be easily seen by somebody looking at the path up to the bridge.”
Nobody could think of any better idea and so they just stood around for a while pondering the proposal
“Alright, we’ll try it,” said Peter reluctantly. “It’s risky but we don’t have any other choice.”
Getting to the railway bridge would take some careful scouting on the part of Peter, who went off to spy on the whereabouts of the remainder of the City gang. Coming back, he reported that they all seemed to be looking around the old flooded clay pit and along the Riverbank nearby. He thought that they were doing that in case June had doubled back and was attempting to bypass the usual route to the path beneath the railway line.
So, with Peter in the lead, the group then walked quickly along the hedgerow toward the Lane, stopping frequently to check for any sign of the enemy, until they reached the gate opposite the gypsy encampment. All was quiet there, so they hurried on past the camp and began the climb up the bank that carried the Lane across the bridge over the railway. Trees had been planted along the lower part of this bank and so they did not have to worry too much about being seen. The two boys Cliff has sent to check the Village must be far away by now and Peter had said that the others were all in the field that was closest to the River, so it was unlikely that anyone would be looking at the railway bridge. Still, Peter counseled caution in true Indian scout tradition, and he made them stop while he walked up ahead and scanned the fields for any signs of the boys.
He turned and signaled to them that all was clear. “I can see a couple of them, but they seem to be preoccupied with checking the hedges nearer the River and are not looking this way. Come on, hurry to the bridge parapet and then we can duck down and be out of sight again.”
They followed his orders and ran forward and sheltered behind the safety of the black tarry parapet that lined the sides of the bridge. The most dangerous part was over but there was still a short stretch of the Lane on the far side of the bridge that would be visible from the fields near the Riverbank. Then the Lane split into two paths, one parallel to the railway lines that lead into fields. It would be possible to follow that and get back toward the railway bridge over the River. The other led to the sea bank that separated the Lamby from the farmland and pastures that stretched all the way to Longstreet village, where Roddy had his big adventure with the dying whale. Gates barred each path, but they were usually just latched and not locked.
Crouching, they ran to the gate at the top of the path that ran parallel to the railway. Peter was the first to reach it and he groaned aloud when he found that a padlock had been placed on the gate. They rarely came this way, and so he had not thought that it might be locked. He turned to the others and pointed out the problem with the gate.
“There is no way we can squeeze through the gate and that means we will have to climb over the gate making it easy for us to be seen.”
They crouched beside the gate trying to think of another way. Roddy spoke first.
“We shall just have to try to slide over the top of the gate keeping our bodies flat against the top bar. We mustn’t sit on top and flip our leg over like we usually do.”
Peter nodded and clambered up the gate until he was at the top. Then, laying his body along the top bar he shuffled his legs and body until he was lying flat along the top of the gate and slowly let his feet, then his body, slide down the other side. He signaled to Derec to follow. His brother managed the first part well but as he slid his body and legs over the bar, he let out a yell of pain.
“I’ve got a splinter in my leg,” he moaned.
Just then they heard a faint shout and, Peter turned his head toward the noise and saw one of the City boys pointing at the railway bridge. He just could not believe that his brother had made enough noise to attract attention but somehow or other they had been spotted.
“Quick, they’ve spotted us, and they are bound to see June when she climbs the gate and then they’ll be after us. They can cut us off at the River bridge. All we can do is try to escape across the sea bank and double back to the Village through the farm fields.”
“But that will take ages and then we have to get June onto a bus that will take her back to the City. She will be late and as she already told us, that will get her into a lot of trouble.”
Peter looked despairingly at Roddy. He understood the point he was making but what choice did they have. Roddy spoke again.
“Let’s head for the yacht club. I’m sure that someone will be there who will be willing to row us over to the other bank. From there it is a fairly long walk to her house, but it is a lot shorter than trying to make our way to the Village and then waiting for a bus. I know the idea sounds a bit mad, but the tide is coming in, so it should work. I’m sure someone will be there working on repairs to the boats that were scraped by the debris brought down by the flood. They will remember us from when we warned them about the chicken coop. Albert must have said something good about us to the other yacht owners, so they won’t treat us as if we were just some strange kids.”
June was looking confused, so Peter gave her a very brief account of the flood and the yacht anchorage. She looked skeptical at first.
“I have no idea if it will work but I don’t want to face those boys again and if I have to catch a bus that will mean lots of time and more walking for me to get to my home. I shall be very late and as I said earlier, that will put me in deep trouble.”
Peter looked back to where he had last seen the boys and saw that they were no longer there. That probably meant they were already giving chase. He looked at the others briefly before nodding at Roddy and then leaping back over the gate then helping his still moaning brother get down from his perch. Valuable minutes were lost as he looked for then removed the wood splinter from Derec’s thigh. Luckily it was not in too deeply and once it had been pulled out his brother stopped complaining.
“Come on!” said Peter, “I’m sure they are already coming after us.”
They ran to the other gate and sprinted down the path to the lower gate that opened on to the sea bank. Once on the sea bank there would be no cover and anyone standing on the railway bridge would be able to see them quite clearly. It could not be helped however, as there was no alternative. They would just have to run as fast as they could to a point where they could cross the sea grass to the yacht anchorage.
All of the boys were used to running and they set off at a fast trot, but not too fast as they had a fair way to go. Peter was concerned that June would not be able to keep up the pace with them but when he looked at her, he saw that she was running with an easy style. She had long legs and she used them to advantage, stretching them out in front of her and using her arms to counterbalance the rhythm of her strides. Peter could hardly hear her breathing and he was surprised at how admiring he was becoming of this girl whom he had rescued from the clutches of that group of terrible boys.
They made good time and soon they reached the sharp jog in the sea bank where it turned away from the River. At this point they had to leave the sea bank and make their way directly across to the River.
The Lamby was mostly a flat plain of sea washed short turf and easy to run on. Although there were no molehills or cowpats to catch the unwary runner, there were places where the turf cutters had left rectangular holes that were filled with seawater at the highest tides or, if left un-replenished, were floored with thick mud usually covered by a broken crust of dried mud. If you tried to cross this, the dried mud would suddenly slide on the underlying layer of slick, glutinous mud that had been built up over many, many tide cycles. Both Roddy and Peter were aware of these, so they tried to look well ahead to find the best and most direct path to the Riverbank. As they ran, they called directions to one another and the entire party would zig and zag to avoid the shallow man-made ponds.
Since the great storm had passed the weather had been unusually sunny and today there was a pleasant breeze off the Channel that helped to cool them as they ran. Roddy looked around him, regretting that they were unable to properly enjoy the brilliant day. He loved these days of bright sunshine with the cool, even slightly chilly, onshore breeze. On days like this he enjoyed lying in the grassy sheltered swales in the Lamby where, protected from the sea breeze, he would relish the baking warmth of the sun. All sounds seemed distant and faint including the buzz of small aircraft or the whistle and metallic grumble of a train. The only sound that dominated was the ascending trilling of a nearby skylark; a sound that he always associated with those special warm days. If the little sun trap became too hot, all that was needed was to sit upright for a while and have that sea breeze cool you until you were ready to slip back into the swale, pungent with the smell of warm salt grass and just a hint of tangy, salty mud and sea.
Roddy shook his head, dismissing his reverie and brought himself back to the present and their predicament. Looking back toward the railway bridge, he was dismayed to see that several boys from the other gang had already come across and were passing through the gate. They must have reacted very quickly to the sighting to come so far so fast. He yelled at Peter and pointed back to the railway bridge. Peter didn’t even bother to turn and look, as he knew exactly the warning being given to him. Instead he picked up the pace from a steady trot to a fast run and signaled to the others to hurry. Now the pace was beginning to tell on all of them and the sounds of rasping breath began to compete with the muffled thumps of their shoes on the springy salt grass, which luckily provided a marvelously even carpet on which to run at full speed. The River was not far away now and both older boys hoped their gamble would work out. If nobody were at the yacht anchorage to row them across the River, they would be trapped. They likely would not even have the time to go back to the sea bank and seek the safety of the fields on the other side. Ahead of them the River took one last bend before reaching the Channel and its bordering mudflats and angle of the River and Channel formed a perfect trap that would be very hard to escape. Everything hinged on being able to escape across the River.
On they ran. They were sprinting now, but the boys noticed that June was able to keep pace with them. As the River came in sight Roddy scanned the far bank for any signs of people. It was empty and his heart sank. He was the one who had suggested this risky plan and if it worked, he would be the hero of the hour. Right now, it was looking as if he would have to take the blame for persuading his friends to take a stupid risk. He stopped on the bank and carefully scanned the far side. The yacht owners had built a long shed which they used as a clubhouse and storage for dinghies, ropes and other sailing paraphernalia. Perhaps someone was in the shed. He shouted across the River to attract attention. He signaled for Peter to join in so that the stood a better chance of being heard. There was no sign of anybody being there. Peter looked back toward the railway and he could see that the other gang were well along the sea bank and would soon be turning off it to run out across the sea-grass flat. They would not take long to cover the distance between them; ten or fifteen minutes at most. He looked downriver, desperately seeking an escape route, but he knew that by going in that direction they would be running into a narrowing funnel and that, at most, it would delay the inevitable. They could split up, but the other boys would be able to spot June because of her dress. Perhaps they could swop clothing and either he or Roddy could take June’s dress and give her their short pants and shirt. He almost laughed out loud at the thought of trying to decoy the other gang with that ruse. He imagined the look on their faces when they finally caught up with him in a dress. It was an amusing idea and it helped release some of the tension that was building inside him, but it was also an impossible idea. He began to brace himself for the inevitable confrontation and wondered if it would come to a fight and if it did, what would June do.
Roddy had kept up his shouting and while the opposite bank remained empty, a small dingy suddenly appeared from behind one of the yachts, rowed by the man who had rescued the chickens and, most spectacularly and comically, the cockerel. He felt a griping pain in his stomach as he tried to remember if he or Peter had laughed at the man’s antics during that episode. Well, it was too late to worry about that now. He was the only hope.
“Would you help us please by rowing us across the River. Some boys are chasing us, and they are angry at the girl that we have with us. We are trying to help her.”
“What are you talking about? What boys and what danger can you possibly be in? Anyway, who are you and why should I help you?”
“We were the boys who came and warned you of the chicken coop that was coming down the River during the great flood. We are good friends with Albert. Please, please help us quickly. Those boys are chasing this girl. They have been nasty to her and we are trying to get her back to her home.”
“It all sounds pretty melodramatic to me, but as you are friends of Albert, I will come over and help you.”
“Thanks, and please hurry, they are hard on our heels?”
Peter gave a small gasp of relief as the man angled his boat toward the bank and began to dig his oars into the tide. A glance behind him showed that there was no time to lose.
“Quick, take your shoes and socks off,” he shouted at the others. “We’ll have to climb down to the dinghy as the tide is not high enough for him to reach the grass.”
He looked anxiously at June who was casting nervous glances at the River and the muddy slope down to the water.
“It’s all right. We will help you down and make sure that you don’t fall and make your clothes muddy. Here, give me your shoes and socks to carry and then you will have both hands free to keep your balance and avoid slipping. I’ll go first and Roddy can come behind, that way you can hold my shoulders if you slip.”
Peter led the way down the muddy slope to the water’s edge. He had good balance and by digging his toes deep into the mud, he was able to stop himself from slipping. He shouted to the others to do the same, as he knew that if they began to slip and slide, he might not be able to stop them from falling. Peter put June’s hand on his shoulder and told her to use him for balance. He called to Roddy to hold onto June’s dress as an additional insurance and with Derec bringing up the rear, they carefully walked down the muddy bank to the water’s edge. Peter wisely took a diagonal track so as to minimize the steepness of the descent, and he called to the man in the dinghy to alert him that he should alter his course slightly so that they could rendezvous successfully and save time.
They managed to get down the bank without falling over, despite some bad slips. At one point Peter had to stoop down and stick his hand into the muddy bank to steady himself when June had a particularly bad slip that almost brought them all tumbling into the slimy mud. She gasped with relief as he stiffened and anchored himself so that she could regain her balance. The man ran the bow of the boat into the mud of the bank and told them to hold onto the prow as they got in. June did so first with Peter holding the dinghy as steadily as possible. The man told her to come past him and sit in the stern. She hesitated at first until he pointed to the back of the boat and she grasped his shoulder and slid her way past. First Roddy, then Derek stepped into the small dinghy as Peter tried desperately to keep it stable. Peter was the last into the dinghy and as he prepared to step over the bow there were shouts of rage from the top of the bank. The boys from the City gang had arrived at the River and when they saw that they were being outwitted, their rage boiled over and they shouted angrily at June and the others. The man looked over his shoulder in surprise.
“Those boys look as if they could be very violent. I understand your rush to escape them.”
In frustration, the boys on the bank began to look for things to hurl at June and the escaping gang in the boat. There were no rocks to be found in this flat and muddy landscape, and so in desperation, they began to tear off chunks of mud from the bank and hurl them at the dinghy. The clods were not very large, and their aim was poor so most landed in the mud and made great splatting sounds. When they saw that their missiles were having no effect, they began to shout and swear at the dinghy and its occupants. The man gave them a shocked glance as he tugged at the oars to free the small vessel from the muddy embrace of the bank and pull it into the stream. He turned the dinghy, and with a few powerful strokes, he propelled it out into the River and across to the far side. As he was rowing away from them, he had a clear view of the boys on the bank and could also hear their angry shouting and swearing. A few of them were still attempting to hurl grassy clods but they fell far short of hitting the dinghy and most just splashed harmlessly into the mud with a few falling into the water.
The man put all of his energy into rowing them across the River and it was only as they neared the far bank that he spoke.
“Well, that was interesting. Whatever did you do to them to make them so angry? I don’t think I have seen young boys in such a lather before. If they had caught up with you, they might have given you a right pasting. Nasty little buggers.”
He beached the little dinghy against the muddy bank, then shipped the oars and stepped over the gunwale and moved to the bow.
“Come on, you had better step lively. By the way my name is John. So, you are the two boys who gave us warning about the chicken coop coming down in the flood. I’ve never seen such a rush of water on this River before and the amount and size of the pieces of flotsam was beyond belief. We were lucky to get away with just scraped paint and a few dents to the boats. Albert told me your names, but I have already forgotten them. Sorry!”
Roddy introduced Peter and told the man that it was he and Peter who had given the warning. He told him briefly about Derec and the remarkable dog rescue and then introduced June. He decided to not mention the incident with June and the City gang and just said that they came from the same neighbourhood as June and that they were trying to bully her and that he and the others were helping her escape. He hoped that the explanation would suffice. June sat silently and added nothing to his description. John just nodded and said something about badly behaved youngsters today before asking them where they planned to go once, they reached the grass. Peter and Roddy looked at one another and then at June. They had not thought about this part, as their only plan had been to get June across the River so that she could make her own way back home. Peter looked back to the Riverbank and saw that the boys from the City gang had already left the riverbank and were making their way back toward the railway bridge. Even if they risked going alongside the railway until they reached the bridge over the River, they would still have to come through the allotments and along the Riverbank to reach the yacht anchorage. That would take a very long time and Peter could see that they were tired from their pursuit, so they would not be sprinting. In fact, they would hardly be able to keep up a good trotting pace.
Peter turned to June and asked her if she knew the way to her house from this part of the River. June shook her head. “We never come over here to play. I only know the way back home from the allotments, so I need help to get back there from here.”
Peter offered to lead her there and leave her at the entrance to the allotments. From that point to her home was not too far and June had already demonstrated that she could run fast and hard. They carefully trekked up through the mud and John led them to a water tap on the outside of the yacht club hut where they could wash off their feet and he also found some rough cotton cloths for drying. June had kept herself free of the mud, mostly due to Peter’s acting as a prop and anchor during the slippery descent on the other bank. She washed her legs and feet carefully and dried them before putting on her shoes and socks. Her shoes needed some cleaning, which she accomplished with the rags, but otherwise her clothes showed no signs of her remarkable day. Peter and the other boys were not as clean, but they had avoided the worst of the mud and dirt and only had a few smears and smatters on them.
“What shall we do to get back home?”
They all turned to Derec who had been remarkably silent to this point.
“We can’t get back by crossing the railway line and going under the bridge next to the River. Those boys will be coming that way, and we might run into them. After what we did to help June escape, they will not be in a good mood and there could be trouble. You heard them swearing and cursing at us and if they could have put their hands on some good rocks, I’m sure that they would have hit us, and hard too.”
Roddy looked at Peter who was nodding in agreement. They had been so intent upon the escape plan that they had not thought about how they would get home, and they were now on the wrong side of the River. John, who had been silently listening to their conversation chimed in.
“I think the young boy is right. I don’t know what you did to upset those boys young lady, but they seemed to be very angry. You need to stay away from that nasty bunch as much as you can. Look, if you can get the girl safely on her way home, come back here and I shall take you over to the other side again. I have to go back on to the River anyway, as I still have unfinished work on the boat, and I need to take advantage of this tide and get it finished. So, of you go and hurry. I don’t have all day.”
Peter looked at the others and gave them a nod. He then turned to June and signaled that they needed to be on their way. John and the two remaining boys watched them as they jogged off along the path by the River that bypassed the old aerodrome. Despite the boys from the City gang taking off immediately, they had a long way to go to reach the allotments, even if they did risk cutting along the railway next to the wagon sidings. Roddy hoped that one day they might run afoul of the railway police, who sometimes kept watch on places that were having a lot of trespass problems. Then he suddenly remembered that he was a regular trespasser on the railway too and, denied that path to the allotments, it would be almost impossible to meet with Albert. He found that possibility very saddening and for the first time he realized that he looked forward to seeing Albert and hearing his stories. In his world there was no adult that had such a fund of knowledge and stories and did not bore you in the telling.
He turned to John. “Is Albert likely to come down to the anchorage this evening?”
John shook his head slowly. “I don’t really know, but somehow that new cutter of his escaped any serious damage in the flood and he hasn’t had to do all of the repair and painting of gouges and scratches that some of us others have had to contend with. I don’t know why his boat was so unaffected. Just luck, pure and simple, I suppose. Come on, we have quite a while to wait for your friend to return. Let’s have a cuppa while we are waiting. I think that young man has a soft spot for that girl, so I hope they don’t take long over their goodbyes.”
Roddy, who had been listening to John while scanning the railway for any signs of the other gang, spun around on John.
“He only just met her today”, he spluttered.
“Well young lad, sometimes that is all that it takes” With that John gave them a wink and turned back to the hut and went inside.
“Peter doesn’t even like girls. He doesn’t think they are adventurous enough and they don’t like all the running and climbing that he likes to do,” said Derec.
Roddy looked at him and thought that while he was right, he had noticed some changes in Peter recently. He was much more animated around Dora in the last few days, and he did seem very protective of June. It would have been just as easy for him to help June home, but it was Peter who had instantly assumed the role of guide and protector, not one of the others.
Turning he followed John into the hut, while pensively looking down at his shoes, which John had told them to thoroughly clean before coming inside. When he raised his head and looked around, he was amazed at prospect before him. The outside of the hut was clean and well maintained, but very plain while the inside was like an Aladdin’s cave. The walls were of plain wood, but they had been carefully varnished so as to bring out the attractive grain. All of the lights along the wall were brass navigation lights that had been converted to hold electric bulbs. The brass shone and glowed in the sunlight that came through the windows. At one end of the room was a great table, highly polished and surrounded by chairs that were all carefully placed. There were also tables and chairs arranged in the centre of the room. Those tables were all highly polished too and very clean and the chairs were all neatly upholstered in what looked like red leather. The opposite end of the room was taken up with a bar that ran almost from wall to wall, except for a narrow passageway that led into another room at the back.
John went straight through that passage, while calling back to them that they should make themselves comfortable and he would be back with some tea. Roddy circled around the large rectangular room looking at the pictures and objects that were on the walls. A few were maps and nautical charts, which he found interesting with their complex lines, tiny numbers and notations, but most were pictures or paintings of sailing boats and almost all were of older vessels rather than the more modern smooth hulled yachts that dominated the mooring in the River. Pictures and bright seascapes covered the walls making the room feel a little like a museum. Just to make the comparison more apt, each of the pictures and maps had a small printed description attached to it, so examining and reading all of the pictures and related captions would take a long time.
The sunlight coming through the south facing windows sparkled on the polished brass and reflected off the highly polished furniture so that the entire room was a mass of sprays and glances of light. The small, but packed bar was also a mass of splintering light from the bottles, polished glassware and numerous knickknacks. Roddy remembered the decorated bar in the Bell in Longstreet, but here it was taken to an even higher level.
“All shipshape and Bristol fashion, ain’t she?” said a voice from behind him and he turned to see John with a tray containing cups, saucers and a pot of tea with its attendant silver pots of milk and sugar. Even his careful and tidy Mother could not have done it better. John noted the interest and admiring glances and told him that even though their club was not a fancy one and it stood on the banks of a rather small and muddy tidal river, the members were all strongly connected to the sea and its traditions of tidiness and cleanliness.
“We all take turns keeping this clubhouse clean, and at least once a year we carry every stick of furniture outside and give the entire place a thorough washing and scrubbing before putting everything back in place. Come on then, let’s have some tea while its fresh and hot.”
With that he took the tea tray to the large table at the end of the room and set out places for each of them. He then proceeded to ceremoniously pour milk and tea, as needed, into each cup, enquiring about quantities as he went. Roddy was impressed by the adult way in which he engaged the two boys in conversation and his thorough politeness, which made him feel a little guilty for laughing and snickering at John’s predicament with the cockerel. Here was a gentle and dignified man who would not have dreamed of batting the frightened bird from his head, despite the comic picture that it presented. Hurting the bird would have been even harder for him bear than the momentary indignity of having it sit on his head and make him look comical in front of his friends.
“So, what are you going to do about the ruffians in that other gang then? They were very upset at you boys and that girl with you. I was surprised that they didn’t try to restrain themselves when there was a grown up present. I don’t think that I have seen anything as brazen as that before. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to make some trouble down here at the club too.”
Both Roddy and Derek jerked their heads up at his last remark.
“Why would they do anything to you and besides, you’re grown-ups and they wouldn’t dream of doing anything here, surely?” Derec said. “As for us I think that we shall just have to stay out of their way. Luckily, they have not found our den while we know all about theirs. I suppose that we shall have to try to keep it that way.”
“Well, I think that’s a good plan. Steer clear of them as they look like they’re a lot of trouble. So, tell me what happened with June and why did you rescue her then.”
Roddy looked at Derec and then at John.
“I don’t really know what happened as Peter was the only one who saw anything, and he found her running away from the other boys and brought her to hide in our den while they were searching the fields for her.”
“Seems very strange don’t it. Pack of boys and one girl. How did she end up with them?”
“I think that they persuaded her to come and look at their den. She said that the boy who seemed to be their leader, Cliff, was quite charming and as she had never been to the other side of the River, she thought that it would be a good adventure.”
While saying this Roddy was desperately trying to think of some bland but credible explanation that would satisfy John’s curiosity as he didn’t want to tell the real story as that would embarrass him as well as June. He hoped that John would be satisfied with what he had said so far.
“Hmmm! Well it was an adventure all right, just not the adventure that she was thinking off. She seemed rather quiet as if she had been through something rather shocking. I hope that your mate Peter is able to put her safely on the road to home. So, tell me some more about your gang and this den of yours, and while you’re at it tell me how you came to know Albert. He’s never told us about that part.”
Roddy felt relieved at this change of subject and he enthusiastically joined Derek in describing their den and how they had built it and taken great care to hide it. Roddy told him all about his following the City gang across the railway and his bumping into Albert in his allotment. He also talked about the boat but skipped the part about the bomb disposal squad and only said a little about the gypsies and Dora. Although he thought John was a kind and gentle man, he knew that there was a lot of prejudice against gypsies amongst people, and he was feeling protective of Dora and her relatives.
“I wonder why those boys decided to go all that way to build an old den. Don’t make any sense to me. They’ve got places to play in where they live and they could find places to build dens or forts, or whatever they liked.” John took a long drink of his tea and slowly swallowed it while pondering this problem.
Roddy studied John more closely and decided that, from his looks, he must spend a lot of time on the water with his boats. His face was quite lined, and weather beaten, and his hands were thick and strong looking, with long ridges where the tendons stood out from the skin. His fingers were short and thick, and his nails looked at if they took quite a beating, as they were scratched and chipped and uneven.
“How did you become interested in boats, John?”
“I was in the Navy for years. Saw some sights all over the World, and some action too. I loved the sea but it’s hard on the family, what with you being gone for months at a time. Our captain used to make us row and sail the galleys and other boats whenever we were in port. He said that the trouble with being a sailor on a modern oil-fired ship is that the crew gets too soft. Some of my shipmates grumbled a lot about it. They said that he was just being a hard captain, but he used to make his officers do it too and he would take a pull at the oars as well. I thought he was a good and fair captain and all that messing about in small boats made me love to have one of my own. He even had us rigging the ship’s cutter and sailing it ourselves. He said that you learned what the sea and the wind was truly about when you had to watch every little shift of the wind and learn to recognize the sign of an approaching squall. I reckon that he had a point. Anyway, it made a proper sailor out of me, not just some jack tar who could swab decks and take a steering watch with an officer calling the course headings to you.”
Roddy looked at John with a new interest. He was not just a local who had decided to save up and buy a boat and potter in it. This was a man who had seen a lot of the World before coming back to his home here in the City.
“What sort of action did you see?”
“Oh, I don’t like to talk about it too much. You ever heard of the River Plate, down in South America?”
Roddy shook his head.
“Well, you go and look that one up in a book and then think of me. I lost a lot of good mates in that one and we never thought that we would come out of it alive. Too much sadness and loss to think about, let alone tell about.”
Roddy decided that he would look that up when he was next at the library.
“Did you fire those big long naval guns?”
This was from a very attentive and awed Derec. John looked at him with a smile.
“Oh, yes and they were hell. It’s a wonder that I can hear anything at all. Come on, there’s one more cuppa in the pot for each of us. Enough talk of war and guns.”
John pulled the pot to him. It was a big one made of aluminium of the kind that Roddy had seen used in the Village Hall. The difference was that this one was so highly polished that he could see the walls reflected as a curved diorama in its glistening surface. The one in the Village Hall was battered and dull in comparison and was also stained by too much sloppy pouring of tea. It suddenly struck him that perhaps most of the men who belonged to club and kept their boats at the anchorage, were once in the Navy. He was just about to ask John if this was the case, when the door opened, and Peter walked in.
“Make sure your shoes are clean and free of mud young fellow or leave them outside!” came the sharp order from John.
Peter stopped as if he had reached the full extent of a tight leash, and quickly bent and unlaced his shoes, placing them outside the door. He then padded across to the group at the table and sat down heavily on a vacant chair. He looked tired and distracted after his walk to the allotments with June. They all looked at him expectantly and John, who had thoughtfully brought a spare cup, poured a cup for Peter and held up first the milk and then the sugar, his face twisted into a query, to see if Peter wanted him to add them. Peter nodded and held up two fingers to show how much sugar he wanted added to his tea.
They all wanted to hear what had happened, but it was Derec who was the first to ask.
“Is she all right? Did you see any of those boys? Did she run home?”
Peter could not help a smile. It crept slowly over his tense face, and as it did so he began to relax, his shoulders dropped, and he reached for his cup of tea.
“Yes, she’s OK. I got her to the end of the allotments, and she ran home from there. We didn’t run across any of the boys, but on my way back through the allotments, I saw them coming over the railway bridge and I had to quickly hide. I was afraid that they had seen me, as they were not too far away, and I was being a bit careless. I never thought that they could come around so soon. I couldn’t go to warn June, but she said that she was going to run home just in case they were nearby, so I’m pretty sure that she will be all right. I hid near Albert’s garden shed until they passed. I could hear them talking amongst themselves, but they were too far away for me to make out what they were saying. I think that Cliff was with them, but I couldn’t be sure. Anyway, June had a good start on them and should have been safely home by the time they had reached the end of the allotment gardens. They seem to be a tough gang of boys. We’ll have to be wary of them in the future.”
John looked at Peter and then at the other boys.
“Well, I think that is enough excitement for me today. I need to get on with my repairs as the tide is not going to stop for me and I really need to do it around high water. Come on, help me clear up the tea things and I’ll row you back across the River.
All three boys helped to carry the teacups, and the sugar and milk to the kitchen. It was as immaculate and shining as the rest of the hut and John took care to wash things and dry them properly and he put everything away so that it looked as if nothing had happened in the kitchen for ages. Roddy had the sudden thought that his Mother would appreciate John very much and would use him as an example of what he and his sisters should strive for.
They followed John outside where they recovered their shoes, stuffed their socks inside them and tied the laces together to make them easier to carry when they crossed the River. The tide was almost at full flood, and so they didn’t need to traverse much of the muddy part of the bank to get to the dinghy. John took the oars once they were all seated on the thwarts, he quickly got them to the far bank, where they clambered out and stood looking back at John.
“Take care lads and be careful of those other boys. Come and see us again one of these days.”
With a cheery wave he gave a sharp pull to the oars to free the vessel from the bank, swung the dinghy expertly and with a few strong strokes was back at his boat. He gave them one more wave before pulling to the far side of his small yacht to resume his repairs.
The three boys cleaned their feet and put them into socks and shoes before starting the walk back to the railway bridge and the Lane. As they walked each was deep into his thoughts. Roddy was thinking of how they could avoid what would almost certainly be a nasty confrontation with the boys of the City gang, and how he needed to persuade the others to improve the camouflage of the den. Derec was also thinking of the City gang, and wondered, should it come to a fight if the bigger boys in his gang would be a match for them, He had already worked out his own moves, based on one of the fights that he had seen in one of the recent “Hopalong” films. He rehearsed the moves in his head as he walked and made little grunting noises to accompany the more spectacular and energetic moves.
Peter looked at him irritably every time he made those noises as it ruined his concentration. His thoughts were on June and how interesting he found her. She was very athletic and that idea of hers to leave a false trail was a remarkable inspiration. Peter was even a little peeved that he had not thought of that, but this was outweighed by his admiration for her quick thinking. He was still confused by her agreeing to strip off in front of the boys from the other gang. That he just could not understand, and why was she so taken in by Cliff, the gang leader against whom Peter had taken an instant dislike. His thoughts just went around and round; the enigma of June chasing the pleasant feelings that he had about the girl. He wished that he had asked to see her again when he said his goodbyes at the edge of the allotment. Both were very nervous and wary at the time, because of their concern about the boys from the City gang suddenly showing up. So, their farewell had been hasty. Nevertheless, Peter regretted not saying something. Now he had no idea of how to contact her again as he had not, the faintest idea of which street she lived on and he didn’t feel comfortable going to her neighbourhood searching around the streets asking for her. He didn’t even know her surname, and without that the task would be almost hopeless. There must be lots of girls named June in her neighbourhood, as it was a popular name.
So deep in thought were they that they didn’t even look across at the gypsy camp as they came down the stony path from the railway bridge into the Lane. They were surprised by a shout and suddenly there was a dog running between their legs and jumping on Derec. The shout had come from Dora and she was now running toward them. Derec, all thoughts of athletic fighting moves dispelled, was stooping down and madly scratching the ears of the dog that he had rescued from the River. The dog in turn was wagging its tail furiously and doing its best to lick his face. Roddy thought that it was a shame that the dog could not go home with Derec. Surely there must be some way to persuade his parents to allow him to have the dog. The mutual adoration was so strong.
“He recognized you immediately as you crossed the railway bridge. I tried to hold him back, but he was like a being possessed and he just broke away from me.”
Dora stood there, panting slightly from her short sprint after the dog. Today she was once more dressed in her old jodhpurs, which always looked so elegant on her strong slim legs, and a very white and crisp blouse. Roddy glanced down at his own scruffy clothes, noticing the mud spatters on his trousers and acutely aware that the run to the River to escape the other gang had left him sweaty and grimy. It was always like this it seemed; Dora looking cool and elegant and so pretty while he looked as if he had been playing in hedgerows and mud puddles all day.
“Gosh, you boys look as if you have been running a marathon through muddy fields. Whatever have you been up to?’
Roddy and Peter competed to blurt out the story of their day’s adventures, but it was Peter who managed to dominate, and Roddy let him tell the tale. Dora listened with interest and grimaced slightly at Peter’s recounting of his rescue of June from the clutches of the City gang, even though Peter glossed over the details and implied that she was just being harassed and bullied by them. She loved the part of the story where John arrived in the nick of time to rescue them and take them safely across the River. She laughed out loud at the image of the pursuing boys on the bank, yelling and throwing clods of mud in their frustration at seeing their quarry evade them so elegantly and unexpectedly.
“You took a big risk in expecting someone to be there to help you. Whose idea was that?”
Roddy nodded sheepishly and mumbled something about how it seemed like the best way to get June home once they realized that the other escape route would be blocked.
“Well, it sounds like the sort of risk that a great general would take. A bit like a Napoleon, you surprised the enemy by doing something that they had not thought of and probably believed was impossible.”
Roddy flushed slightly and smiled at the compliment.
“So, how are you going to deal with these boys who seem to be invading your territory and taking all sorts of liberties? They don’t seem to be very nice people and also there seem to be more of them than there are in your small gang. You are going to need some reinforcements to deal with them.”
“I don’t think we want to confront them.” As soon as Roddy said this, he realized how weak it seemed and he tried to explain but Peter butted in.
“We’ll work something out. What we don’t want is to confront them and then get beaten and chased out of our own territory. Those fields are on our side of the River and those boys shouldn’t be there. Luckily, they haven’t yet found our den and we want it to stay that way.”
Dora looked at them questioningly. “I don’t see how you can avoid them now. Even if they don’t know the whereabouts of your den, they must know that you play in those fields, so it’s just a matter of time before they come across it. They need to be pushed back across the River.”
“How do we do that?” Peter asked. “We are fewer than they are, and they seem pretty tough to me. Why, even John was impressed by their fierceness when he saw them on the Riverbank. He seemed shocked at the bad language that they used, and he used to be in the Navy.”
“Humm! They do sound pretty tough, don’t they? I think we need to talk to my cousins about this. The weather is much nicer now. Why don’t you come here tomorrow, and we can play a game of cricket and at the same time, work out some way to deal with these tough characters?”
Neither Peter nor Roddy seemed to be excited about this idea, but Derec saw the opportunity to come and play with the dog, and he was enthusiastic.
“Oh, come on you two ‘stick-in-the-muds’ that sounds like a wonderful idea. Yes,” he said looking at Dora and then down at the dog, which was sitting by his feet and looking up at him in doggy adoration.
They said their goodbyes. Derec stayed with the dog as long as possible and Dora had to tempt it back to her caravan with a tasty bone. Off they trudged, up the Lane and to their homes. It was late in the afternoon and already their respective mothers had sent out siblings to look for them. Luckily for Roddy, it was his sister B, and she was more interested in finding out what he had been up to that day than in scolding him. Peter and Derec’s sister, however, was older than B, and she wanted to be getting herself ready to go out with a friend and not wasting her time looking for her scruffy brothers. So, while Roddy got off without a scolding, the two brothers were given a thorough telling off before being hurried into their house for tea.
That evening Roddy sat on his sister’s bed and told her all about the day’s adventures. B listened closely and asked lots of questions about the City gang and about June. She quickly surmised that Peter was very interested in June despite him telling her that he had never shown any interest in girls at all and he didn’t think that he was interested now. B laughed and told him that he had missed all the subtle signs.
“I suppose we shall have to ask Albert to include her in his crew for our sailing adventure. I’m sure that Peter would like to have her along.”
“Never,” Roddy expostulated, “I don’t think that Peter would want that and besides, I don’t think Albert would want any more responsibility. He already has three children, not counting you as you’re supposed to be helping supervise us. I wonder when that will happen. I was talking to Dora on the way home and I forgot to ask if Albert had been there to talk to her parents. If he had, I’m sure that she would have mentioned it.”
“Talking about little boys being sweet on certain little girls,” B said teasingly.
Roddy blushed and, in his embarrassment, he picked up a pillow and began to hit B with it. She just laughed and said, “well that settles it then, I hit the nail on the head there.”
LAMBY MEMORIES 