“It can’t really have been a castle, Dot,” said Susan.
“It would make a pretty good one,” said Titty.
“But how did the stalking begin?” asked Peggy.
“A dog started barking at us,” said Titty.
“There was a young chieftain watching from the tower,” said Dorothea.
“That boy who came down with the dogmudgeon last night?”
“It must have been him,” said Dorothea.
“Well,” said Peggy. “We’ll do everything you did. We needn’t let sleeping dogs lie. It wouldn’t be safe. They’d only wake up later and come charging over the top just when Dick’s in full view.”
“We’ve got to be pretty careful,” said Susan. “That first time they weren’t expecting you. This time they may be too quick. If we show ourselves and don’t get a good start, it’ll be like poking a stick into a hornets’ nest and not being able to bolt far enough.”
“Jibbooms and Bobstays!” exclaimed Peggy in the Nancy manner. “Let’s get it clear. What we’ve got to do is to get them tagging after us. The further we get before we stir them up, the safer it’ll be for Dick. But we mustn’t risk not stirring them at all. We’ll get well along the ridge, and then show ourselves on their side and kick up a row till they see us.”
“And if they don’t come?”
“They’ll come all right,” said Peggy. “Nancy said the dogmudgeon fairly roared at her and John.”
“Just like he did at us,” said Titty.
“So long as they don’t come too fast,” said Susan. “Captain Flint said we were to keep out of trouble with natives.”
“That’s just what we’re going to do,” said Peggy. “We’re going to exercise them, that’s all, and keep as far out of trouble as we possibly can. What’s the matter with Roger?”
Roger had reached the old Pict-house and was beckoning to them.
“Someone’s been here since yesterday,” he said. “Anyway, since I left. Look at the doorway.”
“What’s wrong with it?” said Susan, who, like Peggy, was seeing it for the first time.
“There wasn’t any heather in it before,” said Titty. “Roger crawled right in.”
“There wasn’t any yesterday,” said Roger. “I went in again to look at the old biscuit box. Someone’s put it there on purpose.”
The square doorway had been blocked by a big bundle of heather that had been pushed in roots first, so that from outside it looked as if it had grown there. Nobody could go into that doorway now without first taking out the heather.
“Are you sure it wasn’t done while you were here?” said Susan.
“The beast might have done it while you were asleep,” said Peggy.
“He didn’t,” said Roger, not liking to be reminded of the label he had found above his head. “I looked all round before I came away.”
“The dogmudgeon and the young chieftain may have done it last night,” said Dorothea.
“Or this morning,” said Titty. “They may have been up before we were.”
All five red herrings looked anxiously up at the ridge.
“The road goes through that notch,” said Titty, “and Dot’s castle, where they played the bagpipes, is on the other side of it, and a lot of the black houses of the Gaels, like the ones we saw in Skye.”
“We’ll go well beyond the notch before looking over,” said Susan.
“I’m going to stay here,” said Roger. “Whoever blocked up that doorway did it to keep me out. He’s sure to come again to see if the heather’s been moved.”
“You’re going to do nothing of the sort,” said Susan.
“Rogie, you can’t,” said Titty.
“There aren’t enough of us anyhow,” said Peggy. “And if one of us settles down to sleep.…”
“There isn’t going to be any sleeping,” said Roger. “And if whoever it was thinks he can do it again.…”
“John and Nancy have started,” said Dorothea.
Far away below them, they could see the inlet, the near cove with the Sea Bear at anchor, and the narrower one beyond it, running further inland, where lay the Pterodactyl. They could see Captain Flint in the dinghy, and knew that he must be rowing back to the Sea Bear after putting John and Nancy ashore.
“I can’t see them,” said Titty.
“They’ll have started being decoys,” said Dorothea.
“We ought to have started too,” said Susan.
“Come on,” said Peggy.
They left the hill of the Pict-house, climbed as far as the track, and, after a moment’s hesitation, because, remembering the first time, Dorothea was inclined to think they ought to show themselves to the Gaels, set out along the track towards the head of the valley.
From the track they had a clear view of the two lochs and the island of the birds.
“He’s hidden the boat beautifully,” said Dorothea. “Nobody’d ever guess there was anybody there.”
“It doesn’t look big enough to hide even Dick,” said Titty.
“He may be taking the photographs now,” said Dorothea.
“Jolly well hope not,” said Peggy. “If he comes out in the boat he’ll be in full view before we’ve got the Gaels even started.”
“Don’t look down that way,” said Susan. “We know he’s on the island, and we know John and Nancy are in the next valley being decoys. It’s silly for us to look. We don’t know that somebody isn’t watching us. And if we stare down there … and point …” she added, looking at Roger, “we’ll simply give the secret away.”
“Susan’s right,” said Peggy.
“I believe we ought to have gone and stirred them up first,” said Titty. “I don’t believe they’d have stalked us last time if we hadn’t.”
“Not safe till we’ve got further along,” said Susan.
She had hardly got the words out of her mouth before they all heard a long shrill whistle. They swung round and stared up at the top of the ridge.
“It’s begun,” said Titty. “Only last time they’d been stalking us long before we heard the first whistle.”
“Somebody must have been on the look-out,” said Dorothea. “I say. They may have been watching us all the time.”
“Jiminy!” said Peggy. “No time to lose. Buck up. Keep together. Easier going on the cart track. We’ll spread out to puzzle them later. Go it, red herrings. They’re unkennelling the pack.”
Nobody watching the little party on the hillside and seeing, how at the sound of that whistle, they set off on the run, could have thought anything but that they were up to mischief. The whistle had hardly stopped sounding before all five of the red herrings were racing along as if they had stolen goods in their knapsacks instead of harmless sandwiches.
“Go it, Susan!” cried Roger, running close behind her.
“Keep to the track,” said Susan over her shoulder, and Roger grinned as he ran. He, too, had seen the deep peat cuttings on either side of the track, and the little piles of cut peat drying for next winter’s fuel.
“Stick to it, Peggy!” he called.
“You keep your breath for running,” said Peggy, not even bothering to look round.
They ran on and on, along the winding track, that dipped and climbed and twisted among the rocks and heather of the ridge. At first they thought of nothing but keeping going, sure that the Gaels were already coming after them. Then, as their trot became more and more breathless, one after another of them kept glancing up towards the skyline.
“It was like that the other day,” panted Titty. “We knew they were there, but we couldn’t see them at all.”
“I c … can’t k… keep it up,” panted Dorothea.
“Easy,” said Susan. “We’ve got miles to go … Where’s Roger?”
They stopped and looked back and then at each other. There was no doubt about it. They had been five red herrings. They were now only four. Roger had vanished altogether.
“I’ll have to go back for him,” said Susan.
“Susan, you simply can’t,” said Peggy.
“He may have slipped and hurt himself,” said Susan.
“Not he,” said Peggy. “He’d have shouted. He’s dropped out on purpose. I ought to have guessed he was up to something. It’s a pity we divided up the grub before starting.”
“Don’t look back,” begged Dorothea. “If the stalkers see us looking back, they’ll think there’s something to look at.”
“There’s someone up on the skyline now,” whispered Titty. “I thought it was a rock, but it moved.”
“Look here, Susan,” said Peggy. “If Roger’d slipped or anything like that he’d have shouted. He was close behind me when we began running. We can’t risk spoiling the whole plan just because Roger’s being a donk and starting some silly game of his own.”
“We simply can’t,” said Dorothea. “Dick’s on the island now. He’s counting on us. So’s Nancy, and John. If Roger gets caught it’s his own fault.”
“They won’t kill him even if they catch him,” said Peggy.
“We’ve got to count him as a baby thrown to the wolves,” said Dorothea.
“He’ll enjoy it,” said Titty.
“I jolly well hope he doesn’t,” said Peggy. “A plan’s a plan and people ought to stick to it.”
“There’s something moving up there,” said Titty.
“It’s working all right,” said Dorothea. “Just like last time. We knew it would. Oh, Susan, you mustn’t look back.”
“All right. I won’t,” said Susan. “But Roger is so awfully cheeky and after all we are on someone else’s land.”
“Explorers always are,” said Titty, “except the ones that go into the Arctic and places like that, and even bits of the Arctic belong to Eskimos and Lapps. Roger’ll remember Captain Cook. He’ll keep on the right side of the natives.”
“Captain Cook got on the wrong side of them,” said Dorothea.
“The inside,” said Peggy. “I hope Roger does too. If he gets eaten he deserves it. We ought to keel-haul him when we get back. But we can’t do anything now. We must keep moving. Look here, Titty, was it really like this the other day? Native noises, like that whistle, but not a native to be seen.”
“We’d got further than this before they even began making noises,” said Titty.
Shepherding the worried Susan before them, the red herrings were on the move again. It was clearly the only thing to do.
“When they started last time, we turned into geologists,” said Dorothea. “To show we were harmless….”
“No need to do anything like that,” said Peggy. “Not unless we have to think of something just to keep them from losing interest. But, I say, are you sure they’re stalking us at all?”
It was hard to believe. Titty had thought she had seen a head on the skyline, but nobody else had seen it. But for the whistle that all of them had heard, there had been nothing to show Peggy and Susan that the red herrings were not getting very hot for nothing, hurrying on and on in wild moorland country without a human being in it beside themselves. Still, they could see that Titty and Dorothea were sure that the same thing was happening that had happened when they were here before. Anyhow, they had gone too far to turn back now. They no longer ran, but sauntered, ready at any moment to run again.
“Don’t look back,” said Peggy. “I know what Roger’s done. I believe he meant to do it all the time.”
“What?”
“Gone back to his sentry box,” said Peggy. “You know, where he went to sleep yesterday. I believe he meant to stay there all the time.”
“He’ll never have got back there without being seen.”
“He can indian very well when he wants to,” said Titty.
“John and Nancy’ll be pretty furious when they hear,” said Susan.
“Cock, cock, cock … Go back! Go back! Go back!”
“There you are,” said Titty. “Those were grouse, and it wasn’t us who startled them. There must be somebody up there in the heather, even if we can’t see them.”
“Cock, cock, cock.”
“There goes another lot,” said Dorothea, as they saw the birds whirring above the skyline.
“Go back! Go back! Go back!”
“They’re saying that to the stalkers,” said Titty.
“Well, I hope the stalkers don’t go back either,” said Peggy. “I’m going to give them a wave, to make them think we’ve spotted them. We all will.”
And the four red herrings, looking up towards the top of the ridge, waved cheerfully at rock and heather.
There was no answer from any stalker, but they saw yet another brace of grouse get up and fly along the ridge towards the hills.
As the red herrings turned to go on, they saw a movement in the valley.
“It’s the deer,” said Titty. “We saw them last time, too.”
The red herrings had not noticed them while they lay quiet, but now saw twenty or thirty all moving together.
“I can’t see one with horns,” said Dorothea.
“There’s another lot coming down the slopes … over there …”
“They’ll have been started by Nancy and John,” said Peggy, “Gosh! I do wonder how far they’ve got, and if the old Dactyl’s chasing after them.”
They were by now already well beyond the upper of Dick’s two lochs, and could safely let themselves look across the wide valley, that stretched, with patches of green among the rock and heather, to the further ridge. That further ridge hid the valley beyond it, where they knew John and Nancy were at work, carrying out their part of the plan. Far away to the south, they could see blue hills, and, towards the head of the valley they were in, the hills rose steeply with crags and screes, almost like the mountains in their own country. But there were no farms in sight, no buildings, no people, nor any signs of people except the cart track under their feet, winding on into the hills.
“I don’t wonder Dick’s birds chose this place,” said Titty. “Until we came they must have had it all to themselves.”
“What about the Gaels?” said Dorothea, and they looked again up the steep slopes of rock and heather to the skyline.
“We’ve been going a long time,” said Susan.
“Not half far enough,” said Peggy. “Look here. Nobody’s tired?”
“Not a bit,” said Dorothea.
“It’s about time for grub,” said Susan.
“I bet Roger’s scoffed his,” said Peggy.
Susan, in spite of herself looked back.
“Susan!” said Peggy. “You mustn’t.”
“I can’t see him,” said Susan.
“Good,” said Peggy. “So long as nobody else can. Just forget the little brute. Look forward. There! There! … Nothing there really,” she explained. “I’m only doing a bit of pointing in case some of our stalkers may be looking at us.”
“We’d better not stop to eat,” said Dorothea.
“No need,” said Peggy.
They ate their sandwiches on the march, stopping only to drink. As Peggy said, there never was a red herring that could tip lemonade down its throat out of a bottle while prancing along on a cart track. And it was just while Peggy was making sure of the last drops of her lemonade that something happened that changed everything for all of them.
The three others, waiting a moment while Peggy, with her head back, held her lemonade bottle upside down over her mouth, heard a sharp click.
“What’s that?” said Susan.
“Nearly outed a tooth,” said Peggy. “Don’t move. Look where I’m looking now.”
High on the hillside above them, a boy in Highland dress was watching them.
“The young chieftain,” said Dorothea.
All four of them had seen him, the same boy who at dusk had come down with Roger’s dogmudgeon, had looked silently at the Pterodactyl and had gone silently back.
“There’s something funny about this,” said Peggy. “It was funny the way they started after us without our h
aving to stir them up. I believe they were waiting for us, but I can’t see how they knew we were coming.”
“Nobody could have known,” said Susan.
“The Gaels have second sight,” said Titty.
“They may have known about Dick too,” said Dorothea.
“No,” said Peggy: “What Nancy was afraid of was that they’d come charging down with war cries so that the Dactyl would have heard them and known where to look. And they haven’t done that. Dick’s all right.”
“He’s all right so far,” said Dorothea. “And we’ve got them coming after us.”
“I believe they’d be stalking us whether we wanted them to or not,” said Peggy.
“That boy’s signalling to someone,” said Susan.
“He’s disappeared,” said Titty.
“We ought to keep moving,” said Dorothea.
It is one thing to be a red herring, purposely leading the hunt in the wrong direction. It is quite another to feel that you have no choice in the matter, and that, whether you wanted to be stalked or not, the hounds would be hot on your trail. From now on, the red herrings were thinking not only of keeping the stalkers interested but also of how to keep themselves from being caught.
They were no longer looking anxiously for signs that they were being followed. Instead, they had the feeling that every rock hid an enemy. In a queer way, the whole desolate valley seemed astir. More and more often, grouse whirred along the hillside. In the valley below them parties of hinds kept moving, throwing up their heads, waiting and then suddenly moving again.
“When do you think it’ll be safe for us to turn back?” asked Susan.
“Not till we hear the Sea Bear’s foghorn,” said Peggy.
“We’ve got a lot further than we did the other day,” said Titty.
“The further the better,” said Dorothea, thinking of Dick.
“I think the stalkers have gone even further than us,” said Titty a few minutes later. “Look at that deer.” Far ahead of them, they saw a solitary stag going down into the valley as if startled by something on the ridge.
“I’ve thought that for a long time,” said Peggy. “Those grouse have been getting up further and further ahead of us.”
Great Northern? Page 23