The Secret Seven Read Free Page B

gave a little squeak but that was all. He stepped into the garden. His feet sank quietly into the snow.
    He made his way to the lane and went down it to the field, flashing his little torch as he went. The snow glimmered up, and there was a dim whitish light all round from it. He soon came to the field where they had built the snowmen, and he climbed over the gate.
    The snowmen stood silently in a group together, almost as if they were watching and waiting for him. Jack didn't altogether like it. He thought one moved, and he drew his breath in sharply. But, of course, it hadn't. It was just his imagination.
    «Don't be silly», he told himself, sternly. «You know they're only made of snow! Be sensible and look for your dropped button.»
    He switched on his torch and the snowmen gleamed whiter than ever. The one with eyes and nose and mouth, with the cap and the coat on, seemed to look at him gravely as he hunted here and there. Jack turned his back on him.
    «You may only have stone eyes, but you seem to be able to look with them, all the same», he said to the silent snowman. «Now don't go tapping me on the shoulder and make me jump!»
    Then he suddenly gave an exclamation. He had found his badge! There lay the button in the snow, with S.S. embroidered on it, for Secret Seven. Hurrah! He must have dropped it here after all then.
    He picked it up. It was wet with snow. He pinned it carefully on his coat. That really was a bit of luck to find it so easily. Now he could go home and get into bed. He was cold and sleepy.
    His torch suddenly flickered, and then went out. «Blow!» said Jack. «The battery's gone. It might have lasted till I got home, really it might! Well, it's a good thing I know my way.»
    He suddenly heard a noise down the lane, and saw the headlights of a car. It was coming very slowly. Jack was surprised. The lane led nowhere at all. Was the car lost? He'd better go and put the driver on the right road, if so. People often got lost when the roads were snowbound.
    He went to the gate. The car came slowly by and then Jack saw that it was towing something – something rather big. What could it possibly be?
    The boy strained his eyes to see. It wasn't big enough for a removal van, and yet it looked rather like the shape of one. It wasn't a caravan either, because there were no wide windows at the side. Were there any windows at all? Jack couldn't see any. Well, whatever was this curious van? And where was it going? The driver simply must have made a mistake! The boy began to climb over the gate. Then he suddenly sat still.
    The car's headlights had gone out. The car itself had stopped, and so had the thing it was towing. Jack could make out the dark shapes of the car and the van behind, standing quite still. What was it all about?
    Somebody spoke to somebody else in a low voice. Jack could see that one or two men had got out of the car, but he could not hear their footsteps because of the snow.
    How he wished the moon was up, then he could hide behind the hedge and see what was happening! He heard a man's voice speaking more loudly.
    «Nobody about, is there?»
    «Only that deaf fellow», said another voice.
    «Have a look-see, will you?» said the first voice. «Just in case.»
    Jack slipped quickly down from the gate, as he saw a powerful torch flash out. He crouched behind the snowy hedge, scraping snow over himself. There came the soft crunch of footsteps walking over frosty snow by the hedge. The flashlight shone over the gate and the man gave an exclamation.
    «Who's there? Who are you?»
    Jack's heart beat so hard against him that it hurt. He was just about to get up and show himself, and say who he was, when the man at the gate began to laugh.
    «My word – look here, Nibs – a whole lot of snowmen standing out here! I thought they were alive at first, watching for us! I got a scare all right.»
    Another man came softly to the first and he laughed too. «Kids' work, I suppose», he said. «Yes, they